OT: - World Cup | Page 14 | The Boneyard

OT: World Cup

LIuconn said:
What portion of Ggg being a bad coach do you not agree with? He was crap at Hammarby and .500 in MLS. His teams never scored goals
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That all may be true, but casual fan me watched a bunch of US players in four games that were afraid of every opportunity they had every game. Bad crosses and horrible hits in the box. Embarrassing.
 
ZooCougar said:
Being a German, he’s very blunt and doesn’t hold back. People thought that was rude but he was just being direct
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I used to work with Germans. Shockingly direct at first but quickly learned to prefer it
 
Kolumbo said:
No, Central Connecticut. This town has a history of winning state titles. And it wins because many of the kids are well trained from an early age. But still a majority of the kids don't sign up for the private premier travel teams and they don't get the training. I'm pretty sure that's why Fairfield County always has great teams too. $$$.

I watched them play Weaver a couple of years ago and you couldn't even call it a game, the skill level was so different. Crazy that Hartford and its neighbor West Hartford are worlds apart when it comes to soccer.
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That is crazy. I looked up the CT state high school champions and noticed that teams like West Hartford, Glastonbury, Farmington, Rocky Hill and Wethersfield won frequently. Both Bulkeley and Hartford High won state championships in the 70s but haven't won since.

I am a contemporary of the Motta's (John and Ricky) who helped Bulkeley achieve success in the mid 70s and went on to play at the University of Hartford. Back in those days, Italian Americans lived in the South End of Hartford and played all the time at Colts and Goodwin Park to name a few parks.

 
HCCForever said:
That is crazy. I looked up the CT state high school champions and noticed that teams like West Hartford, Glastonbury, Farmington, Rocky Hill and Wethersfield won frequently. Both Bulkeley and Hartford High won state championships in the 70s but haven't won since.

I am a contemporary of the Motta's (John and Ricky) who helped Bulkeley achieve success in the mid 70s and went on to play at the University of Hartford. Back in those days, Italian Americans lived in the South End of Hartford and played all the time at Colts and Goodwin Park to name a few parks.

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A lot of those European groups left Hartford for surrounding areas and have been replaced by those of Hispanic and Caribbean descent. The sport of focus in that area has mainly shifted to basketball.
 
ZooCougar said:
Jurgen would have been better as a GM. He’s an idea guy and I liked his ideas. Once his players started to age out he tried to find the next group but those guys either didn’t pan out or they weren’t ready.

Unfortunately his ideas weren’t aligned with MLS and Soccer United Marketing which is the same thing as MLS. So they blackballed him.

He wanted to create an American soccer identity and a style of play that reflected who we were. Direct play, imposing our will on the opponents. If he had this cycle’s pool I think he would have been more successful at implementing this than Gregg.

In the last World Cup with him Graham freaking Zusi assisted twice! Even Julian Green scored a goal. Our best striker pulled a hammy and we still scored.

Being a German, he’s very blunt and doesn’t hold back. People thought that was rude but he was just being direct.
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My former boss was German (lived in Brussels, worked in Luxembourg). It was during the Klinsmann era here and we used to talk about it. Boss's name was Juergen of course. That identity is exactly what we need. We've got guys who like many different styles and we aren't cohesive. I still work with several Germans all the time, had a call with one yesterday, they are indeed pretty direct.

Side story, when in Sao Paulo, Brazil for work with my German boss, he would buy art. But he had our driver (you had to have a driver there) negotiate the prices, because Germans don't negotiate for things. Cars and houses both get sold or don't sell, at the asking price. Just like buying stuff at Target. We always had to do the tips for him on dinners in the U.S. He loved Brazil, probably because it was so different.

We need somebody with a vision, who can get all these guys on the same page. I suggest we not try to play a Barcelona style possession game. At times it seemed like Gregg was going for that, and I think we left a lot of offensive chances on the pitch as a result, and lacked the skill needed. They need to get this one right.
 
For folks who find futbol boring, Spain v Morocco is exhibit A of sleep-inducement.
 
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HuskyHawk said:
My former boss was German (lived in Brussels, worked in Luxembourg). It was during the Klinsmann era here and we used to talk about it. Boss's name was Juergen of course. That identity is exactly what we need. We've got guys who like many different styles and we aren't cohesive. I still work with several Germans all the time, had a call with one yesterday, they are indeed pretty direct.

Side story, when in Sao Paulo, Brazil for work with my German boss, he would buy art. But he had our driver (you had to have a driver there) negotiate the prices, because Germans don't negotiate for things. Cars and houses both get sold or don't sell, at the asking price. Just like buying stuff at Target. We always had to do the tips for him on dinners in the U.S. He loved Brazil, probably because it was so different.

We need somebody with a vision, who can get all these guys on the same page. I suggest we not try to play a Barcelona style possession game. At times it seemed like Gregg was going for that, and I think we left a lot of offensive chances on the pitch as a result, and lacked the skill needed. They need to get this one right.
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It seems like they were going for the Barcelona style. But to me that’s like fighting the last war.

I’d rather have a more direct approach. In this WC we held the ball a bunch and it never amounted to much.

Whenever you asked Greggggggg to explain the US philosophy it came out as over complicated gobbledegook.

If you can’t explain it in two or three sentences it’s probably not good. He also gave guys “homework”.
 
ZooCougar said:
I’m not watching. Is Spain doing their tiki taka short passing crap?
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Yes, indeed they have been. Doing the hoops equivalent of a weave near half court every possession.

To be fair, Spain is getting a little more aggressive in 1st OT.

edit: Morocco just blew a great chance at a goal, so Spain will probably go back in its shell
 
storrsroars said:
Yes, indeed they have been. Doing the hoops equivalent of a weave near half court every possession.

To be fair, Spain is getting a little more aggressive in 1st OT.

edit: Morocco just blew a great chance at a goal, so Spain will probably go back in its shell
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Spain just missed two good chances. Hit the post with the second.
 
Scoring goals is hard. After dropping six on Costa Rica, Spain has only scored two goals in the next three games. Morocco had multiple breakaways and biffed all of them.
 
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Nothing better in sports than penalty kicks. Bono and Livakovic owned those kickers. Incredibly exciting for Morocco.
 
upstater said:
It's like some people have ever watched the world cup before, don't understand the difference between opening round and knockout stage, the significance of the scheduling in the opening round (i.e. who you play and when), nor the history of the WC (it's often won by teams who didn't look great in the opening round, and the teams that looked the best [like Spain this year] go out in the quarters -- which I have no doubt will happen to Spain again this year).
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Welp, posted this several days ago. Not surprising.

Maybe rethink ticky-tack?
 
superjohn said:
Nothing better in sports than penalty kicks. Bono and Livakovic owned those kickers. Incredibly exciting for Morocco.
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Exciting match and finish with no horse in the race. Exciting for Morocco for sure. Now on to Portugal and Switzerland
 
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Mots010 said:
I

The guy who replaced him has 33 minutes international experience, and then scores a ridiculous goal, and is all over the place creating chances in the first 20 minutes.
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Nickname is "The Wizard". Looks like a nice young player. Benfica will sell him on eventually.
 
Go Morocco, and I said this for s Korea and Turkey when they advanced to the semi finals several cups ago, and Senegal (quarters) but it is so nice to have some new blood going deep even if much of the rest of the quarter finals, each year, is fairly predictable: (France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal)... this year has seen a number of those either not make it (italy) or bow out really early (Germany, twice in a row, belgium) or fairly early (spain). Just to make things interesting would love to see Brazil and France upset in the quarters and Argentina in their upcoming game.
 
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Would Ronaldo be the best player on the US squad?

I'll have to catch the highlights tonight with the lovely and talented Kate Abdo

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This reminds of what happened when the USWNT finally sat Abby Wambach.
 
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Kolumbo said:
Would Ronaldo be the best player on the US squad?

I'll have to catch the highlights tonight with the lovely and talented Kate Abdo
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Most likely, but when you look at top teams like France, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, etc even 2nd string players would be top 5 or even 3 on the US squad.
 
storrsroars said:
Bono will never have to buy a drink in Morocco again.

I swear the Brit announcer said Spanish team was required to take 1000 penalty kicks for practice. Didn't seem like it.
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The Moroccan keeper absolutely ate Spain's lunch. He was completely in their heads. I've never seen anything like it on 3 straight penalty kicks.
 
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