OT: World Cup

[Viet Vet]

It’s out. That VAR angle can be manipulated. Ref should have blown the whistle. That was the error.

If the ball were between the posts would you call it a goal, or no goal?

 

[Kolumbo]

The defense was so lax

1:00 - Adams jogs and lets Memphis run away wide open
2:00 - Dest lets Memphis run past him
4:15 - two Dutch players left wide open

 

[LIuconn]

The first dutch goal wasn't a counter attack. It was a beautiful, thorough dismantling of our team

 

[August_West]

They are playing basketball and football (American). Anybody else think Andre Jackson could be an elite soccer goalie? I mean like, among the best in the world? Slowly, more are playing soccer and getting better coaching.

Its still 385million

 

[August_West]

This is where you should have stopped.

But to address what you said, the system Gregg Berhalter implemented. It’s not an indication of our lack of ability.

The guy literally was fired from his first gig for not generating enough offense.

He also took 4 right backs to the World Cup but only 3 strikers. He left Pepi in the Netherlands and let Reyna rot on the bench.

Complete mismanagement.

So US soccer cant even hire a decent coach, and we are supposed to care? Is that your position?

 

[shizzle787]

So US soccer cant even hire a decent coach, and we are supposed to care? Is that your position?

Hiring a better coach wouldn't have mattered. If Timothy Weah is the best goal scorer you can find, you are going to struggle.

 

[ZooCougar]

So US soccer cant even hire a decent coach, and we are supposed to care? Is that your position?

I can’t and won’t defend that.

They choose to hire an American coach which means it will be an MLS coach.

In this case Berhalter was a nepotism hire. His brother was an exec with US Soccer and he was the only person interviewed and they waited a year to do it.

Brother was later fired for being toxic but is now a EVP with MLS.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Can’t defend? We had 1 goal scored on us in the group and it was a PK. Go back to the basketball board.

Even the Dutch goals were a result of counterattacks because we had to push to score.

You do not understand this sport.

Our defending in the group stage was elite, especially when you consider that England scored 12(!) goals in their other 3 matches and we held them to a goose egg.

It just fell apart in the few spots we needed it against the Dutch.

 

[ZooCougar]

Our defending in the group stage was elite, especially when you consider that England scored 12(!) goals in their other 3 matches and we held them to a goose egg.

It just fell apart in the few spots we needed it against the Dutch.

It fell apart because we stopped defending. We didn’t rotate anyone and went into attack mode. That’s what happens when you get opened up.

 

[ZooCougar]

Hiring a better coach wouldn't have mattered. If Timothy Weah is the best goal scorer you can find, you are going to struggle.

Who says he is the best goal scorer? What are you even talking about?

Striker isn’t the only position that scores.

 

[HuskyHawk]

So US soccer cant even hire a decent coach, and we are supposed to care? Is that your position?

US Soccer hasn't yet come to face the reality that it cannot serve two masters, the MLS and actual international success.

 

[shizzle787]

Who says he is the best goal scorer? What are you even talking about?

Striker isn’t the only position that scores.

I'm well aware of that but is it vital you have an elite #9 to win the world cup or at least go deep. We don't have that. If you expect Pulisic, Reyna, McKennie, etc. to provide you all of the goals necessary, you are going to be disappointed.

 

[LIuconn]

Clear to see which we've chosen so far

 

[shizzle787]

The real reason we didn't perform well goes back to a talent deficit vs. the top-10 nations.
The reason for this is not because we don't have talent but because in many cases that talent has parents who can't afford to send their kids to elite academies or travel teams in their youth. We have a pay for play system that values payment more than talent. By and large, upper middle class families produce the most players, but many more talented players never get a chance.

You don't see this in England, Brazil, or Germany. Money is not an obstacle there and thus the game is open to kids from even the poorest families. The talent (not money) ensures the cream of the crop rises.

 

[ZooCougar]

I'm well aware of that but is it vital you have an elite #9 to win the world cup or at least go deep. We don't have that. If you expect Pulisic, Reyna, McKennie, etc. to provide you all of the goals necessary, you are going to be disappointed.

Again. You are not looking at the whole picture.

We hired a manager who sucks at generating offense. He was fired by Hammarby for being unable to score.

Look at our record since June. As we got closer to the WC the goals dried up even further.

We left an American off the roster who is scoring goals in a decent Euro league in favor of guys like Ferreira, Morris and FOUR right backs.

Why oh why did we waste 4 slots on right backs?

 

[shizzle787]

The other reason is that we still try to push MLS on the MNT. The Big 5 leagues are much better than MLS.

 

[shizzle787]

Again. You are not looking at the whole picture.

We hired a manager who sucks at generating offense. He was fired by Hammarby for being unable to score.

Look at our record since June. As we got closer to the WC the goals dried up even further.

We left an American off the roster who is scoring goals in a decent Euro league in favor of guys like Ferreira, Morris and FOUR right backs.

Why oh why did we waste 4 slots on right backs?

I do disagree with those things. But we still need a #9.

 

[LIuconn]

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

 

[jrazz12]

US Soccer hasn't yet come to face the reality that it cannot serve two masters, the MLS and actual international success.

Klinsmann told us this very clearly 12 years ago and did his best to draw the line in the sand, but was tarred and feathered for it

 

[shizzle787]

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

Mispelling. I agree with a lot of what he said. Berhalter was pretty boring.

 

[HCCForever]

Looks like Germany vs Brazil circa 2014.

Brazil sure looked good today. I had planned on cutting out early to watch the second half in a soccer pub but the first half changed my mind. Have to wait until Friday for the Brazil Croatia match.

BTW that 7-1 blowout by Germany vs Brazil in 2014 still boggles my mind, especially since the host country was Brazil. I had the pleasure of visiting Brazil in 2015 and was amazed at al the people playing soccer at the beach. Like watching people in the US playing frisbee at the beach.

 

[ZooCougar]

The other reason is that we still try to push MLS on the MNT. The Big 5 leagues are much better than MLS.

It’s like you are posting from 10 years ago.

 

[SubbaBub]

They achieved what I expected with this group and coach.

I'm not buying the youth narrative. True we have a lost generation in the 26-30 age range, but pulisic & weston are 24, Adams 23. That's prime. Jude Bellingham is running England and he's 18 (sure, 1 person but it's not rare)

Average age of teams at the World Cup 2022| Statista

Iran's squad was the oldest out of any team at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, with an average age of 28.9.

www.statista.com

We're talking 1 year of average age away from mid pack. This same roster would be the oldest in 2026 (obvi ream Morris roldan and yedlin won't be there, but for context).

We've got some guys, we need depth and someone to take on being "the man" at their club. Preferably a creative mid. We trotted out 3 defensive mids all tournament

Euro prime, SA prime. Not US prime. There are still 2026 spots for younger guys that didn't play or make the squad. I see the age breakdown as a plus and is one of the things GG got right. They met expectations though they did it the hard way. Needing a point vs England and holding off Iran until the final whistle was not how anyone would have mapped it out. Maybe avoided disappointment is more accurate given how pathetic the attack was, though the defense as weak as it was held up until they found a well-organized and disciplined Dutch side. England could have done similar, but I feel they had too many options and were a bit afraid to lose.

Absolutely need someone to be the talisman on the field and not just in social media promos. Relying on anyone on any day didn't work.

 

[SubbaBub]

Klinsmann told us this very clearly 12 years ago and did his best to draw the line in the sand, but was tarred and feathered for it

Klinsmann had no respect for what we had and the players hated him.

 

[ZooCougar]

Klinsmann had no respect for what we had and the players hated him.

Some of the players hated him. Mainly the ones that we didn’t need anymore.

He was 100% right.

 

[Kolumbo]

The real reason we didn't perform well goes back to a talent deficit vs. the top-10 nations.
The reason for this is not because we don't have talent but because in many cases that talent has parents who can't afford to send their kids to elite academies or travel teams in their youth. We have a pay for play system that values payment more than talent. By and large, upper middle class families produce the most players, but many more talented players never get a chance.

You don't see this in England, Brazil, or Germany. Money is not an obstacle there and thus the game is open to kids from even the poorest families. The talent (not money) ensures the cream of the crop rises.

Seeing this first hand. Many kids play with the town rec league, some kids pay for the local private academy, and some kids do both. You can clearly see the difference in their training and it's too bad because some of the kids who only play rec are great athletes but don't have the skilled training. The rec leagues are coached by volunteer parents who may or may not have ever played soccer, never mind having any idea how to teach the skills.

With Little League Baseball all the coaches are parents who played the game, and even if they didn't play varsity, they've watched years of baseball and know how to teach a kid to hit, throw and catch. It really is a huge difference in overall resources between baseball and soccer.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Some of the players hated him. Mainly the ones that we didn’t need anymore.

He was 100% right.

Like Bradley, king of back pass that’s so lazy it’s likely to get intercepted. Never met an offensive opportunity he couldn‘t ruin by going backwards. That was later. He was good as a young player.

I think USA lacks an offensive identity. We aren’t able to play the game like the Dutch, English or Germans do, we lack the big targets and crisp passing and organization. We don’t have the creativity Brazil has, or Spain or France. Teams packed the middle, letting us get wide, knowing our crossing game is awful. We have a roster to attack up the middle, but can’t make the quick intuitive one touch passes very often. I suppose we could try a Japan or Italy style counter game, we have some speed. But unless you have a legendary defense like Italy used to, I feel like it’s tough to go far with that. Felt like we has no cohesive approach on offense. We did all of those things at times, with no plan.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Seeing this first hand. Many kids play with the town rec league, some kids pay for the local private academy, and some kids do both. You can clearly see the difference in their training and it's too bad because some of the kids who only play rec are great athletes but don't have the skilled training. The rec leagues are coached by volunteer parents who may or may not have ever played soccer, never mind having any idea how to teach the skills.

With Little League Baseball all the coaches are parents who played the game, and even if they didn't play varsity, they've watched years of baseball and know how to teach a kid to hit, throw and catch. It really is a huge difference in overall resources between baseball and soccer.

Yeah, but is that Georgia? Growing up in Manchester, CT, we had a youth soccer program back in the 70s. Admittedly Manchester and Ridgefield dominated the state at the HS level back in my day, and I’m sure that was part of why. But now? Soccer is just as well funded in most places. I think we miss what we have with basketball, the street ball game they have in most of the world. Poor kids in urban neighborhoods are picking up a round orange ball, not a soccer ball. Kids in Brazilian favelas have nothing but futbol.

 

[ZooCougar]

Like Bradley, king of back pass that’s so lazy it’s likely to get intercepted. Never met an offensive opportunity he couldn‘t ruin by going backwards. That was later. He was good as a young player.

I think USA lacks an offensive identity. We aren’t able to play the game like the Dutch, English or Germans do, we lack the big targets and crisp passing and organization. We don’t have the creativity Brazil has, or Spain or France. Teams packed the middle, letting us get wide, knowing our crossing game is awful. We have a roster to attack up the middle, but can’t make the quick intuitive one touch passes very often. I suppose we could try a Japan or Italy style counter game, we have some speed. But unless you have a legendary defense like Italy used to, I feel like it’s tough to go far with that. Felt like we has no cohesive approach on offense. We did all of those things at times, with no plan.

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.

 

[Kolumbo]

Yeah, but is that Georgia? Growing up in Manchester, CT, we had a youth soccer program back in the 70s. Admittedly Manchester and Ridgefield dominated the state at the HS level back in my day, and I’m sure that was part of why. But now? Soccer is just as well funded in most places. I think we miss what we have with basketball, the street ball game they have in most of the world. Poor kids in urban neighborhoods are picking up a round orange ball, not a soccer ball. Kids in Brazilian favelas have nothing but futbol.

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.