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Retired US Soccer / World Cup Thread (RIP)

Didn't ask for a debate. I wanted an opinion with some reasoning attached to it. I value informed opinions.
 
Read it. I'll move past your butthurtness and just concentrate on the comments you've made to further this debate.


Jermaine Jones is rather average. Better than Rico Clark, but he isn't moving us forward from the stage we crashed out at last time. Same for whoever you want to replace Robbie Findley with of the current options we've seen.

RE: Clint Dempsey, you said: "Dempsey is better now than he was in SA, and I don't think he loses that and then some in the next two years."
So, do you acknowledge that Clint Demsey won't be as good in Brazil as he was last season or not? Do you just think he will be somewhere between his SA form and his last season form? I'll go on the record and guess that he will be worse (only slightly) than both in 2 years time.


And again, if you want more than a simple opinion, then ask, "why do you/do you not think that?" Not hard.
 
Again, I thought the "why" was implied. Usually in a discussion, that's a big part of the package. Next time, I'll know to include it specifically since it seems quite important to you.

Agree on Jones. But if he's an improvement, then that's one piece of the puzzle. Does Jones '14 get abused vs Ghana the way Clark '10 did? If not, we may be coming off a quarterfinal appearance.

Wrt dempsey, I was actually shooting for somewhere between SA form and last season's form. Clint didn't have a great South Africa.

In general, I'm really not.convinced that we will get out of the group in Brazil. I think we should, because i think we'll be somewhat better, but it's also likely that we'll be in a more difficult group, so who knows. Where you and i differ is that you seem very convinced that we won't, while I see a little more reason for optimism.
 
A traffic cone that automatically moves in a circle would be an improvement on Clark from WC2010. He was, and is, an abysmal player. Just dreadful. And I really don't rate Jones, so he is only slightly better than an automated traffic cone. At least a traffic cone won't give away free kicks in dangerous positions for no reason what-so-ever.

Hard to say with any certainty what will happen in WC2014 groups before nations even qualify, but I'd be surprised if we did well there. I'd be shocked if we bettered our 2010 R16 appearance.
 
I don't like reading random projections, so here's my individual breakdown of our last WC team versus what I see in 2014.

GK: Howard 10 > Howard 14 I think he might be very slightly weaker in 2014, but honestly I think he could have played better in 2010.

RB: Dolo 10 > Dolo 14 I'm not sure that Lichaj won't have replaced Dolo by 2014, but I still think it's a dropoff. Dolo played very well in WC10.

CB: Demerit/Onyewu/Boca 10 = Boca/Cameron/Goodson/Ream 14 We were decent, but not great in the middle. I think Boca will be formidable in the middle along with Cameron. We'll have better ball control from the back.

LB: Boca/Bornstein 10 < Chandler 14 I love Boca in the middle, but Chandler has the goods. He'll be younger, faster, and he's far better going forward.

RM: Donovan 10 = Bradley 14 The formation will be different, but Bradley is already proving himself to be our most talented field player. That said, Donovan put in some great performances.

CM: Bradley 10 = Jones/Edu 14 Bradley played well in 2010, but he wasn't what we see now. Jones will be 32 and Edu 28. I think it'll be somewhat similar talent wise.

CM2: Clark/Torres/Edu 10 < Dempsey/Edu/Torres/Holden 14 Our worst position in 2010. We have a number of guys who were better then and will be far better in 2 years. Why Rico Clark ever found his way onto the field is a mystery. If we continue the 4-1-2-2-1, Dempsey slots in here. He's slightly better than Rico fucking Clark. Torres is also better now. Edu is better now.

LM: Dempsey 10 = Johnson 14 I'd almost give the edge to Johnson, as Dempsey really didn't have an amazing World Cup, and I think Johnson has a ton of potential.

FWD1: Altidore 10 < Altidore 14 No question. If you watched Jozy last year at AZ, he's become a far superior player. I expect similar improvements over the next season.

FWD2: Findley/Gomez < Donovan/Body/Torres 12 Without knowing what formation we end up with, you can throw in Donovan and he's already better than Findley ever was. Gomez really became the goalscorer he is now after WC2010. I think he'll be past it by the time 2014 comes around, but if we play with 1 forward, we have space for an ACM/ARM. Donovan, Holden, or Torres in the ACM?ARM would all offer far more than Findley did up top in 2010.

So I see us improving on 4 positions, equal on 5 and worse off on 2.
 
Jozy had a brace in AZ's opener at Ajax.

Zusi and Besler got call ups for Mexico. Pontius is an alternate.
 
Damn, Jozy destroyed Van der Wiel on his first goal. Both were impressive. He looks sharp.

Goals are at 2 minutes in.


 
Looks like Klins doesn't GAF about winning the Mexico friendly.

No Dempsey or Bradley. Or Altidore. Moat of the Europe players left over there, exceptions are Timmy and Cameron.
 
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