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Retired US Soccer / World Cup Thread (RIP)

Yes, the game last night was disappointing. Our vets didn't show up like we needed them to but our young guns were moderately encouraging. Not to beat a dead horse, but chandler does appear to be up to snuff, ream was solid in the back and composed on the ball for the most part and agudelo makes himself a handful up top.

I'm not going to get into jozy, dempsey and donovan because there's no need. Also, more experienced players may see international friendlies as something of lesser importance while the younger guys see it as a chance to prove themselves.

However, I will say this. I'm not saying it's a good thing but we only really play our best matches when there's a fire lit under our ass.

At the confed cup, we get stomped by both brazil and italy, but when we needed to produce against egypt, we did. We beat spain and gave brazil a scare.

In world cup qualifying, we conceded more early goals (within the first 15-20 minutes) than I could keep track when it seemed we were going to SA no matter what. Granted we didn't always play our genuine A team and sometimes threw in C team members.

Once we were at the world cup, we played a decent game against england. After going down 2-0 to slovenia and having our WC on the line, we started to finally play. Then we engineered a win against algeria.

The point...it was an international friendly. While it's fun to enjoy the international breaks (unless you're dv7) it's not always a showcase of a team's best play. A win would have been nice, but hey.

At least we got a look at some youngsters.
 
Road to 2014: The Brazil Board
March, 30, 2011
MAR 30
9:54
AM ET
EmailPrintComments
18
By Luke Cyphers and Doug McIntyre
We don't mind looking stupid. And predicting the starting U.S. lineup for the 2014 World Cup is an exercise in stupidity. To begin with, we don't know whether the Yanks will even be in Brazil. They must endure CONCACAF's grueling two-year qualification process. Moreover, soccer players often have the career lifespan of Lepidoptera; after a long stage in a developmental cocoon, many of them hatch, look spectacular -- and then expire.

Nonetheless, we're excited to take some chances and play some chalk by doing a regular Brazil 2014 lineup, starting with today's post. Half the fun of national-team reporting is speculating on who will be up and who will be down in future tournaments. So speculate we will.

We do know this: For successful World Cup teams, experience is great -- and this squad still belongs to Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan -- but fresh legs are vital. Italy found out how staying with veterans too long leads to national disgrace. (Had they only taken Giuseppe Rossi, it may have turned out differently.) Conversely, in early 2007, few could have predicted that Robbie Findley and Jozy Altidore would be starters at South Africa 2010, and that Eddie Johnson wouldn't make the roster.

We also know this: Bob Bradley, contrary to frequent media portrayals of him as a dogged loyalist, actually throws a lot of players into his mix -- more than 90 in the previous WC qualifying cycle. Over the next few years, we too expect to throw a lot of names into our mix, including Mixx. But for the most part, we'll base our lineup on what's happening now (which, as it happens, was always one of our favorite shows).

We hope our regular take on 2014 will be one of your favorites.


TEAM USA: 2014 WORLD CUP ROSTER
Roll over player names for scouting notes, analysis and a confidence ranking. All ages and experience are as of March 30, 2011.

Aguedlo --- Altidore
Donovan --- Bradley --- Holden --- Dempsey
Bornstein --- Opara --- Ream --- Chandler
Howard​


RESERVE POS.
Brad Guzan GK
Anthony Wallace LB
Omar Gonzalez CB
Gale Agbossoumonde CB
Eric Lichaj RB
Mixx Diskerud LM
Perry Kitchen CM
Maurice Edu CM
Benny Feilhaber RM
Teal Bunbury F
Charlie Davies F
 
Comments (1-18)

flashbang11 (3/30/2011 at 3:46 PM) Report Violation
OMG get Bornstein out of there.
 
Ike is called "our boldest pick" and they say that his performance for the U23s in Olympic qualifying could catapult him past Gooch.
 
Psssttt. I've been saying Ike would start in the 2014 WC for us for nearly 2 or 3 years now.
 
deacvision7 said:
Against Argentina for our equalizer on Saturday?
Click to expand...

Uh oh, has dv turned from a donovan hater finally?

Also, 6s as average for ratings are ridiculous. 5 is what any reasonable rater should use. 4 is below average. 6 is above average. 7s are very good. 3s are very poor. 8s are great. 2s are awful. 9s and 1s pretty much shouldn't be seen unless it's really, really memorable either way.
 
I agree that it looks odd for 6s to be "average," but when thinking about 1-10, 5 or 6 are both in the middle.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10


Either way... 5.5 is really dead in the middle of the two extremes.
 
deacvision7 said:
Nah, just giving him props for the Argie game. He played well then. He played like shit last night.
Click to expand...

Not arguing with you, but I think he played poor in the Argie friendly and piss poor last night. Really disappointed in LD10 this week
 
deacvision7 said:
I agree that it looks odd for 6s to be "average," but when thinking about 1-10, 5 or 6 are both in the middle.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10


Either way... 5.5 is really dead in the middle of the two extremes.
Click to expand...

Ah, ok, I've never seen a 10 given, so 5 makes complete sense on a 1-9 scale (or a 0-10 scale for that matter).
 
Screamindemon3 said:
My post match thoughts-

Positives:

-Crowd, set a record for attendance at a soccer match in TN. Also, they stood the whole time. Ive never seen a US Soccer
Click to expand...

I was pretty proud of this too (though it left my 40-year old back screaming for hours). And proud the previous attendance mark was set at the US v Trinidad & Tobago game last year.
 
Screamindemon3 said:
My post match thoughts-
-Donovan, when was the last time he got a free kick over the 1st Defender?
Click to expand...

This drives me crazy!!!!! Yes, he got it over the 1st defender for the goal against Argentina but 99% of his free kicks and corners go straight to the first defender such a freakin waste.

We need Holden back, besides being a great addition to the midfield he serves some great free kicks.
 
WFU03 said:
Ah, ok, I've never seen a 10 given, so 5 makes complete sense on a 1-9 scale (or a 0-10 scale for that matter).
Click to expand...

I've seen 10s given. And deservingly so.


Real Ronaldo at Old Trafford for Real Madrid in 03.

He was so good that match that the United supporters in attendance gave him a standing ovation off the pitch.

Roy Keane at the Delli Alpi in 1999 -- to this day the single finest and most amazing individual performance I've ever seen in a match. He was a man that drove everything and could not be stopped.
 
The next step, at least for me, is us being able to play well against good teams that will concede some possession to us. We know how to play against teams that dominate the ball. We struggle to create anything when it doesn't originate from the counter.

I thought Chandler was good, although I'd like to see more of what he offers on the defensive side. I'm not worried about him getting into the attack though, especially once he gets more familiarity with the team.

Ream had what I thought was his best game yet for the national team. He's almost too composed for me at times. I get worried that with him being so casual with the ball in the back, a quick player will sneak up on him and put us in a bad spot. I'm hoping this will improve with time as he gets more accustomed to the speed of the game at the international level.
 
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