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Retired US Soccer / World Cup Thread (RIP)

WFU03 said:
I think the issue is that the 2002 team might well beat our current team, but our organizational depth is much, much better now than it was. Thus, it feels like we're headed in the right direction.
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Depth is now better, completely agreed. But depth only helps if injuries come up before the WC. You can only take 23, and most of those won't even get on the pitch for a single minute.

Starting XI strength to me is the most important thing. Right now that is weaker today than it was 9 years ago. That is concerning to me.
 
gsterp said:
The point is that looking at the results of one tournament to determine that the team is moving backwards is stupid, since at times unrelated activity can affect another team's outcome.
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yeah like less talent coming through the system and a crap coach who's been put in charge for the second straight cycle
 
deacvision7 said:
Depth is now better, completely agreed. But depth only helps if injuries come up before the WC. You can only take 23, and most of those won't even get on the pitch for a single minute.

Starting XI strength to me is the most important thing. Right now that is weaker today than it was 9 years ago. That is concerning to me.
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This is what I'm talking about. Who cares if we have a lot of average backups due to more organizational strength. We don't seem to have any dynamic talents that are emerging. And not just like a Neymar or any other Argentine or Brazilian phenom, we don't even have guys like Beasley or Donovan in that 02 World Cup springing up. At least that I know of.
 
tintinisahottie said:
This is what I'm talking about. Who cares if we have a lot of average backups due to more organizational strength. We don't seem to have any dynamic talents that are emerging. And not just like a Neymar or any other Argentine or Brazilian phenom, we don't even have guys like Beasley or Donovan in that 02 World Cup springing up. At least that I know of.
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We you aware of Beasley or Donovan in 1999 (the equivalent time in that cycle)?
 
At this time in the 2002 cycle LD and Beasley were still playing for the U-17 team, and hadn't even played in that World Cup yet. And I'd argue that Agudelo is at that level of where those guys were when they broke into the full national team.

Hell, no one had even really heard of Clint Dempsey at this stage in the 2006 cycle, unless they were hardcore Furman fans.

Take a look at the U-20 team right now. There's a lot more talent there than there's been in other cycles, and mostly professional too. I don't know which ones will make the jump, but I'm confident we'll get a few of them to produce at the next level up.
 
Had anyone here even heard of Tim Ream two years ago? I follow college soccer relatively closely and really only knew of his name when he was at SLU. Now he looks like the most composed international center back we've had since Dooley. Players develop, and sometimes pop out of nowhere.

I do wish that we had the opportunity to test out more left backs before the Gold Cup though. I think Bobby Convey could work well there, but Bradley seems to not rate him for whatever reason (see, I disagree with Bob on things!). I wouldn't mind seeing how Anthony Wallace looks there either. Ponce would be ideal, but his club situation isn't going to allow for that.
 
WFU03 said:
We you aware of Beasley or Donovan in 1999 (the equivalent time in that cycle)?
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Were were the other guys like them that stepped up from 2003-now? I'm not talking just this year.

Dempsey, and...Bueller, Bueller


Don't you think if we're legit improving we should, you know, be producing more guys than we did 10 years ago?
 
gsterp said:
Had anyone here even heard of Tim Ream two years ago? I follow college soccer relatively closely and really only knew of his name when he was at SLU. Now he looks like the most composed international center back we've had since Dooley. Players develop, and sometimes pop out of nowhere.

I do wish that we had the opportunity to test out more left backs before the Gold Cup though. I think Bobby Convey could work well there, but Bradley seems to not rate him for whatever reason (see, I disagree with Bob on things!). I wouldn't mind seeing how Anthony Wallace looks there either. Ponce would be ideal, but his club situation isn't going to allow for that.
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Bobby Convey and Tim Ream, really? That's some proof you have to offer?


This leads me to my next thought, the people who REALLLLLLY overrate MLS
 
I didn't say he was fucking Maldini or anything. Everyone on these boards bitches and moans about central defenders hoofing the ball non-stop, and not totally without reason. Watch Ream's games with NYRB and the US so far. He plays the ball on the ground. He plays the ball to players. He's not the most seasoned defender yet, and could use a little more toughness, but that will come with experience. The soft touch and composure is much tougher to learn. He's a definite step in the right direction for people that want to play that style.

Who else has shown that level of composure over the last couple cycles as a center back? Give me an actual answer and not "if he's the answer we're fucked anyway" and I'd be willing to consider I overlooked someone.
 
I was impressed with Ream's composure on the ball. But his overall game isn't that great. My biggest concern that I saw from him from over these two friendlies is his positional sense. He floats too far off his other CB when a ball is to his side far too often for my liking.
 
You basically said he shows composure but is a sucky defender gsterps. This is the type of thing I'm talking about. You just assumed he was better than what we have, then when you analyzed it, it came out that he's only better on the ball and not defending. This goes right along with everyone just assuming we're progressing, when if you really examine it, it's far from clear that we are progressing.
 
Most forget that injurie have tore apart our NT over the past two years. And they weren't minor injuries either. Our best striker, a starting midfielder that was careering in the EPL, and our go to center back ripping his knee off. Other than Donovan and Dempsey, you could not have picked 3 worse pre world cup injuries.
 
tintinisahottie said:
You basically said he shows composure but is a sucky defender gsterps. This is the type of thing I'm talking about. You just assumed he was better than what we have, then when you analyzed it, it came out that he's only better on the ball and not defending. This goes right along with everyone just assuming we're progressing, when if you really examine it, it's far from clear that we are progressing.
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2nd in 2009 Confed Cup
1st in CONCACAF WC Qualifying
1st in Group C 2010 WC

Nope, not progressing
 
Coaching in this country still sucks for the most part, too.

Too many coaches and too many parents worry about Ws and Ls when kids are just learning the game instead of teaching them technique, positioning, tactics, patience, etc etc.

It's just this bullshit "put the fastest kid at striker and kick it long so he can beat everyone to the ball and score, yay!" mentality. It is enraging. My nephew's club (he is 10) has the players rotate around every position and try to pass the ball around. They win about half the time, but on talent alone they should win more. Why don't they? Because they are focused on improving as players and not just doing 1 on 1 bullshit that only teaches them the wrong things as players like the other clubs do. It also hurts their chances to win when they put a natural defender up top or vice versa, but at least the kid is learning to play outside his comfort zone. Then parents bitch to the coaches because the team isn't winning enough! They are 10 fucking years old, who cares!??!

They don't even keep score for youth games in Brazil until the kids are at least teenagers, because the focus isn't winning and losing then. It's developing. We need more of that here in the US.
 
tintinisahottie said:
You basically said he shows composure but is a sucky defender gsterps. This is the type of thing I'm talking about. You just assumed he was better than what we have, then when you analyzed it, it came out that he's only better on the ball and not defending. This goes right along with everyone just assuming we're progressing, when if you really examine it, it's far from clear that we are progressing.
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No I didn't, that's what you wanted to read. I said he can improve in those areas, not that he wasn't good to begin with. I'm beginning to wonder if you watch the games, because he was also easily our best on the ball defender Tuesday as well. There's a difference in saying someone has room to improve and that they aren't good.
 
deacvision7 said:
Coaching in this country still sucks for the most part, too.

Too many coaches and too many parents worry about Ws and Ls when kids are just learning the game instead of teaching them technique, positioning, tactics, patience, etc etc.

It's just this bullshit "put the fastest kid at striker and kick it long so he can beat everyone to the ball and score, yay!" mentality. It is enraging. My nephew's club (he is 10) has the players rotate around every position and try to pass the ball around. They win about half the time, but on talent alone they should win more. Why don't they? Because they are focused on improving as players and not just doing 1 on 1 bullshit that only teaches them the wrong things as players like the other clubs do. It also hurts their chances to win when they put a natural defender up top or vice versa, but at least the kid is learning to play outside his comfort zone. Then parents bitch to the coaches because the team isn't winning enough! They are 10 fucking years old, who cares!??!

They don't even keep score for youth games in Brazil until the kids are at least teenagers, because the focus isn't winning and losing then. It's developing. We need more of that here in the US.
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Good post
 
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