Soccer Discussion

Discussion in 'Sports' started by tvolsfan, Mar 9, 2012.

  1. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    Dest and Richards have definitely been noticed based on where they're playing (Ajax and Bayern), but they're both really good prospects. There's also quite a bit of attacking talent in this group. And honestly Soto, despite the goals, isn't really the headliner. Pomykal, Weah, Mendez, and Ledezma seem to be pretty good prospects, and Llanez looked good in limited time. And de la Fuente is still only 17 and is in the Barca academy so he's going to keep getting chances even if he didn't look great today--Weah was outshined by a few other U-17 prospects a couple years ago and you can see where he is now.
     
  2. Unimane

    Unimane Kill "The Caucasian"

    Yes, I like a lot of them. Ramos' lineups are a little puzzling, especially since he doesn't seem to rotate very much. The Llainez kid, I agree, is eye catching and should play more. Soto didn't blow me away, but you score two goals against France and him looking for a new club takes a new turn. De la Fuente will be a very good player, but he's just 17 now and looking a little overwhelmed. It will be interesting to look back in 5 years to see who actually panned out.

    One other thing, our GK today was awful. The Ochoa kid against Qatar was significantly better. Ramos seems to be a guy who has his players and doesn't want to change it up much.
     
  3. NorrisAlan

    NorrisAlan Founder of the Mike Honcho Fan Club

    Just saw the highlights. French GK gifted us that last goal, should have swallowed that up and not let the rebound go to our player.
     
  4. Unimane

    Unimane Kill "The Caucasian"

    I don't know. That was a wicked shot by Dest to the keeper's right, hard an moving. I've seen many a GK have issues with a shot like that one.
     
    NorrisAlan likes this.
  5. JohnnyQuickkick

    JohnnyQuickkick Calcio correspondent

    He should’ve done better. Goal doesn’t count less though.
     
  6. Unimane

    Unimane Kill "The Caucasian"

    The young guys can't mature fast enough. These senior team players are wretched.
     
    IP likes this.
  7. JohnnyQuickkick

    JohnnyQuickkick Calcio correspondent

    Putrid tonight
     
  8. dknash

    dknash Chieftain

    What percentage of CONCACAF, which owns the USMNT, is semi-pro? How are all of the guys we threw out there paid professionals?
     
  9. The Dooz

    The Dooz Super Moderator

    I can’t even watch.
     
  10. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    At least the U-20s are exciting.

    The lost generation is real and it is killing us. We have jack shit born between '89 and the mid-90s.
     
  11. Unimane

    Unimane Kill "The Caucasian"

    Youth tournaments and success is not necessarily a perfect indicator, but the warning signs for this generation were there when we had a rash of failures to qualify for World Cups and Olympics from the early 2010s to the Rio Games.

    Hopefully, our recent turn in the youth tournaments is a similar omen. Unfortunately, on the men's team, I still see shit like Will Trapp getting start after start and a reliance on relics like Michael Bradley and even Jozy Altidore.
     
  12. Unimane

    Unimane Kill "The Caucasian"

    Also, and this is crazy to think, gues who just turned 30 this past Monday?

    Freddy Adu.

    I could've swore he was 37 or something, not in his 20s through last week.
     
  13. JohnnyQuickkick

    JohnnyQuickkick Calcio correspondent

    Seems like every coach in the world has that one shit player they love for some reason and Trapp is Berhalter’s
     
  14. Ssmiff

    Ssmiff Went to the White House...Again

    I believe the Barcelona American Academy will be in Nashville soon.
    We hosted a couple coaches a few years ago for a camp when my son was playing.
    Add MLS and new stadium and the growth is going to be crazy.
     
  15. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

  16. Unimane

    Unimane Kill "The Caucasian"

    Yep, that era is a dead zone, completely void of talent or any sort of intangibles to make up for the lack of talent. The three best players, right now, on the US team are Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Christian Pulisic. All three are 20 years old. Great for the future, but trouble for now. Hell, I can't imagine how badly the failed Cup campaign would've been without the reliance on an 18 year old kid in Pulisic to carry them.

    Also, looking at the Gold Cup squad, who the coach is and the increasing influence of the MLS on US Soccer, I'm starting to worry the US team is going to be loaded with MLS players over Euro guys unless you just can't ignore a European based player.
     
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2019
  17. NorrisAlan

    NorrisAlan Founder of the Mike Honcho Fan Club

    Why would you focus on MLS over Europe? That is dumb. Like focusing on AAA over MLB players.

    No shame in MLS being AAA, it is just how it is. Blow to the US ego, perhaps, but you cannot expect to make up 150 years of history in 25.

    Could you imagine national basketball teams of Europe not taking players of theirs that played in the NBA?
     
  18. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    Eh, we've got a dude I've never heard of from Derby County in there and another dude I've never heard of from somewhere in Portugal. I think the problem is that we don't have very many players in Europe who are worth calling up. The U-20 team is full of guys in Europe, but they haven't broken through as starters yet, and the mid-20s guys on the senior team just haven't been good enough to make the jump to that level.
     
  19. Unimane

    Unimane Kill "The Caucasian"

    The Boyd kid just switched from New Zealand and I think Holmes was playing too well to justify sending home. However, they did send home Sargent, Amon, Carter-Vickers and didn't even call up dudes like Andrew Wooten, Evan Horvath and others who are equal or better to the MLS relics like Gonzalez, Altidore, among others.

    I think the MLS folks got pissy over Klinsmann pushing players to play in Europe that they pushed for US Soccer to hire one of their own. Soccer is in an odd state here in this country. We haven't accomplished much, but we have a fair amount of that good ol' American arrogance creeping into the hierarchy of the soccer establishment. I see it in a lot of these clubs at the youth level.
     
  20. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    Horvath is injured, and Altidore is still the best striker in the pool by a pretty wide margin. If you think that's more a comment on the pool than on him, that's fine, but it's still a fact of life. I think everybody thinks Sargent is the striker of the future but he's hasn't exactly broken through yet. So we're talking about a Championship player who hasn't been able to get a PL job, a 20-year old prospect in the Danish league, a 19-year old with 205 career minutes at any level above the German 4th division, and a 29-year old 2BuLi player. You can make an argument that Amon might be a better choice than Jonathan Lewis (and I would agree with you), but U-20 prospects and 2nd division players abroad are always fringe players in the NT picture. It's not like Klinsmann (who infamously hated MLS) was giving Alfredo Morales and Danny Williams a ton of run.

    The early returns are that Berhalter has an unhealthy obsession with Wil Trapp, and I wouldn't be surprised if he were biased in favor of MLS players, since he's done the majority of his coaching at the MLS level. But we haven't seen anything yet from his squad selection that really tells me anything except that the pool sucks. I'm not that worked up about whether he chooses fringe MLSers or fringe Euros for the Gold Cup (especially since we know based on previously friendlies that he's not ignoring the fringe Euros)
     

Share This Page