Soccer Discussion

I'm an AC Milan fan, they're on ESPN3/Fox Soccer every week....ESPN3 is great for Serie A, pretty much every single match is on. That might change for next season because the TV rights have changed and FoxSoccer lost them to Al-Jazeera. Hopefully that won't affect the ESPN3 coverage. I think a lot of La Liga matches are on ESPN3 too. Unfortunately not much, if any, EPL on there.

 

That's how my dad was when he came to this country. Except it was the Redskins at the time.

 

There's always illegal internet video streaming sites. That is, assuming you actually want to watch your favorite team's games (thanks Alex McLeish).

 

I don't like Man U at all, but Man City is like your redneck neighbor winning the Powerball.

 

I dont know much about soccer (and follow it less), but if chelsea was a cat, they would be on life #8 right now.

 

For real. Bayern had that game won about 5 different times.

 

Anybody watch the USMNT tonight? Absolutely brilliant. Hard to pick from Donovan and Bradley for MOTM, and Jones, Torres, and Johnson all had performances that would've put them in the discussion on another night

 

Yeah, Scotland's not Spain, but it's been awhile since they've looked that good. Gonna be interesting to see what Wednesday night looks like.

 

Had a dimension we haven't had in almost a decade tonight. If this is the new US, we're dangerous.

 

I'm actually most interested in what two weeks from Tuesday looks like (in Guatemala City). Being able to trounce Scotland doesn't say a lot for how we play the big dogs. And, while I'm certainly interested in playing well against the big dogs, I want to just crush the dreams of those CONCACAF teams that aren't good enough to beat us regularly but are good enough that we often struggle. We had eight fixtures vs Central American sides in the last qualification cycle:

1-0 win in Guatemala
2-0 win vs Guatemala
2-2 draw in El Salvador (come from behind)
2-1 win vs Honduras (come from behind)
3-1 loss at Costa Rica
2-1 win vs El Salvador (come from behind)
3-2 win at Honduras (come from behind)
2-2 draw vs Costa Rica (come from behind)

I know we've been pretty good at picking up the points, but in only one match out of eight did we win by two goals. The next step is taking those battles and turning them into routs.

 

We deliberately played defensively once a lead was established in the past, though. That is somewhat against conventional wisdom, where when you have the lead you play a bit more aggressively to force the opposition to either risk giving up more points or pack it in on D. I think outcomes will be more decisive one way or the other with the current style, and there will be less draws and 1-point decisions.

 

To be fair, a lot of our CONCACAF opponents just put a bunch of defenders inside the 18 and hope for a tie.

 

Central American venues are notoriously difficult. We usually end up playing in some god-forsaken shithole against a team that plays both dirty and very defensive, fouling and diving everywhere. Honduras plays us way out in the damn jungle in San Pedro de Sula instead of their capital city. On top of that, the country usually hates us (usually, for good reason) and the fans lose their shit if they can beat us. There's actually a good video of the USA getting ready to play in Guatemala and the ceiling in the locker room is shaking. Fortunately, we only play Guatemala in this round and places like Jamaica aren't that intimidating, although the Jamaicans have a ton of speed that can cause issues for a single game setting.

 

Guatemala City in Guatemala isn't going as bad as Costa Rica or Honduras would be, I would think. I say Costa Rica because they're a damn good team for Central America.

 

That's kinda the point behind that comment. A game like yesterday's is a game that gets goals against somebody parking the bus in the 18. But there's also the wild card, as a few have mentioned, of the shithole fields and insane environments. I'm just so glad we don't ever have to go back to the God-forsaken concrete slab that is Estadio Saprissa.

 

To score more against teams crowding the box, we'll need improved forward play and shooting.

 

All of this is true.

 

Just to give an idea of the type of shit our national team has to deal with, this is where they'll be playing in a few weeks, Guatemala. What does it say about the environment if you need a 20 foot fence between the fans and the field?



Oh, and they'll play in Mexico City as well, which means Estadio Azteca. If you look closely at the picture below, they actually have a moat to keep those lunatics off the field. A [uck fay]ing moat.

 

I wouldn't say CONCACAF is underrated, but there is a lot of nonsense to put up with at a lot of those crappy Central American venues.

 

Game tonight. This is a big one for me, being half Canadian. I am in no way torn, I just want to kick some Canadian teeth in.