Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

[fugazi]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

I thought Yedlin did a great job, except when he was asked to kick the ball.

[tHurley2010]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

True, other question is will Klins remain with contract, or get an offer for a pro club he cannot resist. Im excited about young talent, which I still believe was his reasoning for most selections. He is thinking 2018 really making an Impact on the world stage. Now he will have qualification, 2 gold cups, copa america, hopefully a confederations cup as well to get them ready. Future looks bright in USA for Futbol, especially if Klins rides out contract. MLS continued expansion will only give more opportunities for young talent and grow the sport. Here in Orlando, starting MLS next season, with KaKa joining team. Builds excitement for example, with youth academy's popping up everywhere.
I think he will continue to push talent to play in Europe, but MLS showing some talent on team as well: Yedlin, Besler, Gonzalez, etc.
Why oh why did Wondo not keep ball down, his dream came and gone.....

I doubt Klinsmann would take a contract with any club team at this point. He's tried that...and it didn't work out so well for him. He has a nice, comfy job with the USMNT.

[tHurley2010]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

Agree, but he deserves a better fate, that last night.

Yeah, he deserved a shot at penalties. And we so nearly delivered that opportunity to him.

I'm absolutely gutted for Tim Howard. He survived shot after shot after shot. Pretty soon that dam was gonna burst. It's just too bad that the game wasn't decided by that point (Wondo...man that was harsh).

[msuduo]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

Klinsmann has already gone on record saying that he'll be bringing in anyone and everyone from the 1991s to the 1999s, leaving no rock unturned. We could have up to 5 major tournaments before the next WC. We've got to find more fish in the sea in a hurry. I like his thinking

Should be fun to watch

[p_rushing]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

Yes, because even the best keeper stops every shot.

Obviously they don't, but the best goalies do stop the 2nd goal that he allowed. I played goalie and I would have done the same thing Howard did for positioning. With his positioning, he had the shot stopped unless he played a perfect ball to the far top corner. Even the best scorers would be hard pressed to make that with a defender on your hip and having to strike it left footed, go across the goal face, and then turn left.

Howard just froze, lost his concentration, or something. If he was truthful, I'm sure he would admit he screwed that one up. He would also probably save that one the other 9 out of 10 times.

The first goal he gave up, I don't fault him. He had multiple players in the box and had to worry about that. There wasn't much he could fix on that one. He was great on the other saves. He always been great at saving shots where he has to react and cover the whole goal. Those are the hardest to save as you can't do anything to cut down the angles. That's why I say he never reached his full potential. He stops the hard shots, but then allows easier ones where he only had to cover less than 50% of the goal.

[iTz BlaKe B]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

I'm proud of the team. They played hard and represented our nation with a lot of class. Klinsman did the right thing by sitting back on defense and trying to get a counter goal. We almost won it with that Wondo shot and my heart breaks for the guy because he's worked his entire life for that opportunity and the ball just didn't go in the net this time. We have a really slow team and we probably would've gave up more goals to them countering. I know at least one of there's was a counter. My only gripe would be robbing Landon of his last World Cup.

[eyeamg0dly]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

I'm proud of the team. They played hard and represented our nation with a lot of class. Klinsman did the right thing by sitting back on defense and trying to get a counter goal. We almost won it with that Wondo shot and my heart breaks for the guy because he's worked his entire life for that opportunity and the ball just didn't go in the net this time. We have a really slow team and we probably would've gave up more goals to them countering. I know at least one of there's was a counter. My only gripe would be robbing Landon of his last World Cup.

Landon robbed himself of his last WC. Do you think Usain Bolt takes a sabbatical leading up to the Olympics? And then turns around and runs poorly and would expect to go? How about Lebron saying to his team, I am going to go on vacation the first half of the season, you guys got this.

Picking Julian Green over Landon Donovan was a great move by Klinsman. Not only did this kid give us hope against Belgium, he also gave everyone a glimpse of the next WC.

[jasontoddwhitt]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

Reading the comments from people on ESPN on the Landon Donovan article about Jurgen's tactics, I think my head hurts.

First, Landon's comments come across as sour grapes.
Second, the people screaming that Landon should've been Jozy's backup. He's not a holding forward...jeez. Jurgen's mistake in this case was not bringing Eddie Johnson or Terrence Boyd.
Third...Jurgen hates MLS players....must be why he brought ten of them to Brazil.

I need to stop reading ESPN comments.

[Boltman]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

Picking Julian Green over Landon Donovan was a great move by Klinsman. Not only did this kid give us hope against Belgium, he also gave everyone a glimpse of the next WC.

It's a brilliant move, giving the youngsters just a taste of the WC. It leaves them hungry for the next one and hopeful to have an even greater showing in a larger role.

[iTz BlaKe B]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

Landon robbed himself of his last WC. Do you think Usain Bolt takes a sabbatical leading up to the Olympics? And then turns around and runs poorly and would expect to go? How about Lebron saying to his team, I am going to go on vacation the first half of the season, you guys got this.

Picking Julian Green over Landon Donovan was a great move by Klinsman. Not only did this kid give us hope against Belgium, he also gave everyone a glimpse of the next WC.

I'm not sure what he did because I didn't follow the team until the final roster was released and everyone was surprised with the Donovan exemption. Did he fall off in his play? If Dempsey was going to be Jozy's backup all along couldn't you have just moved Dempsey up and put Donovan behind him and keep Bradley back. I don't know it doesn't matter now.

Also it was really cool of Obama to call Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey

[eyeamg0dly]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

I'm not sure what he did because I didn't follow the team until the final roster was released and everyone was surprised with the Donovan exemption. Did he fall off in his play? If Dempsey was going to be Jozy's backup all along couldn't you have just moved Dempsey up and put Donovan behind him and keep Bradley back. I don't know it doesn't matter now.

Also it was really cool of Obama to call Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey

All three of those players have major fundamental differences, unfortunately the team didn't have anyone else who could fit what Jozy could do, and that is hold up play so the midfield can join the attack. This caused the lineup to change drastically and caused the offense to be anemic. If the team had more depth or players who could interchange positions better, we might have had more chances to score during the WC.

As far as Donovan is concerned, he took time off from playing and then came back and played poorly. Had he not taken the time off, he would have been in form coming up to the team selection. Unfortunately even if we had him there would have been no differences tactically that would even been worth it.

[msuduo]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

All three of those players have major fundamental differences, unfortunately the team didn't have anyone else who could fit what Jozy could do, and that is hold up play so the midfield can join the attack. This caused the lineup to change drastically and caused the offense to be anemic. If the team had more depth or players who could interchange positions better, we might have had more chances to score during the WC.

As far as Donovan is concerned, he took time off from playing and then came back and played poorly. Had he not taken the time off, he would have been in form coming up to the team selection. Unfortunately even if we had him there would have been no differences tactically that would even been worth it.

At least get the facts straight. Donovan didn't take time off and come back only to play poor. He had one bad game, Mexico this year, which was an entire year after "The Sabbatical". Good enough to win Player of the Tournament at the Gold Cup (Wondo? Davis?). Good enough to create more than double the scoring chances for the USMNT team in 2013. Good enough to play his way back to the WCQ roster and play a big part in qualifying.

If you were going to do it, it should've been done after "The Sabbatical".
Had JK known that Antidote was going to go down and that AN wasn't going to recover from his ankle injury, maybe things would've been different.

But, he wasn't the only chap that helped lead us to Brazil only to be left behind.

[iTz BlaKe B]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

I think all these are valid opinions but hey nobody knew Jozy would get hurt. I'm just a casual fan who maybe ignorantly thinks what if Donovan had one last performance of his life and scored 4-5 goals this World Cup. I feel bad for him and Wondo. The way I heard it explained ( Bill Simmons podcast which definitely isn't a soccer podcast ) was he just needed time off because he was getting old. Since LeBron missing half the year and trying to lead a team in the playoffs was re fenced I was thinking it was a more Dwayne Wade situation where he actually had some validity to miss time and preserve himself for the playoffs/world cup.

What's the word on Besler and Green going to England to play?

[dickey1331]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

Well Green plays in Germany.

[iTz BlaKe B]

re: Official USMNT/USWNT Thread

Well Green plays in Germany.

Aren't the Spurs negotiating for him?