General Soccer Thread

[lukethedrifter]

I'd say sticking in the top 10 seems reasonable. Develop top international players. Not so desperately require foreign born and developed players. That sort of thing.

[thrill]

The issue with US Soccer is transitioning from youth to pro, as I'm sure you've noticed with your experiences watching your nephew. Our kids are as good as anyone's until like 16. Then there's a gap between 16-22 where they fall off the radar. This is the time where traditional soccer powers turn their kids into young pros.

These two articles just came out and they highlight a huge problem.

This one talks about how rigidly our youth players are coached and how little freedom of expression they have with quotes from former players and respected youth national team coaches:
http://www.espnfc.com/team/united-state ... uth-policy

This one from a current player talks about how Jurgen expects his players to express themselves:
http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/story/j ... usa-111115

There's a cultural disconnect in our system right now and Jurgen isn't doing a great job of managing it. He was hired for a good reason

[MrSaigon]

I'm curious to see Nagbe play for a different coach. He's absolutely breathtaking at times, the way he just blows past people. He's also always the most-fouled player in MLS, because it is impossible to keep him in front of you and the refs let you do it just as often as you'd like.

He's in excellent form for the Timbers right now due to a tactical shift and (at least apparently) some competitiveness that I haven't seen from him in his five years here.

Over the years he's sort of drifted in and out of effectiveness, and he seems to lack a killer instinct. His magic seems to very often die right at the opponents 18. But the goods have always been there.

[thrill]

This is a great profile on Nagbe. He's got a real Landon Donovan vibe.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... are_btn_tw

[Hoot45]

Big day in St. Louis with the USMNT in town. There was a block party outside the Amsterdam Tavern to celebrate and it was packed with celebrities, including David Freese.

[Freed Roger]

Big day in St. Louis with the USMNT in town. There was a block party outside the Amsterdam Tavern to celebrate and it was packed with celebrities, including David Freese.

My kid is going. I didn't realize the team they are playing is a country. St. Vincent/Grenadine ...sounds like a mixed drink.

[go birds]

USMNT just gave up a goal to the worst team in the world

[Schlich]

I'm here. We got this.

[go birds]

Nice equalizer

[thrill]

If you care about US Soccer, I recommend hitting play on this before reading further, just to get the full effect:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-fc ... 53333.html

In his two-minute, 42-second response to a question about what he has learned about World Cup qualifying in CONCACAF, Klinsmann chose to address the growing concern and criticism over his national team program after a string of disappointing results from the senior side down to the Under-17s. And in his defiance, he gave himself and his coaching staff a collective pat on the back for the progress that has been achieved during his four years in charge.

"I think we can be proud of ourselves in what we've done so far, the last couple of years – in ALL age groups. I think this is what a lot of people unfortunately forget quickly. Because suddenly we came out of the Group of Death in Brazil, I don't know, people now expect maybe miracles, expect you to get easily into the final four of a World Cup or final eight, or have our Under-20s win the World Cup in New Zealand or our Under-17s win the World Cup in Chile. And that's not gonna happen. Because this is only a process that over many, many years will hopefully one day end in big, big successes.
"All of our programs made big strides, made big steps forward, and this is something where our coaches like a Tab Ramos and Andi Herzog with the 23s right now or even a Richie Williams [with the Under-17s] that was eliminated in the first round in Chile – which was the most, by far the most, difficult group he was in – and now we're going through a tremendous learning experience and brought our players to another level in their individual stages. So this is pretty cool to see. I think the Under-20s with Tab [had an] outstanding World Cup in New Zealand [but] lost it on a penalty shootout against the world champions in the quarterfinals.
"So when you hear a lot of people talking some things are going wrong because you lost maybe two or three games recently, then that's a bit immature (laughs). That's simply wrong. There's a lot of work ahead of us in all our areas but there's also a lot of excitement because our players are hungry for improvement. And hopefully, with that game [a two-legged playoff against Colombia] the under-23s have in Brazil, the second one will do maybe even a result that's better than the first one. But even if not, they're making strides."

Me rn:



To recap:
Despite terrible results, great progress is being made. Despite playing a regressive style and not getting the most out of his talent, great strides are being made. If you're critical, you're an immature soccer fan and wrong.


Oh, and:

And hopefully, with that game [a two-legged playoff against Colombia] the under-23s have in Brazil, the second one will do maybe even a result that's better than the first one. But even if not, they're making strides."

These comments were made after a comprehensive 2-1 loss where the US was up a man. Yesterday, the second game he referenced? US lost 5-1 in a complete tactical dismantling.


As always, Jurgen's failures are actually triumphs and we are naive and stupid for not realizing that. This egomaniacal charlatan is immune to criticism and incapable of improvement. What a waste of two world cup cycles, if not more. Unbelievable.