A Sea Of Red

If we lose Tuesday, what does that say about us? Losing two in a row, to GUATEMALA(!), in games that actually matter. These aren't friendlies.

What has Klinnsman done to make the team better, other than call up every foreign-league American he could possibly find? His job was to change the way we play, to make the US better tactically & technically, to make soccer more instinctual. That hasn't happened.

The LigaMX dominance of the MLS in the fake champions league was hard to watch. The Mexicans look like they know exactly what the want to do, and they do it. The Americans, basically opportunistic. That's what it looks like with the national team as well.

It'll be interesting to see if Christian Pulisic plays. I think Jurgen's feeling the heat.

USA routs Guatemala 4-0

Ah, yes. Instead of blaming our culture, which places football, basketball, baseball, and in some states, hockey, ahead of soccer...let's take little effort, do the American thing and blame the coach. Brilliant.

Meanwhile the U23 squad loses to Colombia 2-1 and fails to qualify for the Rio Olympics. A number of the guys eligible for U23 are getting calls to the senior squad

Some of the Colombia players were acting as if they were trying to qualify for the swim and dive competition in Rio and not soccer. The ref ate it up too. He fell hard for all of their shenanigans, including the blatant dive that resulted in Gil being carded then sent off.

That being said, the 2nd goal was the result of very lazy defending. Two US players were casually strolling up to mark the man on the wing, instead of challenging him immediately. They let him get off a cross that went to the penalty area where 4 US players were around, but only one was in position to mark Martinez. A decent turn got him a clean shot from the penalty mark. No player of this caliber should ever miss from there. Were I the coach, they'd all be running sprints for a week straight while listening to replays of the highlights of the game.

VAGolf wrote:Ah, yes. Instead of blaming our culture, which places football, basketball, baseball, and in some states, hockey, ahead of soccer...let's take little effort, do the American thing and blame the coach. Brilliant.

Uh, except in this case, Klinsmann is much more than just a coach, and he was brought in for a very specific purpose and plan. Add to the failure to produce his inexplicable management of the players, and I'd say there's more than a little blame that falls on the coach.

And I'd blame soccer culture in this country much more than I'd blame American sports culture. We need to move past crying about not getting the best athletes.

ALUmnus wrote:

VAGolf wrote:Ah, yes. Instead of blaming our culture, which places football, basketball, baseball, and in some states, hockey, ahead of soccer...let's take little effort, do the American thing and blame the coach. Brilliant.

Uh, except in this case, Klinsmann is much more than just a coach, and he was brought in for a very specific purpose and plan. Add to the failure to produce his inexplicable management of the players, and I'd say there's more than a little blame that falls on the coach.

And I'd blame soccer culture in this country much more than I'd blame American sports culture. We need to move past crying about not getting the best athletes.

He isn't completely to blame. Why would you expect a coach to succeed when the expectations are ridiculous and the resources are minimal?

You can hire and fire all of the coaches you want...US Soccer will NEVER be Brazil, Argentina, England, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Colombia, Uruguay, Italy or even Belgium. We might have a good couple of years but this consistent success you seek will never be found.

Klinsmann is fine...it's irrational soccer fan that needs to go.

You're building a bunch of straw men that no one is even arguing, and you keep moving the posts to prove whatever it is you're trying to prove. I guess it's: Klinsmann is fine because nobody cares so move on?

While not related to WC Qualifying directly, the USA rebounded from a bad loss to Colombia in its opening game of Copa America to rout Costa Rica 4-0 and tie with Los Cafeteros atop Group A. with a win in its final match against Paraguay, the Yanks move onto the knockout stage. A draw probably puts them in as well provided Colombia beats Paraguay tonight.

Paraguay is not going to be an easy game. Hopefully our offense clicks and we have multiple threats attacking and making plays beyond just Dempsey. One thing is for sure... we need an early lead.

At least we have a chance in rugby. Wish LU had a team.

[youtube][/youtube]

By the way, we beat Paraguay 1-0 despite being down a man much of the match, and advance to the quarters. Mighty Brazil on the other hand, lost to Peru and is out. Go figure.

Yeah I watched that Brazil game in disbelief. Brazil have played uninspired in several of the more recent major tournaments. They fail to live up to the hype.

On the other hand, the U.S. performance was gut-wrenching in the 2nd half. I couldn't believe the first call against Yedlin. The second one was a stupid play on his part. Moving forward, the U.S. managed to get the #1 seed coming out of their group, which is good. However, they have several players playing on a yellow card from that match against Paraguay. If any of them receive a yellow card against Ecuador they must sit out the next game (should we beat Ecuador). That's not good.

So, we beat Equador 2-1 and advance to the semis, which apparently was Klinsman's goal for this tourney. With Brazil out, I think we need to set that goal higher.

olldflame wrote:So, we beat Equador 2-1 and advance to the semis, which apparently was Klinsman's goal for this tourney. With Brazil out, I think we need to set that goal higher.

I would agree if Argentina wasn't the next game

And we're down three players.

Jonathan Carone wrote:And we're down three players.

That too

Jonathan Carone wrote:And we're down three players.

Yeah, but one of them is Bedoya, so...

Brazil wasn't really the difference-maker in this tournament, anyway. Chile and Argentina were to two best teams going in, along with Mexico (wow).

ALUmnus wrote:

Jonathan Carone wrote:And we're down three players.

Yeah, but one of them is Bedoya, so...

Brazil wasn't really the difference-maker in this tournament, anyway. Chile and Argentina were to two best teams going in, along with Mexico (wow).

This is Argentina's tournament everyone else is playing for pride. Losing 7-0 doesn't show much pride!

Humble_Opinion wrote:Yeah I watched that Brazil game in disbelief. Brazil have played uninspired in several of the more recent major tournaments. They fail to live up to the hype.

What hype? I don't think anyone picked them to do very well this year. They are very, very young.

ALUmnus wrote:

Jonathan Carone wrote:And we're down three players.

Yeah, but one of them is Bedoya, so...

Brazil wasn't really the difference-maker in this tournament, anyway. Chile and Argentina were to two best teams going in, along with Mexico (wow).

Wow is right...Mexico got absolutely crushed by Chile

VAGolf wrote:

Humble_Opinion wrote:Yeah I watched that Brazil game in disbelief. Brazil have played uninspired in several of the more recent major tournaments. They fail to live up to the hype.

What hype? I don't think anyone picked them to do very well this year. They are very, very young.

Brazil is a perennial favorite in almost every tournament... especially ones that exclude Europe. Yes, they are young this year and there was not a buzz around them like usual, but they didn't even make it out of the group stage. They were downplayed in their expectations and they still managed to underwhelm. This is a theme for them over the past decade.

ALUmnus wrote:

Jonathan Carone wrote:And we're down three players.

Yeah, but one of them is Bedoya, so...

Brazil wasn't really the difference-maker in this tournament, anyway. Chile and Argentina were to two best teams going in, along with Mexico (wow).

I'm hoping to see Nagbe. I don't think Klinnsman has a choice. The real kicker here is losing Jones and Wood. Jones is a workhorse and Wood is a strong player and solid with his back to goal. We don't really have replacements for either of those guys. Putting Nagbe on the field though and moving Zardes up top could make us faster though on the counters.