Bradley stepped-up for this game. I'll eat my words about him I posted earlier. Just hope he can keep it up.
I agree. As good as Peru is, I'd rather face them than Brazil.I think the shock is Brazil not making it out of the group stage. I was worried Brazil would get 2nd in the group and we'd end up facing them.
Decent. I mean, they tied Brazil, they tied Peru and they whooped Haiti. Had the refs on this tournament been instructed on how to call handballs, they wouldn't have made it to the second round. They look similar to Costa Rica so we can definitely beat them. Let's see which team shows up on Thursday for the U.S.How good is Ecuador?
So Wood, Bedoya & Jones are out. The only replaceable one is Bedoya. We don't have anybody worth starting behind Wood & Jones. So I'm assuming it will be Yedlin, Beckerman and Suzi.
Yeah, Argentina is going to make us die in death. At least we'll play for 3rd place. #silverlining
I agree. And it's not like I think we could beat ArgenMessi with the 3 guys that are suspended, but I would feel better going into the match.3rd or 4th place in this tournament with like half a dozen top 10 teams is pretty good considering how the team has been performing preCopa. It would be nice to get your homeland in either the Champ or 3rd place game and knock the crap out of them.
Jones threw a punch to a player's face (a weak punch but he connected). it was more like a tap but his fist was closed (see video from link.Still don't really understand what Jones did to earn his red card...but silly yellow cards in any of those 4 games will cause maybe UCF's 2nd most valuable player, Wood, to miss the semi-final games (along with Jones and Bedoya).
If USA plays Argentina...possession might be 80% or more to the South Americans...as maybe USA's best shot is to get it to penalty kicks if they can.
I still don't understand cheap shots, shirt pulling, etc...something I never did or barely ever witnessed during my long playing career...
Disagree somewhat. I think Wood is somewhat replaceable. Dont get me wrong, he has been fantastic in this tournament. I just think we have some options there. We have Pulisic and Wondo. I personally would go with Pulisic. Ive never been a big fan of Bedoya. I think it might even be addition through subtraction. Jones is a big loss. He shows up in big games like the veteran that he is. Too bad our petition wasnt heard.So Wood, Bedoya & Jones are out. The only replaceable one is Bedoya. We don't have anybody worth starting behind Wood & Jones. So I'm assuming it will be Yedlin, Beckerman and Suzi.
Yeah, Argentina is going to make us die in death. At least we'll play for 3rd place. #silverlining
What does the winner of this sewing tournament get for winning? Some coronas and pineapples and shit? Also, someone told me Messi was retarded or something. Is there any truth to that? Didn't Germany prepare his anus a few years back?
You're such a funny Nazi sympathizer.
My prediction:
Argentina 4
USA 1
We score in garbage time.
I'm surprised it wasn't worse. 0 shots on goal. 1 shot period. "****ing Bradley" was constantly uttered. 70-30 possession.Pretty close. 4-0. We are shittier than you thought.
^^^This^^^Prior to the tournament, I expected 2nd place finish in the group and a loss to Brazil in the quarterfinals. They surpassed my expectations even if the loss to Argentina was a bad one. The South American teams are strong competition in world soccer, not just regional tournaments. This was a good showing by the US, even more so if they can snag 3rd in the consolation game.
We're just not ready and we won't be ready for another 10-20 years. That is, if the infrastructure and training available now stays in place and improves and expands.Well last night sucked. I was thinking it was going to be 5-0 but was hoping for 5-1. God we suck.
I agree money is key. Deandre Yedlin is the perfect example. They flashed a bunch of money in his face and he left a starting spot in a premier team in our league to go ride the bench for 2 overseas clubs so far. He's an afterthought in just 2 years of being in Europe. His development stalled, his stock dropped, but his pockets got fat as fukc. Can't say I blame him for chasing the money, but I would hope that these kids would think about what is best for them as a player and not as a person.We will never be ready so long as two things do not change:
1. Player bonus pay equals what is paid to other players of elite teams. This will never happen so long as the men's team has to subsidize not only the women's team, but also the women's club league and JK's absurd salaries. I start laughing when I hear the women talk about "equality." They generate 25% of the income and more than half of the expenses. They make more as salaried employees of the USSF (in addition to their club team pay) that meets or exceeds the pay for most Western football federation middle tier executives (before bribes where applicable). Meanwhile, all that cash is broken off from the pay the men should get. If you want to beat Rooney and Messi, pay the effing players what Rooney and Messi get paid. Otherwise, the players will take a pass during the primes of their careers (See generally, Brad Friedel). If you want to talk about equality, fine. Let's pay our men equal with other men around the world, then divide up what's left and see if the remainder is enough to reasonably match what the women take in and what other women are paid throughout the world. And how about we start deducting for the all the games that are net losers that the women schedule?
2. The mindset of this country is focused on education driven outcomes for athletes subsidized by monopolistic owners who want educational institutions to absorb labor development costs in exchange for free marketing.
We are trying to play the same game with different rules from everyone else. Rules that cause external pressures that other teams do not have to absorb. You either embrace that fact because we are Americans with American values and stand by the team regardless of result or you shut the heck up because the reality is that you are expecting results that can never occur without a fundamental change in how we do business. And that change will have to be ugly. (Signing kids to undisclosed pro contracts and giving them HGH, a la Messi. That's cool in Spain. Most Americans would say you belong in prison for doing that. As long as we play by our rules, the Messi's of the world will elude us.)
Cue tired discussion from people who know nothing about sports physiology and training or that played soccer at a high level telling me that LeBron James would be the greatest goalkeeper ever to live.