Have to say I fear Pulisic is going to spend most of his career injured. These hamstring problems are seriously worrying. Still, Reyna is brilliant and at the right place. Dest looks good.
US Men's National Team Discussion
- Thread starter TheReligion
- Start date
Was he injured much at Dortmund? Showed his quality in the run in for Chelsea after a slow start.
Might be a tug of war with England for him.
In most of the country the best athletes rarely choose football (soccer) over traditional American sports that have cachet and the potential of a big future as a pro. Football programs are present in most high schools and colleges, but rarely get the attention and funding the other major sports receive.
Giggs spent a good amount time in his 20s crocked then seemed to curtail them in this 30s, guessing as he changed his style of play. Perhaps Pulisic will need to be more controlled and less explosive. Think he can alter his style down the road?
That will probably always be true. Compared with twenty years ago, however, it’s night and day and moving in the right direction. The next step is to improve youth coaching but there are people on here who know a lot more about that than I do.
One wonders what effect the fears around head injuries and CTE will have on gridiron football long term, if any. I’d imagine at least some parents of future generations will direct their kids toward sports that carry less of such a risk?
I think he’ll have to alter his style of play. He had some hamstring problems at Dortmund IIRC but it seems to be getting worse over time.
Those are decent players but Yunus, Konrad and Dest have nothing to do with US soccer developments apart from a passport.
It won’t matter because the shit coach. Watch us not making 2022.
I think they're slowly getting there. Not looking fantastic yet and talks about a golden generation are too early but unlike smaller nations they don't need a golden generation per se but just a better infrastructure.
Therefore, just send every talented 15 year old they have to a Bundesliga academy - seems to be working.
Therefore, just send every talented 15 year old they have to a Bundesliga academy - seems to be working.
I am really excited about this international break. Average age is 21(!) and we will hopefully get to see Gio for the first time. Too bad Bremen would not release Sergeant.
I would add Johnny Cardoso to the list. Tim Vickery had a lot of good things to say about him.
How's Richards progressing at Bayern?
Just going by what I have read, he started in a cup game (I think Bayern had a bunch of injuries) and then promptly got injured right before his chance to start the next.
This is the beer talking, but I think Adams (if he could stay fit) would be an excellent Matic replacement. When I have watched Red Bull he is the one breaking up play and dropping between the CB's to pick up the ball. I have loved his game since he was at NYRB.
Konrad was born in Miami to Haitian parents. Moved to Spain aged 10, but would still be considered an “American development” and has roots in US Soccer surely!
And Pulisic is leaving camp. We are never going to see Pulisic, Gio, Adams, McKennie, and Dest together are we. 
Tim used to have a column on the BBC, was always very interesting. Does he have a podcast or his own website now?
I saw this article on ESPN.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-...will-complement-pulisic-and-reyna-in-midfield
I am wondering if he is free lancing.
I thought they maximized what they had. The English won’t admit it but in 2010 or thereabouts the US team was better than England. Yes England had better players individually , but they weren’t a better team. There was a stretch about 2-3 years that US was superior.
Podcast here
Pops up Guardian football weekly and Second Captains a good bit as well. Probably best to follow him on twitter to get his work.
Thank you for the kind words. Now, can we talk about a deal to transfer Davies down south? Dest and Davies as FB's for the next 10 years
.If they're really into it with their huge resources in college sports they can go very far. Their infrastructure is still the best
College sports are part of the problem when it comes to football/soccer. When the kids go that route they are usually way behind their European/South American/etc. peers by the time they hit 20. The reason for this is that the NCAA puts a hard cap on the number of hours they can get training each week. Also, many of these players are on partial or no scholarships, so they will need to work jobs and may not have access to the best nutrition. For kids who have no real professional future the college route is an excellent path to get a great education, but for the Reyna's and Pulisic's of the world it is a bad option. At 17 they were both starting for Dortmund. If they had stayed on the college track they would be playing 2 games a week and practicing for maybe a dozen hours total.
In order for the US to progress it needs to completely get rid of the "pay to play" scheme and push hard at developing the MLS academies. We are already starting to see this starting to work (McKinnie and Richards from FC Dallas, Reyna from NYCFC, etc.). Hopefully this generation is the beginning of something instead of an anomaly.
It has its downside off course, but they take their college sport seriously, and if magically tomorrow basketball = soccer, they'll be printing new rookies like nobody's business.
Off course it's all relatively speaking, they won't suddenly tops Brazil or Italy, but much better than whatever they're currently doing.
They'll still be lagging a few years behind the rest of the world. NCAA development will never be near the level of professional development. At best, it would be equal to baseball but the truth in that sport is one full year of minor league development exceeds three/four years of college development.
I remember Lalas and someone else, Martino or Holden think it was, having a big spat about club versus college development back in 2017, think it was, after the US collapsed in WCQ.
I remember Lalas and someone else, Martino or Holden think it was, having a big spat about club versus college development back in 2017, think it was, after the US collapsed in WCQ.
Thoughts on last night's scoreless draw?
essentially berhalter proving that even when you think he has no possible way of screwing things up, he shows that he can do anything he puts his mind to. 3 possible actual strikers brought in to choose from, and he puts lletget there who just sucks ass as a false 9.
I am in this line too.
First off, US Soccer did something amazing before the game. I captured it here: https://www.redcafe.net/threads/a-rare-praise-for-the-us-soccer-football-association.458875/
So my thoughts on the game:
- Brooks is our best CB and it's not close. Historically maybe only Pope was better??
- Dest is an absolute joy to watch and would have had an assist or two if we had, you know, actually played a center forward.
- We dominated the midfield in a way I can not remember the US doing against decent or better competition before.
- I love Weston.
- Musah was very impressive and we should do whatever it takes to get him in for the March WCQ's
- Reyna tried to do too much, but I guess downgrading from Haaland to Llegett will do tha to you.
- Greggy boy gets a C- grade for playing a late called MF at forward.
Overall I really enjoyed the game regardless of score.
Looks like a true #9 started tonight and Reyna scored his first senior goal.
And that #9 (Gioacchini) has two goals already as well.
If I remember correctly he became obsessed by yoga which was probably a big factor in him playing so long. Hamstring issues are a blight on the modern footballer, seems like they're becoming more common with everyone wanting no stop pressing and more explosive players
Was that Soto's debut as well? Grabbed a brace.
Yeah. Imagine that Gregg, you play a true #9 and you get 4 goals between the starter and sub.
Thoughts from the game:
Ream - never again
Miazga - blah
Mussah - Can we please please please cap tie him. So good in the middle of the park at 17!!
Reyna - Just because you play at Dortmund does no mean you get to do whatever you want. Oh, nice goal.
Really like what I saw from Johnny as well. he #16 suits him as he reminds me a bit of Carrick.
Gioacchini -- Johnny -- so many dudes I've never heard of. Any info on these two?
Gioacchini is a 20 yo who played in the second tier of France. Pretty good scoring record. Both goals today were very Chicharito like.
Johnny plays in Brazil. Reminds of a slightly more athletic Carrick without the passing range. He’s only 20, so hopefully it will come.
Mussah though... my word. Only 17. We need to cap tie him ASAP.
They had a golden age?
We are in it now! Please?They had a golden age?
Hopefully Bello keeps developing in time to be part of the World Cup squad. Bright spot in an otherwise horrific season for us, such a good talent when he can stay fit. Like England, the US have a fantastic fullback pool except they're almost all right backs. Dest is ok at LB but ideally for me he'd be on the right and Bello or Robinson on the left come 2022 with the way the U.S. want to play. Cannon is also excellent, and Richards has looked surprisingly good at RB.
The current hope for US football is in foreign born US nationals, or players relocating very young. The youth system here is very, very poor. It’s mainly a pay to play system that favours upper middle class families who don’t take sport as seriously as a career. It can be a pathway to a college scholarship, but any player going through the admittedly resource rich college system, will be too old to make a significant impact as a professional when they finally emerge.
The MLS is very poor in terms of quality, and most of the games are on artificial surfaces. Soccer has blown up here as a recreational and youth sport, but again it’s a business not a true development pathway to professional sports. The youth clubs of most professional teams are shite. The local Hispanic teams in our neighbourhood routinely thrash the Chicago Fire A teams at every youth level. And these kids are just playing for fun.
The US has some good and interesting young talents coming through. Still way less than most major nations, but they are all getting their development abroad. That’s the common denominator in their success to date.
The MLS is very poor in terms of quality, and most of the games are on artificial surfaces. Soccer has blown up here as a recreational and youth sport, but again it’s a business not a true development pathway to professional sports. The youth clubs of most professional teams are shite. The local Hispanic teams in our neighbourhood routinely thrash the Chicago Fire A teams at every youth level. And these kids are just playing for fun.
The US has some good and interesting young talents coming through. Still way less than most major nations, but they are all getting their development abroad. That’s the common denominator in their success to date.
Are you a fellow Atlanta United fan?
Anyways, agree on Bello. I saw less of Atlanta this year after we moved from Birmingham, but I have always been a fan.
Quick aside, talked with a member of the local USL team who knows a ton about US Soccer. When I asked him about Carlton he just should his head and said “what a fecking waste”.
Anyways, based on what I saw from Miazga today I want to see Richards fast tracked as Brooks partner. Brooks looked so comfortable building from the back against Wales. Imagine what he could do if he was not having to carry Miazga or Long or Zimmerman!