Thanks for caring gents. I am back in WI hosting customers on a visit, and thankfully that included some great scotch as a nightcap before I got back to my room to see the result. Could really not care less about the result.
You just missed me!
US Men's National Team Discussion
- Thread starter TheReligion
- Start date
You just missed me!
Based on the the trail of discarded Culver’s wrappers I figured as much.
This seems like a low fee. Only time will tell, but if he develops like I think/hope he does this is going to be a steal for Milan. Wish Utd had take a shot.
Agreed, it’ll be interesting to see how he does. We are in a bizarre space when it comes to US players. The country is now producing the sorts of players that other countries have done for a long time, but the type and calibre of these players - tactically astute and technically proficient - is new to the US. This is obviously very exciting for all those involved with American Soccer, but it’s leading to a bit of an overrating of the players, which is in turn heaping extra pressure on them.
The same thing happened to England. As we started producing technically gifted players - the sort of players our European counterparts had done for ages - we overrated the feck out of them because we’d rarely seen their like in an England shirt before. The US is doing the same thing now. If players like Pulisic, Reyna, Musah, Mckennie etc, had been born French, Spanish, heck even English now, they’d not be particularly highly rated. But the fact they are American, and we’ve never really seen American players of this quality consistently produced before, means they get hugely overhyped.
But the bigger picture, for Americans, is that these sorts of players are consistently starting to come through now, which bodes well for the future. All that remains is for the development to start to include players raised and trained in the US, rather than the continued over reliance on dual nationals or players raised through European coaching.
Hopefully the interest that Messi draws in, will see more focus on grassroots football here, and one can get the root and branch reform needed to take it away from the cataclysmic disaster that the current youth soccer system is.
The same thing happened to England. As we started producing technically gifted players - the sort of players our European counterparts had done for ages - we overrated the feck out of them because we’d rarely seen their like in an England shirt before. The US is doing the same thing now. If players like Pulisic, Reyna, Musah, Mckennie etc, had been born French, Spanish, heck even English now, they’d not be particularly highly rated. But the fact they are American, and we’ve never really seen American players of this quality consistently produced before, means they get hugely overhyped.
But the bigger picture, for Americans, is that these sorts of players are consistently starting to come through now, which bodes well for the future. All that remains is for the development to start to include players raised and trained in the US, rather than the continued over reliance on dual nationals or players raised through European coaching.
Hopefully the interest that Messi draws in, will see more focus on grassroots football here, and one can get the root and branch reform needed to take it away from the cataclysmic disaster that the current youth soccer system is.
The youth system will never be turned over because there's a massive pay to play system that benefits many people.
Another thing that holds back these more competent and technical players who are or will play outside the U.S. is the substandard coaches and managers of the USMNT.
There is a reason why youth talents are being immediately farmed out to Europe if they have the raw abilities around 14/15/16. Because the high school, college, and MLS youth systems are backwards and hinder the development of majority of promising players.
Agreed. I’ve worked in and around the soccer industry here for the last fifteen years, and the youth system is just a massive cash grab that prioritises a players ability to pay, rather than play.
in some cases that might be accurate but not everywhere....for example the club where i coach in the ECNL has scholarships that cover the costs for players who have financial struggles. It really just depends on how programs are set up
Berhalter Ball is Back Baby!
what an uninspired, insipid performance. Full of the pointless side to side passing, over defensive, and non movement you came to expect. Next 4 years are gonna be great!
what an uninspired, insipid performance. Full of the pointless side to side passing, over defensive, and non movement you came to expect. Next 4 years are gonna be great!
Revolutionary!!!!
Time for GGG Ball!
Balogun!
Poachers goal, love it.
Poachers goal, love it.
interesting first half performance
-Lund was far better than I was led to believe. Might we actually have a backup LB??
-Weston have a peak Weston game
-Tillman doing a decent Gio impression
@WI_Red looks like they are building a new national training center and HQ somewhere in the metro atlanta area
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/38406593/us-soccer-build-national-training-center-hq-atlanta
if they're smart it would be somewhere up around the alpharetta area
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/38406593/us-soccer-build-national-training-center-hq-atlanta
if they're smart it would be somewhere up around the alpharetta area
Honestly, it makes a lot of sense. Having the USSF in Chicago and the National training center in LA was just stupid. Centralizing it, especially in a city that is a travel hub and is far closer than LA to Europe is a smart choice, especially as our top players are more and more Euro based. May mean some more USMNT games down south .
.easy but busy airport to fly in and out of...traffic sucks but Marta is helpful. Curious to see where they put the location given how big the metro area is plus you already have big facilities for Atlanta United plus TopHat has a big facility club wise as well. Concorde is south atlanta and has a pretty big site as well.
You may be the only person I know who ever dared put 'MARTA' & 'helpful' in the same sentence.
helpful in that provides an inter loop travel service but i'd never get on that fecker no matter what
Really only helps to/from the airport & if one lives just outside 285. If one doesn’t live in Midtown, it’s a bit of a pain getting to the stops. Looked good on paper in the 70s, but its heyday is well in the past.
as are most transit systems nowadays b/c of the amount of people that now live in these big cities
Atlanta traffic is one of the worst i've ever had to endure..it's right up there with LA and DC traffic
Good point about MARTA, etc.
I lived in Atlanta for five years in the 00s, thankfully inside the perimeter. It was horrific back then, glad I don't have to tangle with it these days.
Marta is the Gregg Berhalter of public transportation. And I'm being nice to Marta with that comparison
Should have had something down in the Bradenton area with IMG Academy there all these years. Orlando could also have been a good location with the Disney/ESPN Sports complex and infrastructure.
Yes please. Someone to finally put Puli under some pressure.
Another young, talented winger who's playing at a high level....SIGN HIM UP
Berhalter would probably feels he's not ready, starts Morris on the wing.
USWNT…
feck her
She started off seemingly well with good causes but I feel she became obsessed with celebrity and cult following. I get narcissistic vibes from her at times.
let's just say the off the field stuff became more important to her and a couple others on that team instead of the team culture and team performances
Probably not real, but would be fantastic and a reason to add Milan to my must watch weekend list. If only Dest had not shit the bed last year at Milan it could have been a beautiful dream.
Looks like Gio and Berhalter have begun thawing their relationship. Must've been some very awkward talks...
Gio and his family were way out of line. Greg didn't help certain aspects of things but it's good they sorted it out.
Thoughts on the recent NL quarters?
Dest's attitude was an issue in the second leg but I also see Berhalter showed his shortcomings as a manager. He takes off Reyna for a RB to fill in the gap left by Dest's sending off but in doing so he leaves on two strikers, pushing Pepi to the wing. This in a 1-0 second leg, 4-0 aggregate on the road. The seemingly right choice there is to retain Reyna - who is good on the ball, can play wide naturally, and was dominating play through 40 minutes - and take off a striker. There was no need for two strikers when down a man and closing out a two-leg affair. It's almost as if Berhalter chose Reyna for personal reasons. Balogun was probably the player that should have been taken off at '42, then take off Reyna in the second half. Or take off Pepi seeing as how he was pushed wide in an unnatural, begging to be exploited position.
Dest should be dropped for the remaining rounds. Need to send a message that petulance and detrimental actions to the team will not be tolerated.
Dest's attitude was an issue in the second leg but I also see Berhalter showed his shortcomings as a manager. He takes off Reyna for a RB to fill in the gap left by Dest's sending off but in doing so he leaves on two strikers, pushing Pepi to the wing. This in a 1-0 second leg, 4-0 aggregate on the road. The seemingly right choice there is to retain Reyna - who is good on the ball, can play wide naturally, and was dominating play through 40 minutes - and take off a striker. There was no need for two strikers when down a man and closing out a two-leg affair. It's almost as if Berhalter chose Reyna for personal reasons. Balogun was probably the player that should have been taken off at '42, then take off Reyna in the second half. Or take off Pepi seeing as how he was pushed wide in an unnatural, begging to be exploited position.
Dest should be dropped for the remaining rounds. Need to send a message that petulance and detrimental actions to the team will not be tolerated.
Still don’t understand how Dest can be so unaware of the game? We just needed to finish it. I’m not sure any coach can ever trust he will be able to keep the bigger picture in mind when frustrated. None of that was remotely excusable. It is not like he is irreplaceable.
We have way too many players that think they are more than what they really are. And a head coach that should not be there, most likely wouldn’t be there except for Pulisic and a few others arguing for his return.
We have way too many players that think they are more than what they really are. And a head coach that should not be there, most likely wouldn’t be there except for Pulisic and a few others arguing for his return.
I've no idea what happened in the game but in fairness, taking a winger off and asking a forward to tuck in behind the ball when you're defending is a pretty classic way to play in a 442 side that goes a man down. If you take one of the forwards off you can lose all threat if you're not careful and invite the other team on.
Bump.
Did anyone manage to catch the CNL semi? I heard it was atrocious footballing despite holding 80% possession in regulation, and required a crazy own goal to send to extra time.
The match had one of those rare oddities - an opening goal in the first 60 seconds and the equalizing goal in the last 60 seconds of added time.
Did anyone manage to catch the CNL semi? I heard it was atrocious footballing despite holding 80% possession in regulation, and required a crazy own goal to send to extra time.
The match had one of those rare oddities - an opening goal in the first 60 seconds and the equalizing goal in the last 60 seconds of added time.