Posted on 03/25/2017 2:12:45 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
Clint Dempsey made a fairytale return to international duty with a hat-trick as the United States reignited their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign with a 6-0 thrashing of Honduras on Friday.
Dempsey, playing his first international since recovering from a heart problem that forced a six-month layoff, scored goals in each half as the Americans romped to a crucial victory at San Jose’s Avaya Stadium.
(Excerpt) Read more at hindustantimes.com ...
ping
This is more like it. :)
Honduras has traditionally been a strong competitor in soccer which makes Dempsey’s and team USA’s victory that much more impressive.
Honduras has traditionally been a strong competitor in soccer which makes Dempsey’s and team USA’s victory that much more impressive.USA-Honduras: Takeaways from a rare Hexagonal romp
Shheeesh BF....enough cut and paste there you could a pretty good wallpaperer er
I wish the Americas would form one large group, so the US had to qualify against South American teams (and could still get in with more slots available). The best CONCACAF teams usually get crushed when playing against any average South American or European teams. If they had to play harder to get in, they’d do better; otherwise, the “Conquerors of Haiti and Canada” really shouldn’t even be there.
So mad at what happened to Coleman, Everton’s bid to make Europe next season took a big hit.
And Panama loses to Trinidad and Tobago.
US really only needs to worry about beating out Honduras and Panama to get at least the third spot and automatic qualification.
Qualifying is fine the way it is. No doubt CONCACAF is not equal to Europe or South America. It is on par with Africa, Asia and Oceania. But R\regional play is fine and even with modern air travel, a large group play round is impractical and stacked against those that have to travel the farthest (that means us).
No, the USMNT just has to improve incrementally like we have been. We were just near the level of the best in 2002. We humiliated Portugal, Mexico and with good honest refereeing, would have beat Germany in the Quarterfinals. We lost that edge for a number of reasons, but being in CONCACAF is probably not one of the important ones.
Just my opinion.
Pulisic is looking like the real deal. I don’t think Landon Donovan was just being humble when he said CP is ahead of where Donovan was at the same age. I knew that from just watching him at Dortmund.
Nice. I love it when we thrash Honduras!
JK people of Honduras, good game and all that. My wee grandson is going to start playing soccer this spring (emphasis on play not soccer) maybe I should start paying attention a bit. Hubby was on a HS championship team too, so he loves the game.
We’ll be a contender to actually win the WC when we have what all
WC winners have - a team mainly/entirely full of players who all play for big clubs in truly “major” leagues (England, Germany, Italy, Spain), with one or two of these players being actual “All Stars” (to use an American sports term) in those leagues.
I agree the first step is to get back to a 2002 level, where we are the clear power of our region.
I just don’t see us rising to the level of Europe/South America without harder qualifying requirements. Beating Germany would be something, but beating Portugal didn’t mean very much. By Ronaldo’s own public admission, they are not a top-tier team.
“On par” with Africa, Oceania, or Asia won’t win a World Cup.
I think Pulisic’s development somewhat justifies Klinsi’s point that our players need to play in Europe, rather than the MLS.
Klinsi did some good things for the program that will bear fruit. I just thought his in game tactics were not up to snuff. Arena is better at getting the most out of his players.
In 2002 Portugal was the Group stage winner beating England and Germany. Early that year they had lost in the Euro Cup semi’s to France on a Pk. In the 2004 Euro Championships, they ran the table on all the favorites until the championship game when Greece played out of their minds and won the Euro Championship 1-0.
Beating Portugal at any time is significant. I don’t know what Ronaldo is talking about. Currently, Portugal is the reigning 2016 Euro Champions, having beaten France 1-0 in the final just last July.
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