Posted on 06/30/2009 12:06:41 PM PDT by Schnucki
Sorry, been meaning to say this for a couple of days. It’s not very fair that the Americans, who couldn’t give a fig about soccer, are getting really good at it. Meanwhile, dear old England, as far as I can see, have got tons of work to do before they become serious contenders for next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
I’ve been saying since the World Cup was played in the US in 1994 and the hosts lost narrowly to Brazil, that the USA would win the trophy before England did so again. And I haven’t been proved wrong yet. This week, the USA was beaten in the final of the Chunky Chicken Cup in South Africa by Brazil. I think it was the Chunky Chicken Cup, but anyway it wasn’t the world’s most serious event. It did however have Italy, Spain and some other good sides in it.
I know more than a few England footballers who would give their right leg to beat Spain, possibly the best team in the world, in the semi finals and then be leading 2-0 at half time in the final against Brazil. The USA did just that - and though they capitulated in the second half, they produced some displays of which they could be proud, even in an irrelevant tournament. Meanwhile the cream of England’s youthful talent, the ones who are going to have to beat USA to the World Cup, was being murdered by Germany yet again in the European Under 21 tournament final in Malmo. Crushed by Germans in Sweden. Isn’t that what happened to Saab?
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
I still don’t care.I am ready for some real football.
What’s soccer?
Our problem is lack of consistency. In certain games, the US really steps up (such as against Italy in the last World Cup, where we were robbed by bad refereeing, the Spain game and the first half of the Brazil game). In other matches, our guys seems to forget what they’re doing- it’s maddening.
We shut Brazil down for 45 minute with the wall defense and some masterfully played offensive drives. But it was like a different team came onto the pitch in the 2nd half.
The good news is that we are seeing more and more kids playing soccer and sticking with it, especially in the Northeast. And our growing Hispanic population will provide us with a bigger pool of players. Plus, MLS is a respectable soccer league and will only get better with time.
The biggest sport in the world, and one with a good-sized fan base in the US, with professional teams in a dozen cities around the countries, with at least two expansion teams in the works.
USA looked like they were playing prevent defense in the second half and played scared offensively.
I blame the strategy more than the team on that one.
Now that's just not true. After curling and horseshoes it's one of my favorite sports. I'd play it myself except that I can't afford a good enough pair of ice skates.
What is this soccer you speak of?
Precisely...It’s amusing to see the Brits all spun up about this but this country really wouldn’t care all that much to see its team win the World Cup. I mean there would be some mild celebrations and fanfare, much like the women’s triumph in ‘99. But it would quickly dissipate.
Compare that to my feelings of my Steelers winning it all. It’s been more than four months and I STILL have a smile on my face every time I think of last season.
I don’t understand how teams like Man U and Chelsea play such splendid ball against other Premier clubs but then fall apart against the continentals. Is English football really that sub par?
Yeah, I have a feeling they didn’t have anything in the playbook about what to do when leading Brazil 2-0 at the half.
Our coaching is still weak. US soccer needs to stop being so tentative and defense-minded. Go on the offense and try to stay there- that’s what Brazil did to us in the 2nd half and it worked very well.
But games like that are good for us- other than Mexico and maybe Costa Rica, we have some real powder-puffs in our division. Playing Spain and Brazil and other teams like that makes us step up our game.
At least the officiating was decent in that game. The Swedish ref was great, IMO.
But we need our best players to play in Europe. The good news from the Confederations Cup is that guys like Jozy Altidore and Landon Donovan should be getting a good look from European clubs. And Tim Howard just signed a nice 5-year contract with Everton. I also came away very impressed with Charlie Davies.
The "B" team is pretty much playing the Gold Cup. Freddy Adu needs to step it up a notch, if he wants to make it to South Africa. Altidore is pretty much passing him by.
Soccer=Run all the down the field,have someone on the other team kick the ball all the way back. BORING!!
What’s soccer? It’s dangerous.
There once was a lad from Koblenz,
His balls were really immense!
..One day playing soccer
..He sprang his left knocker,
Then kicked it right over the fence.
The English Premiser League is maybe the 2nd best league in Europe, but keep in mind many of their players play for other countries when it comes to the World Cup.
I don’t know what the weakness is with the Brit national team- it would seem that they should have plenty of talent to choose from.
Huh? 3 of the final 4 teams from the Champions League were EPL clubs. Other than FC Barcelona the EPL owns Europe.
I could dig it. ;-)
A lot of egos. But they are rolling in their WC qualifying (they failed to even qualify for the Euro 2008 Tournament), with their Italian coach. They will be very dangerous in South Africa.
I was really impressed with Altidore- that guy clearly has the instinct to drive for the goal. Now if only we could get a couple more solid offensive players.
Howard is an amazing goalie, and you could see that the other players were listening to him on defense. But the poor guy had to contend with Brazil in our half for pretty much the last 45 minutes. No one can stop that forever.
I agree with you that our elite players need to be playing in Europe. But MLS getting more popular only serves to advance soccer in the US. I have seasons tickets to DC United, and the fans at the games are just hardcore.
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