Posted on 09/05/2017 9:54:14 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
No es como comienza, sino como termina.
"It is not how it begins, but how it ends." That's the rallying cry broadcast to their fans and the wider world by FENAFUTH, the Honduran soccer federation, this week via its Twitter account, ahead of a simply enormous World Cup qualifying clash with the United States that figures to have a huge influence on which of the two nations will reach Russia 2018.
This is the very definition of a "six-pointer," a match that both sides need to win, but neither can afford to lose. Los Catrachos and their yanqui visitors sit deadlocked in third place in the CONCACAF Hexagonal standings on 8 points apiece, separated only by the hefty goal-differential advantage the US national team built with their 6-0 thrashing of Honduras in San Jose, California back in March.
Tuesday's hosts may fancy their chances at revenge, given that they've turned San Pedro Sula into one of CONCACAF's most imposing away locales. A muggy afternoon kickoff under the tropical sun will crank the heat index up towards the triple-digits in Fahrenheit terms, while past occasions have seen a long, overgrown playing surface and large, loud crowds.
(Excerpt) Read more at lagalaxy.com ...
You are correct, I did not realize they are having such trouble.
#3 FIFA, well, that’s misleading.
Argentina may miss the World Cup.
There’s a part of me that hopes we don’t qualify for Russia, because the program needs a complete overhaul. Starting with getting rid of Gulati. If we do qualify, it will just be the “same old, same old.”
Ater the last game against Costa Rica I might be happy with one point.
Australia defeated Thailand only 2-1.
Syria must have come back to draw Iran, 2-2, I know Syria was down. I once had a video of Syria vs. Iran, the game was played probably around 1989, and Iran stomped them, I think scored over 10 goals.
I think Argentina might have been low in the standings before but ended up making the final at the last World Cup. No wonder they are down there if they lost to Bolivia.
Asia: http://int.soccerway.com/international/asia/wc-qualifying-asia/2018-russia/3rd-round/r30232/
North Korea, buzzards, may have been kicked out because of drug use, I vaguely remember the story. They are not in the competition.
And I’ll add to your comment (with which I agree), we’ve generally embarrassed ourselves anyway when the WC is in Europe, so probably not too steep a price to pay (missing the WC) to ensure US Soccer gets the clean sweep it needs.
Google has chosen itself to be the ultimate censorship determinater of all intelligence and "hate speech".
Perhaps you need to be less critical or Germany's opponents, especially when the opponent has a Google Center in that country.
LMAO !
Welcome to the world of 'Politically Correct', enforced by Google !
And it’s clear now opposing teams’ strategy against the US is to go after Pulisic.
Sadly, I think you really have a point. I have been coaching for a long time. As you may know, US Soccer has just overhauled the way clubs train and play. It was very, very clear to us lowly club coaches that US Soccer is not happy with the way kids are coming through programs. They feel they are not developed well enough.
In part, I understand their thinking, but there just aren’t going to be Ajax junior replica programs in the US — at least not yet. So, it seems to me that US Soccer is trying to, in part, blame the training system for some of their woes.
Admittedly, I haven’t watched much of the new Bruce Arena team play, but I was aghast watching the team play Costa Rica. What crap play. Not necessarily tactics so much, but fundamentals. Really poor passing, bad runs, etc.
When Costa Rica was up 1 - nil late in the game you could see Costa Rica just parked the bus and the US team had absolutely no answer. No penetration.
Sad. I’m not sure they make the World Cup, and maybe that’s okay, except I don’t think they - or anyone else for that matter - has the answer here. I will posit this, Bruce Arena is old. He’s been around the block a number of times and I question his drive. His passion and his ability to inspire top play.
For all his faults, Klinsman was a slave driver and a wonk, just as you would expect a German to be, and many rebelled against this, so at this point oscillating between an authoritarian (Klinsman) and your best friend as coach (Arena), nothing seems to be working and I don’t know if anyone really knows why.
Well as long as parents have to pony up thousands of dollars to send their kids to soccer academies here, to play a game that homeless Brazilian kids can play in the streets, it won’t change.
“North Korea, buzzards, may have been kicked out because of drug use, I vaguely remember the story. They are not in the competition.”
Didn’t it have something to do with the horrible treatment that the players and coaches got from the NK government when they got back home after doing so terribly in the last WC?
Not sure, but I think I’m remembering correctly.
Costa Rica has become one of CONCACAFs most reliable, even when the US or Mexico slump, no one wants to give the little Central American country deserved credit but they were in the Quarterfinals in 2014; maybe they are that good now.
“I will posit this, Bruce Arena is old.”
Yessiree. I’m now 53 and Arena was the coach at UVa when I was a PLAYER in college!
“... homeless Brazilian kids...”
While this is true, I think Brazil now has a whole lot of those academies as well.
“Didn’t it have something to do with the horrible treatment that the players and coaches got from the NK government when they got back home after doing so terribly in the last WC?
Not sure, but I think I’m remembering correctly.”
Yes, that could be it as well. It’s not worth researching, I’d take your word for it.
“So, it seems to me that US Soccer is trying to, in part, blame the training system for some of their woes.”
That would be typical of those clowns. We made the WC quarterfinals in 2002, 15 years ago. Under their wonderful leadership, have we really gotten any closer to the Brazils/Argentinas/Germanys of the world since then?
We got swept by COSTA RICA!!!
I know that wouldn’t have happened in the Reyna/Harkes/Dooley/Donovan and, dare I see (gulp) Lalas era.
I don’t feel that good about this game, mainly because it is there. I thought this last game might be a draw. Honduras really needs to win this to be in the mix.
I think Bruce still has the drive. I am sure he is far from the players’ “best friend” all the time. We don’t see all that goes on.
US soccer continues to have several systemic problems. Great athletes get sucked away to other sports. There is not a “street soccer” cultures. Finally, our development programs suffer from a dearth of high quality coaches. I am an example.
I am 66. I played top level NCAA soccer in the early ‘70’s and continued to play for many years in tough amateur leagues. I have coached at every level in youth and adult leagues. I currently coach a rural Oklahoma high school varsity boys team. I know the game, I know how to coach, and I can motivate and improve players. HOWEVER, I am NOT qualified to coach those very good players who have a real chance to go to the highest levels (for instance, there is no way that I can demonstrate how to drive a curving ball over a wall in a set piece.) In Europe, such players have multiple and convenient opportunities to train with low level pros and be coached by ex-pros, of which there are thousands. In the US, there is just not that pool of smart experienced ex-pros to coach and MENTOR those players on the cusp. If they go NCAA they don’t get that and they certainly don’t get that in even the better elite teams their parents pay a lot of money for.
I love soccer and our US players who generally play with grit and for the love of the game. I am not a cry baby when my observation is that we are just still not very good.
I’ll go out on a limb and say Honduras beats us. We’ve had these Central American losses before.
Excellent analysis. I would say you are spot on. However, I don’t always buy the “other sports syphon off the best athletes” theory. There are far more kids playing soccer at the club level than are playing football, for example.
I think your initial point is more on target. After years I have had to personally admit the same. I have an excellent knowledge of both technique and tactics and I can motivate and inspire, but getting a really good player to that next level is really hard.
Having said that, I have also noticed that there is a really bad trend in club soccer that has been emerging more and more, and I’m not sure other sports have the same dilemma.
The growing issue I have noticed is that player’s attention, focus, and drive is waning. Even coaching higher level teams (i.e., good caliber players) players have many things going on in their lives as parents want Johnnie or Suzy to experience everything. That means soccer, hockey, band, Lacrosse, and more — all at the same time. I have had good players come directly from cross country training to soccer practice. They’re bodies are toast by that time. And I am seeing this division of attention more and more and it’s very hard to develop a team with a number of players randomly missing practices and matches.
But, yeah, completely agree with your point about coaching, that’s really good insight.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.