Posted on 03/26/2016 6:18:44 PM PDT by BeadCounter
The United States' path toward the 2018 World Cup became considerably more difficult when coach Jurgen Klinsmann made some puzzling lineup choices and the American defense self-destructed Friday night in a 2-0 loss to Guatemala in Guatemala City.
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Edgar Castillo's poor backpass set up corner kicks that led to Rafael Morales' goal in the seventh minute. A goal kick by Paulo Motta went most of the length of the field in the 15th and Carlos Ruiz ran onto the ball, came in alone on goalkeeper Tim Howard and doubled the lead.
Seeking their eighth straight World Cup berth, the Americans had been unbeaten in 21 games against Guatemala since January 1988 and had never lost to Los Chapines in World Cup qualifying but now face a high-pressured rematch Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio.
Trinidad and Tobago (2-1) leads Group C with seven points after rallying for a 3-2 win at St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Friday. Guatemala (2-0-1) is one point back. The U.S. (1-1-1) has four points and St. Vincent (0-3) is last.
In September, the Americans play at St. Vincent and host Trinidad to complete the regional semifinals. The top two teams advance to the six-nation regional finals.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Bad loss, if there was an article on this, I missed it.
England had a big come back versus Germany to win 3-2.
This was such a disappointing game. And I doubt there was another article here since soccer doesn’t seem to win many fans here
We need a leader with some charisma who will entice kids to go into their backyard and build their skill sets at a young age.
The best example I could use is what Tiger Woods did for golf.
I know it won’t happen (even though Beckham talked about it happening in a few years in Miami) but imagine if Messi was to decide to play in the MLS. Interest in the sport would go thru the roof.
There is simply not enough money in US soccer to attract top talent, the NASL tried but failed. In a country where ad revenue is key, and game without commercial breaks (which makes it appealing to me, at least on an international level) faces an uphill struggle.
The only reason the USA gets into the WC is because they are in the CONCACAF Group. Were they in Europe or Latin America they would never, ever qualify!!!
I would love to see soccer succeed in the US, but there are structural issues with the sport that would have to be addressed. My town of 40K people had three starters on the 1994 US team (when the US hosted the World Cup), and many touted this as a chance to sell the American public on soccer. Instead, viewers were treated to a 0-0 tie in the final (which Italy seemed to be deliberately aiming for), and the first World Cup final settled by a shootout. Viewers watched almost 3 hours of soccer without a goal; it was a marketing disaster.
I think they should remove a couple of players from each team for a higher-scoring sport; it is too easy for a team to “park the bus”/put everyone on defense (either to get a tie against a better team or protect a 1-0 lead). They have to do something; it just isn’t working in its current form. For decades I’ve been hearing that it will catch on in the US any day now - and for decades it hasn’t.
That said, I do think soccer needs slightly more scoring, for two reasons. First, in soccer the questionable call (or no call) looms far too large. Officiating mistakes occur in all sports, and one has to be philosophical about them. In most sports, however, teams suck it up, say "let's get it back," and have a reasonable chance to do us, unless of course the mistake occurs in the closing minutes of a football game, or the closing seconds of a basketball game. In soccer, however, the dearth of scoring makes a questionable penalty kick frequently decisive. Also, far too many important games in soccer are decided by the penalty kicks at the end. A bit more scoring would alleviate the problem.
I will leave it to those more expert in soccer to say how this could best be done. I've often thought that a slightly larger goal might be the solution. Or perhaps more generous substitutions, provided that time-wasting tactics towards the end of the game could be adequately policed. I'd even consider allowing players to reenter. The key here is moderation.
A 3-2 soccer game is the equivalent of a 21-14 football game. I know modern tv fans have been conditioned to want 42-35 games dominated by aerial circuses, but that's not the way the game was meant to be played. TV, of course, needs the high scoring games to hold audiences, given that a televised game consists of about six or eight minutes of play interspersed in a three hour commercial marathon. Basketball has fallen prey to the same disease. Reorient the game to the fans in the stands, and the true game might slowly reemerge.
I agree about the “third rate parodies”; very difficult to watch.
I’ll also leave it to the experts in soccer, though I don’t think the larger goal is the answer (simply because most penalty kicks are assumed to be in the bag - enlarging the net could make them a 100% sure thing, which they shouldn’t be). If soccer games could regularly generate a 3-2 final score, I think that alone would be a huge help. The 0-0 scores are fatal, and 1-0 isn’t much better (in my humble opinion) because of how the winning team can spend an hour protecting that lead.
Leonardo gave that elbow to the face of Tab Ramos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30rSHY9aFBI Brazil were not worthy winners.
Italy matched Brazil for outrage in their game versus Spain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdm0QBmUfLs where the player Enrique got hit.
I think the final was decent enough really.
Sounds like you are from where Tony Meola and Alexei Lalas are from.
You may be right about the penalties, but if necessary the spot could be moved back a bit to give the goalkeeper a fighting chance. Whatever. The point is reduce the number of important games decided by shootouts and the 1-0 and 2-1 games where a questionable call provided the margin. It wouldn’t take much.
Kearny NJ - where Meola, Ramos, and Harkes hail from.
I’m not a fan of Brazil, but in the past they’ve fielded some incredible teams (and ‘94 was a good team). Italy made the final boring as heck. I’m not knocking the sport; I am a fan at the international level because I believe the players give 110%. Watching MLS or the Mexican league is just a surefire way to fall asleep (literally), and I wish it was otherwise; they are just second-rate products compared to the European leagues, and American consumers have a choice (via their cable/internet packages).
Soccer is still very popular here, but there are many more shirts from other countries’ teams than MLS ones.
That’s a possibility; in any case, I hope they change something. I would like to see the popularity spread, but they’ll have to earn it. The lack of commercials is very appealing...
I'm a bit the opposite way, I don't mind Brazil and I know Jogo Bonito has brought a lot to the game and that 1994 squad for Brazil had some great players, Romario, etc. Final. But at times, I've hated Italy's gamesmanship and style of play but Baggio, Maldini and some of the others were quality at that.
I see that match is at youtube, I will try to rewatch it; though I admit Italy played their defensive "cattenacio" style, I thought they took some chances as well and that it wasn't totally parking the bus but I will see.
Ireland of course, defeated Italy I believe in the first game of the tournament for those teams; so that was quite a feat. It was at least in the opening round.
We will probably make up the difference but undoubtedly, we are in trouble and in 3rd place.
I remember when Ireland beat them because for a stadium that fits less than 80K people, a commentator said there were 200K Irishmen that claimed they were there. It was a great place for the game at the time, with the huge number of both groups living in the immediate vicinity of the stadium.
We host Guatemala on Tuesday in Columbus Ohio, have people noticed, we have a new national team logo!
Simple but traditional; wish our nation went back traditionally more to that time... I have to go but I think it's a bit like our older logos.
Auf Wedersehen, Klinsi.
We gave it a shot, but it just hasn’t worked out.
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