Everything Soccer

[ACamp1900]

It's amazing how badly our teams, A, B, C whoever can just be overwhelmed by other national teams during extended portions of matches...

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Bayern just signed James Rodriguez from Madrid:

 

[Old Man Mike]

Regarding the USMNTs match vs Panama: I didn't see much talent there to place on the A-Team. It is, of course, completely unfair to speak of Germany's playing their "second" team in the same breath as Arena playing ours. Only one thing is the same: both coaches wanted to take a look at their guys and didn't REALLY care how the matches played out --- bigger fish being fried.

But having said that: did Arena learn anything useful? Other than Gonzalez and (almost by default) Guzan, are there any players there who can actually help? Dwyer would be the first to wonder about, I suppose, and maybe he's OK, but do we want him over Wood, Dempsey ... even Morris ... when the money's on the table? Rowe or whatever his name is, looked good offensively, but not defensively. McCarty, Corona, and Agosta (spelling?) are now "Oh Yeh" and now "Oh Gawd!." Besler and Bedoya are who they are --- down the bench hard workers, but little skill. Zusi --- Lord --- matador defense.

Who do we look forward to?

 

[ACamp1900]

Omar and Guzman are the only ones from this team that can step in right now... the hope is a couple of the rest grow into it of course, only time will tell. Honestly surprised we didn't see some names like Miazga, Green, or Zaleam on the squad if seeing if some talent can step up was the goal tho.

 

[NorthDakota]

Yo Acamp, how you feel about James jumping to FC Hollywood?

 

[Irish Joe]

Omar and Guzman are the only ones from this team that can step in right now... the hope is a couple of the rest grow into it of course, only time will tell. Honestly surprised we didn't see some names like Miazga, Green, or Zaleam on the squad if seeing if some talent can step up was the goal tho.

Miazga, Green & Zelalem are trying to establish themselves in Europe and need to be there for their respective preseason camps. Better club standing helps them for the next cycle.

This Gold Cup is about filling out the roster for 2018, that trio are more likely for 2022 (wow that used to sound far away).

 

[ACamp1900]

Yeah I guess that makes sense... it'd be nice to have ANYONE with real long term promise behind him in this thing tho... something to latch onto. Really we have BG and OG, Besler, and a roster of, 'maybe lightning strikes??'... not very inspiring. I'm usually completely overtaken by Gold Cups,... this time around I have trouble even remembering when our next game is...

 

[Irish Joe]

Yea but the year-before-World-Cup Gold Cups tend to be "tryout" teams trying to see who could be useful in Russia. We won it in '13 with a B team.

With our next two opponents we'll probably see even more experimenting. Wouldn't be surprised if Roldan starts tomorrow to cap-tie him.

I'd love it if last game was the last time we saw Bedoya....I don't get why they keep calling him up.

 

[ACamp1900]

Idk if you can compare this to 2013 tho... there were numerous established guys on that roster... to one of your points tho, pretty sure Bedoya was on that team too. Lol

 

[Irish Joe]

Haha yea I think he was. That team was also helped by having Landon Donovan trying to work his way back into the fold. Never a bad thing to have the greatest American player with a motive in the lineup.

 

[ACamp1900]

the greatest American player with a motive in the lineup.

Yes Omar was there in 2013 too....

(Long story newbie, just go with it).

 

[Irish Joe]

If you say so

 

[Old Man Mike]

My opinion of Bedoya is that he must work his butt off in practice and is admired by the staff (same thing with Klinsmann too apparently.) He has an extremely high work rate on the pitch, trying to make up for lack of last-third skill with hustle, I suppose. Note that he wore the Captain's armband last game --- that seems to be saying something about coaching opinion --- is it the dreaded "intangibles" factor?

Because he is such a hard worker, I find it difficult to dislike him, but i wish he could actually ADD something to the attacking third.

 

[ACamp1900]

Felt nostalgic and looked at some older Champions Leagues from my lifetime... I'm not a fan of the way they are expanding it to include more and more of the bigger leagues and less and less of the rest of Europe.

1982:Aston Villa won the cup
1983: Something called Widzew Łódź made the semis before Hamburg won the cup
1984: Dundee United made the semis
1985: Panathinaikos and Bordeaux both made the semis
1986: Steaua Bucharest won the cup
1987: Dynamo Kyiv made the semis
1988: PSV Eindhoven won the cup
1989: Galatasaray andSteaua faced off in a semi
1990:The quarters was mostly teams that would never make the groups now
1991: Red Star Belgrade, Marseille and Spartak made the semis; with RSB winning the cup
1992: Sampdoria took Barcelona to extra time in the finals
1993: A completely different format with the groups coming after the knockouts if you will and the two top teams from the groups playing in the final.

From there you had:
AJAX then won back to back titles
Dortmund won their lone title
Man U had their miracle run...

Times have sure changed... now it's the same four or five teams year after year with no end in sight. I'm also not a fan of expanding it further to allow more and more teams from a few select leagues while making it more and more difficult for teams not from the big four/five to get in the groups to begin with. I know nothing will change any time soon as the money drives it. Anyway, just sharing/thinking out loud.

 

[GowerND11]

Felt nostalgic and looked at some older Champions Leagues from my lifetime... I'm not a fan of the way they are expanding it to include more and more of the bigger leagues and less and less of the rest of Europe.

1982:Aston Villa won the cup
1983: Something called Widzew Łódź made the semis before Hamburg won the cup
1984: Dundee United made the semis
1985: Panathinaikos and Bordeaux both made the semis
1986: Steaua Bucharest won the cup
1987: Dynamo Kyiv made the semis
1988: PSV Eindhoven won the cup
1989: Galatasaray andSteaua faced off in a semi
1990:The quarters was mostly teams that would never make the groups now
1991: Red Star Belgrade, Marseille and Spartak made the semis; with RSB winning the cup
1992: Sampdoria took Barcelona to extra time in the finals
1993: A completely different format with the groups coming after the knockouts if you will and the two top teams from the groups playing in the final.

From there you had:
AJAX then won back to back titles
Dortmund won their lone title
Man U had their miracle run...

Times have sure changed... now it's the same four or five teams year after year with no end in sight. I'm also not a fan of expanding it further to allow more and more teams from a few select leagues while making it more and more difficult for teams not from the big four/five to get in the groups to begin with. I know nothing will change any time soon as the money drives it. Anyway, just sharing/thinking out loud.

Wow, that's some interesting teams making it far. I would love to see more teams from lower leagues have access while maybe limiting the bigger leagues in all honesty. But the bold is where you hit it, money. Sad.

 

[ACamp1900]

Go back two more years and you have Liverpool and Nottingham Forest wining European Cups... Nott Forest won back to back.

 

[dublinirish]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="sv" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/Crap90sFootball">@Crap90sFootball</a> QPR V MAN C 1993 <a href="https://t.co/yfrRDOtnlu">pic.twitter.com/yfrRDOtnlu</a></p>— Ian Andrew Blair (@ianblair99) <a href="https://twitter.com/ianblair99/status/883470264738107393">July 7, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[ACamp1900]

lol... that was amazing.

 

[ACamp1900]

Gary Mackay-Steven just moved to Aberdeen. Once a highly promising talent he just got completely buried at Celtic. Hopefully a move to the Dons will help him regain his stardom in Scotland.

 

[Irish Joe]

Thoughts on a lineup tonight? With the opponent, gotta think there will be some tinkering. My starting XI:

Agudelo - Dwyer
Zardes - Dax - Roldan - Arriola
Morrow - Besler - Hedges - Lichaj
Guzan

 

[nlroma1o]

Thoughts on a lineup tonight? With the opponent, gotta think there will be some tinkering. My starting XI:

Agudelo - Dwyer
Zardes - Dax - Roldan - Arriola
Morrow - Besler - Hedges - Lichaj
Guzan

I would like to see Villafana, Acosta, Arriola, and Corona playing in every single Gold Cup and gaining experience. Those 4 could be on the squad next summer, so give those young players more experience.

 

[Irish Joe]

I would like to see Villafana, Acosta, Arriola, and Corona playing in every single Gold Cup and gaining experience. Those 4 could be on the squad next summer, so give those young players more experience.

I wouldn't hate that.

Would especially like to see more Acosta, the kid's gonna be a star. Also think Villafana could use the experience, but I feel like he almost has that LB spot wrapped up and Bruce might want to see what the depth looks like by throwing Morrow out there.

 

[ACamp1900]

I wouldn't hate that.

Would especially like to see more Acosta, the kid's gonna be a star. Also think Villafana could use the experience, but I feel like he almost has that LB spot wrapped up and Bruce might want to see what the depth looks like by throwing Morrow out there.

I would say i'd like Villafana out there too but that's a good point... frustrating as all get out tho. How many millions of people in this country and it's taking how many years to gain anything close to true stability at LB??

 

[nlroma1o]

I wouldn't hate that.

Would especially like to see more Acosta, the kid's gonna be a star. Also think Villafana could use the experience, but I feel like he almost has that LB spot wrapped up and Bruce might want to see what the depth looks like by throwing Morrow out there.

You're right, Villafana most likely has the spot already, but I dont think he has many international caps. Id rather he play and get the experience to be honest.

 

[GoldenDomer]

Celtic-Linfield on Friday. Should be a cracker.

 

[Irish Joe]

Interested to see what this group can do

 

[calvegas04]

Interested to see what this group can do

They must feel like tonight will be a easy win with that roster starting

 

[ACamp1900]

Celtic-Linfield on Friday. Should be a cracker.

Interesting how things work out... don't know if it'll be remotely competitive, but the back story makes it fun.

 

[Irish Joe]

Starting to wonder if Bruce coming out pre-tournament and saying this is a World Cup audition isn't causing these guys to play a little tight

 

[ACamp1900]

Starting to wonder if Bruce coming out pre-tournament and saying this is a World Cup audition isn't causing these guys to play a little tight

You'd think it would have inspired at least one of the youngsters....