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nlroma1o

nlroma1o

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Pulisic with his second assist of the night. Kid is just from another class of player.
 
BabyIrish

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That was a sweet half! There was still some sloppy play at different times but can't go wrong with three goals.
 
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Cackalacky

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nlroma1o

nlroma1o

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When I have a son one day, I will gladly send him to Dortmund. They are turning Pulisic into possibly the best US player and he's only 18.
 
nlroma1o

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Damn I take back my criticism of Dempsey. The old man just needed to get the bones warmed up.
 
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So what is the over under in years that Pulisic ends up st Barcelona or Real Madrid?
 
Old Man Mike

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I've been waiting for quite a while now to see Pulisic start, and with others who can also pass in the final third, and praying for Dempsey to get back, and Bradley where he needs to be --- all prayers answered.

Somehow Klinsman had different visions ...........
 
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notredomer23

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I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that at age 18, Pulisic is the most talented player the US has ever had. If he stays healthy, he is our first true world class player who will be mentioned with the likes of Neymar (not counting CR7 or Messi as they're different generations).
 
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notredomer23

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I'm also waiting for 3 points in Panama before I hop back on the Arena train, but man it was refreshing to see how we played, even without arguably theee of our better starters in Fabian Johnson, Bobby Wood, and Yedlin.
 
Emcee77

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What a performance. Everybody was outstanding, but those Pulisic assists to Dempsey were particularly great. With that kind of quality in the attacking third we will always be threatening. It was really exciting and encouraging to watch.
 
nlroma1o

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The international break concludes after all of todays matches. Looks like all of the CONMEBOL and CONCACAF matches today are 2018 WC qualifiers. While the UEFA fixtures are merely friendlies, but none the less, there are some good match ups. Italy v Netherlands, France v Spain, Russia v Belgium, and Portugal v Sweden. These all look like they have the potential for some decent highlights even if they are "noncompetitive matches."

An aside from the weekend matches:
Netherlands just sacked their coach after they lost to Bulgaria 2-0 on Satruday. It looks like after missing EURO 2016, they are now in severe threat of missing the 2018 WC in Russia. Sources at Football-Italia have already mentioned that Italy is going to be playing a very young side in today's match since their best 11 played on Friday and easily disposed of Albania. So I wonder if the Netherlands are going to start a strong 11 to try and use this opportunity to gain back some confidence.
 
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notredomer23

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nlroma1o said:
The international break concludes after all of todays matches. Looks like all of the CONMEBOL and CONCACAF matches today are 2018 WC qualifiers. While the UEFA fixtures are merely friendlies, but none the less, there are some good match ups. Italy v Netherlands, France v Spain, Russia v Belgium, and Portugal v Sweden. These all look like they have the potential for some decent highlights even if they are "noncompetitive matches."

An aside from the weekend matches:
Netherlands just sacked their coach after they lost to Bulgaria 2-0 on Satruday. It looks like after missing EURO 2016, they are now in severe threat of missing the 2018 WC in Russia. Sources at Football-Italia have already mentioned that Italy is going to be playing a very young side in today's match since their best 11 played on Friday and easily disposed of Albania. So I wonder if the Netherlands are going to start a strong 11 to try and use this opportunity to gain back some confidence.
Click to expand...

Doubt the Netherlands qualifies. They do play Belarus and Luxembourg which would get them to 13 points. Then they have an away match at France, and two home matches against Sweden and Bulgaria. Let's assume they lose to France, and get a win and a draw verses the other two. That puts them at 17 points. France qualifies. Second place Sweden, already 3 points ahead of the Netherlands, also has Luxembourg and Belarus. They'd essentially just need to find a point in 3 matches.

Which begs the question: Does Zlatan come back for the World Cup??
 
Emcee77

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Yeah the Dutch are in a bad way. It's weird because they have a decent number of quality players. They just lack star power, other than Robben. Somebody has to step up and be a leader on that team at some point. As an LFC fan, I'd love it to be Gini Wijnaldum, who has really convinced me in 2017 that he has not just quality but heart and hustle; I've been thrilled to see how hard he is willing to work even when asked to play in a deeper midfield role. But it's probably too late for them to make it to Russia, which is a bummer. But I did hear the other day that the last time the Dutch missed two major tournaments in a row, they won the next one (1988 Euros).

Italy has been pretty weak (for them) in recent years too, despite a pretty strong showing at the Euros last summer, but they sure look to be climbing out of that talent vacuum now. A fair amount of good young talent coming through, which they really needed in attack. I watched a few Euro 2016 qualifiers in which Italy was absolutely dreadful going forward.
EDIT: just looked at the team though, and those young dudes from Torino that I was thinking of aren't in it? Does anyone know if they have been recently? I'm not an Eder fan. Get Belotti in there for sure.
SECOND EDIT: Eder has already scored in this game, so maybe I should just shut up
 
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nlroma1o

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Emcee77 said:
Yeah the Dutch are in a bad way. It's weird because they have a decent number of quality players. They just lack star power, other than Robben. Somebody has to step up and be a leader on that team at some point. As an LFC fan, I'd love it to be Gini Wijnaldum, who has really convinced me in 2017 that he has not just quality but heart and hustle; I've been thrilled to see how hard he is willing to work even when asked to play in a deeper midfield role. But it's probably too late for them to make it to Russia, which is a bummer. But I did hear the other day that the last time the Dutch missed two major tournaments in a row, they won the next one (1988 Euros).

Italy has been pretty weak (for them) in recent years too, despite a pretty strong showing at the Euros last summer, but they sure look to be climbing out of that talent vacuum now. A fair amount of good young talent coming through, which they really needed in attack. I watched a few Euro 2016 qualifiers in which Italy was absolutely dreadful going forward.
EDIT: just looked at the team though, and those young dudes from Torino that I was thinking of aren't in it? Does anyone know if they have been recently? I'm not an Eder fan. Get Belotti in there for sure.
SECOND EDIT: Eder has already scored in this game, so maybe I should just shut up
Click to expand...

Emcee I got a lot for you, sorry for the long post.

The Euro 2016 Team was limited in the formation they could play because they were missing both Verratti and Marchisio to injury. This caused Conte to play the 3-5-2 and the whole tournament the struggled to get the hold up play from their 9, Graziano Pelle. He had a few great moments, but the majority of the tournament I was hardly impressed.

Now a year later with Ventura, he has Verratti back, which is fuking huge. He is playing some amazing football at the moment. Arguably a top 5 midfield player. Ventura also has a greater confidence in Belotti than Conte had. He's had another year and he alittle more refined. So on Friday when they ran out with a full strength 4-4-2 line up I was very excited to see what they looked like. And they effortlessly dominated Albania. It was cruise control. Verratti and De Rossi are comfortable, and partner well together in the middle. Insigne and Candreva on the wings is a dream come true. I was pissed all of Euros that Insigne didnt see more play time. But his defending isnt his strength and Conte's 3-5-2 requires his wingers to be more wingback than attacking wings, so Insigne didnt see much playing time. Ventura then played Immobile and Belotti up top. Those 2 will be the starting due up top. I personally appreciate all the hard work Eder does up top, but tactically, hes missing something in his game. He regularly makes the wrong decisions in counter attacks when he has the ball. And off the ball i just think he struggles working with a partner, hes always in horrible position to have connecting play with either his forward partner or the midfielder running through. I just dont know what it is with him. But I firmly believe Belotti and Immobile are the young guns up top and they should build a partnership up there to last.
 
GowerND11

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fightingirish26 said:
It's on beIN Sports, Telemundo, and NBC Universo if you have any of them. I used to have beIN but not anymore so i'll just look for a stream somewhere
Click to expand...

We don't get beIN at all around here, and our package doesn't cover the tier the other two are in. What upsets me is the fact that the game is growing in the USA, yet we can't even get ESPN, Fox, or NBCSports to actually get this game. But rest not, the NIT, Sportscenter, UFC, UEFA replays, and NASCAR will be on those networks.
 
Emcee77

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nlroma1o said:
Emcee I got a lot for you, sorry for the long post.

The Euro 2016 Team was limited in the formation they could play because they were missing both Verratti and Marchisio to injury. This caused Conte to play the 3-5-2 and the whole tournament the struggled to get the hold up play from their 9, Graziano Pelle. He had a few great moments, but the majority of the tournament I was hardly impressed.

Now a year later with Ventura, he has Verratti back, which is fuking huge. He is playing some amazing football at the moment. Arguably a top 5 midfield player. Ventura also has a greater confidence in Belotti than Conte had. He's had another year and he alittle more refined. So on Friday when they ran out with a full strength 4-4-2 line up I was very excited to see what they looked like. And they effortlessly dominated Albania. It was cruise control. Verratti and De Rossi are comfortable, and partner well together in the middle. Insigne and Candreva on the wings is a dream come true. I was pissed all of Euros that Insigne didnt see more play time. But his defending isnt his strength and Conte's 3-5-2 requires his wingers to be more wingback than attacking wings, so Insigne didnt see much playing time. Ventura then played Immobile and Belotti up top. Those 2 will be the starting due up top. I personally appreciate all the hard work Eder does up top, but tactically, hes missing something in his game. He regularly makes the wrong decisions in counter attacks when he has the ball. And off the ball i just think he struggles working with a partner, hes always in horrible position to have connecting play with either his forward partner or the midfielder running through. I just dont know what it is with him. But I firmly believe Belotti and Immobile are the young guns up top and they should build a partnership up there to last.
Click to expand...

Nice! I missed Friday's game, but that all sounds great. I completely agree about Eder: I appreciate that he is a hard worker, but he is just not an elegant footballer. As some of these young guns like Belotti come into their own in the next couple of years, Italian football is going to be in good shape.

The soccer world is boring when traditional powers like the Netherlands and Italy are in down years. Glad Italy seems like it is on the way back up.
 
ACamp1900

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I have beIN... I also have yet to see any big soccer match... meaning anything anyone here would recognize... not be on SportsDevil... MOST streams I've tried work.
 
nlroma1o

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fightingirish26 said:
It's on beIN Sports, Telemundo, and NBC Universo if you have any of them. I used to have beIN but not anymore so i'll just look for a stream somewhere
Click to expand...

I'm surprised FS1 or FS2 isnt picking the game up. It might have to do with the time slot. Its a late game.
 
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