World Cup 2014

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notredomer23

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tko said:
He was atrocious. His passing and decision making should've cost us the game imo. Why doesn't he attack the defense ever? I admit I haven't paid much attention to the U.S. team, so i'm not up to speed on who the key guys are. Certainly losing Altidore hurts big time. That's why i wish Donovan was on the team for his veteran leadership, but hindsight always 20/20. The ball control overall sucked as well. How many turnovers did they have?
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It was definitely his worst game he has played in years, which is why I think we were lucky to win(or even draw). Bradley, Dempsey, and Jones are irreplaceable. Bradley is the key to possession with this team. I fully expect him to play much better against Portugal. Ghana's midfielders are far superior to Portugal's, and the USMNT knows that almost any result against Portugal puts them at a GREAT chance to advance. They will be ready to play.
 
Cali_domer

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This is what happens when the USA scores during a interview.

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IrishLion

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In 20 years, when a law is passed making contact football illegal, the next generation's Lebron James, Adrian Peterson, Andrew Luck, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, etc. will be playing soccer for the United States, rather than football/baseball/basketball.

That is when the US will begin to catch up to the rest of the world.
 
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notredomer23

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IrishLion10 said:
In 20 years, when a law is passed making contact football illegal, the next generation's Lebron James, Adrian Peterson, Andrew Luck, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, etc. will be playing soccer for the United States, rather than football/baseball/basketball.

That is when the US will begin to catch up to the rest of the world.
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This is simply false. Athleticism is not the problem. Lack of academy system and proper training has been the problem, which in the past few years has seen great strides. What you said will help, but they can be athletic as they want. Without proper training it doesn't matter.
 
IrishLion

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notredomer23 said:
This is simply false. Athleticism is not the problem. Lack of academy system and proper training has been the problem, which in the past few years has seen great strides. What you said will help, but they can be athletic as they want. Without proper training it doesn't matter.
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It was obviously a vast generalization, but the implication was that soccer will grow as football is phased out. Adding the greatest athletes will help (I like to imagine Lebron James, with his height, athleticism, and vertical explosion, training as a goalie his whole life rather than playing basketball), but as you said, the base system would need to improve as well. As a higher percentage of high-caliber athletes choose soccer over other sports (mainly football), there will be a bigger need/market for it.

Plus, it was more tongue-in-cheek than anything. I think that the concussion issue will be improved upon greatly before football is actually put in real danger. But I still like to imagine Chris Johnson's 4.24 40 in a dead sprint with the ball, heading straight for the goal against Germany for a huge World Cup upset.
 
Emcee77

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IrishLion10 said:
In 20 years, when a law is passed making contact football illegal, the next generation's Lebron James, Adrian Peterson, Andrew Luck, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, etc. will be playing soccer for the United States, rather than football/baseball/basketball.

That is when the US will begin to catch up to the rest of the world.
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notredomer23 said:
This is simply false. Athleticism is not the problem. Lack of academy system and proper training has been the problem, which in the past few years has seen great strides. What you said will help, but they can be athletic as they want. Without proper training it doesn't matter.
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Right, I agree that the main thing is that we just don't have the training infrastructure here to compete with the rest of the world, but I would not say that athleticism is not the problem. It is definitely part of the problem. When I compare our players to the players on some of the other teams in this World Cup, I see a difference in athleticism. The guys Lion mentioned don't exactly have the body type for soccer (I know he was mostly kidding), but if we lived in a country where guys like Russell Westbrook or Richard Sherman are playing soccer, it would definitely help.
 
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Cackalacky

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tko,

Bradley is our pacemaker. He is our distributor and a box to box midfielder. Ghana swarmed him and allowed him no time on the ball. This was by design. That was their tactic. They set out to disrupt our timing and flow through him. They succeeded. We adapted thanks to Jones and Beckerman's ridiculously good shifts. I would split the MOM amongst Jones and Beckerman. He will have alot more freedom against Portugal as their midfield is not compact.

I concur he is probably our most important player moving forward in this tournament.

<iframe width="854" height="510" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/roYOpC8T_JM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="611" height="343" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DTLc6xaR1L0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
tko

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Cackalacky said:
tko,

Bradley is our pacemaker. He is our distributor and a box to box midfielder. Ghana swarmed him and allowed him no time on the ball. This was by design. That was their tactic. They set out to disrupt our timing and flow through him. They succeeded. We adapted thanks to Jones and Beckerman's ridiculously good shifts. I would split the MOM amongst Jones and Beckerman. He will have alot more freedom against Portugal as their midfield is not compact.

I concur he is probably our most important player moving forward in this tournament.

<iframe width="854" height="510" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/roYOpC8T_JM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="611" height="343" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DTLc6xaR1L0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Thank you for the color. I'll keep my eye on him in Game 2.
 
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notredomer23

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US Advancement Scenarios

For those of you who hadn't already figured it out.
Win twice, advance to the knockout stage.
Win once and draw once, advance.
Draw twice, advance.
Win once and lose once, almost certainly advance (there’s one highly unlikely mathematical exception).
Lose twice, and almost certainly go out (there’s one highly unlikely mathematical exception).
Draw once and lose once, and it gets complicated. It’s considerably better for the U.S. to draw against Portugal and lose to Germany than the other way around.
Click to expand...
 
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notredomer23

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Cackalacky said:
I had planned I a win against Ghana, a draw against Portugal and a definitely loss against Germany. Considering the injuries and omissions to both us and Portugal a draw is very realistic and a win is possible. Beating Ghana was so big!
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I am thinking 6 points, at this point. I truly think we will beat Portugal. The reason we struggled so much against Ghana was because they controlled the midfield. Portugal's midfield is suspect at best. If we control the game in the midfield, the USA will win.

Germany will also beat Ghana fairly easily, because they will control the midfield. Germany's goal differential will be so great that a draw against us won't matter much and I bet they will rest a bunch of their players. That is still a great squad though. Will be tough. I see anywhere from 5-7 points.
 
Emcee77

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notredomer23 said:
US Advancement Scenarios

For those of you who hadn't already figured it out.
Click to expand...

If we draw with Portugal and lose to Germany, I'll be pretty surprised if we don't advance. Germany will stomp Ghana. They are certainly capable of stomping us too, but it won't matter unless Portugal beats Ghana by 5 goals less the difference in our loss to Germany. I don't see that working out in Portugal's favor. Germany won't have anything at stake at that point and no incentive to pour it on against us.
 
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RDU Irish

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Tried watching a game and gave up after five minutes. All I think of is the Simpsons episode where soccer comes to town and they riot out of boredom. I really don't get the enthusiasm around this sport, bores me to tears.

-end Debbie Downer post
 
NDPhilly

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RDU Irish said:
Tried watching a game and gave up after five minutes. All I think of is the Simpsons episode where soccer comes to town and they riot out of boredom. I really don't get the enthusiasm around this sport, bores me to tears.

-end Debbie Downer post
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Go back to the USSR you Soviet commy.

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notredomer23

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HUGE. If Belgium doesn't win the group and we get second we have an amazing chance at the quarterfinals
 
STLDomer

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Algeria up on Belgium.....

Belgium has so much young talent. Maybe they aren't ready for this stage though
 
ACamp1900

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RDU Irish said:
Tried watching a game and gave up after five minutes. All I think of is the Simpsons episode where soccer comes to town and they riot out of boredom. I really don't get the enthusiasm around this sport, bores me to tears.

-end Debbie Downer post
Click to expand...

My thoguhts exactly... on basketball...
 
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