Kaizero

High hopes for Gil and Trapp. Conflicted in my views on Williams. Mix will be a fucking star, soccer's answer to hockey's Zuccarello. I still hope the US will get through a better striker before the next WC. I'm not disputing Jozy has done well for the US national team, but he's on multiple occasions shown he's not world class. One of those that are much better than the Eredivise but not good enough for the leagues that are actually better than the Eredivise. That said, for the US I do think he can do a job.

If we look away from Donovan, as I'm clearly biased, the only issue I have with Klinsmanns tactics is (seemingly) his reliance on a big man up front. I think the US have a lot of young quality players capable of passing the ball around well, what they need is a clinical finisher to finish off the balls he gets. Not someone to hold the ball up. That should be kept for the usual plan B when losing with little time left. It seemed clear the chosen tactics for the WC were built around a big forward, so in that sense to not have a like for like back-up for Altidore was pure stupidity when he didn't change his tactics after Jozy's injury. I think Donovans US problems are more to do with Klinsmann issues than anything else. I genuinely believe that Donovan is one of the more clinical finishers in the US at the moment, and he's good at passing the ball. In that sense, given the options available, the inclusion of Wondolowski ahead of Donovan seemed weird. I think that, putting my bias aside, that if there were real friction between Klinsmann and Donovan, that it probably was an okay decision. But Donovan was in the preliminary squad, so I'm struggling a bit with the fact Wondo made it ahead of him. I've been mocking Jozy, but I fully understand the inclusion of him given Klinsmanns chosen WC tactics and the fact he has done well for the US squad. I'm not sure Donovan would've made a grand difference on the field, even though in my dreams he did, but he'd have brought some more experience and ability. Well probably never know if he wasn't there because he riled up Klinsmann or Klinsmann just straight up dislikes Donovan. But regardless, the US did a very good WC and made me wish even more that I lived in the US by now. It was great. Donovan is one of my few sporting heroes (for some reason), so obviously I'd be upset about his exclusion and probably will be for ages as I'd been looking forward to seeing what he could do for the US in this WC for ages. The future is bright for the US squad though, and Klinsmann is a good manager and does a lot for the team. The biggest issue is however what Donovan said in that article: young kids around the world take soccer seriously from when they are four or six, when in the US they only start taking it seriously when they turn sixteen. That's the main issue that need to be rectified to improve the team to become a world class one.

Donovan ripping into Klinsmann's tactics http://www.lagalaxy.com/news/2014/07/landon-donovan-asks-questions-us-performance-2014-fifa-world-cup I'm fairly more content knowing for sure it's blatantly the fact there's no love lost between the two that's the reason he's not there, rather than anything else.

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Froggy loves The CW so much, man.

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I don't mind Colombia per se, I just like that the winners of the WC aren't from the host continent for some reason. Not cheering for Norway next time? Have you seen the state of our current manager? You probably haven't, since we suck.

I don't mind Colombia per se, I just like that the winners of the WC aren't from the host continent for some reason.

I want these semis: Colombia - France & Argentina - Costa Rica. Then France - Costa Rica in the final and then I don't care who wins. The only two teams I don't actively hate left in the tournament.

I think it's fairly obvious there's only one destination if he goes, and it starts with Paris.

You should hook a brother up with some Chicago blart, get me in that way.

90:45 to be exact.

Wish you could just show up in New York like the old days and basically become American. Now you need to have work visas and shit, such a struggle with my professional field (media) to get in when I'm on the wrong side of the cameras.

Man, the day I finally manage to move to the US will be the best day in my life. Fuck the haters.

Why? People wank over the waffles and we had a beat up squad and our number one striker out - so yes we can be something in 4 years bc the majority of our squad are the most exciting big man. Belgium is one of the poorer European teams in the competition and you still had to defend for your lives for the majority of the game. The gap between Europe/South America and the rest of the world is humongous. In my mind there's never been a "contender" from outside of those two regions, at least not in any World Cup I'm old enough to remember. South Korea made the semis in 2002. We most certainly were not contenders though That's not even the best team we ever had. And that(4th) is still the highest an Asian/African/North American team has ever finished. US finished third once. Did not know that http://media3.giphy.com/media/5bo8XMq0GROw0/giphy.gif

Raylor is a good squad member, or at least was before his injury. There was plenty of times I preferred him over Simpson. He's an utterly woeful defender, athlete, footballer etc who can strike ball well with his right foot. That's the end of it. Seems a canny person from what I've seen, and I like him 'cause of that, but it should never be enough to equate to being a starter for a PL side when the ability just isn't there.

Why? People wank over the waffles and we had a beat up squad and our number one striker out - so yes we can be something in 4 years bc the majority of our squad are the most exciting big man. Belgium is one of the poorer European teams in the competition and you still had to defend for your lives for the majority of the game. The gap between Europe/South America and the rest of the world is humongous. In my mind there's never been a "contender" from outside of those two regions, at least not in any World Cup I'm old enough to remember. South Korea made the semis in 2002. We most certainly were not contenders though That's not even the best team we ever had. And that(4th) is still the highest an Asian/African/North American team has ever finished. US finished third once.

Why? People wank over the waffles and we had a beat up squad and our number one striker out - so yes we can be something in 4 years bc the majority of our squad are the most exciting big man. Belgium is one of the poorer European teams in the competition and you still had to defend for your lives for the majority of the game. The gap between Europe/South America and the rest of the world is humongous. In my mind there's never been a "contender" from outside of those two regions, at least not in any World Cup I'm old enough to remember. South Korea made the semis in 2002.

Why? People wank over the waffles and we had a beat up squad and our number one striker out - so yes we can be something in 4 years bc the majority of our squad are the most exciting big man. US has some of the most exciting youngsters coming through currently, IMO.

Absolute shame none of the spirited underdogs managed it through tbh.

Let's not get carried away here Quality young squad at the moment, who'll only get better in four years (you'd imagine). That as well as a lot of other youngsters coming out of the woodwork and the MLS increasing in quality. A keeper fit to lace Howard's gloves and some strikers and I really think they're able to challenge. Not saying they'd win, but saying they'd be up among the contenders, yeah. Losing their two best players (Dempsey and Howard), and MLS has a ways to go. (There's no guarantee that the great level of support in this WC leads to more interest/money flowing into the MLS. I know this from firsthand experience.) For me a "contender" is a team that doesn't go into any match set up mainly to stop the opponent from playing. The gap with European teams is still massive and there's no way the US gets that good in four years time. Green, Mix, Johnson, Brooks, Jóhannsson and Yedlin will probably be playing for some top teams in Europe by then. You'll also always have Bradley around. Six players that'll seemingly be quite good in four years. It's a decent base to start from. In the next four years we'll see a lot more Mix, Greens and Jóhanssons come out of the woodwork as well given how much American semen has been spread around the world. I think Bill Hamid might step up as a competent keeper in the next four years as well. I don't think the 2018 US team will have much to be afraid of, as long as they get a proper striker, which is so, so, vital for the team to push on. There's no way of knowing for sure but you're putting a great deal of trust in players that've barely played this tournament. Mix I've watched play for years, man. But yeah, I do. Of course there's a chance it won't come to pass, but I feel I'm seeing a lot of quality in the youngsters (based on more than just this tournament). I think the US are experiencing a mini-Germany event at the moment, with tons of quality dual nationality players popping up choosing the US.

Let's not get carried away here Quality young squad at the moment, who'll only get better in four years (you'd imagine). That as well as a lot of other youngsters coming out of the woodwork and the MLS increasing in quality. A keeper fit to lace Howard's gloves and some strikers and I really think they're able to challenge. Not saying they'd win, but saying they'd be up among the contenders, yeah. Losing their two best players (Dempsey and Howard), and MLS has a ways to go. (There's no guarantee that the great level of support in this WC leads to more interest/money flowing into the MLS. I know this from firsthand experience.) For me a "contender" is a team that doesn't go into any match set up mainly to stop the opponent from playing. The gap with European teams is still massive and there's no way the US gets that good in four years time. Green, Mix, Johnson, Brooks, Jóhannsson and Yedlin will probably be playing for some top teams in Europe by then. You'll also always have Bradley around. Six players that'll seemingly be quite good in four years. It's a decent base to start from. In the next four years we'll see a lot more Mix, Greens and Jóhanssons come out of the woodwork as well given how much American semen has been spread around the world. I think Bill Hamid might step up as a competent keeper in the next four years as well. I don't think the 2018 US team will have much to be afraid of, as long as they get a proper striker, which is so, so, vital for the team to push on.

Pissing their league already. No excuse to fuck it up. That division is half'n'half professional teams and semi-pro teams. Tromsø probably has the budget size of the reast of the 15 teams combined.