Deuce

Like Jurgen's Old Navy sweater

Get past their front 4-5 players and the game is even. Dempsey/Altidore/Gomez/Bradley are superior to their backline.

Sewelly's hating ass. Drives me crazy how many american born "latinos" are posting that shit on facebook right now. Support your country! Obviously you'd rather live here than in Mexico so get behind the fucking team. Big pet peeve of mine. Yeah it's a bunch of shit tbh.

First half thoughts: - Beasley and Cameron are having trouble with the speed down the flanks. Mexico's preference is for Guardado/Aquino to deliver crosses in to Hernandez (who loves running near post) and dos Santos (often back post). Zavala makes marauding runs from midfield to get on those crosses too. Will be important for Edu/Bradley to track him as he makes those runs. - Altidore looks very good when he gets the ball. He and Dempsey are in-sync tonight. - The MLS guys might not be the most proficient, but they give 110% effort. Say what you will about the importance of hustle, but it's often a difference maker. Been particularly impressed with Zusi's work ethic.

100% agree. They're the most unwatchable team in the league. Stoke surely. Give turgid a whole new meaning.

I imagine we'll see Besler get the start at CB.

I wonder if France suffers by including Ribery every game without question. On another note, Valbuena's having a great season for Marseille. Glad to see him being included more in the France squad.

Some useful players there. Buncha sons of viches if you ask me.

That'd be excellent.

Michael Orozco Fiscal added to the roster in place of Jones.

No, this comes from having a different perspective on the game. Not everyone looks at football through an English or even European lens. Nor is there one correct way to view the game.

Good for you, want a "most expensive sports teams" badge or something? This doesn't really work because I like football far more than American sports. The point being, I would expect football teams to be worth more because their global reach far outstretches a lot of American teams. Doesn't hurt that the U.S. has more money than most everyone else, global outreach or not. Plenty of Americans willing to spend buckets of money on NFL, MLB, NBA, etc. Yeah it's crazy that one country can make the value gap that large. We just love spending money, I guess. If the UK had as many people as the U.S., I think the PL would blow the NFL out of the water.

"We're proud to introduce the next Director of Football Operations for Liverpool Football Club: Theo Epstein."

We've not even scratched the surface on the kind of statistical record-keeping that could be done. Analyzing opponents based on seemingly irrelevant figures. If you can develop patterns, you can expose them. Keepers already study the penalty taking habits of opposing players. That can be greatly expanded. Human beings are creatures of habit. Footballers are no different.

The same arguments I'm hearing from Sewelly are the same things we've heard in MLB from the purists over the years. And yet the A's rode Moneyball to the playoffs and the Sox copied their model, added some cash, and won the Series. Teams like ManU, Chelsea, City, etc. are always going to compete by spending the most money. They're the Yankees of the PL. Finding diamonds in the rough, players that no one else wants, could be the key to success for clubs that wouldn't otherwise be able to compete. It's largely how Moyes has kept Everton relevant (and ironically, Everton has been one of the leading pioneers of advanced statistical analysis among soccer clubs). THAT is what we're getting after.

In terms of the media, opposing fans, etc. he's never considered one of the best midfielders in the league. Despite earning as much as he does and playing nearly every game for Man United. My point is, he's clearly a player who could benefit from statistics that go deeper than goals/assists or even completion rate.

Good for you, want a "most expensive sports teams" badge or something? This doesn't really work because I like football far more than American sports. The point being, I would expect football teams to be worth more because their global reach far outstretches a lot of American teams. Doesn't hurt that the U.S. has more money than most everyone else, global outreach or not. Plenty of Americans willing to spend buckets of money on NFL, MLB, NBA, etc.

We're on the verge of developing robust and influential sabermetrics for soccer (soccermetrics). I think it'll take hold in the U.S. before anywhere else, simply because we already heavily quantify our other sports (football to some extent, but primarily in baseball). It has the potential to revolutionize the way in which the game is viewed and played, giving credit to traditionally (as an aside, I think Carrick is a guy whose value would increase immensely from in-depth statistical analysis) undervalued players and exposing flaws among overrated players. It won't work. It's worked to some degree for every other sport. Every sport can be quantified, just some more so than others.

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs/983558_o.gif

"Pirlo, De Rossi, Marchisio and Montolivo" Such a devastating midfield. Topped only by Spain imo.

Pirlo and Montolivo against Gerrard and Parker at International level.

That's a lot of , but I have more faith in the U.S. U-20s being able to compete with the French and Spanish U-20s than I do the senior U.S. squad being able to compete with the senior French and Spanish sides.

Be nice if England took one of these seriously for a change given their is bot all else on this summer. Any chance Campbell makes the squad for the U-20 WC?