Deuce

Nah I've been refreshing Twitter pretty regularly for the past 30 minutes or so. I'll post it when it comes up. Jamaica is coming out with a 4-3-3. Interesting for a team that should be trying to park the bus all night. The U.S. should be able to exploit the back-line. Unless our line-up includes 3 defensive midfielders. Again.

Round 2 of the home-home tonight in Columbus. U.S. needs to come away with a win.

Gran Colombia rises again!

Colombia 3-1 Chile. I'm really impressed by this Colombia team. That's back-to-back convincing wins against supposedly superior competition.

That's going to make or break their year, imo. Having Sidwell and Diarra in central midfield doesn't exactly inspire much confidence.

Dunno about that. They got rid of dead-weight (Johnson, Zamora, Etuhu), brought-in some veterans on the cheap (Petric, Rodallega, Riether, Berbatov), and made some cash (Dembele, Dempsey). And they have a lot of good young talent in Ruiz, Frei, Kacaniklic, Trotta, and Briggs.

How has Sinclair not gotten a call-up yet?

Quality. Inspired http://i.imgur.com/L0iFv.gif

Cole and Terry likely out against Ukraine.

This is all the much better considering your avatar Said in the whitest white guy voice.

One good thing I have spotted is how more American kids are scouted and brought into European youth setups. We have this kid in ours, Ben Lederman, who actually oozes class (although I'm always cautious about players impressing at such young ages). There was also talk about a couple more yanks joining... so american players are gaining recognition. Big day when Lederman signed for Barca. Huge for American soccer. As I said it's still a bit too early, but the boy's touch and composure on the ball is sublime for a kid his age. If he develops properly he'll be a huge asset for the USMNT in 10 years. I wouldn't mind giving him a call-up at 14 and get him cap-tied (can you be cap-tied under 18?) But seriously, I could see U.S. Soccer calling him up way too early and completely screwing up his development (ala Freddy Adu).

Yeah we've been hurt, but I wouldn't say we've gotten shafted ala Canada. Rossi was always going to play for Italy and only played for their youth teams. Such a damn shame the bad luck he's had the past year. It was awesome watching him tear-up La Liga a couple seasons back. Subotic is another that stung. Played for the U.S. youth teams and then switched to Serbia. Rongen was partly to blame for that (but he made-up for it through scouting a lot of the Germans we're seeing now). Brede Hangeland would have been another nice pick-up in central defense. American-born, but more of like an enclave baby. Don't think he ever really considered the U.S. Canada has that complete twat Junior Hoilett refusing to play for them. He overrates himself a ton, but he would still improve that side big time. Jonathan de Guzman is another that could really help them. Hargreaves is obviously the one that stung the most. Oh wow, that's pretty sweet. What level was this at?

One good thing I have spotted is how more American kids are scouted and brought into European youth setups. We have this kid in ours, Ben Lederman, who actually oozes class (although I'm always cautious about players impressing at such young ages). There was also talk about a couple more yanks joining... so american players are gaining recognition. Big day when Lederman signed for Barca. Huge for American soccer. Marc Pelosi is an intriguing prospect, currently playing very well in midfield for Liverpool's reserve squad. Will Packwood and John Anthony Brooks are young defenders who recently made first-team debuts for Birmingham and Hertha Berlin, respectively. Lot of young players across the continent, especially in Germany. All these guys should factor into the equation over the next 3-4 years.

He's fast as all hell down the flanks. Actually one of the few brights spots for the U-23 team that failed to qualify for the Olympics. Should be a nice winger on the left side. Josh Gatt is another with a high ceiling. Currently at Molde under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (not a bad role model for a winger), but he had been linked with some big clubs this past transfer window. Might even be faster than Gyau.

Good for you, they're delicious and chill as fuck. I've been thinking of investing in a small 1-2 hose.

"Hookah" it's a shisha and that 200 fag thing is a complete myth; the smoke gets filtered through water so, while it's not exactly good for you, it's nowhere near the equivalent of 200 cigarettes in one session. hookah and sheesha are the same thing, just depends where in the world you're from Grew up in the middle-east and no-one calls it hookah man. Not even Indian people (they came up with the word), everyone just says shisha. There's a large Middle Eastern population where I'm from and they predominately call it hookah. Definitely depends where you are. Bingo.

The device is called a shisha pipe or hookah (huqqah, hukka, or huqqa). The tobacco is shisha. Anyway, committed sacrilege by dropping him from my fantasy team. Actually dropped he and Cabaye in favor of HBA and Hazard.

Yanga-Mbiwa would be a solid transfer. Would've been a great pick-up over the summer. I'm afraid he's going to price himself out of our range over the next few months though.

Agreed about MLS, it's no place for player development. Especially when the league's primary motivation is growth, as you said. Why we're seeing so many South and Central American players in the league now. Great for quality, terrible for American players. They're just overwhelmed in the system. Also agree about the Copa America. Though the likes of Jamaica, Honduras, and Panama are getting better, the U.S. isn't facing World Cup-worthy competition on a regular basis. If this team were seeking to qualify through CONMEBOL right now, there's no way they'd get to Brazil. But look how teams like Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador are responding to getting the crap beaten out of them by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay the past few years. Any one of those squads would easily qualify in CONCACAF.

I don't think it's necessarily an over-reliance on those guys. With a different formation and a few personnel changes, this team beats Jamaica in Kingston. Klinsmann continues to play three DMs in central midfield and then is dumbfounded when we: A) concede ground in midfield B) have zero attacking through midfield and C) have zero play off the wings. Such a stagnant formation that was easily exposed by Jamaica's midfielders (who aren't exactly world-beaters). A few personnel changes I'd like to see, considering the current roster, include: Jose Torres in central midfield. Klinsmann has routinely played him out of position either at left midfield or as a CAM, where he's struggled. He's really the only midfielder on the roster with any composure on the ball. Play him in his natural position, CM, and let him dictate the tempo. Brek Shea on the left, Graham Zusi or Joe Corona on the right. Zero attacking width last night and Jamaica killed us on the flanks. Shea looked great against Mexico last month, linking-up well with Johnson on the left. Terrence Boyd starting in place of Altidore. Link-up play to the top men was awful last night, but when Altidore did get the ball he mostly piddled around with his hand on his dick. Boyd is young, hungry, and scoring goals for Rapid Vienna. He's twice as much a fighter as Altidore. This is the line-up that I'd like to see Klinsmann trot out on Tuesday: --------------------------Boyd-------------------------- ---------------------Dempsey------------------Gomez Shea---------------------------------------------------- -----------------Torres--------Jones------------------- Johnson-------------------------------------Parkhurst -------------Bocanegra-----Cameron----------------- ------------------------Howard------------------------- Or more 4-3-3... --------------------------Boyd-------------------------- Dempsey---------------------------------------Gomez ---------------------------------------------------------- ----------Jones--------Torres-----------Zusi---------- ---------------------------------------------------------- Johnson-------------------------------------Parkhurst -------------Bocanegra-----Cameron----------------- ------------------------Howard------------------------- I'll be pissed if either Beckerman or Edu is on the field.

Qualification just got a whole lot tougher. Must-win game on Tuesday in Columbus. Thankfully, 2 of the 3 remaining games in this round are at home and the only away leg is in Antigua.

Indeed they were. Outplayed and outcoached tonight.

Only this team could go into El Azteca last month and come out with a victory but travel to Jamaica and lose.

Demba said it earlier, there is no other player as large as Altidore who is less physical or intimidating. Guy's a giant tampon.

We need you Michael Bradley. We need you Stuart Holden.