Copa América Centenario

[sbnufc]

The tournament has to rely on fan populations already in the U.S. to make up numbers. European fans will just hop over to France, as it's really not far for even the farthest team. We'll see what the attendance figures look like for this one, think it'll probably still be a decent amount for a non-premium match.

 

14,334

 

My 30% was generous it seems

[Disco]

Paraguay love stinking out tournaments almost as much as they love making Brazilians shit themselves in penalty shootouts on the most neutral of turf.

[Deuce]

The tournament has to rely on fan populations already in the U.S. to make up numbers. European fans will just hop over to France, as it's really not far for even the farthest team. We'll see what the attendance figures look like for this one, think it'll probably still be a decent amount for a non-premium match.

 

14,334

 

My 30% was generous it seems

 

Yeah that's not great.

[Deuce]

Brazil-Ecuador in Pasadena should be a big crowd. Peru-Haiti in Seattle, not so much. Unless there's a massive Haitian diaspora in the PNW I don't know about. I'm actually more intrigued by the latter match.

[Deuce]

Haiti's manager is a cross between Larry David and Gerard Depardieu

[Deuce]

This is a fun match

[sbnufc]

This is a fun match

 

I'm convinced there's gonna be at least one broken leg

[Deuce]

This is a fun match

 

I'm convinced there's gonna be at least one broken leg

 

they're just going all out, I love it.

[Deuce]

Granted they brought a relatively young and inexperienced squad, but Peru have to be up there with Venezuela and Bolivia for worst CONMEBOL team at the tournament.

[Kaizero]

Kaz was (probably) joking, but I'd def have Donovan in this team. Give a shit if he's 50.

 

He's only 34 too. Next manager will have him back for Russia 2018.

 

Not adequately replacing LD has been one of the biggest shortcomings of this team and still is.

 

Only half joking. The US lacks a Donovan type player at the moment. Closest thing they got is Zardes, but he's all huff and puff and no real end result. Donovan with Dempsey off him, or a big striker with Donovan off him is what the US needs currently. Not saying it needs the actual Donovan, but a player like him that's speedy, agile and know how to finish off the scraps given to them. Klinsmann has the US playing a style of football that they don't have players suited for, it's idiotic. As much as you guys may hate it, the US is a workhorse team given their player pool at the moment. They need to play like a workhorse team, not a wannabe tiki-taka bullshit wankfest team that keeps not playing its best players in their normal formations.

 

Klinsmann is a German Pardew tbh. US have all the same issues as Norway currently does with continuing with a style of play the players are not suited for whatsoever just because their managers are egocentrical wankers.

[Flip]

Kaz was (probably) joking, but I'd def have Donovan in this team. Give a s*** if he's 50.

 

He's only 34 too. Next manager will have him back for Russia 2018.

 

Not adequately replacing LD has been one of the biggest shortcomings of this team and still is.

 

Only half joking. The US lacks a Donovan type player at the moment. Closest thing they got is Zardes, but he's all huff and puff and no real end result. Donovan with Dempsey off him, or a big striker with Donovan off him is what the US needs currently. Not saying it needs the actual Donovan, but a player like him that's speedy, agile and know how to finish off the scraps given to them. Klinsmann has the US playing a style of football that they don't have players suited for, it's idiotic. As much as you guys may hate it, the US is a workhorse team given their player pool at the moment. They need to play like a workhorse team, not a wannabe tiki-taka bullshit wankfest team that keeps not playing its best players in their normal formations.

 

Klinsmann is a German Pardew tbh. US have all the same issues as Norway currently does with continuing with a style of play the players are not suited for whatsoever just because their managers are egocentrical w*****s.

 

Well Brazil needs a new Pele, France a new Zidane, Argentina Barca's Messi.

 

Also, I like Jurgen Klinsmann.

[sbnufc]

Just caught highlights online of the Brazil game.  WTF. Ecuador were robbed there. What was the Brazil GK doing though

[Flip]

Just caught highlights online of the Brazil game.  WTF. Ecuador were robbed there. What was the Brazil GK doing though

 

Dungas son I think. Man this shit is going to end with Dunga getting sacked. PLEASE Haiti get a point against us.

[Kaizero]

I like Dunga.

[Kanji]

Being honest here but I have 0 excitement for this tourney while the US are shambolic in current state. Post World Cup we've been crap, players crap, and the American outlaws are a bunch of freaks and weirdos.

 

Pulisic, Nagbe, Brooks and Fab are the only players I really care about. The rest can get fucked if they don't get their shit together soon and play some decent football.

[Mike]

I'm in awe of how bad we are.

[Kanji]

It's a joke. Got Jurgen talking shit to everybody in the fucking WSJ. He's been a brilliant talent unearthing guy and hell of a recruiter to the program but we're basically devoid of any playing style and cohesion. Fucking sick of having so many examples to point at (NUFC)

[Deuce]

Being honest here but I have 0 excitement for this tourney while the US are shambolic in current state. Post World Cup we've been crap, players crap, and the American outlaws are a bunch of freaks and weirdos.

 

Pulisic, Nagbe, Brooks and Fab are the only players I really care about. The rest can get fucked if they don't get their shit together soon and play some decent football.

 

Yup. I didn't really care at all that we lost the other day. Felt nothing. In that sense it felt worryingly like Newcastle over the past couple years.

[Deuce]

Kaz was (probably) joking, but I'd def have Donovan in this team. Give a shit if he's 50.

 

He's only 34 too. Next manager will have him back for Russia 2018.

 

Not adequately replacing LD has been one of the biggest shortcomings of this team and still is.

 

Only half joking. The US lacks a Donovan type player at the moment. Closest thing they got is Zardes, but he's all huff and puff and no real end result. Donovan with Dempsey off him, or a big striker with Donovan off him is what the US needs currently. Not saying it needs the actual Donovan, but a player like him that's speedy, agile and know how to finish off the scraps given to them. Klinsmann has the US playing a style of football that they don't have players suited for, it's idiotic. As much as you guys may hate it, the US is a workhorse team given their player pool at the moment. They need to play like a workhorse team, not a wannabe tiki-taka bullshit wankfest team that keeps not playing its best players in their normal formations.

 

Klinsmann is a German Pardew tbh. US have all the same issues as Norway currently does with continuing with a style of play the players are not suited for whatsoever just because their managers are egocentrical wankers.

 

I agree completely. This is the deepest player pool we've ever had and arguably the strongest team since the 2002 WC. There's no excuse for not playing well. At the end of the day, it's about holding Klinsmann to his own standard. He came in and said, "This is what our identity is going to be. This is how we're going to play." U.S. fans don't demand free-flowing 4-3-3 tiki-taka: we want a competitive team that's defensively solid and keeps opponents honest. Our strengths as a team remain athleticism, speed, and strength...why not utilize them ? We've always been a counter-attacking team and there's nothing wrong with that. Costa Rica made the WC QFs playing good football as a defensively-strong, counter-attacking team. Italy is the godfather of that kind of football. Klinsmann would have us believe that style of football is beneath us.

 

And what have we gotten from him? Countless line-up changes, a revolving door at CB, leaked goals, and the most dangerous opportunities coming off the counter-attack as always, not from a high-backline, high-possession side breaking teams down. And that last bit is fine, but Klinsmann has the audacity to assume he's far superior to his predecessors as a tactician and coach and he's never fucking backed it up.

 

That all being said, he deserves a fraction of credit for getting a lot of things correct against Colombia. Cameron-Brooks is our strongest CB pairing (and minus Cameron getting picked on the corner, both played very well), Yedlin at RB instead of RW, Bradley finally at #6. U.S. fans have been screaming at him to make these changes for years and he's finally come around, whether by choice or just the pure luck of landing on them in yet another squad shuffle.

 

Fab Johnson is being wasted at LB, but he played well at fullback at the World Cup (on the right side no less) and I see the logic behind it. With this current squad, I'd consider bringing in Castillo at LB and pushing Johnson up to LW, where he belongs. Go for broke on that left side. Otherwise, I'm not sure why Lichaj has been completely iced out, despite playing LB week-in and week-out for Forest. Ream as well is capable of playing there and I'd like to see Villafaña brought in too, starting LB for Santos Laguna in LigaMX.

 

Dempsey is being isolated at striker and dropping way too deep to pick the ball up. He remains our most important attacking player and we need him on the ball a hell of a lot more. So you have to consider giving him a strike partner, which is either Wood or Zardes. Those two are CFs, not wingers (though Zardes can play as a 4-3-3 wide forward decently), so they're being wasted out wide in the current set-up as well.

 

Costa Rica is not nearly as good as they were at the World Cup and played like crap yesterday. Paraguay is a decent team on their day and they have some dangerous players. But we just beat Ecuador, a better team, and crushed Bolivia. Anything less than 4 points, and it really should be 6, from these two matches has to be seen as a complete failure for this team and it lands on Klinsmann.

[Mike]

Is he even under pressure? It feels like he's just got free reign to be as insane as he wants.

[Deuce]

Is he even under pressure? It feels like he's just got free reign to be as insane as he wants.

 

Gulati has consistently backed him, including after the absolute farce that was the Gold Cup and Confed Cup playoff last year. He should've been gone after that IMO. Followed by a pathetic loss on the road to Guatemala in WCQ. You get the sense that the only way he's let go is if we fail to qualify for Russia. Don't even think U.S. Soccer would blink if we failed to get out of the group in this tournament.

 

Fans are starting to turn against him and the Twitterati has been pretty damn critical over the past year. Which includes Lalas, but he's a fucking idiot who likely believes he himself could do a better job.

[Kaizero]

Kaz was (probably) joking, but I'd def have Donovan in this team. Give a shit if he's 50.

 

He's only 34 too. Next manager will have him back for Russia 2018.

 

Not adequately replacing LD has been one of the biggest shortcomings of this team and still is.

 

Only half joking. The US lacks a Donovan type player at the moment. Closest thing they got is Zardes, but he's all huff and puff and no real end result. Donovan with Dempsey off him, or a big striker with Donovan off him is what the US needs currently. Not saying it needs the actual Donovan, but a player like him that's speedy, agile and know how to finish off the scraps given to them. Klinsmann has the US playing a style of football that they don't have players suited for, it's idiotic. As much as you guys may hate it, the US is a workhorse team given their player pool at the moment. They need to play like a workhorse team, not a wannabe tiki-taka bullshit wankfest team that keeps not playing its best players in their normal formations.

 

Klinsmann is a German Pardew tbh. US have all the same issues as Norway currently does with continuing with a style of play the players are not suited for whatsoever just because their managers are egocentrical wankers.

 

I agree completely. This is the deepest player pool we've ever had and arguably the strongest team since the 2002 WC. There's no excuse for not playing well. At the end of the day, it's about holding Klinsmann to his own standard. He came in and said, "This is what our identity is going to be. This is how we're going to play." U.S. fans don't demand free-flowing 4-3-3 tiki-taka: we want a competitive team that's defensively solid and keeps opponents honest. Our strengths as a team remain athleticism, speed, and strength...why not utilize them ? We've always been a counter-attacking team and there's nothing wrong with that. Costa Rica made the WC QFs playing good football as a defensively-strong, counter-attacking team. Italy is the godfather of that kind of football. Klinsmann would have us believe that style of football is beneath us.

 

And what have we gotten from him? Countless line-up changes, a revolving door at CB, leaked goals, and the most dangerous opportunities coming off the counter-attack as always, not from a high-backline, high-possession side breaking teams down. And that last bit is fine, but Klinsmann has the audacity to assume he's far superior to his predecessors as a tactician and coach and he's never fucking backed it up.

 

That all being said, he deserves a fraction of credit for getting a lot of things correct against Colombia. Cameron-Brooks is our strongest CB pairing (and minus Cameron getting picked on the corner, both played very well), Yedlin at RB instead of RW, Bradley finally at #6. U.S. fans have been screaming at him to make these changes for years and he's finally come around, whether by choice or just the pure luck of landing on them in yet another squad shuffle.

 

Fab Johnson is being wasted at LB, but he played well at fullback at the World Cup (on the right side no less) and I see the logic behind it. With this current squad, I'd consider bringing in Castillo at LB and pushing Johnson up to LW, where he belongs. Go for broke on that left side. Otherwise, I'm not sure why Lichaj has been completely iced out, despite playing LB week-in and week-out for Forest. Ream as well is capable of playing there and I'd like to see Villafaña brought in too, starting LB for Santos Laguna in LigaMX.

 

Dempsey is being isolated at striker and dropping way too deep to pick the ball up. He remains our most important attacking player and we need him on the ball a hell of a lot more. So you have to consider giving him a strike partner, which is either Wood or Zardes. Those two are CFs, not wingers (though Zardes can play as a 4-3-3 wide forward decently), so they're being wasted out wide in the current set-up as well.

 

Costa Rica is not nearly as good as they were at the World Cup and played like crap yesterday. Paraguay is a decent team on their day and they have some dangerous players. But we just beat Ecuador, a better team, and crushed Bolivia. Anything less than 4 points, and it really should be 6, from these two matches has to be seen as a complete failure for this team and it lands on Klinsmann.

 

I'm a massive fanboy, but Bob Bradley would have done wonders with this US player pool. Looking at how he made average workhorses at Stabæk play like they were champions of the world, defensively solid and well organised counter attacking football. It's exactly the way the US should be playing with its current players.

[54]

This is probably a really stupid question, but is there a reason why given your population size, that you are not consistently pumping out players that should be able to compete top end European players, is it just lack of interest? or is there something going wrong when coaching youth?

[thomas]

This is probably a really stupid question, but is there a reason why given your population size, that you are not consistently pumping out players that should be able to compete top end European players, is it just lack of interest? or is there something going wrong when coaching youth?

Lack of interest/development/infrastructure really. It's just not a dominant sport over here. There are tons of great athletes in the States just not enough playing the game.

[Deuce]

Kaz was (probably) joking, but I'd def have Donovan in this team. Give a shit if he's 50.

 

He's only 34 too. Next manager will have him back for Russia 2018.

 

Not adequately replacing LD has been one of the biggest shortcomings of this team and still is.

 

Only half joking. The US lacks a Donovan type player at the moment. Closest thing they got is Zardes, but he's all huff and puff and no real end result. Donovan with Dempsey off him, or a big striker with Donovan off him is what the US needs currently. Not saying it needs the actual Donovan, but a player like him that's speedy, agile and know how to finish off the scraps given to them. Klinsmann has the US playing a style of football that they don't have players suited for, it's idiotic. As much as you guys may hate it, the US is a workhorse team given their player pool at the moment. They need to play like a workhorse team, not a wannabe tiki-taka bullshit wankfest team that keeps not playing its best players in their normal formations.

 

Klinsmann is a German Pardew tbh. US have all the same issues as Norway currently does with continuing with a style of play the players are not suited for whatsoever just because their managers are egocentrical wankers.

 

I agree completely. This is the deepest player pool we've ever had and arguably the strongest team since the 2002 WC. There's no excuse for not playing well. At the end of the day, it's about holding Klinsmann to his own standard. He came in and said, "This is what our identity is going to be. This is how we're going to play." U.S. fans don't demand free-flowing 4-3-3 tiki-taka: we want a competitive team that's defensively solid and keeps opponents honest. Our strengths as a team remain athleticism, speed, and strength...why not utilize them ? We've always been a counter-attacking team and there's nothing wrong with that. Costa Rica made the WC QFs playing good football as a defensively-strong, counter-attacking team. Italy is the godfather of that kind of football. Klinsmann would have us believe that style of football is beneath us.

 

And what have we gotten from him? Countless line-up changes, a revolving door at CB, leaked goals, and the most dangerous opportunities coming off the counter-attack as always, not from a high-backline, high-possession side breaking teams down. And that last bit is fine, but Klinsmann has the audacity to assume he's far superior to his predecessors as a tactician and coach and he's never fucking backed it up.

 

That all being said, he deserves a fraction of credit for getting a lot of things correct against Colombia. Cameron-Brooks is our strongest CB pairing (and minus Cameron getting picked on the corner, both played very well), Yedlin at RB instead of RW, Bradley finally at #6. U.S. fans have been screaming at him to make these changes for years and he's finally come around, whether by choice or just the pure luck of landing on them in yet another squad shuffle.

 

Fab Johnson is being wasted at LB, but he played well at fullback at the World Cup (on the right side no less) and I see the logic behind it. With this current squad, I'd consider bringing in Castillo at LB and pushing Johnson up to LW, where he belongs. Go for broke on that left side. Otherwise, I'm not sure why Lichaj has been completely iced out, despite playing LB week-in and week-out for Forest. Ream as well is capable of playing there and I'd like to see Villafaña brought in too, starting LB for Santos Laguna in LigaMX.

 

Dempsey is being isolated at striker and dropping way too deep to pick the ball up. He remains our most important attacking player and we need him on the ball a hell of a lot more. So you have to consider giving him a strike partner, which is either Wood or Zardes. Those two are CFs, not wingers (though Zardes can play as a 4-3-3 wide forward decently), so they're being wasted out wide in the current set-up as well.

 

Costa Rica is not nearly as good as they were at the World Cup and played like crap yesterday. Paraguay is a decent team on their day and they have some dangerous players. But we just beat Ecuador, a better team, and crushed Bolivia. Anything less than 4 points, and it really should be 6, from these two matches has to be seen as a complete failure for this team and it lands on Klinsmann.

 

I'm a massive fanboy, but Bob Bradley would have done wonders with this US player pool. Looking at how he made average workhorses at Stabæk play like they were champions of the world, defensively solid and well organised counter attacking football. It's exactly the way the US should be playing with its current players.

 

Klinsmann does deserve a lot of credit for expanding the pool in a way I don't know that Bradley would've been able to, particularly to coax the German-American contingent into coming aboard. I can't see the likes of Johnson, Brooks, or Green coming out as easily for Bradley. But who knows, Bradley was the one who brought Jones into the fold back in '09 after all.

 

Would I take Bradley back now to capitalize on JK's hard work? For sure.

 

I'm pretty sure that Kreis is being groomed as JK's eventual replacement, though I think Porter would be a better choice if we were go the American route. I'd prefer to go after someone with a bit more pedigree and who's actually had success at the international level. Pekerman or Sampaoli would be a dream, as would Bielsa. Whether or not they'd take the job is another question.