OT: The Football ( real football :P ) Thread

[cookthebooks]

Terrible outing from the US. I don't like many players on the squad outside of Pulisic, Reyna, and Weah. And Weah went crazy. Robinson is pretty decent at LB I guess.

They seem to lack an urgency and a real lack of quality in the middle of the field. They talk about Adams like an emotional leader but the guy does nothing well offensively.

adams had a disaster of a tournament. tried to make up for a year of missed matches and consistently played himself out of position. the panama equalizer falls directly at his feet. mckennie blew up his shoulder during the end of his club campaign and played through it but was never the same. that said, if you arent effective because you are trying to play through pain the manager needs to fix it. he was not up to the standard and shouldnt have played nearly as much. so right there you have 2/3 of the successful world cup midfield that arent in form. then add musah who had a completely uneven club season and you get the full experience of having your hail mary midfield be ineffective.

 

[ChaosAgent]

adams had a disaster of a tournament. tried to make up for a year of missed matches and consistently played himself out of position. the panama equalizer falls directly at his feet. mckennie blew up his shoulder during the end of his club campaign and played through it but was never the same. that said, if you arent effective because you are trying to play through pain the manager needs to fix it. he was not up to the standard and shouldnt have played nearly as much. so right there you have 2/3 of the successful world cup midfield that arent in form. then add musah who had a completely uneven club season and you get the full experience of having your hail mary midfield be ineffective.

Berhalter should get canned, but you're right. Adams McKennie Musah was terrible. I was shocked at the regression from Musah in particular who I thought was one of our best guys at the WC.

Also that Richards at CB...good lord is he brutal.

Still should have tied Panama even down a man.

 

[Pens1566]

Not a "blame the officiating" post, but ...

Just a drastic difference in the quality of officials between Copa and Euro. Like night and day.

 

[cookthebooks]

Berhalter should get canned, but you're right. Adams McKennie Musah was terrible. I was shocked at the regression from Musah in particular who I thought was one of our best guys at the WC.

Also that Richards at CB...good lord is he brutal.

Still should have tied Panama even down a man.

richards looks like he belongs playing for a very good premier league side, so his inability to translate that into international form is striking. also must be said same for malik tillman, who showed champions league levels during his club season complete with real defensive commitment from an attacking player, and barely has made a whisper with the national team yet.

 

[ChaosAgent]

richards looks like he belongs playing for a very good premier league side, so his inability to translate that into international form is striking. also must be said same for malik tillman, who showed champions league levels during his club season complete with real defensive commitment from an attacking player, and barely has made a whisper with the national team yet.

I liked the little I saw of Tillman at the end of the game yesterday.

But these guys annoy me. They should be out of this group.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Berhalter should get canned,

Why U.S. Soccer needs to move Berhalter on after Copa América failure

The stagnation of one of the best crops of USMNT talent was there for all to see as Gregg Berhalter's team meekly bowed out of the Copa América on Monday.

www.espn.com

 

[LOGiK]

I liked the little I saw of Tillman at the end of the game yesterday.

But these guys annoy me. They should be out of this group.

Why U.S. Soccer needs to move Berhalter on after Copa América failure

The stagnation of one of the best crops of USMNT talent was there for all to see as Gregg Berhalter's team meekly bowed out of the Copa América on Monday.

www.espn.com

They were fine until that idiot decided 'nobody will see me punch my mark in the back of the head (or neck, or whatever. who cares) and royally screw my team over in the first 10 minutes of a monumentally important match.
Getting a red card absolutely destroyed them after they lost that match, well, lost the 80 minutes after they were up 1-0 and that genius sank the teams ship.
Never recovered after that 'shock' defeat, and didn't look anything like they did for those first game and first ten minutes of match two. Not only giving their direct second slot contender a win, but missing out on the points themselves. Brutal loss.

Aside from that, looky looky who made it to the quarters? ENGLAND! hahaha... their first 4 matches were the most putrid ugly and confused football I've watched... but actually looked somewhat coherent in their match against the swiss. (not counting extra time... or as it should be called, walking football time).

 

[vodeni]

well, first of all this coach is a joke, second all the young players regressed or did not improve one bit, McKeena looks like he ate one too many burgers, he could not play in premier, Reyna is a joke (sorry @ChaosAgent the guy just stands around, pouts and wait for one master play where he will show anyone how great he is, could not make eleven on a struggling Forest Team), Other than this Pulisic and thisFrench guy there is no one that can score the goal. but its not just quality of players, in Copa you are playing with teams with way more inferior players, but they play like team should play, they fight, they run, tehy cover, nono of which has been noticed since this coach is there....gET RID of the coach ASAP get someone serious if you want any kind of success in 2026

 

[LOGiK]

well, first of all this coach is a joke, second all the young players regressed or did not improve one bit, McKeena looks like he ate one too many burgers, he could not play in premier, Reyna is a joke (sorry @ChaosAgent the guy just stands around, pouts and wait for one master play where he will show anyone how great he is, could not make eleven on a struggling Forest Team), Other than this Pulisic and thisFrench guy there is no one that can score the goal. but its not just quality of players, in Copa you are playing with teams with way more inferior players, but they play like team should play, they fight, they run, tehy cover, nono of which has been noticed since this coach is there....gET RID of the coach ASAP get someone serious if you want any kind of success in 2026

I'm guessing you mean the world cup... which is in the usa, so they again don't have to qualify.... and this summers basically u21 olympics ALSO they don't have to qualify... They get so lucky to get to the knockouts in the worldcup. Netherlands (Holland) absolutely stuffed it in their faces they have no idea how to play big time football.
The USA just absolutely sucks at football. They can't even call it by the right name and embarrassingly (to the rest of the world) even have to SHRINK the playing field when they play in the usa.
IMO they shrink the field to make it more like NFL (physical because they have not a chance in sheer talent) and also IMO to help the usa.... they can't keep up with teams that can run.

Never ever NEVER ever never never ever will there be a 'miracle on ice' version of usa in football.
Look at teams in the copa america / euros / asian cup / african cup.... final fours, even final eight...does the united states stand a flittering glimmer of a chance against them? never.

add: oh and big hahaha to mckeena ate too many burgers... it just isn't a good look for him.

 

[Pens1566]

You're right that the US can't really compete with the blue bloods.

As for the field size, it's entirely because they use existing football (US) facilities and none of them are going to perform massive restructuring activities to resize the field for a one shot event. Just not gonna happen.

 

[vodeni]

I'm guessing you mean the world cup... which is in the usa, so they again don't have to qualify.... and this summers basically u21 olympics ALSO they don't have to qualify... They get so lucky to get to the knockouts in the worldcup. Netherlands (Holland) absolutely stuffed it in their faces they have no idea how to play big time football.
The USA just absolutely sucks at football. They can't even call it by the right name and embarrassingly (to the rest of the world) even have to SHRINK the playing field when they play in the usa.
IMO they shrink the field to make it more like NFL (physical because they have not a chance in sheer talent) and also IMO to help the usa.... they can't keep up with teams that can run.

Never ever NEVER ever never never ever will there be a 'miracle on ice' version of usa in football.
Look at teams in the copa america / euros / asian cup / african cup.... final fours, even final eight...does the united states stand a flittering glimmer of a chance against them? never.

add: oh and big hahaha to mckeena ate too many burgers... it just isn't a good look for him.

I am not that pessimistic. Soccer has become really popular in US, I for one have to subscribe tp different streaming services to follow all the League 5 matches (Peacock Premier, ESPN+ Bundes and La Liga, Paramount Italian and Euro, Franch you get from beIn channel. plus MLS extra on Apple) I know a bunch of other people that spend a ton of time following the game, let alon all the youth soccer that has been played...so the interest is there, the money is there, just need some international success to keep adding new fans...anyways, its not that hard to imagine to achieve success on international tournaments. Many small countries with limited resources manage to make it and to succeed. With all due criticism about players not developing inot superstars, they are plenty good enough to pull together a very competitive national team. Plenty good enough. All it needs is a really good coach, national teams don't have luxury of training together forever, they need to be instructed, put together as a team with clear game plan, roles and committment to hustle. I guarantee you if they bring an A class coach right now they would make real noise in 2026 at the World Cup. Watching Brazil at the COPA who has all these players but terrible coach is to prove my points. You have countries like Iceland, Turkey, bunch of African countries, Japan, etc...who had a lot of recent success following this formula..

 

[LOGiK]

I am not that pessimistic. Soccer has become really popular in US, I for one have to subscribe tp different streaming services to follow all the League 5 matches (Peacock Premier, ESPN+ Bundes and La Liga, Paramount Italian and Euro, Franch you get from beIn channel. plus MLS extra on Apple) I know a bunch of other people that spend a ton of time following the game, let alon all the youth soccer that has been played...so the interest is there, the money is there, just need some international success to keep adding new fans...anyways, its not that hard to imagine to achieve success on international tournaments. Many small countries with limited resources manage to make it and to succeed. With all due criticism about players not developing inot superstars, they are plenty good enough to pull together a very competitive national team. Plenty good enough. All it needs is a really good coach, national teams don't have luxury of training together forever, they need to be instructed, put together as a team with clear game plan, roles and committment to hustle. I guarantee you if they bring an A class coach right now they would make real noise in 2026 at the World Cup. Watching Brazil at the COPA who has all these players but terrible coach is to prove my points. You have countries like Iceland, Turkey, bunch of African countries, Japan, etc...who had a lot of recent success following this formula..

I read the text wall and I can't say if footy is more/less popular... i played on my towns team when i was a kid, now nobody plays on that field. But my town is old and miserable. Watching it on tv is totally different then getting out playing it so... not sure just putting it on tv has any impact on liking it or not... usa things are so far apart, unlike most european countries where everyone has a field/pitch in their neighborhood. How about the USA, nope. But we do have basketball courts ever 50 feet.... and they get destroyed and just a reminder of how nobody can have anything nice.

Brazil hasn't been good in a loooooooong time. A looooooooooooooooooooong time. They just got this coach give him a minute.
Brazil has to stay away from all the big names and go with some scrappy kids from any corner of brazil who will have a drive and hunger and passion....

 

[Night Shift]

I am not that pessimistic. Soccer has become really popular in US, I for one have to subscribe tp different streaming services to follow all the League 5 matches (Peacock Premier, ESPN+ Bundes and La Liga, Paramount Italian and Euro, Franch you get from beIn channel. plus MLS extra on Apple) I know a bunch of other people that spend a ton of time following the game, let alon all the youth soccer that has been played...so the interest is there, the money is there, just need some international success to keep adding new fans...anyways, its not that hard to imagine to achieve success on international tournaments. Many small countries with limited resources manage to make it and to succeed. With all due criticism about players not developing inot superstars, they are plenty good enough to pull together a very competitive national team. Plenty good enough. All it needs is a really good coach, national teams don't have luxury of training together forever, they need to be instructed, put together as a team with clear game plan, roles and committment to hustle. I guarantee you if they bring an A class coach right now they would make real noise in 2026 at the World Cup. Watching Brazil at the COPA who has all these players but terrible coach is to prove my points. You have countries like Iceland, Turkey, bunch of African countries, Japan, etc...who had a lot of recent success following this formula..

I agree. Soccers popularity in the US really started in 94. Obviously being the hosts to the WC combined with the US team having a cast of characters that were unforgettable and success making it out of the group stage that summer. All of that had a lot to do with it. I'm pretty sure iirc, this inspired and kick started MLS.

But time went by and they stopped. Not much televised other than every 4 years after, oh yeah the WC. MLS wasn't enough of a fix either, so interest gradually went back down because of it. even as late as 20 years ago you couldn't get many World cup qualifiers on TV outside of US qualifiers or occasional concacaf if ESPN felt like it, or even the 04 Euro tournament. You had to box score watch online. That was me.lol.

Today pretty much everything is televised. Fifa.com has all the current 2026 WC qualifiers for free. Fox is televising the Euro tournament. NBC has the premiere league..ect..would have so loved that back then. Now that networks are taking these tournaments more seriously, you have more exposure that generates more interest overtime, as long as they keep it up. More kids will get into it.

I think the current US team has more pressure of needing to have a decent showing in the WC. More so than the 94 team. Hopefully they can follow through.

 

[Night Shift]

I admit im just getting back into the sport and i have been out of the loop for a while but im seeing a lot of fans ecstatic and celebrating the firing of Beerholder.

How could they let Beerholder coach for 6 years if he was that bad. That's a very long time for an average coach (at least a lot of fans I have read have been implying he is).

What happened with Klinsmann? (See how long ive been out of it) So you hire a guy with the last name starts with Beer? I dont think they were thinking that one straight.

 

[Night Shift]

Never ever NEVER ever never never ever will there be a 'miracle on ice' version of usa in football.
Look at teams in the copa america / euros / asian cup / african cup.... final fours, even final eight...does the united states stand a flittering glimmer of a chance against them? never.

Thats not entirely true. There actually was a miracle on ice version for US Soccer/Football. It just was not in our time. But they made a movie about it in 2005, Look up "The game of their lives." streams free on tubi. It was about the US team defeating England 1-0 in the 1950 world cup in Brazil.

The guy who plays Leonidas in 300 (i always forget his name) stared as Frank Borghi, US goalie in the movie.

Of course in those times, America did not care about US soccer in 1950. So I'm sure it went on deaf ears.

I'd still argue our 94 campaign was the miracle that brought awareness of the game to out country.

 

[Night Shift]

Canada's coach (US Born) Merch(sp?) asked him if he would be interested in the coaching position and he flat out refused.

Good for him because from what I've been reading, US soccer/football is corrupt from the top down. Some of the arguments ive seen are catering to those who have money to play instead of just collecting the best talent across the country. US needs to clean house.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Canada's coach (US Born) Merch(sp?) asked him if he would be interested in the coaching position and he flat out refused.

Good for him because from what I've been reading, US soccer/football is corrupt from the top down. Some of the arguments ive seen are catering to those who have money to play instead of just collecting the best talent across the country. US needs to clean house.

I just had a similar discussion with my coworker who follows US Soccer:

- Yes, tons of corruption/red tape/nepotism in US Soccer. The execs don't know wtf they're doing so how are they going to call out these acts in the developmental stages?
- US Soccer needs something similar to what the US has done in hockey. Look at the US Developmental Team based out of Ann Arbor. They get these kids while they're in HS and they train, live, eat and learn together. So when it comes time for international competitions, they have at least some chemistry
- Related to the USDTP in hockey, check out how many US players have been drafted in the past 5-6 years vs 20 years ago. 20 years ago, doubtful there is 1 American in the top 15 picks. Now US players dominate the draft boards. It's no coincidence.


And I would turn down the US coaching gig too. We probably have the resources in the top 5 countries of the world. But when it comes to execution compared to resources, they always fall short. This definitely stinks from the head.

 

[Night Shift]

I just had a similar discussion with my coworker who follows US Soccer:

- Yes, tons of corruption/red tape/nepotism in US Soccer. The execs don't know wtf they're doing so how are they going to call out these acts in the developmental stages?
- US Soccer needs something similar to what the US has done in hockey. Look at the US Developmental Team based out of Ann Arbor. They get these kids while they're in HS and they train, live, eat and learn together. So when it comes time for international competitions, they have at least some chemistry
- Related to the USDTP in hockey, check out how many US players have been drafted in the past 5-6 years vs 20 years ago. 20 years ago, doubtful there is 1 American in the top 15 picks. Now US players dominate the draft boards. It's no coincidence.


And I would turn down the US coaching gig too. We probably have the resources in the top 5 countries of the world. But when it comes to execution compared to resources, they always fall short. This definitely stinks from the head.

We need 2026 to be successful like 94 for another growth spurt in interest and awareness in the sport. Unfortunately the current US team seems to be an unlikable group unlike the 94 squad we hold dear in our hearts.

I dont blame anyone for not taking the job. We will probably hire someone in MLS. I hate to say it like that because I think eventually MLS will be a top league.

 

[cookthebooks]

i dont think any of that works for soccer. soccer is all about the grassroots, which is hard because its not the most popular sport here by far and the country is vast. i think the most important thing is better youth coaches instilling better practices at practice. no more tiny kids on full sized fields, less hoof and hope and time on the ball, etc

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

i dont think any of that works for soccer. soccer is all about the grassroots, which is hard because its not the most popular sport here by far and the country is vast. i think the most important thing is better youth coaches instilling better practices at practice. no more tiny kids on full sized fields, less hoof and hope and time on the ball, etc

How is soccer much different than hockey at the grassroots level? Prior to say, age 12 a kid is likely playing travel hockey and then the next step is getting noticed by the USDTP.

Hockey, like soccer, is definitely a niche sport. In fact, I'd argue it's more exclusive when comparing it to soccer. Gotta have a ton of equipment PLUS ice to practice or get your friends together to play. With soccer, all you need is a ball and an open field.

So I don't buy the argument that soccer cannot have a similar success story like we see with the USDTP because "it's not the most popular sport in the US".

 

[Pens1566]

How is soccer much different than hockey at the grassroots level? Prior to say, age 12 a kid is likely playing travel hockey and then the next step is getting noticed by the USDTP.

Hockey, like soccer, is definitely a niche sport. In fact, I'd argue it's more exclusive when comparing it to soccer. Gotta have a ton of equipment PLUS ice to practice or get your friends together to play. With soccer, all you need is a ball and an open field.

So I don't buy the argument that soccer cannot have a similar success story like we see with the USDTP because "it's not the most popular sport in the US".

I think it's the fact that even given the advantages you described (no equipment, etc) it's just as "gated" at the higher levels as is ice hockey. Much more so than baseball/basketball and football. Those are all much more open, and even have school support starting at very young ages.

Any kind of advanced soccer is very fenced off and very, very expensive. There's no reason for that at all, like you said ...

And I say this as a parent of a young-ish child that was involved in travel/academy soccer until this summer. Year round program that costs 4 figures (before travel) and wants 5 days a week from U10s and won't allow any participation in other sports? That's f***ing toxic, and it's not unique to our local organization either.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Bill Belicheck is jealous!

Removed Canada coach 'likely' knew about drone

Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker said new information from Soccer Canada showed suspended women's head coach Bev Priestman was likely aware of the drone use that has caused a scandal at the Paris Olympics.

www.espn.com

 

[Rossi Rat]

Just amazing. What a week.

 

[Pens1566]

I was at the LFC match at Accrisure on Friday night. Decent enough experience considering it was mostly subs/reserves playing. Crowd was obviously like 98% LFC fans.

It's been a while since I've been to the stadium, but what a god-awful experience getting in and out. Both on the vehicle side and the stands. Had a pass for Gold 1 garage right next to the field and it was a nightmare getting in there with all the inexplicable road closures ... same issues getting out, police forcing traffic all out towards 279N no matter which way you needed to go..

Also the first time I've been in the upper decks. What a disaster trying to go up/down in the aisles. No room for both directions.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Women's team destroyed Germany yesterday.