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USMNT 2018


Ted Lange

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  • 2 weeks later...
2 hours ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Stfu Klinsmann. You’re part of the reason they didn’t qualify.  You lost 2 of 4 home games and tied shitty Honduras on the road in the final round.  Plus, in round four, you drew at T&T yourself, so let’s save placing all the blame on the last game.

1000% this. 

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17 minutes ago, Napoleon said:

He's most certainly NOT the main reason that we didn't qualify.

Under him, we lost 2 of the expected three most difficult games in the entire hex.

Arena is 90% of the reason we didn't qualify.

I think Kinsmann deserves more than 10% of the blame.

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Didn’t we beat some euro teams in Europe who were mostly full strength under klinnsman? Didn’t we cap more dudes under him than we did under arena and Bradley combined?

 

he clearly didn’t get the job done, but at least he threw shit at the wall to try. Arena round 2 was fucking predictable as shit, with predictable shit results.  Klinnsmans lineups, positioning of players, and leaving landycakes at home for Brazil were head scratchers but at least we didn’t know we were getting uninspired soccer before the kickoff. 

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Klinsmann deserves some blame for failing to qualify. But the bulk of the blame for that failure falls on the lap of Arena. 4 points in the final 4 games, completely unacceptable given who those games were against.

And while he deserves some of the blame (see above) and he might not be the best messenger, he's not wrong in what he is saying. This is why I posted it.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 4/18/2018 at 9:54 AM, Captain Ron said:

Klinsmann deserves some blame for failing to qualify. But the bulk of the blame for that failure falls on the lap of Arena. 4 points in the final 4 games, completely unacceptable given who those games were against.

And while he deserves some of the blame (see above) and he might not be the best messenger, he's not wrong in what he is saying. This is why I posted it.

just a quick reminder that klinsmann was less than 20 seconds away from becoming only the 2nd US manager in history to win 2 in a row at the world cup.  all michael bradley has to do is hoof the ball in to the stands and ronaldo doesn't get off a miracle cross.

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19 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

No reason for the change yet

Conmebol, the South American confederation, announced that 12 teams -- 10 Conmebol members and two guest teams -- will play in the 2019 Copa America in Brazil.

The USA and Mexico, which has been invited to every tournament since 1993, won't be going. Instead, Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host, and Japan, which is expected to send an underage team in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will participate.

They will join Brazil and nine other South American countries, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Issues related to the release of players -- guest teams can't force clubs to release players -- have always presented a problem for the USA, which has not played in the Copa America since 2007 when it sent a "B" team to Colombia after winning the Gold Cup under new head coach Bob Bradley.

Reports out of Mexico suggested that Conmebol and Concacaf could not reach an agreement on dates so the tournaments wouldn't overlap. The 2019 Copa America will take place June 14-July 7. Concacaf has not announced the dates -- or venues -- of the 2019 Gold Cup, but FIFA lists the Concacaf event as falling on the same dates as the Copa America.

(The Africa Cup of Nations 2019 will be moved into June, leaving the AFC Asian Cup, scheduled to be played Jan. 5-Feb. 1, as the only winter regional championship.)

The 2015 Gold Cup -- the last Concacaf championship played in the same year as the Copa America -- was played in July. The USA finished fourth and generally played poorly throughout the tournament.

One of the issues then-head coach Jurgen Klinsmann raised about playing in July was bringing in players from Europe, where they had just returned from vacation and were starting preseason training.

Not having Mexico in the Copa America is a big blow for Conmebol and Riccardo Silva's MP & Silva, which was recently awarded Copa America 2019 commercial rights. El Tri's participation generates big rights fees from networks in Mexico and the USA.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We have a couple of warmup matches to prepare many young players for our current role as sparring partner for a team this is actually going to the World Cup, France.

The first match is against the pygmies of the Americas, Bolivia, on May 28th in a town called "Chester, Pennsylvania" - it's actually the Philadelphia Union's home stadium, but I had to look it up to be certain. Then after that, some players will be dropped and a few players will be added for our matches against Ireland (June 2nd in Dublin) and France (June 9th in Lyon).

Interim Manager Dave Sarachan may be a worthless place holder, but at least he and US Soccer are approaching these games the right way and aren't trying to get Dempsey the record, or a few more caps for Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore. I don't mind the inclusion of Eric Lichaj, Jorge Villafana, & Joe Corona so that there are a few Frankie Hejduk types who will work there asses off as an example to the younger kids, but I hope that they both don't play a full 90 minutes. I kind of thought that Walker Zimmerman has already shown that he wasn't good enough back when he was with FC Dallas, but hopefully others in camp make it clear that Walker shouldn't leave the bench.

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As has been his habit during his time in charge, Sarachan has emphasized calling in younger players. The average age is 22 years, 286 days, which is even younger than the group that was called in for a friendly against Paraguay back in March. All told, 15 of the players are under 22, with nine players who are age-eligible for participation in the 2020 Summer Olympics.


Here's the squad for the Bolivia match:

GOALKEEPERS:
Alex Bono (Toronto FC)
Bill Hamid (Midtjylland)
Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge)

DEFENDERS:
Cameron Carter-Vickers (Tottenham, on loan at Ipswich Town)
Eric Lichaj (Nottingham Forest)
Matt Miazga (Chelsea, on loan at Vitesse Arnhem)
Matthew Olosunde (Manchester United)
Erik Palmer-Brown (Manchester City, on loan at KV Kortrijk)
Antonee Robinson (Bolton Wanderers)
Jorge Villafana (Santos Laguna)
Walker Zimmerman (LAFC)

MIDFIELDERS:
Joe Corona (Club America)
Julian Green (Stuttgart, on loan at Greuther Furth)
Alejandro Guido (Club Tijuana)
Lynden Gooch (Sunderland)
Weston McKennie (Schalke)
Keaton Parks (Benfica)
Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund)
Rubio Rubin (Club Tijuana)
Tim Weah (Paris Saint-Germain)

FORWARDS:
Andrija Novakovich (Telstar)
Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen)

 

http://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states/story/3504881/christian-pulisic-headlines-us-national-team-squad-to-face-bolivia-may-28

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1 hour ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

What am I going to be able to bitch about if Zusi is not on the field?😊

Just put a picture of him as your wallpaper on your phone. That's what I do for Wondo. 

Not that it matters, but thought it was odd Weah was listed as a midfielder. 

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Pretty sure he plays the same position as Pulisic does - on the wing in an attacking position, usually on the left (where as CP is usually the right). CP gets listed as a MF and FWD, depending on who is doing the writing. I bet the same happens for Weah. Either way, both players aren't there for defense, they are there to score goals and create assists. 

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On 5/25/2018 at 12:26 PM, C-Man said:

Keaton Parks, the son of a good friend of mine, just got called up to the USMNT. He currently plays professionally for Benfica.

https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2018/05/25/16/23/20180525-feat-mnt-keaton-parks-from-texas-to-benfica-b-to-usmnt


I was just reading a "Soccer By Ives" article about him and this line kind of blew my mind and made me laugh at the same time.
 

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He’s played central midfield his whole life and developed good footwork and good vision along the way. During his junior year of high school, though, Parks grew six inches, altering his game in many ways that required a major adjustment.

Holy Crap Batman! Going from about 5'9" at the start of your Junior Year in high school, to finding yourself 6'3"* the at the end of the school year would be bizarre!

Here's the article: https://sbisoccer.com/2018/05/with-best-position-still-up-for-debate-keaton-parks-enjoying-first-taste-of-usmnt-camp

 

*EDIT: After reading the US Soccer article, I now know that he went from about 5'5" to 6'+ in one year and continued to grow after that.

Edited by Napoleon
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Weston McKennie plays like maybe the best version of the classic 4-4-2 American box-to-box midfielder that the US has ever had. Kind of a #6/#8 combo.

Parks seems like he would have been a #8/#10 type of player before he added another 10"-11" over a few years. It will be really interesting to watch how he develops and to see where he finds a positional home for both club & country.

Throw in Emerson Hyndman (22 y.o) and Kelly Acosta (23-24 y.o.) and it's amazing how much national team level center midfield talent has passed through the FC Dallas Academy the last 5-8 years.

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Fox is effing crap.  No pregame show.  Instead, some stupid NASCAR show.  The broadcast will go right into the game.  OTOH, Unimas/Univision has a Spanish pregame show.  Luckily I speak Spanish, but what the hell?   

Game starts at :50.
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