Football, Fútbol, Futebol, Soccer

[blazindw]

Timely quote (although Atletico is in Madrid, I think we know what you mean). Either way, Atletico just walked all over Inter for the Super Cup. And...I...loved...every...second...of...it. It's truly wonderful seeing the Italians lose, especially with all those big names standing behind Milito blowing the PK at the end. Oh, what a beautiful game this footie is...

Yea, Madrid is how most people in Spain refer to Real Madrid...or Real.

[cf-62]

It's nice to be able watch EPL on ESPN these days. I've been an Arsenal fan since living in London when I was 12. Now I get to watch teams other than Man U. Cool!

[soccerstud2210]

Yea, Madrid is how most people in Spain refer to Real Madrid...or Real.

blazindw, tough blow for Madrid with CR out for a couple weeks with the injury yesterday. he has always been one of my favs. since seeing him dominate at old trafford. never like to see a player down and out with injury.

[blazindw]

Yea, I'm not happy about that, especially since he played on it for the entire game almost. Like his passion but we need to protect our investment.

On the other hand, this will give Pedro León, Sergio Canales and Mehsut Özil plenty of opportunities. I'm high on all of them, especially Canales. They have a chance to really shine

[JohnGalt]

blazindw, tough blow for Madrid with CR out for a couple weeks with the injury yesterday. he has always been one of my favs. since seeing him dominate at old trafford. never like to see a player down and out with injury.

Yea, I'm not happy about that, especially since he played on it for the entire game almost. Like his passion but we need to protect our investment.

On the other hand, this will give Pedro León, Sergio Canales and Mehsut Özil plenty of opportunities. I'm high on all of them, especially Canales. They have a chance to really shine

Never, ever happy when a player gets injured, but I have to jump on my soapbox for a moment here. I can't stand Cristiano and his diving. Fabulous footballer who - from what I understand - has a wonderful work ethic and an insatiable desire for improving his game, but I just can't forgive the needless bellyaching on the pitch. I'd swear the amount of diving as gone up in recent years and although I'm not blaming him for it, he plays a huge role in it. The diving is something a lot of Americans have difficult time getting around before they could enjoy the game. Either way, I wish him a speedy recovery...

After his performance in the World Cup, I'd like to see Ozil grab some pitch time...Germany is going to be absolutely nasty come Euros...

[blazindw]

^^^
To his credit, CR7 has done a lot less diving since he's arrived at the Bernabeu. However, he's had two significant ankle injuries at the beginning of both seasons, both on fouls that weren't called. This is probably due to his rep as a diver, but CR7 has been really beaten up in La Liga. His rep as a diver, however, lets a lot of the fouls go uncalled while leaving him injured or hurt.

[JasonEvans]

Any comments from the educated masses here on Bradley being retained as head coach of Team USA for the next 4 years?

Interesting column here that says stop hating on Bob, but it is not exactly a ringing endorsement. It basically says, "don't blame him for sucking. Blame the folks who run the national team for hiring him." Hmmmm.

For those who simply can’t bear the fact that Bradley remains in charge, ponder this: Perhaps your ire should be directed not at the man, but at the federation that decided to hand him the keys not once, but twice.

--Jason "I wonder if this means we reached out to Klinsmann and he said, 'no thanks'" Evans

[soccerstud2210]

Any comments from the educated masses here on Bradley being retained as head coach of Team USA for the next 4 years?

Interesting column here that says stop hating on Bob, but it is not exactly a ringing endorsement. It basically says, "don't blame him for sucking. Blame the folks who run the national team for hiring him." Hmmmm.



--Jason "I wonder if this means we reached out to Klinsmann and he said, 'no thanks'" Evans

i dont mind him. i think he needs to learn some way of "reinventing" himself and a way to preparing the guys for the game. we cannot continue to come out every game giving up goals in the first 25 minutes. it kills us. always playing from behind. it'll be interesting to see how he does. pretty unusual for a coach to stay more than one term, but I wish him all the luck.

on the subject of klinsmann, i think he is still a world cup or two out of reach. from what i understood he is interested, but he wants a team that can WIN the world cup, and the US is still a little bit away from that. had we performed a little better in this world cup, maybe he would have been a little more interested. I for one would LOOOOOVE for klinsmann to be the HC. love that guy!!!!


in closing, would have loved to see klinsmann take the spot, but on the other hand, i'm ok with bradley staying, as long as ricardo never puts on another USMNT jersey... as you see i have not forgiven him. probably will be a while before i can... i know i know, "if your brother offends you forgive him 70 x 7"... but it still hurts...

[soccerstud2210]

Never, ever happy when a player gets injured, but I have to jump on my soapbox for a moment here. I can't stand Cristiano and his diving. Fabulous footballer who - from what I understand - has a wonderful work ethic and an insatiable desire for improving his game, but I just can't forgive the needless bellyaching on the pitch. I'd swear the amount of diving as gone up in recent years and although I'm not blaming him for it, he plays a huge role in it. The diving is something a lot of Americans have difficult time getting around before they could enjoy the game. Either way, I wish him a speedy recovery...

After his performance in the World Cup, I'd like to see Ozil grab some pitch time...Germany is going to be absolutely nasty come Euros...

i agree, i watched him almost every game when he was at old trafford and i hated the diving. heck, i hate all diving. frustrates the heck out of me. but unfortunately that has become the game more and more.

it'll be interesting to see how Ozil does. wonder if he'll be like Close and Podolski, or more like Ballack and Klinnsman...

[JohnGalt]

Any comments from the educated masses here on Bradley being retained as head coach of Team USA for the next 4 years?

Interesting column here that says stop hating on Bob, but it is not exactly a ringing endorsement. It basically says, "don't blame him for sucking. Blame the folks who run the national team for hiring him." Hmmmm.

--Jason "I wonder if this means we reached out to Klinsmann and he said, 'no thanks'" Evans

Bob isn't a bad coach...the problem is he isn't an overly clever one either (see the stagnant 4-4-2). He lacks a certain spontaneity (yes, another one of those vague intangibles) that is required of coaches at that level (*cough, Fabio*). That being said, if you had higher expectations than what the US team was able to achieve in South Africa - IMO - you were being a touch unrealistic. Our fundamental problem is that we...well...just aren't all THAT good. Put our roster next to all of the upper echelon squads of the world and you'll see that on average the quality of play each player sees on a day to day basis is simply lower. We were able to make up a lot of the ground through tough, physical play, whether that be on the ball, off the ball, or in the air, but when it comes down to it, we just aren't/weren't as good as most of the other top tier squads. Numerous people commented to me on how hard those 'darned Americans [not necesarily 'darned'...]' were always running after the ball.

I think another problem that I've heard/read numerous times is the American mentality of "we want Americans coaching Americans." I'll bet you could google that statement and find several footie blogs just over the last several days where it or something to that effect was mentioned. It's just sort of an American - holier than thou - mentality. And, unfortunately, it's limiting. We're just not all that experienced of a soccer nation and, as such, the pool of experienced personnel both on the field and on the sideline are just that...limited. To have a man as legendary as Klinsmann pacing the sidelines would be tremendous boost to anyone playing on the pitch. He's would be THAT effective as a manager purely from the presence standpoint. Furthermore, he'd bring a different dimension, a more stylistic dimension that would incorporate more complex tactical footie as opposed to the slightly outdated, although still relevant, style Bob utilizes.

I don't mean for all this to sound as though I'm bashing Bob. I said before the Cup that if the USA was able to advance 2nd in the group and play competitively in the first elimination round game, I could be satisfied with that. And I am (after getting over the sadness of it all ending, of course). We tied England and won the group for goodness sakes. ENGLAND. WE TIED THEM. That alone should give Bob another shot with the team. He at the very least met a realistic expectation and, at the very most, exceeded it. And as a result, he should be given another go.

To be honest though, I was pretty convinced he'd be sacked for Klinsmann. US Sports are just that ruthless, even the red headed step child of American international competition.

[JohnGalt]

Look for the USA to be competitive in London with Jürgen at the helm and to WIN in the USA with Jürgen at the helm...

12 years from now when we're hoisting that trophy, you'll all me asking yourselves:

Who is John Galt?

[blazindw]

I agree with you on your thoughts on Bradley, JohnGalt. I wanted someone new in there because traditionally coaches who stay on after 4 years never get the job done as well as they did before. Arena is the most recent example of this. Plus, I think that Bradley needs to employ an offense that makes use of our offensive players better. More possession and crisper passing is something that he needs to emphasize to create more offense.

Also, it's time to get some new players in there. Our defense will be old and some of our stars will be in their 30s by 2014 (Dempsey, Donovan, Howard). We need to identify the team of the future and get those players up and playing with each other.

[blazindw]

In an interview with Grant Wahl yesterday, Bob Bradley used none other than Coach K's stints with the USA Basketball to show how he will approach a 2nd 4-year stint with the USMNT:

http://bit.ly/9jOGDb

[A-Tex Devil]

This seemed as good a place as any -- I am heading to UK after xmas for a couple of weeks, and while most of my time will be in Scotland/Ireland, we are planning on catching 1 or 2 EPL games. What is the best home crowd to go to? We are leaning Liverpool on 12/28 against Wolves. Not a classic matchup, but it works in our schedule, and I've **heard** that's the best crowd. I am much more likely to hit a 12/28 game (unfortunately will miss boxing day slate) than games after the new year, but I'm curious what people's opinions are.

Still on a Quixotian quest to get Rangers/Celtic at Ibrox tickets on New Year's day. (So, um, let me know if you've got any connections).

Edited to add -- my request is not clear -- I am looking for best game experience which wuld be a combo of stadium and crowd (and potential post-game revery)

[JohnGalt]

This seemed as good a place as any -- I am heading to UK after xmas for a couple of weeks, and while most of my time will be in Scotland/Ireland, we are planning on catching 1 or 2 EPL games. What is the best home crowd to go to? We are leaning Liverpool on 12/28 against Wolves. Not a classic matchup, but it works in our schedule, and I've **heard** that's the best crowd. I am much more likely to hit a 12/28 game (unfortunately will miss boxing day slate) than games after the new year, but I'm curious what people's opinions are.

Still on a Quixotian quest to get Rangers/Celtic at Ibrox tickets on New Year's day. (So, um, let me know if you've got any connections).

Edited to add -- my request is not clear -- I am looking for best game experience which wuld be a combo of stadium and crowd (and potential post-game revery)

I don't think you could go wrong at Anfield. I didn't look at the schedule before replying, but if you can sneak into Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, or really any of the big ones I don't think you could go wrong. Granted, I'd be willing to bet any game whether it be the Premiership or the Conference Leagues would be a good time...

[blazindw]

This seemed as good a place as any -- I am heading to UK after xmas for a couple of weeks, and while most of my time will be in Scotland/Ireland, we are planning on catching 1 or 2 EPL games. What is the best home crowd to go to? We are leaning Liverpool on 12/28 against Wolves. Not a classic matchup, but it works in our schedule, and I've **heard** that's the best crowd. I am much more likely to hit a 12/28 game (unfortunately will miss boxing day slate) than games after the new year, but I'm curious what people's opinions are.

Still on a Quixotian quest to get Rangers/Celtic at Ibrox tickets on New Year's day. (So, um, let me know if you've got any connections).

Edited to add -- my request is not clear -- I am looking for best game experience which wuld be a combo of stadium and crowd (and potential post-game revery)

I would recommend Spurs-Newcastle. That should be a fantastic game, and White Hart Lane has one of the best atmospheres, by many accounts. I would say that a game at Fulham is also up there, but they only have a home match on Boxing Day.

[cf-62]

This seemed as good a place as any -- I am heading to UK after xmas for a couple of weeks, and while most of my time will be in Scotland/Ireland, we are planning on catching 1 or 2 EPL games. What is the best home crowd to go to? We are leaning Liverpool on 12/28 against Wolves. Not a classic matchup, but it works in our schedule, and I've **heard** that's the best crowd. I am much more likely to hit a 12/28 game (unfortunately will miss boxing day slate) than games after the new year, but I'm curious what people's opinions are.

Still on a Quixotian quest to get Rangers/Celtic at Ibrox tickets on New Year's day. (So, um, let me know if you've got any connections).

Edited to add -- my request is not clear -- I am looking for best game experience which wuld be a combo of stadium and crowd (and potential post-game revery)

In a way, you're kind of asking which ACC Tournament site would be the best to watch the ACC Finals. It's a once in a lifetime experience. Of course, Greensboro would be best, but let's face it - anything will do.

I would personally try to hit one of the London venues, but that's just my preference for London

[JohnGalt]

Liverpool's in relegation land . I wonder if Hodgson's wishing he stayed at the Cottage...



How about Valencia? David Villa and David Silva depart resulting in...first!

Barca at Nou Camp's on the horizon though...their squeaky clean record probably only has 2 more weeks or so to live...

What's the latest from La Liga, blazin? I need an update!

BTW, I particularly liked this quote from Mourinho to the Galacticos fans:

I work hard so I can do things. They think the coach is Harry Potter - I'm not Harry Potter.

[Deslok]

BTW, I particularly liked this quote from Mourinho to the Galacticos fans:

So Jose might be the special one, but he's not the chosen one, eh?

[blazindw]

What's the latest from La Liga, blazin? I need an update!

La Liga has gone well so far...some surprises (Valencia's torrid start), some monumental upsets (Hercules winning 2-0 at the Nou Camp against Barca), and some expected starts...at least by me (Real without a loss so far, Villareal's great start so far). Mourinho's style has adapted nicely to Real's roster...he's starting to get a lot of production from several players instead of relying just on the feet of CR7 and Higuain. It's not the stylish football that we're used to as Madridistas, but I don't care as long as 3 points come with it each game.

Valencia's start is amazing to me...with the loss of David Silva and David Villa, they're on top of La Liga. Villareal has received some great play from Nilmar and Rossi (and even Jozy has been aggressive while in there)...hopefully Jozy can get more minutes and capitalize on the minutes he gets...if he can't, with the talent they have up front, he won't see much of the field if he can't score.