Well, one of those 2 goals was a result of US putting the pressure on and Belgium getting numbers on the counter-attack. The strategy was not to get run off the field by Belgium and it kinda worked (with Howard making huge saves), and as soon as the US pushed the action they also left themselves even more open. If they had started to do so earlier they likely would have given up even more shots.
One consistent aspect of this world cup has been that games in which the US played had far less acting. If soccer is to go anywhere with the US market that trend must coninue.
It's all your fault! It's all your fault! It's all your fault!
Thoughts on future - feel free to offer ideas. Pray that a lot of German Americans exist in the midfield living on U18 U20 teams overseas :)
Defense is young enough outside of Beasley, mid 20s with Gonzalez, Johnson, early 20s with Yedlin and Besler the old goat at 28. In theory all these guys can return as a group.
Forwards Jozy, Johannsson and Green all young 24 to 19.
Midfield will need total revamp. Bradley 26 probably only guy really on next WC team. Dempsey 31, Jones 32, Beckerman 32. Bedoya and Zusi out of depth here, and late 20s. Mix is 23 but right now his level of physical play and defensive responsibility seems lacking - hence zero minutes this WC. Cameron 28 and I dont see much upside there for Russia.
And we lose our GK.
Seems like midfield is main area we are going to have to start over with in the next cycle.
Green, Yedlin, Gedion Zelalem, Aron, Jozy, Arriola, Emo...our golden generation, there is a ton young talent coming up. Defense finally looks promising. Not worried about keeper.
We will be good '18.
http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the91stminute/2014/01/10-under-20-the-best-young-americans-abroad/
I agree Drunk Unc, young players looking good!
Howeve , despite all the seeming advancement of the USMNT, it is still amazing to see the near complete lack of that first touch that our guys show as compared to the rest of the world. Dempsey has it, at times, but its just not there yet. Hopefully Klinsman's influence on the development of the youth players will start to elevate the collective skills of our nations soccer programs.
We have the worst first touch of any team in the WC. Damn near every first touch was a bobble. The Belgians on the other hand looked like they had glue on their shoes.
Thanks for the link!
I forgot Brooks in my summary in central D as well.
Gedion Zelalem, 17 years old. He is German American MF and plays for Arsenal and Arsenal youth academy.
Is he actually a citizen yet? Last I had heard his father still needed to get his citizenship before he would be piggybacked on that. When he does, someone needs to get Saban on the phone to him.
Not yet. Last I heard (May), his father was close to getting his citizenship.
Don't count out Juan Agudelo. He is still only 21 and hopefully he continues to develop while he is on loan in the Dutch league.
Overall, I'm pleased. Team did better than I thought they would, but not really in the way I expected.
Defense looked pretty decent throughout I thought, especially because I thought that's what was going to lose us games. I'm honestly a bit befuttled by the fact that they couldn't hold on the ball. I mean, I'm not expecting the US to look like some of the European powers out there, that will take some more time. But geez, string more than two forward passes together. This is where Altidore's injury really hurt the team.
That said, there is some great young talent out there, so hopefully another 4 years of aging, and a few big tourneys before the next would cup will see the US much more improved in 2018.
I think that's over simplifying things, and only focusing on this game. Belgium took 38 shots. And Howard, while heroic, made 16 saves. That means the defense is not giving Belgium 38 super easy shots. Belgium also took 19 corners. That's crazy! And they were all cleared. The problem is that the team couldn't link up and hold onto the ball, putting the entire defensive end in terrible position after terrible position. It's like blaming the Nebraska loss last year on the defense because they cracked at the end.
Overall, I thought the D handled Ghana's crazy athleticism well; they gave Germany more trouble than the US. Also pretty much shut down the best player in the world in the Portugal game, and if not for one bad defensive play that fell luckily right to the feet of a Portugal player, the US would have won. Also held up well against Germany again considering the utter lack of US possestion.
Of course this is just my opinion, but it kind of flipped the script of more recent national team narratives where the D concedes early and is the weak part of the team.
One comment - defense is not 4 players. It is 11 players but specifically the midfield and defense. Your defense can look bad - very bad - when your midfield doesnt track back. JK brought in Cameron for height and said after the game he was happy with it but the lack of Beckerman stood out today on defense.
And I dont care if you are a world class defender - when a team throws multiple offensive guys with individual ability to break you down you are just trying to keep him outside and take shots/crosses from the outside and cut off angles. You are not going to tackle most of these guys.
Relative to expectations going into the tourney they did fine ....other than Fabian Johnson it was "hmm" on Beasley and "OMG" on the central defense. It was competent. Look at Germany - they got exposed on defense as much as the US did with a team like Ghana. And Algeria who doesnt have the type of players Belgium does.
There's a difference between being exposed on defense while pushing forward, having 67% possession and outshooting the opposition 28-10, vs. being exposed on defense while being outshot 39-17.
I'm not passing judgment on either defense but today's game was nothing like Germany/Algeria. Or maybe it was, but not quite in the way you mean.
1: Algeria played better against Germany than U.S. did vs Belgium
2: That is not really all on the defense. Algeria actually had possession. They had more pace on the outside midfield and their central forward. They actually connected passed. They challenged the German defense many times.
3: Sitting back in a shell absorbing attack after attack is not the defense's fault; it's your front 6 unable to do a darn thing for 90% of the game. If you want to blame 33% possession on the 4 defenders I guess you can but I'd point at the guys in the forward and midfield ranks for that.
4: When you have the ball that little it is going to result in a ton of shots. Not sure what you want the defense to do in those cases. Like someone else said, there was a bazillion corner kicks and corner kick discrepency tells me a lot more about a game than possession. You can possess all day on your half of the field or in the middle third and certain teams (Greece) will be happy to let you do it. But when you have nearly 20 CKs - thats sick. That means a ton of posession in your own third. So if you stop Belgium, get the ball to your midfielders, who promptly turn it right back over - again I don't see how that is on the defense.
I view all sports the way I view Michigan sports. Either the team wins despite all obstacles or they lose.US soccer is building and shows promise, but is far from world class. While I'm very happy for thier progress I'm very tired of the hype.
US soccer has hired a phenomenal coach and this world cup will bring huge dollars to support the program. Hopefully in four years the program will have progressed to the point that it can stand head to head with the top five in the world.
It might be a while before the US can consistantly stand toe to toe with the top 5 teams in the world. Those countries have kids from the day they can walk playing basically only soccer and training in club/national farm teams. And if the US wants to install a more 'modern' soccer system, it will take many years of younger players coming up in that system and training in it while at their club teams as well. You can't just install an effective zone-read offense, or a passing spread, overnight and expect it to win conference/national championships. Hopefully in the next few years we'll see the US go toe to toe with some great teams at the Confederations Cup and that special Copa America thing in 2016.
Every elementary school, junior and senior high school with in 50 miles of here has soccer teams, and has had for at least 25 years.There are soccer teams in virtually every college in the US, and, while it is not at the level of the europeans, we do have a professional soccer league.
It's not that there are not enough young people playing soccer. It's that until this country makes a market that top athletic talent decides there is a career here playing soccer, that talent will go elsewhere, to other sports or other countries.
Beyond soccer just getting recognition, to capture the imagination of the American market, soccer needs to lose the WWF acting.
Further, the challenges are exactly like installing a different offense or defense and sticking with it long enough to make it work. Soccer is a game like any other. Get the money to pay to find the talent and the coaching, and then stick with it until you can win. Soccer like any other professional sport is about spending enough money over the long haul to win.
Maybe the hype this year will generate enough interest to support that spending. We'll know in four years.
If you think this is going to turn around like that in four years, you're crazy. The changes that are hopefully taking place now are affecting ten year olds--we won't even start to see the effects for a decade at least.
The German team right now is made up of players that were youth players when they overhauled their youth system...in 1998. They saw results a little quicker because they were starting from a pretty solid foundation.
It's going to take time. Soccer's about technique, not "top athletic talent", and if doesn't happen pre-teen it doesn't ever really happen.
Awesome seeing all those people at bars and stadiums for the world cup.
And when World Cup fever ends, the people will all disappear. It's not growing like people proclaim it is. And I like the sport.
Yeah. That would be World Cup fever.
Let me know when the MLS draws the entire nation's attention like that of the NFL and College Football.
I love soccer, but it will probably never come close to football.
Using football as a comparison just doesn't make sense now.
But there are so many leagues both here and abroad. I suggest each person who watched this world cup watch a few MLS games, watch the EPL, La Liga, and the Bundesliga. Soccer is growing at a tremendous rate here, but you have to understand that growing soccer viewers won't necessairly mean more MLS viewers.
Agreed that most soccer fans here don't even follow MLS, it's the Euro leagues that are huge
it's basically like watching hs basketball.
Nice wishful thinking there.
Football has dealt with health issues a fact you have overlooked.
I disagree that more people are not getting into soccer. There are a lot more in the under 30 set who watch soccer now than 2 decades ago. Mostly due to access. Yes a lot of hanger ons for the WC will disappear for 4 years but those are the same folks who jump onto any bandwagon.
Also MLS has little to do with love of soccer. I barely watch any MLS. It is like saying "when Americans embrace Double A baseball then I will know baseball has arrived." Why watch a 2nd rate league when the best players in the world are overseas. I watch MLB not double A. I will watch those EPL games all day and MLS wont see an impact and I am a soccer fan so MLS success doesnt mean the sport is not embraced. And MLS is actually pretty darn successful all things considered.
And no, not saying soccer will ever be bigger than the the big 3 - I can see it passing hockey at some point though. But MLS ratings won't tell you any of this. NBC Network ratings Saturday mornings are going to be more telling.
Part of the popularity of soccer rising in this country is people filling stadiums for soccer games in this country, no?
triple post
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if there were prime time epl, la liga, etc. games, then soccer would grow more popular.
I mean, the only way to change that is to actually watch MLS games. With more viewership, comes more money, comes better players, comes better quality soccer, comes more viewership.
Soccer will never reach the level of the NFL right now (unless the NFL implodes because of brain damage, which is not actually out of the relm of possiblity), but even this country's ESPN/Univision coverage of the Portugal game (I believe?) drew the same viewership as the last NCAA football championship I believe. And you're right, it is World Cup fever, but some fans will stick around. I did after the 2010 World Cup, and I started going to DC United games as well. With each successive year, hopefully it will grow.
american business people want to make money. more or less, owners wants to make money on their sports teams.
they can't compete against foriegn oil sheiks who are willing to throw away literal tons of cash for the world's best players.
And that's being mighty charitable to MLS. It's lower-division soccer and unless that someday changes it's unlikely to ever draw attention like the NFL or the top end of college football no matter how popular soccer becomes.
What's more likely is that more and more fans will adopt teams in Europe, as more and more of our best players find spots over there. I saw a lot of NBA shirts when I was living in Europe; this is the same thing in reverse. I've watched Serie A in a packed bar in Chicago at 8am on a Sunday morning, with everyone going for espresso at halftime instead of beer. Liga MX, EPL--there are bars that show nothing but multiple soccer games 24/7 (well, as much of 24.7 as they're allowed to stay open).
Did you ever think an American network would offer every EPL game every weekend, just like they do the NFL? That was unthinkable twenty years ago.
You're wrong. It's growing immensly. Seattle's attendance is one the highest in the world. New MLS teams are popping up almost every year because owners are making money.
I love the NHL, but it's just a matter of time before it gets overtaken by MLS.
This is how I feel. On a pure talent level (not experience) Belgium is one of the top teams in the world, probably right there with Germany. We could have one this game and I'm proud of the team for playing like they did. I hate that we lost, hate it. Sucks we have to wait another four years.
I've been watching US Soccer for over 20 years and I think this was our best team. Definetly our most interesting sqad and coach. I just wish he would have put Green in earlier, oh well.