OT - USA v. ARG Copa Semi-Final Pre-Game Open Thread

Submitted by Hab on

Kickoff is at 9:00 pm EST.

I know few around the boards are soccer (sack-ah) followers.  For those that are, you're undoubtedly aware of the Men in Blazers.  For those who aren't, they are pundits that take a borderline satirical approach to reporting on the game and state of the sport in the US by combining American enthusiasm for all things American with the other football and throw in an excessive dose of hyperbole.  

All that to say, the US are facing Argentina, and though I fully expect the US squad to get torched, I would suggest for those who aren't fans of the sport, give this one a watch, it promises to feature "the Best Player in the World against the Best Player in the World named Kyle."

-- Suggestion for I believe Brian who hates the 1-10 rankings after soccer matches, I'm with you in loathing those rankings.  I far prefer more subjective metrics: England are Pants.

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Mr. Yost

June 21st, 2016 at 11:00 PM ^

Steve Birnbaum or whatever it is... But Bradley shouldn't be such a pussy every time he gets the ball and turn to the fucking goalie. I made a joke in the last game even though we won. I said at halftime that Bradley should play better if he just keeps going towards the same goal in the second half. Drives me nuts. He doesn't ALWAYS have to turn back to his defense or to the keeper. You CAN advance the ball forward. He's so conservative it hurts the team. If he coached college football he'd be an even more conservative Kirk Ferentz.

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blahblahblahh

June 22nd, 2016 at 12:18 AM ^

Eh, our guys won their group and lost in a semifinal to maybe the best team in the world (they certainly have the best player in the world). The three suspensions were definitely a factor as well. The score wasn't pretty, but to call our team a "global embarrassment" is a little much. 

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FreddieMercuryHayes

June 21st, 2016 at 10:57 PM ^

Look, I'm not saying the US would have won, but good god, that line up from the start was asking to be over run and give up possession. And then the substitution for Birnbaum moving Cameron away from CB? Good god. There was not effort by the coach to even dare for a win. And Argentina ruthlessly made the US pay for itZ



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Maize Craze

June 21st, 2016 at 10:59 PM ^

Never thought I'd see us play without any heart. Starting to wonder what it would take for JK to be sacked. People will look and say "oh the semis!"...but other than Germany in a friendly we haven't beaten shit.



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FreddieMercuryHayes

June 21st, 2016 at 11:03 PM ^

So apparently this is the worst result for the US in a tourney since the 30s. One single fucking shot. And not even on goal. There's losing and there is losing hilariously bad. This was the later. But at least it wasn't as bad as Mexico?



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BursleyBaitsBus

June 21st, 2016 at 11:03 PM ^

Time to send any remotely talented US kid to Dortmund, Arsenal, Porto or Ajax soccer academies in Europe. 

 

This was bad. 

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JClay

June 21st, 2016 at 11:04 PM ^

What if I told you we just really suck and are overly rated because we play countries with populations 2% of ours? What if I told you none of our best athletes play soccer? What if I told you, it's not the coaches fault no one gives a shit about soccer in this country? On this week's 30 for 30. . .



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BJNavarre

June 21st, 2016 at 11:05 PM ^

Wood, Jones and Bedoya would have helped. May have even gotten a couple shots on goal, but Argentina is so much more skilled and talented than the US, I'm not sure the final score would've been any different.

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erald01

June 21st, 2016 at 11:10 PM ^

Watching USA soccer team play for the cup is as painfull as watching the Lions trying to win a playoff game...it blows my mind how bad they played tonight. With how rich in talent South America is why not bring some of those guys over, hand them a citizenship and let it rip. Look at some of those european teams, they will make anyone who is good a citizen to play for their national team. I feel like every year we take a step back.



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koolaid

June 21st, 2016 at 11:14 PM ^

I wasn't sure how not having Jones, Bedoya, and Wood would affect the team. Turns out the players that replaced them gave up 2-3 goals. This game could've been much closer. USA seemed a bit jittery and went for long balls instead of easy passes. Wondo and Birnbaum gave the ball away for two goals. Other than that, Argentina dominated possession but didn't get many quality chances. 4-0 is probably unkind to the US. With Wood, Bedoya, and Jones this game is 1-0 or 2-0 to Argentina.

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FreddieMercuryHayes

June 21st, 2016 at 11:15 PM ^

Damn, it's just that we finally saw some consistency and competence in an on-field tactical plan. And then once again when the team is really an underdog and needs the coaches to execute a good game plan, it reverts to a non-sensical line up and abandons any remnants of what got you there in the first place. Disheartening.



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smwilliams

June 21st, 2016 at 11:43 PM ^

The pace and skill among the midfield/attacking players was really the difference. Argentina pressed and when they got possession, were calm and collected on the ball, basically waiting for a gap to open up in the US defense. The US midfield either booted the ball upfield at the first sign of pressure or gave it away in dangerous positions.

If we want to seriously contend for a World Cup, we need to ditch the leftovers from the Bradley regime, and commit to playing younger, more athletic players.

The difference in sides was stark.

 

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DrewGOBLUE

June 22nd, 2016 at 12:34 AM ^

Cool Runnings Approach

This team might be better off if they simply built a roster with a couple dozen American sprinters -- guys that were a hair too slow for the Olympics. Coach 'em up on some fundamentals...then pretty much just have them run really fast.

At least this way the USMNT would have one distinguishably strong attribute to their game.

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