OT: USMNT versus Mexico on Saturday -- massive match
Just an incredibly important match for the USMNT (and Mexico) coming up Saturday night. The winner represents CONCACAF in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. The Confed Cup is a warm-up tournament at the World Cup host featuring the best teams in the world, and it has developed more prestige over the past few WC cycles. And, who does not want to beat Mexico all the time, anyways?
Jozy Altidore seems to be back in form, and so we should see about the best the US has to offer in this match. Mexico, who won the Gold Cup last summer after a disappointing performance by the US, has endured a lot of coaching turmoil, but they will be jacked up of course to play us at the Rose Bowl. The young teenage girl, I mean forward, Gio Dos Santos will be out for Mexico. Andres Guardado and Rafa Marquez (both total pains in the ass) are in for Mexico.
What say you guys? Saturday is going to be a long day with the Northwestern game and then this soccer match. I'm looking forward to both games. GO BLUE and USA USA USA!!!
October 6th, 2015 at 8:12 PM ^
kick ball with uniforms and more drama than an opera if somebody touches an opposing player.
i hope we win, but getting the score after the game will be fine.
October 6th, 2015 at 10:13 PM ^
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October 6th, 2015 at 10:31 PM ^
not a soccer fan, but i can appreciate the conditioning and certainly want the US to win whenever they play.
October 6th, 2015 at 11:37 PM ^
October 6th, 2015 at 8:17 PM ^
But might be a moot point, our defense still sucks.
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October 6th, 2015 at 8:21 PM ^
October 6th, 2015 at 8:19 PM ^
October 6th, 2015 at 8:19 PM ^
October 6th, 2015 at 8:23 PM ^
October 6th, 2015 at 8:26 PM ^
Some people think he's toast if we lose Saturday. I personally would keep him through at least the rest of this cycle, barring a catastrophe (e.g., we are not easily qualifying for the hex).
October 6th, 2015 at 8:27 PM ^
No. I don't think he's the problem. MSL is the problem. Our best are stunted by playing there.
October 6th, 2015 at 8:57 PM ^
October 6th, 2015 at 9:30 PM ^
October 6th, 2015 at 11:04 PM ^
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October 7th, 2015 at 12:50 PM ^
Except when it actually works. Transferring to a European club has worked out for Howard, Guzan, Bradley, Dempsey, Altidore, Cherundolo, Cameron... and that's not even counting the folks that started their careers in Europe (DeMerit?, Dooley, Harkes, and the German contingent).
Compared to, say, Hejduk, Eddie Johnson, Buddle, Rico Clark, Marcus Tracy, Donovan, Kenny Cooper... I'd say it's about a wash.
Maybe a shade pro-Europe, since it did give us the unintentional comedy that is Freddy Adu. And that was a bullet that MLS thankfully dodged.
October 7th, 2015 at 1:43 PM ^
From what I've heard and read a lot about, is that the transition and moving, involving everything but "playing soccer", from the U.S. to Europe, is very difficult.
From the lack of diversity, to culture shock, to the language barrier, to living in incredibly small towns in some places, it seems like for some players (because obviously some haven't had trouble) has been very difficult.
As Americans we rarely consider this. Our country is so large, that even great distances, don't really seem like too much of a change. Or, the changes are truly so minimal that we see them as "fun", e.g. "I love their accents", or "they have such great food there", etc. Where as a few hours in any direction in Europe, and you can absolutely find yourself in monumentally different ways of living and seeing the world. Though some players in the U.S. will complain about playing/living in a certain parts of America versus other parts of America (Marshawn Lynch, LeBron, etc.). The U.S. has a diversity, freedom, and similarity all across its lands that makes any moves or relocations, brief or long-term, only moderately difficult at worst. But traveling to Europe, can be a disaster for some.
I hope U.S. Soccer can (and I believe they will) become a little more adept and strategic about developing/taking care of players in Europe in the future.
No one is talking about it, but Germany literally built a resort, and had their trainers, players families, coaches, etc. in Brazil months before the beginning of the world cup, and used it as a strategic conditioning/rehab/therapy base of operations that absolutley aided them immensely on their way to dominating last world cup. So much so, I think they will have/should create regulations on that sort of thing in the fuutre.
October 7th, 2015 at 4:57 PM ^
October 6th, 2015 at 8:30 PM ^
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October 6th, 2015 at 8:26 PM ^
I wish they were playing this any day but Saturday. Because there is only college football on Saturday. Can't miss Miami/FSU--I've watched that every year since the 80s. Plus...it never should have come to this! We should have had the Confed bearth sewn up at the Gold Cup. Our soccer program is so damn schizo.
October 6th, 2015 at 8:40 PM ^
The only way I can see Mexico winning is if the game goes to penalties. Seriously, who on their roster do you see stepping up in a game like this to be the difference maker? Peralta? Chicharito? They will take one look at Tim Howard and blow the ball 10 yards over the bar. It's a confidence thing and they believe themselves to be snakebit. Altidore and Bradley score for the U.S., both in the second half, and the outnumbered American supporters in the Rose Bowl rain down Dos A Cero chants. You heard it here first!
October 6th, 2015 at 8:55 PM ^
Last time we played them at the Rose Bowl they torched us 4-2 in the Gold Cup Final.
October 7th, 2015 at 2:10 AM ^
And no real homefield advantage in the Rose Bowl.
October 6th, 2015 at 9:19 PM ^
I'm not optimistic either.
I mean, the entire last cycle I pretty much kept waiting for Klinsmann and his endless changes to implode. I really thought we were in trouble when he let his personal feelings keep Landon off the team. But the implosion never happened, and I was very happy to be wrong after what I consider a pretty darn good showing in Brazil (although I still think with Landon we would have had a better shot at making the quarterfinals).
Now, I'm feeling the same way. The problems with the defense still aren't solved despite massive experimentation, some of it just plain dumb. We're still short a striker, too, in my opinion.
So I'm not going to be surprised at all with an implosion on Saturday.
On the other hand, Klinsmann, man, he has this way of pulling things together even when they look to me like they're falling apart. So I guess I'm not going to be surprised at a solid US win on Saturday, either. But I'm certainly not counting on it.
October 6th, 2015 at 9:25 PM ^
The only thing that can save Klinsy and the tire fire that my beloved USMNT has been as of late if the fact that this Mexico team isn't any good as well.
I fire him regardless of result, but hey that's just me.
Go Nats. Give Ohio to Mexico. Jozy scores twice. 2-0 USA.
Dos a Cero reigns again
October 6th, 2015 at 9:33 PM ^
October 6th, 2015 at 9:56 PM ^
we have more or less owned Mexico head to head since '02 with the exception being Azteca and that horrific game in 2011
October 6th, 2015 at 9:45 PM ^
So you're in favor of firing him either way (I'm guessing due to the Gold Cup?)...who do we realistically hire to replace him?
October 6th, 2015 at 9:55 PM ^
his long term vision as Technical director and if he wanted to stay on in that role (I know he wouldn't but still) I would be happy to have him.
I have really disliked the product that he puts out on the field (being out shot by teams that are not better over and over agan) as well as many, many maddening line up choices from long before the world cup (the CB choices this summer though take the cake).
I don't have a choice in mind for Sunil Gulati to replace him with, I just don't really thnk you should keep a coach for beyond 1 world cup cycle. Fresh ideas are a good thing.
October 6th, 2015 at 11:14 PM ^
Keep in mind I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you but I'm not sure what kind of realistic candidates are out there.
My biggest problem with him is the lack of continuity amongst the squad. I'm all for changing up lineups and trying new players but constantly playing guys out of position has grown old.
October 7th, 2015 at 2:03 AM ^
I just completed my United States Soccer Federation "C" coaching license. For those who are unfamiliar, it's a 9 day, 12-14 hour per day course with both field and classroom requirements, very stringent testing, and about 40 hours combined pre-course and post-course work. The level of competency displayed in the curriculum at the "C" course was a massive leap forward in methodology, conceptualization, and tactical understanding from what US soccer was pushing through when I did my "D" license in 2009 pre-Klinsmann.
We now have the framework in place to establish a national identity, even down to a program-wide system that has been chosen as the most effective for teaching the game to young players (4-3-3). We're finally on board with the way the elite soccer nations train their players (functional, directional training that mimics game conditions and utilizes the areas of the field where the tactical situations we're teaching actually occur, among other things).
Klinsmann's job is so much larger than the results he achieves on the field with the senior national team. It's true that he must be held accountable for those results. But performing another curriculum overhaul at this stage would be the soccer equivalent of switching from manball to spread and back again in a span of 4 years, and it's likely that a lot of really good coaches, scouts, and other people in leadership positions in various branches of US soccer would get caught in the wash and lose their jobs as well. Depending on the vision of the new coach, the transition could be long and painful, and its repercussions felt far beyond the MNT.
October 6th, 2015 at 11:18 PM ^
October 6th, 2015 at 11:47 PM ^
October 7th, 2015 at 12:01 AM ^
i just saw that El Tri finally hired a new manager for their national team. They seem to have a lot of turnover at that position. Hopefully that gives us a slight advantage as he might not be as familiar with the squad as he could be for selection purposes.
The Confederations Cup is cool; kinda like a miniature World Cup with some great teams. It would be a positive experience for our players to get those games ahead of the real World Cup. Klinsmann has taken a bit of flak lately, but I really only care about our performance in the World Cup, and I think we did pretty well last time. It was a big task to beat Belgium, and we played fairly well. Hopefully we keep building something and the young players will take us to the next level.
Emerson said something about how if you look closely at a sailboat's voyage, it appears to be inefficient due to the tacking. But if you look at the journey from a more macro level, the vessel traveled from point A to point B in a straight line. Let's hope that's the case here.
October 7th, 2015 at 12:25 AM ^
Is this a home or away game for us?
USA USA USA!
October 7th, 2015 at 12:55 AM ^
October 7th, 2015 at 2:50 AM ^
So, how many Posers will be saying "The USMNT are . . . " all night long in the soccer open thread, after saying "Michigan is . . . " all day long in the college football open thread?
October 7th, 2015 at 11:02 AM ^
So to be honest, I'm not so bothered by that. European game, European convention. Fine.
What bugs me more is when that convention leaks over to sports like baseball, basketball, hockey and their international competitions. North American games, North American conventions. "The US is winning" not "The US are winning."
October 7th, 2015 at 11:34 AM ^
We seem to be playing Mexico every few months. I'm kind of Mexicoed out. Canada needs to get good to give us another rivalry.
October 7th, 2015 at 2:09 PM ^
#161 AO South Bay representing!!!
October 7th, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
Say hi to AOKC for me
October 10th, 2015 at 10:38 AM ^