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Did you watch it on GolTV or was their some other feed? Because the announcer was all over Bradley's nuts in the first half. And the pass was pretty nice (it was also a fantastic run by Reus). He was pretty blah in the 2nd half but the game was pretty boring in general.
GolTV
Just watched Borussia Mönchengladbach v Nuremberg. Michael Bradley was a ghost.
And here I thought I was the only one that watched the Bundesliga in here.
Just a tournament for all English clubs.Picture the EPL as MLB, Championship as AAA, League One as AA, League Two as A...all teams get thrown into a pool and play a yearly tournament. Lots of history, mostly for prestige. The top teams take it as a chance to rest most of their starters and give their lesser players some play time. Lower league teams go all out for glory, and it seems most every year a team out of a lower league makes it deep into the tournament and knocks off a few top teams.Pretty neat format, gives a team like the Durham Bulls a chance to knock off the NY Yankees in front of the whole country.Can someone explain to me the FA cup?I am watching this Birmingham City/Derby match...what a shot by Savage and an even better save in the 94th minute
Snippets from Wiki:The FA Cup is a knockout cup competition in English football. The competition is a knockout tournament with pairings for each round drawn at random – there are no seeds, and the draw for each round is not made until after the scheduled dates for the previous round. The draw also determines which teams will play at home.Can someone explain to me the FA cup?
I am watching this Birmingham City/Derby match...what a shot by Savage and an even better save in the 94th minute
ThanksWhat is the format? Is it like group play then single elimination or something?I saw Native posted it was a knockout tournament, but I dont really know what that means...I was looking on ESPN for the brackets or something. All I could find was 5 rounds then a quarter final, semi final, then final...Just a tournament for all English clubs.Picture the EPL as MLB, Championship as AAA, League One as AA, League Two as A...all teams get thrown into a pool and play a yearly tournament. Lots of history, mostly for prestige. The top teams take it as a chance to rest most of their starters and give their lesser players some play time. Lower league teams go all out for glory, and it seems most every year a team out of a lower league makes it deep into the tournament and knocks off a few top teams.Pretty neat format, gives a team like the Durham Bulls a chance to knock off the NY Yankees in front of the whole country.Can someone explain to me the FA cup?I am watching this Birmingham City/Derby match...what a shot by Savage and an even better save in the 94th minute
Think of it as a Baseball tournament where all MLB teams are in the same competition as teams from AAA, AA, A and about 20 other lower level semi-pro leagues. Theres like 800 teams in the FA Cup, everyone from the biggest teams in England (Manchester United, Chelsea) to small, local football teams whose players hold other jobs in the offseason. The top 40 or so teams (all the teams in the top two Leagues) have byes in the early rounds. Teams are drawn to play each other randomly. After each round, all the remaining teams are thrown back into a hat and the next round of games are determined.
That does sound cool...Think of it as a Baseball tournament where all MLB teams are in the same competition as teams from AAA, AA, A and about 20 other lower level semi-pro leagues. Theres like 800 teams in the FA Cup, everyone from the biggest teams in England (Manchester United, Chelsea) to small, local football teams whose players hold other jobs in the offseason. The top 40 or so teams (all the teams in the top two Leagues) have byes in the early rounds. Teams are drawn to play each other randomly. After each round, all the remaining teams are thrown back into a hat and the next round of games are determined.
Awesome idea. We should do the same thing in American sports.
Bayern Leverkusen 13-9-0 48 48:28 +30Bayern München 14-6-2 48 48:19 +29It is pretty cool. Other countries have similar tournaments in soccer.The United States has the US Open Cup, Germany has the DFB Pokal and Spain has the Copa Del Ray, just to name a few.
Mjolnirs said:
I played in one of the many qualifying tournaments for the US Open Cup this past summer with my club team. I'm sure others here have as well.
Freddy with the Game Winner!So important for him. Very happy to see hes playing well and contributing.
Good stuff ST. Way to coach em up!
Props to Atletico - I was worried about this one given the injuries/suspensions at the back. I just want to know if Puyol managed to stay healthy walking to the team bus after the match - the Blaugrana can't afford another injured defender.
Good stuff.
I thought the whole discussion was based on Landon on the right because of how well he was doing in England at that spot(see original quoted post here)? That is why I brought about DMB for the left side.
The key point in this article, and one that I've been making in this thread is the following:
At least he brings a different skillset, that extra something that the South Americans have that everybody else wants.Put Adu on the squad!!
i thought Adu looked very good when he played in those friendlies a few summers ago. (i believe they were against England, Argentina and someone else). He looked dangerous on the ball and you could tell the other teams respected him enough to keep their distance. He'll never the superstar everyone expected and he's not that fast. But he's a creative MID presence and i think he can add something to the WC squad.LHUCKS said:
A Brit I played college ball with had his Pub team make it to the knockout stages years ago. I don't fully understand how the early stages work, but I got/get the impression that the really small teams are going at it for a long while before the "League" teams show up. IIRC, prem teams don't show up until "round 3", but I don't think that includes all the prelim rounds that the non-pro teams are in. Or I've got it all wrong.Native said:Think of it as a Baseball tournament where all MLB teams are in the same competition as teams from AAA, AA, A and about 20 other lower level semi-pro leagues. Theres like 800 teams in the FA Cup, everyone from the biggest teams in England (Manchester United, Chelsea) to small, local football teams whose players hold other jobs in the offseason. The top 40 or so teams (all the teams in the top two Leagues) have byes in the early rounds. Teams are drawn to play each other randomly. After each round, all the remaining teams are thrown back into a hat and the next round of games are determined.guru_007 said:
Awesome idea. We should do the same thing in American sports.
whatever... I freaking LOVE the FA cup. On top of all the random matchup factors, I love that if the teams draw, there's a replay at the visitor's pitch.
You're right in that there's a number of qualifying rounds in the FA Cup before the league teams show up, guess it depends on the number of teams that enter.The "1st Round Proper" of the FA Cup includes the 32 clubs from the Conference Level down who got through qualifying along with the 48 clubs from Coca-Cola League 1 and 2. 80 gets pared down to 40 for the 2nd round, and 20 for the 3rd Round.A Brit I played college ball with had his Pub team make it to the knockout stages years ago. I don't fully understand how the early stages work, but I got/get the impression that the really small teams are going at it for a long while before the "League" teams show up. IIRC, prem teams don't show up until "round 3", but I don't think that includes all the prelim rounds that the non-pro teams are in. Or I've got it all wrong.Native said:Think of it as a Baseball tournament where all MLB teams are in the same competition as teams from AAA, AA, A and about 20 other lower level semi-pro leagues. Theres like 800 teams in the FA Cup, everyone from the biggest teams in England (Manchester United, Chelsea) to small, local football teams whose players hold other jobs in the offseason. The top 40 or so teams (all the teams in the top two Leagues) have byes in the early rounds. Teams are drawn to play each other randomly. After each round, all the remaining teams are thrown back into a hat and the next round of games are determined.guru_007 said:
Awesome idea. We should do the same thing in American sports.
whatever... I freaking LOVE the FA cup. On top of all the random matchup factors, I love that if the teams draw, there's a replay at the visitor's pitch.
It was Spain, which was the team that Adu looked very good against for a half.I still don't think Adu adds much to the US unless Feilhaber continues to struggle. Holden can play in the center. Freddy still doesn't have the pace for the wing or the defensive chops to play a deep lying central role. About the only position that makes sense for him in the US setup is as a withdrawn striker. Possibly on the right if the US wants to play Dempsey up top (but Holden can play that position either on the touchline or more centrally so I'm not sure Freddy adds much there). I don't find his skillset so unique, but even if I granted that it were, its a complete luxury considering the way the US plays. The US isn't Spain. You need an entire midfield of tidy passers in order to really get the best out of a Xavi type.
awesome.You're right in that there's a number of qualifying rounds in the FA Cup before the league teams show up, guess it depends on the number of teams that enter.The "1st Round Proper" of the FA Cup includes the 32 clubs from the Conference Level down who got through qualifying along with the 48 clubs from Coca-Cola League 1 and 2. 80 gets pared down to 40 for the 2nd round, and 20 for the 3rd Round.A Brit I played college ball with had his Pub team make it to the knockout stages years ago. I don't fully understand how the early stages work, but I got/get the impression that the really small teams are going at it for a long while before the "League" teams show up. IIRC, prem teams don't show up until "round 3", but I don't think that includes all the prelim rounds that the non-pro teams are in. Or I've got it all wrong.Native said:Think of it as a Baseball tournament where all MLB teams are in the same competition as teams from AAA, AA, A and about 20 other lower level semi-pro leagues. Theres like 800 teams in the FA Cup, everyone from the biggest teams in England (Manchester United, Chelsea) to small, local football teams whose players hold other jobs in the offseason. The top 40 or so teams (all the teams in the top two Leagues) have byes in the early rounds. Teams are drawn to play each other randomly. After each round, all the remaining teams are thrown back into a hat and the next round of games are determined.guru_007 said:
Awesome idea. We should do the same thing in American sports.
The 3rd round of the tournament includes the 20 winners of round 2, the 24 clubs in the Coca-Cola Championship and the 20 Premier League teams, then it's a straight 64-team elimination tournament, with each round drawn at random, which is the best part of the tournament IMO. No seeds. If Liverpool and United get drawn together in Round 3, so be it.
There was a gentleman in Britain, Tony Kempster, who maintained a comprehensive website of non-league English football which also outlined every round of the FA Cup in painstaking detail. Unfortunately Tony passed away a few months ago. (ETA - Here's the website). His website even included even attendance at the matches where available. It was always amusing to see these really early FA Cup qualifying rounds with an attendance of like 34. I'm not even exaggerating.
RIP Tony
This is dead on. The article makes a really dumb comparison bc Adu simply isn't competing with Rogers (a left winger), Beasley (a left winger), or Castillo (a left fullback/winger) for a roster spot. Adu is a niche type player that in the right circumstances could have a vital place with our national team. However, right now is not at all the right circumstance bc our style highlights his weakest attributes. And we simply aren't going to change our tactics so drastically for this WC to make him remotely useful. He can't play either wing. He can't play centrally as we ask too much deep and defensive play from them without asking as much offensively and I don't see him playing as a target forward (nor has he played forward in years). So even on form, I have no idea where he fits even as a tactical sub. I'm all for Adu (and EJ) getting playing time and playing well. Good for them. But the fanboyism over this guy is comical.
How about when we are behind and the midfield needs to play up?What if if one of our wings gets injured?We're talking sub here not starter... and right now our subs suck balls...particularly on offense.Another reason to put him on the squad is to get him some experience practicing and playing with the team, he's still very young and could make vital contributions in 2014 unlike some of the sucky players currently vying for a roster spot.
Benny and Torres are both ahead of him here and I'd personally rather see Holden subbed in for more offense.
If all our wingers got injured he still is a liability out there. There are many guys that are better than he is as a winger that aren't even in the conversation. I mean, I'd rather see Bornstein on the wing than Adu. It's not his position.
Not at central midfield. It is our deepest pool of players: Bradley, Clark, (Edu), (Jones), Benny, Torres, plus Holden can all play here. Subs are for changing up the game. If ahead, we sub in a winger for a forward and move Dempsey up top. For offense, when behind, we have been bringing on Benny or Torres in the middle. Those are the two guys he has to pass on the depth chart.
Feel free to call out some of the sucky players currently vying for a roster spot that Adu should get preference over. The list of central mids is above. We probably only take 4 (not counting Holden who likely goes as a winger sub but can slide to the middle).
Hmmm...good responses. I'm gonna have to chew on this. Might rather have him than a Ching or Connor because we can always bump landon or Dempsey up.I guess I'm not as sold on Felihaber or Torres...Felihaber had that one great run and that's about it. Torres shows flashes. I'm convinced Bornstein is the most overrated player on the roster. When Adu plays at least he shows flashes, sure his defense is subpar at best, but we're talking about a sub strictly for when we're behind.
What you are talking about is what should be happening at the club level, not the national level. You don't waste roster spots on a national team on players who don't fit the system just to give him experience.
Really? He has had 1 start and apparently played well but he was subbed at 60 min. And sadly, that's pretty much the entirety of his resume over the last 2 years. If he is playing consistently well for a month or two he should get in the conversation but there is something seriously wrong with the idea that the guy plays 2 games and suddenly has articles being written about him and people clamoring for his inclusion on the national team.
Is the Greek league really better or is it like the Scottish Premiere League. I concede that Panathanaikos and Olympiakos are likely better than any Danish team, but I'm not sure it's really a better league top to bottom. Just in the time that I've been scouring highlights since Freddy and EJ made their moves, I've seen a shocking number of goals attributable to goal keeper error. I'm certainly not an expert on the Greek league or any secondary European league for that matter. If Freddy gets minutes and produces he should be in the conversation for a reserve role. But he's in competition with a lot of players. Many of whom are more versatile. I can understand the idea that Adu has done as much as, say, Robbie Rogers. Rogers is also a pretty limited player without much of a national team resume. It's also weird that Jose Francisco Torres had a great goal this weekend for Pachuca and nobody's talking about it.
For what it's worth, the current UEFA coefficients rank Greece as the 12th best league, Scotland 13th and Denmark 16th.The one nice thing about the Greek league is they have a four team playoff for the 2nd-5th place teams for UEFA qualifying places. Aris is currently 5th so that could be some great experience for Adu against the top tier of Greek football which is pretty decent.
