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***Official Soccer Discussion Thread*** (2 Viewers)

No one should expect Klinsmann to be a great tactician. He definitely needs a strong supporting cast to run the team and I think we'll soon learn who is going to play the Jogi Loew role for him with the USMNT as he had in Germany in '06. I think Klinsmann's role will be to inspire and challenge the players and, more importantly, USSF officials to change US Soccer from the ground up. In this regard, he will unquestionably be more effective than Bradley could ever hope to be. When he was first hired to lead the German national team, Klinsmann and Loew went around to all the clubs and met with the coaches at all levels and told them how they wanted to play and what needed to be done. I don't know if something like that is possible here, but that is the kind of long-term outlook and determination that is needed.

As for Bradley, for me the last game of South Africa '10 is very illustrative of his career as coach of the USMNT. He had a clearly inferior team of athletes facing superior technical players across the board, but gave his team a chance to win the game due to better team structure and tactics. I'll be surprised if Klinsmann can do much better with this team. I'm more interested to see what he does to improve the outlook for the future of US soccer.

 
Argh.

I've got no internet access and too much to say about this to scratch it out from my phone.

Basically, as I've said all along- I think BB did a solid job taking the players out there and providing them the best formation and tactics to get results... Which he did get.

BB had flaws (inexcusably consistent slow starts in games, sticking with that 2x flat holding MF, and the occasional lineup gaffe), but I don't see Klinsmann magically turning this group into world beaters or somehow finding KingKong out there to play LB, attacking CM or score buttloads of goals. And I'm not quite clear how he's going to improve our youth play- Reyna runs youth devlopment for the country and my understanding is that the impetus is already on promoting creativity.

I do think he brings a culture of winning at all levels with him- and I hope some of that mindset rubs off on the Nats. And if some of that trickles down to the US at large- fantastic. I do hope to be proven hugely wrong, but I don't see much changing in tactics or results. I just hope and expect for the US to qualify for Brazil- made harder not by our coaching, but the (re)emergence of teams like Panama and Jamaica to go with already strong Honduras and Costa Rica sides.

I now have tendonitis in my thumbs.

 
As for Bradley, for me the last game of South Africa '10 is very illustrative of his career as coach of the USMNT. He had a clearly inferior team of athletes facing superior technical players across the board, but gave his team a chance to win the game due to better team structure and tactics. I'll be surprised if Klinsmann can do much better with this team. I'm more interested to see what he does to improve the outlook for the future of US soccer.
I'll buy this in part. But the fact that he made the monumental and obvious mistake of even letting Ricardo Clarke in the stadium speaks volumes to me.
 
World Cup draw today

The 4th place team in CONCACAF gets a team from Asia in the playoffs for WC2014

The Guardian is live blogging it.

ETA: Man, there are a lot of countries in Africa

 
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New knockoff Gerrard jersey ordered. Finally decided to replace the Carlsberg one with Standard Charter.
Had a little address problem, so I emailed the site. How can I possibly go wrong dealing with a guy named Sutthirat Prasoetphon?
:lmao: Got mine from that place too...Carroll. Then saw that the LFC site was gettings rid of last year's third kit for pretty cheap and got a Gerrard one.
 
World Cup draw today

The 4th place team in CONCACAF gets a team from Asia in the playoffs for WC2014

The Guardian is live blogging it.

ETA: Man, there are a lot of countries in Africa
So Oceania means South America, eh? Good draw for Concacaf. Costa Rica-Uzbekistan should be a barn burner as they are fierce rivals :boxing: -QG

 
Uzbekistan got a pretty tough draw: Uzbekistan, Japan, North Korea, Syria.

Even though NoKo got a bye up to this stage (by virtue of making WC '10) they were put in Pot D as the current FIFA rankings were used to assign pots.

China benefited from being in Pot A, btw.

-QG

 
World Cup 2014: Preliminary draw - live!

• Email! scott.murray@guardian.co.uk

• Refresh! Hit F5 or use our auto-gizmo

• Despair! You're in reading this on Saturday night

I like this guy.

-QG

 
Egypt got a pretty good draw. Could this finally be the year?!?!?!?!?!? LOL.

Getting ready for the Barca/Man U game!!!! PUMPED!!!!!!

 
Egypt got a pretty good draw. Could this finally be the year?!?!?!?!?!? LOL.Getting ready for the Barca/Man U game!!!! PUMPED!!!!!!
African groups are always hard to read. There are some pretty ridiculous home field advantages.The only group that jumps out as being tougher than the rest is the one with Ivory Coast and Morocco.
 
USA got a favorable draw (such as you can before the hexagonal)

Group A:

USA

Jamaica

Winner of (Haiti/Antigua and Barbuda/Curacao/US Virgin Islands)

Winner of (Guatemala/Belize/Grenada/St Vincent and Grenadines)

Group B is the toughest:

Mexico

Costa Rica

Winner of (El Salvador/Dominican Republic/Suriname/Cayman Islands)

Winner of (Trinidad and Tobago/Barbados/Bermuda/Guyana)

Group C:

Honduras

Cuba

Winner of (Nicaragua/Panama/Bahamas/Dominica)

Winner of (Canada/Puerto Rico/St Lucia/St Kitts and Nevis)

Gotta figure it's the best chance for Canada to reach the Hex in a while.

-QG

 
Wow, didn't realize this:

Faeroe Islands moved into Pot 5

Wales is all the way down in Pot 6

Could finally get that Faeroes vs San Marino battle we all want to see :excited:

-QG

 
USA got a favorable draw (such as you can before the hexagonal)Group A:USAJamaicaWinner of (Haiti/Antigua and Barbuda/Curacao/US Virgin Islands)Winner of (Guatemala/Belize/Grenada/St Vincent and Grenadines)Group B is the toughest:MexicoCosta RicaWinner of (El Salvador/Dominican Republic/Suriname/Cayman Islands)Winner of (Trinidad and Tobago/Barbados/Bermuda/Guyana)Group C:HondurasCubaWinner of (Nicaragua/Panama/Bahamas/Dominica)Winner of (Canada/Puerto Rico/St Lucia/St Kitts and Nevis)Gotta figure it's the best chance for Canada to reach the Hex in a while.-QG
Ugh - Guatemala again? I know they're not that good, but I just can't stand that freaking team.And now that Carlos Ruiz has abruptly left my Union, I can go back to hating him too :)
 
Don't diss the Faroes, man. They'll burn down Torshavn when they finally win a qualifier.
They've already won a qualifier I thought - didn't they beat Austria (who btw, they are drawn with this time).Latvia and Lithuania together - interesting.Russia guaranteed a 6-team group as Georgia got drawn into Group I.-QG
 
wow, sucks to be Belarus, Georgia and Finland right about now. France and Spain in their group and those 2 will be beating the tar out of the others to try and avoid the playoffs (or even missing the playoff).

Ridiculously good draw for Greece.

Serbia, Croatia, and Macedonia in the same group. It's always this sort of thing that's most interesting to me.

England and Turkey look in good shape too.

-QG

 
Heading out soon to Fedex. Should be a good time as I have seen tons of ManUre and Barca shirts the last few days.
Had a root canal today. The endodonist was actually heading down to the game right after (4 hour drive). Hope he didn't leave any roots behind ;) -QG
 
Argentinian playmaker Javier Pastore to PSG for a whopping €43 million.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11854_7070549,00.html

Im glad Chelsea didnt pony up for him, but it makes me wonder if theyre going to make a move at all this summer. Theyre still supposedly in the hunt for a creative attacking midfielder. Modric? Neymar?

Along those lines, I wouldnt mind if they limit their signings if they at least commit to the youth movement - bring back Sturridge and give Kakuta more time this season.

 
Argentinian playmaker Javier Pastore to PSG for a whopping €43 million.http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11854_7070549,00.htmlIm glad Chelsea didnt pony up for him, but it makes me wonder if theyre going to make a move at all this summer. Theyre still supposedly in the hunt for a creative attacking midfielder. Modric? Neymar?Along those lines, I wouldnt mind if they limit their signings if they at least commit to the youth movement - bring back Sturridge and give Kakuta more time this season.
Neymar is more of a striker, and I believe he's staying at Santos, at least until January.
 
Great time at the game tonight.

Have no idea how it came across on TV but Thiago was the best player out there, you can tell his skill level is elite. He will be a very capable replacement for Xavi one day, but he needs to get on the field this year, too much talent. Sorry but NO CESC!

Villa gave very little effort. Barca was frustrated with ManU playing basically 9 defenders most of the game. Nani was terrific.

Atmosphere was a lot of fun, would guess a straight 50/50 split between teams supporters.

 
Correction!

Dunno when this happened but apparently that blogging dude got it wrong.

CONCACAF 4th place means New Zea, I mean the OFC winner.

Asia's 5th place gets South America's 5th place.

:pickle:

-QG

 
Great time at the game tonight.Have no idea how it came across on TV but Thiago was the best player out there, you can tell his skill level is elite. He will be a very capable replacement for Xavi one day, but he needs to get on the field this year, too much talent. Sorry but NO CESC!Villa gave very little effort. Barca was frustrated with ManU playing basically 9 defenders most of the game. Nani was terrific.Atmosphere was a lot of fun, would guess a straight 50/50 split between teams supporters.
Agreed, a great atmosphere. I thought it was funny that every time a Barca chant would start the Man U fans would start booing. When we got back to the hotel and watched the news it was confirmed for us that Manchester was offside on both of their goals.Anyone in here go to Skins games regularly? Is the Metro so overwhelmed for them? It seems the system was completely unprepared for the mass of people attending the match.
 
Argentinian playmaker Javier Pastore to PSG for a whopping €43 million.http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11854_7070549,00.htmlIm glad Chelsea didnt pony up for him, but it makes me wonder if theyre going to make a move at all this summer. Theyre still supposedly in the hunt for a creative attacking midfielder. Modric? Neymar?Along those lines, I wouldnt mind if they limit their signings if they at least commit to the youth movement - bring back Sturridge and give Kakuta more time this season.
I don't think they were ever really interested in Pastore, and I'm happy they didn't pony up based on what little I know about him. There's still 4-5 weeks or so left in the transfer window. I expect they are still hot after Modric, who has publicly stated he wants to play for Chelsea, and I would not be surprised if they join the bidding for Mata. Also hopeful that Yossi and McEachran might step up and fill the void for a creative attacking player in the midfield.
 
'QuizGuy66 said:
I'm sure this is a dumb question, where is the South America draw?
No need for a South America draw - South American qualifying puts all 10 teams in 1 group, top 4 advance and the 5th place finisher gets a playoff. Each team plays each other team home-and-away for a total of 18 games.2010 Qualification Results

It appears that Brazil, as hosts, will not be playing qualifying for 2014, so it's a 9-team bracket, 16 games per team, top 4 + Brazil advance, and the 5th place gets a playoff.

 
Great game to watch. Barca and united. Thiago's goal was amazing. Espn showed nani on but did not show Owens goal with their onside lines but there is no way he was on. Good thing it's a friendly and not a meaningful game. Without messi barca is on par with the other top teams. With messi they are untouchable.

It's encouraging to see united play well even if it's inferior competition. Let's hope they start hot and make a statement vs city in the community shield

 

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