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***Official Soccer Discussion Thread*** (7 Viewers)

It's so easy to call Rossi a traitor and fail to mention all of the "traitors" that have helped make the USMNT what it is today....guys like David Regis, Earnie Stewart, etc. Even traitors like Freddy Adu and the yet-to-be-capped Stuart Holden.

I mean, obviously it'd be pretty sweet if we had him, but it goes both ways.

 
Steve Tasker said:
It's so easy to call Rossi a traitor and fail to mention all of the "traitors" that have helped make the USMNT what it is today....guys like David Regis, Earnie Stewart, etc. Even traitors like Freddy Adu and the yet-to-be-capped Stuart Holden.I mean, obviously it'd be pretty sweet if we had him, but it goes both ways.
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Logic has no place in-game. We can have this discussion after the Confederations Cup is over.
 
Steve Tasker said:
It's so easy to call Rossi a traitor and fail to mention all of the "traitors" that have helped make the USMNT what it is today....guys like David Regis, Earnie Stewart, etc. Even traitors like Freddy Adu and the yet-to-be-capped Stuart Holden.I mean, obviously it'd be pretty sweet if we had him, but it goes both ways.
Click to expand...
Whatever.Rossi sucks balls.
 
Altidore out....Charlie Davies in?

They're bringing in the speedster....looking for the quick counter-attack opportunities?

Interesting sub

 
Maybe we can quickly name Phil Jackson as head coach and he can complain about the refereeing so we can get the calls against Brazil.

 
The Z Machine said:
Who else thinks that Ricardo Clarke's place in the starting 11 is pretty much done?:raiseshand:
Click to expand...
Clark was one of our best players against Honduras. I'm guessing the German guy is going to change things, but absent that Clark is going to be in the mix with Edu and Mastroeni when Bradley wants to play two defensive mids in the center. Bradley seems to be the one gimme in the center of the formation. Matchups will determine who gets the other position.
 
scoobygang said:
The Z Machine said:
Who else thinks that Ricardo Clarke's place in the starting 11 is pretty much done?:raiseshand:
Click to expand...
Clark was one of our best players against Honduras. I'm guessing the German guy is going to change things, but absent that Clark is going to be in the mix with Edu and Mastroeni when Bradley wants to play two defensive mids in the center. Bradley seems to be the one gimme in the center of the formation. Matchups will determine who gets the other position.
Click to expand...
Kljestan and Edu are definitely longer-term options in the center. Kljestan's always out of position as a DCM though.
 
Player ratings

Howard -- 7 -- Maybe had a bit of a chance on the 2nd goal, but really can't be faulted.

Spector -- 8- Assuming it was really DeMerit who beat on the final goal, Spector played great. I'm inclined to give the US a mulligan on that one anyway.

DeMerit -- 6 -- Not bad. Not great. Backed off a bit too much at times.

Gooch -- 5.5 -- Towering in the air. There are still times when he just seems clumsy. Looked like his feet were mixed up on the second goal. I'm not sure that can be corrected.

Bornstein -- 5.5 -- More suspect on the flanks. Lacked the calmness under pressure of Spector.

Feilhaber -- 6 -- Gave up the ball on the first goal. Lost possession cheaply other times as well. Still had several excellent balls. A tantalizing guy. Can we afford the luxury? I might have subbed him with Torres halfway through the second half.

Bradley -- 7.5 -- Faded a bit in the second half, but I can't blame him for that. I can't think of a player who has improved so much in a year or two. Was the best midfielder on the pitch for long stretches of the game.

Clark -- 4 -- Really didn't put himself about that much before the red card. Unfortunate, but I'm not sure that being his "first foul" actually says much in his favor when he was supposed to break up play.

Dempsey -- 6 -- He also faded. I thought he was a bit better than he usually is for the NT.

Donovan -- 7 -- His deliveries on set pieces left a bit to be desired (until the terrific corner to Davies). Ran his legs off. Was in the middle of lots of attacks in the first half.

Altidore -- 6.5 -- Jozy in a nutshell. His physical gifts bring a lot to the table. He's still 19 and raw though. Jozy's physicality and Rossi's technical skill would make a damn scary striker.

I'm being generous. It's probably past time to reward moral victories, but I just have a hard time penalizing players for what happened after they were a man and a goal down. All bets are off then. I was heartened to see them continue to take a few chances. As a team, they were too timid when it was 1-1. That's understandable, if still frustrating.

 
Frustrating game for the US. That red card changed everything obviously. They seemed to play with some passion, and some of the skills and work was there.

There are some gaping holes though yet to be filled, particularly at the RB and LB positions. Bradley has cemented his place, and it's possible that Altidore has made a strong case to be the starting striker IMO. He's not there yet, but he might be the best that the US has, especially against top competition. Ching is probably the better player for CONCACAF qualifying though.

We really miss Bocanegra and Pablo though IMO. They make far fewer mistakes than their replacements.

 
The straight red was unfortunate. The US played a great game a man down, but Italy was really moving the ball well as things went on. Howard made some good saves late.

 
scoobygang said:
I'm being generous. It's probably past time to reward moral victories, but I just have a hard time penalizing players for what happened after they were a man and a goal down. All bets are off then. I was heartened to see them continue to take a few chances. As a team, they were too timid when it was 1-1. That's understandable, if still frustrating.
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Yeah, they played relatively well until they became totally gassed (somewhere around the 65th minute)...I never quite understand why coaches stick with their subs when playing with 10 men, use the damn subs, but I digress. I thought Altidore and Donovan played well along with Spector.Having said that, I think the one position where its becoming painfully obvious where MLS play just doesn't cut it is DM (and that may be all the D, but most of the rest are in Europe anyway). With its slightly lower pace of play, our MLS DMs continually get to tackles late resulting in cards. Just another reason why Jones is going to make a huge difference.
 
Just finished watching the game on Tivo. I'm from NJ and know some people that played with him, but I'd never seen Rossi play other than on youtube. What a tremendous talent. Wish we had him.

 
Steve Tasker said:
It's so easy to call Rossi a traitor and fail to mention all of the "traitors" that have helped make the USMNT what it is today....guys like David Regis, Earnie Stewart, etc. Even traitors like Freddy Adu and the yet-to-be-capped Stuart Holden.I mean, obviously it'd be pretty sweet if we had him, but it goes both ways.
Click to expand...
who of those guys were born somewhere other than here?
 
eagles2007 said:
Steve Tasker said:
It's so easy to call Rossi a traitor and fail to mention all of the "traitors" that have helped make the USMNT what it is today....guys like David Regis, Earnie Stewart, etc. Even traitors like Freddy Adu and the yet-to-be-capped Stuart Holden.I mean, obviously it'd be pretty sweet if we had him, but it goes both ways.
Click to expand...
who of those guys were born somewhere other than here?
Click to expand...
All 4 of them...there's more too, I'm sure, but they came to me immediately and I didn't want to do any research on it.If you want to go old-school, neither (one of) the captain(s) of the 1950 World Cup team (Ed McIlvenny) nor the goal-scorer in the legendary 1-0 upset over England (Joe Gaetjens) were born in America.ETA - just after posting this, Tab Ramos came to mindETA2 - Jeff Agoos
 
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