IvanKaramazov
Footballguy
I can't believe I woke up to this. Awful.
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US Men's National Team (9 Viewers)
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SHIZNITTTT
Footballguy
So much money poured into this sport at the youth level and so little development.
I do understand the frustration of fans of the USMNT, however, this is just off base. Are you trying to tell me that no other countries have to deal with poor stadiums, bad refs and disgusting play? This is prevalent pretty much throughout WC qualifiers (and yet another reason why International soccer is just a poor form of soccer to watch). But, half of the games are played in the US, no? Happen to catch the Ghana game the other day with the great officiating? You think Brazil or Argentina look forward to playing at La Paz?
Long and the short of it is the US team is just not good. They have a few decent players, but overall, not good enough. It's not about their 'style', their coaching, what have you. Just not good enough. Maybe in 4 years they'll regroup.
Dinsy Ejotuz
Footballguy
Morning after sez: lack of a dominant goal keeper, sloppy field, bad luck (own-goal, miracle strike, post and the not-a-goal in Panama), sense of entitlement.
But the US is still the same team it's been for awhile, just with a better/growing pipeline.
But the US is still the same team it's been for awhile, just with a better/growing pipeline.
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El Floppo
Footballguy
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El Floppo
Footballguy
Continual lack of winning second ball speaks to lack of commitment, heart, desire and proper tactics throughout the hex. All new things for the US... So I guess they're learning something.
CletiusMaximus
Footballguy
He was just a caretaker. From day 1 it was known that his last game this cycle would be the end of his run, its just that everyone hoped/expected it to come next summer. Maybe it’s not fair, but I blame Sunil for not having a better succession plan in place. Klinsmann was on the hot seat for a year or so.
Mjolnirs
Footballguy
We know what those fields will be like, they are pretty sad though. I can't say I've seen every field in all of the other qualifiers, but those UEFA matches I have seen where they play at a minnow (San Marino, Faroe Islands and the likes) usually have pretty good pitches. Small stadiums yes, but the fields look decent.
But, I'm sure there are pretty bad ones in some of the Oceana and CAF countries too.
I just hope it isn't another 40 year break to qualify. Think about it, the US qualified for the 1990 World Cup in 1989 ... I was 35! 35 years old the first the US ever (in my life) qualified. I pretty much had never seen a World Cup game before that.
ChiefD
Footballguy
Try being a Chiefs fan.
For me, this team got exactly out of it what they put into it. They were lackadaisical the whole cycle, and what we are seeing right in front of our eyes is a transition from the old guard to the new guard.
And it is what it is. I'm pretty excited about what the future holds for American soccer. We have players in our pipeline with skills we have not seen before with American players, and we have a group of those types of players.
And to this talk of wasting 4 years of Pulisic's life - come on. If anything, we waste 1 year - basically next year's World Cup. But the impact he has made already has been HUGE for American soccer. A shame we won't see it next year, but man I can't wait to watch him develop as well as the next group coming up that can push the likes of Howard, Bradley, etc out of the way.
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Sammy3469
Footballguy
Start, no...compounded, yes. It shouldn't take a U18 training match for Schalke to find McKennie. I have a bunch more thoughts, but I'm too depressed, tired, and disappointed to make a full argument.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Sammy3469
Footballguy
This was painfully obvious after the CR match that got Klinsmann booted when Jones was gassed from the getgo and even more painfully obvious the second time we played them when Arena didn't even give him any help. In today's game you cannot give up space in from of the backline. You simply can't. It's why the preffered formation for most everything team these day is a 4-2-3-1 or a 3-5-2. What's the one thing they both (more often than not) have in common. 2 ####### DMs.
Arena continued to play with fire and continually got burned. The only thing saving him was a world-class CP who covered up the problem enough that it wasn't evident until teams put the US in bad situations.
PIK95
Footballguy
Pay to play is the #1 problem imo. There are many youth clubs in New England making alot of money off of a horrific product. Everyone is competing against each other for the cash, while they should be working together for the development. Unfortunately that's not how capitalism works, so I don't expect much improvement in our youth product unless its through cities and town programs directly.
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PIK95
Footballguy
Sammy3469
Footballguy
Yup...I don't know about the other MLS academies, but at least NYCFCs is free, they do have 6 different teams (U19, U17, U 15, U14, U13 U12), and have already proven they can develop players. The Red Bulls filter you up and through at $1400 a year for the program (plus travel costs) before you get to their free Academy.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
I personally think we have only one more qualifying cycle to be concerned with and that is for 2022. After that we host in 2026 and after that qualifying will be almost meaningless with the 48 team WC.
2022 will be the same challenge qualifying has always been. I do not believe we will see any real changes in the system, but even if by some miracle we do, they won't have time to make any affect on 2022 qualifying in just a couple of years.
We need to hope Pulisic stays healthy and that a handful of the various seeds planted in Europe and in the academies blossom to a decent level.
Next cycle I want back what we have always had since 1990. A solid goalkeeper and consistent (not world class, just consistent) pair of CB's.
Ned
Footballguy
I just dont know what to say or think. On one hand I’m really depressed and hate that I’m feeling this way. It’s just a game. But damn it, I truly love this #### and really hate seeing what I saw last night. I couldn’t even stomach coming in here during the game. The anxiety and negativity is off the charts.
The World Cup is gonna suck so hard with no real rooting interest. :( :( :( :( :( :(
The World Cup is gonna suck so hard with no real rooting interest. :( :( :( :( :( :(
Capella
Footballguy
Ned
Footballguy
And #### you too bein sports. The in game updates of all the other games were cute. Except your stupid ####### picture in picture nonsense made the US game the tiny picture every ### #### time. The camera never even showed the proper subs. I had no clue Acosta even subbed in for Villafana.
####
####
Ned
Footballguy
I’ll likely be pulling for him too, but it won’t be the same.It sucks. The leadup will be disappointing but not watching them flail around helplessly won't be missed.
All-in on Argentina. Best jerseys, best player and love their catchy songs. Would like to see Messi win one. Also will be behind my German heritage.
El Floppo
Footballguy
and a collective spirit that won't let a second ball bounce, let alone be won unchallenged.
PIK95
Footballguy
Our partnership MLS Academy (step below free one at stadium) teams costs about a grand a year per kid. I have had a heck of a time keeping the cost that low. I cut corners and subsidize certain parts of that number where ever possible. That includes me spending a grand out of pocket to buy kids uniforms this fall. We are lucky we have a great town who takes care of our outdoor fields and supports our efforts at least.
Bottom line is unless you are a prodigy at ten years old, nobody is noticing you unless your family has a grand to get you in the system. In most other places it's actually two or three grand a year for an inferior product fwiw. Something major needs to change at the top of the federation before anything changes.
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AAABatteries
Footballguy
Can't decide if I'm more 
or 
or 
El Floppo
Footballguy
horrible. and T&T crew actually did a good job with coverage... bein just ####ed up with the incessant cut-ins- for ####### conmebol.
and phil ####### schoen is and always has been the worst. I don't do sound most of the time- but checked in at some point... wished I hadn't. he's just horrible.
El Floppo
Footballguy
igeon:
PIK95
Footballguy
Sammy3469
Footballguy
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
But asked how U.S. Soccer should respond to the defeat, Arena answered in a manner that is likely to infuriate American fans everywhere.
"There's nothing wrong with what we're doing," he said. "Certainly as our league grows, it advances the national team program. We have some good young players come up.
"Nothing has to change. To make any kind of crazy changes I think would be foolish. We're building a good system in our professional league. We have players playing abroad of some quality.
"There's enough there. There's no excuses for us not qualifying for the World Cup."
"There's nothing wrong with what we're doing," he said. "Certainly as our league grows, it advances the national team program. We have some good young players come up.
"Nothing has to change. To make any kind of crazy changes I think would be foolish. We're building a good system in our professional league. We have players playing abroad of some quality.
"There's enough there. There's no excuses for us not qualifying for the World Cup."
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Insoxicated
Not a funny. I don't ####### like trump, but politicizing last night's result minutes after our national team was eliminated from the world's largest sporting event rubbed me the wrong way.
PIK95
Footballguy
It's amazing I'm not divorced yet. You guys have no idea, lol. Thirty hours a week on average, fifty two weeks a year I do this for free. It's been my personal mission to improve the local product for the last four years or so.Keep up the fight
For the record, I was very disappointed when JK was fired. I loved the youth leadership he was providing. That was the bottom for me. Last night was no surprise. Oh well.
Sammy3469
Footballguy
BTW, if you want to know why this isn't really changing, take a look at say they latest U16 national team roster. 20 kids (i.e. far too few to get any measure of where they really stack up in training) from basically 5 programs (FC Dallas, Galaxy, NYCFC, Weston FC, San Jose). Maybe these are the best 20 kind U16, but I somehow doubt it.
PIK95
Footballguy
Meh, I guess I just don't care about politics anymore. I thought it was funny when I read it fwiw. But I personally think Trump is destroying our country, so I guess it wouldn't upset me because I agree. US soccer gives ne plenty more to worry about then some random comedians tweet.
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El Floppo
Footballguy
so the academies are free?
but the feeders are increasingly more expensive the further away from academy level you get?
do I have that right?
I like the first part. and I can see- at an ideal- how the capitalistic imperative is there to drive the talent to the top. but it's the kids who can't even get started or continue because they can't afford the 3k and fall/play outside of this system. I mean- this is something that was being discussed when I played a hundred years ago.... more directed towards inner city kids that weren't in the standard suburban, white methodology of state run soccer organizations. hispanic kids were overlooked. black kids weren't even playing.
and the money coming in sounds like it's for profit rather than development? minimal scholarships (which would be a good way of using some of the profits- in a less capitalistic way).
but the feeders are increasingly more expensive the further away from academy level you get?
do I have that right?
I like the first part. and I can see- at an ideal- how the capitalistic imperative is there to drive the talent to the top. but it's the kids who can't even get started or continue because they can't afford the 3k and fall/play outside of this system. I mean- this is something that was being discussed when I played a hundred years ago.... more directed towards inner city kids that weren't in the standard suburban, white methodology of state run soccer organizations. hispanic kids were overlooked. black kids weren't even playing.
and the money coming in sounds like it's for profit rather than development? minimal scholarships (which would be a good way of using some of the profits- in a less capitalistic way).
El Floppo
Footballguy
meh. as I was writing last night, I don't entirely disagree.
but it's the fight and desire that was missing too much this hex.. and what lalas' "tattooed millionaires" quote was about. and that's a huge change from the previous- and equally talented (minus CP) teams that actually got to the WC. in losing the battle of desire and heart- I agree... there really are no excuses.
PIK95
Footballguy
Yes, exactly. All of the "premier" clubs are for profit. The owners make big money too. The coaches at those clubs run too many teams in the club to get their piece of the money pie. There is a bunch of player movement on a yearly basis. Family's are also following those coaches who are switching clubs and chasing paychecks from year to year. "Premier" kids have to get used to a different coach and many different teamates on a yearly basis. It's so broken but people are getting paid.
On a personal level trying to figure out how to implement club scholarships has been a huge challenge. There is so much need and you can't do for some but not others. Our club is non profit but our bills are real. Indoor turf and professional coaches don't come cheap!
I think the MLS academies are our only hope short term.
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El Floppo
Footballguy
huh. I guess this goes towards my academy thing last night.
ideally, the cream really should be rising to the top inside the academies which should be representing the highest (and professional) level of youth soccer (for me).
but yeah- seems a little fishy too. dunno. it's what I'm asking for, but still doesn't smell right.
Sammy3469
Footballguy
Hey Bruce...the system is so good we have on average 0.5 U23 US players playing regular minutes in MLS this year and 2 of the 13 are GKs. When it's cheaper to bring in someone like Struna (28 year old RB NYCFC just brought in that immediately supplanted an OK-sh 26 year old American) can be brought in and paid 75K a year or you can bring in Rodney Wallace @ 220K a year who supplants a 20 year old American first round pick, well Bruce, something's wrong with the system. And NYCFC is one of the good teams at developing and playing young guys. I shudder to think what's happening at some of the other clubs.
Sammy3469
Footballguy
I'm fine with them taking the academy kids, I'm not fine with only bringing in 20 at a time. One of the big takeaways from the Belgium's should be you cast a wide net and have some ability to compare kids in a training setting. We simply don't do that.
I mean we apparently don't have the resources to bring 100 (pick your number) U15s (pick your age groups) together for a month (pick your length of time) in the summer (or something like that).
El Floppo
Footballguy
I get not being able to collect all these kids in the same place for a long period of time- even tougher to do in a country this big. but I'm curious about how well and wide the net is thrown?
in my idealistic theory above- the downside is that US will start becoming more and more myopic with the scouting, primarily focusing on academies (and I assume the kids going overseas or to mexico). how do they find the kids that for whatever reason fall between the huge cracks?
