Author Topic: Soccer Discussion: 1.67% Chance of Being the Best Thread on the NWR Forums  (Read 228127 times)

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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #500 on: November 11, 2016, 10:15:09 PM »
Start the game in a formation the team has no real experience playing, get run over, come out of the half in your standard formation, dominate, tie the game, and than lose on a set piece goal by Rafa fucking Marquez. All the good will Jurgen Klinsmann built up over the summer is gone in one fell swoop.
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Offline ShyGuy

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #501 on: November 12, 2016, 01:12:54 AM »
I saw soccer today, It was on the TV at a Mexican restaurant. Mexico beat USA 2 to 1, and people yelled when they scored.  after that there was a sitcom with some guy in a mullet wig.

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #502 on: November 12, 2016, 03:37:44 AM »
That'd be an interesting place to watch it, especially with how it ended. Last minute winning goal by a guy who's been playing professional soccer longer than the best player for the United States has been alive. (Rafa Marquez, 37 began his pro career in 1996. Christian Pulisic, who turned 18 about a month ago, was born in 1998.)
« Last Edit: November 12, 2016, 03:40:29 AM by NWR_insanolord »
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Offline Soren

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #503 on: November 12, 2016, 09:07:20 AM »
...who's been playing professional soccer longer than the best player for the United States has been alive.


I'm glad US fans are keeping their expectations in check.
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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #504 on: November 12, 2016, 04:55:52 PM »
The guy's playing regularly for arguably one of the top 5 clubs in the world. There's an argument for John Brooks being better, maybe Fabian Johnson, but the kid is legit. This is also something of a translation period for the U.S., so a lot of the old guard top tier is retiring or declining.
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Offline rygar

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #505 on: November 13, 2016, 02:12:10 PM »
...who's been playing professional soccer longer than the best player for the United States has been alive.


I'm glad US fans are keeping their expectations in check.

...who's been playing professional soccer longer than the best player for the United States has been alive.

What's the appropriate level of expectation? I don't know anyone who is bullish on the USMNT as a group [in the current cycle] regardless of his presence and everyone seems amazed and grateful that he is highly evaluated by elite European clubs. It's even more encouraging because he is a technical outfield player and not overly reliant on physicality or athleticism. He's legitimately being scouted by Barcelona and Real Madrid. He already has around a 20M€ transfer value, and I think it will probably be at least 50M€ if he develops at a similar trajectory over the next 3 years. To me that is reasonably objective evidence to argue he's the best current outfield player. I agree with you if people are saying he is already on par with Barca/Madrid players or will carry the USMNT in the near feature.

Offline rygar

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #506 on: November 13, 2016, 02:14:11 PM »
Weird quote boxes are from being interrupted by the pop up ads.
« Last Edit: November 16, 2016, 07:33:39 AM by rygar »

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #507 on: November 13, 2016, 04:39:52 PM »
John Brooks has been playing at a high level longer, and is one of the core players at another high table club in Germany in Hertha Berlin. He's been linked to Bayern Munich. He's pretty much the only guy we've got right now in a similar position.
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Offline rygar

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #508 on: November 13, 2016, 08:07:14 PM »
Yes, but he is a defender, and quite frankly, the type of player the US should be producing more of. I'm not even saying that I like Pulisic's style better, it's just rarer, and potentially overachieving for the US program.

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #509 on: November 16, 2016, 01:01:38 AM »
Jurgen Klinsmann needs to go.

He's had his fair share of critics for a long time, but up until tonight I wasn't really among them. But the utter embarrassment the United States suffered tonight in Costa Rica has pushed me over the edge. He has clearly lost this team.

He's never been a particularly strong manager from a tactical standpoint, but tonight took that to an extreme. His repeated insistence on playing Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones in a double pivot central midfield, something that has never worked, causes us to be completely overrun in the midfield. Jones doesn't have the legs to play 90 minutes anymore, and it's leaving Bradley on an island, asked to provide cover for the entire midfield, basically destroying his ability to do what he does best.

He took out one of the few players who were actually looking good when we were down two and needed all the attacking help we could get. He never had Christian Pulisic and Sacha Kljestan on the field at the same time, despite them having instant incredible chemistry when put together in the qualifiers earlier in the fall. He left Jermaine Jones, who was showing signs of fatigue as early as the first half, in to play the whole damn thing.

Jurgen has done some good things for this team in terms of recruiting dual nationality players, and he was a huge part of Bobby Wood becoming the player he is now, but the product on the field is just too much of a mess right now to overlook. This team has clearly quit on him.

Rumor has it that the USSF had already reached out to Bruce Arena as a possible replacement for the remainder of this cycle. He's a bit past it as a manager, but he'd certainly be an on-field improvement. Other names floating around include FC Dallas manager Oscar Pareja and New York Red Bulls manager Jesse Marsch, but I think it's too late in the qualifying process to bring in someone who's never coached a national team before and expect them to learn on the fly. I'd love to see either of them take over after Russia, though.
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Offline rygar

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #510 on: November 16, 2016, 07:28:54 AM »
I admit that I was very excited when the US was recruiting Klinsmann, but I've been disappointed for a long time, and disgusted since the Donovan fiasco at the World Cup. My hope was always that he was at least making improvements to the developmental levels of the US soccer pyramid but I worry that is also hotair.

Offline Soren

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #511 on: November 16, 2016, 10:22:43 AM »
While I agree that Kilnsmann's time with the team is nearly over, I do hope this sudden burst of anger towards him doesn't let Sunil Gulati off the hook. Everyone knew what they were getting into when they hired him, and at the same time up until last night it looked like Gulati and US Soccer were more worried about what Megan Rapinoe was doing on the sidelines than about what kind of state the men's team was in.

Can we at least agree that John Brooks should be benched for the rest of the HEX after that sorry-ass performance?

EDIT: Also, fair credit to Costa Rica, who were far and away the best CONCACAF team in the previous World Cup. Everyone should have expected them to win that game last night.
« Last Edit: November 16, 2016, 10:27:09 AM by Soren »
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Offline rygar

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #512 on: November 16, 2016, 10:52:15 AM »
Gulati should be gone too. His treatment of the USWNT would be reason enough, but he also continually protects Klinsmann for non-soccer reasons (like preserving his own position).

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #513 on: November 16, 2016, 06:07:06 PM »
While I agree that Kilnsmann's time with the team is nearly over, I do hope this sudden burst of anger towards him doesn't let Sunil Gulati off the hook. Everyone knew what they were getting into when they hired him, and at the same time up until last night it looked like Gulati and US Soccer were more worried about what Megan Rapinoe was doing on the sidelines than about what kind of state the men's team was in.

Can we at least agree that John Brooks should be benched for the rest of the HEX after that sorry-ass performance?

EDIT: Also, fair credit to Costa Rica, who were far and away the best CONCACAF team in the previous World Cup. Everyone should have expected them to win that game last night.

Gulati certainly deserves scrutiny for a lot of things. At the very least, he shouldn't be running unopposed the next time his term is up like he has been the last couple times.

John Brooks was one of the best defenders for any country in Copa America this summer, and played well against Mexico up until the admittedly big mistake of losing his man on the corner. He's one of the core pieces of a very good Bundesliga club. This was an awful performance by him, but based on the year he's had I'm confident it was a fluke.

Lastly, while Costa Rica has declined a bit since the World Cup, they are indeed a good team, and were rightly favored going into this game. It's not the fact the U.S. lost that's the problem, it's how they lost. If we lost 2-1 in a game we were competitive in like we did against Mexico we wouldn't be having this discussion, but getting blown out and playing this atrociously is unacceptable.
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Offline rygar

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #514 on: November 16, 2016, 07:33:24 PM »
Keylor Navas was so damn good in that World Cup and last year's CL run. He's been a little rusty since coming off his injury.

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #515 on: November 17, 2016, 02:43:03 PM »
Apparently the shortlist of candidates to possibly replace Klinsmann includes Peter Vermes and Tab Ramos, and now I'm less sure I want him fired. I'd take Bruce, who's also on there, but either of those guys would be a lateral move at best.
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Offline Soren

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #516 on: November 17, 2016, 07:31:31 PM »
I don't understand how Arena would be the clear choice over anyone else. His management style is just as conservative as Klinsmann's with the added caveat that he has the completely wrong opinion about naturalized players on the USMNT roster. I feel like the way he's been running things with the Galaxy is also at odds with how the USMNT needs to be handled now that the old guards is on its way out.
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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #517 on: November 17, 2016, 07:37:55 PM »
The argument for Arena is he's experienced at this level. If we're going to replace a manager mid-Hex you'd want somebody who knows what they're doing and wouldn't have to learn on the job during an extremely important stretch. I think a lot of his issues with the Galaxy have stemmed from the makeup of the roster, and coming into the national team with a fresh start would let him avoid some of that. Long term I think Oscar Pareja is the right man for the job, but Bruce is the safe choice to get us to Russia.
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Offline rygar

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #518 on: November 20, 2016, 08:00:12 AM »
A huge month for Madrid got off to a nice start with a 3-0 win at the Calderon yesterday in their best played game of the season. They are in Lisbon on Tuesday, away to the Camp Nou in two Saturdays, and host Dortmund four days later. Then they travel to Japan for the FIFA Club World Cup. Kovacic is developing into a hell of a player and Isco had his best game maybe since Ancelotti was the manager. By Christmas, Madrid will have won/lost its second trophy, cemented/squandered its lead in La Liga, and saved/suffered a disaster in the Champions League.

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #519 on: November 21, 2016, 03:53:39 PM »
Well, Jurgen Klinsmann has officially been fired. It had to happen, but I wasn't sure Sunil Gulati would have the guts to make the call. No successor yet, but it's sounding very likely to be Bruce Arena.
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Offline Soren

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #520 on: November 21, 2016, 03:57:33 PM »
I'm pretty sure Yaya Toure can't physically run anymore (he managed a lively sprint at the end of last weekend's game when he was trying to for a hat trick) but somehow he put in two necessary goals against Crystal Palace. I hope he never plays again...but damn.
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Offline rygar

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #521 on: November 21, 2016, 07:54:29 PM »
He can still contribute for Côte d'Ivoire. Toure's 2013-2014 seasons is one of my all-time favorite performances from an athlete ever. What a fabulous player.



Offline Soren

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #522 on: November 22, 2016, 12:50:13 AM »
I can't wait for US Soccer to hire Bruce Arena so the men's national team can qualify for the World Cup, then proceed to lose 2 games and tie another as they bow out in the group stage...

He can still contribute for Côte d'Ivoire. Toure's 2013-2014 seasons is one of my all-time favorite performances from an athlete ever. What a fabulous player.

Yaya was beautiful when he was on but it was clear last year that his time in the first team is over. This incredible run and goal vs Aston Villa in 2014 will forever be my final memory of Yaya with the team. Even with a game to go I knew City was going to win it all.

« Last Edit: November 22, 2016, 01:02:27 AM by Soren »
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #523 on: November 22, 2016, 01:41:54 AM »
I can't wait for US Soccer to hire Bruce Arena so the men's national team can qualify for the World Cup, then proceed to lose 2 games and tie another as they bow out in the group stage...

No, see, this is the first World Cup of his tenure, so we're going to the quarterfinals. Your scenario is what would happen if he's still coach in 2022, which he won't be, because that's the year Oscar Pareja's going to be in charge and we win the whole thing.
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Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!
« Reply #524 on: November 30, 2016, 08:47:27 AM »
Seems like the writing's on the wall for the new North American Soccer League. According to reports the New York Cosmos, the flagship club of the league, are in the process of shutting down operations for good, while the remaining teams that are fiscally solvent are in the process of jumping ship to the USL.

Hopefully this is the last league folding we'll see for quite some time, and as many clubs as possible will be able to find a new home in the USL or the upcoming Canadian Premier League. The NASL was a bit of a wildcard going its own way, sometimes against what the establishment in this country was trying to do. Now with the top of the pyramid being dominated solely by MLS and SUM, with their already close relationship with the USL. There's something to be said for having that heckler out there, that the NASL was. It should be interesting going forward without that.
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