Author Topic: Soccer Discussion: 1.67% Chance of Being the Best Thread on the NWR Forums (Read 276577 times)

rygar · « **Reply #450 on:** June 17, 2016, 07:30:22 AM »

Lol. I have vague memories of the '95 win but was only passively following the sport at that point. I had played as a kid before switching to American football and watched the World Cup finals, but didn't really get into it until a few years later. I mostly remember the Argentinians in my neighborhood being really pissed. I'm a big Simeone fan and found Wynalda's story about him hilarious. I'd like to hear Diego's account, because it sounds a little different each time Eric tells it.

Last night was a really exciting game, but I'm obviously worried about the suspensions.

NWR_insanolord · « **Reply #451 on:** June 17, 2016, 07:46:23 AM »

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how Klinsmann adjusts for that. I figure Zardes will move up and take Wood's spot, but that'll mean a completely new midfield trio in front of Bradley. Zusi's pretty much a given, as he's subbed on in every game and looked largely good. Beckerman will probably take Jones' spot; he's more defense-oriented than JJ but that's probably a wise move anyway given the opponent. For the third spot I see two real options: either go with Nagbe, or keep Besler at left back, where he looked pretty solid last night, and move Fabian Johnson into his natural midfield spot.

NWR_insanolord · « **Reply #452 on:** June 19, 2016, 12:03:16 AM »

So yeah, Juan Carlos Osorio's about to become the second coach fired due to his team's performance in this Copa America. 7-0, my god. So much schadenfreude on my part tonight. I'd be shocked if the scoreline's that lopsided even for the U.S. playing without three starters against the best team in the world in Argentina.

EDIT: lol

Soren · « **Reply #453 on:** June 19, 2016, 12:14:54 AM »

Quote from: Soren on June 12, 2016, 09:58:38 AM

Mexico still hasn't **** the bed which means they still have a great chance to do so.

NWR_insanolord · « **Reply #454 on:** June 19, 2016, 12:42:41 AM »

I mean, there's shitting the bed, and then there's whatever they just did. That was the worst loss in Mexico's history, in a tournament people were saying they had a real shot to win.

rygar · « **Reply #455 on:** June 21, 2016, 05:37:47 AM »

Good luck today Insano. My mom is having surgery today so I'll obviously be focused on that, but I should be able to watch tonight. Croatia-Spain is also an awesome game, and with how Italy has looked, Croatia has real incentive to try to win outright to avoid a brutal QF R16.

NWR_insanolord · « **Reply #456 on:** June 21, 2016, 09:26:05 AM »

I'm wearing my John Brooks jersey and I'm ready to go.

EDIT: Based on reports of how the team was practicing, it sounds like Christian Pulisic may be getting the start tonight, replacing one of the suspended players. If you thought he was being hyped before, just think of where that could be if he has a strong game against the best team in the world.

Shaymin · « **Reply #457 on:** June 22, 2016, 12:10:06 AM »

At least you can still chant "Siete a cero", right?

NWR_insanolord · « **Reply #458 on:** June 22, 2016, 01:24:28 AM »

I figured we'd lose, but I'd hoped it would go somewhat better than that.

rygar · « **Reply #459 on:** June 22, 2016, 01:32:03 AM »

Ouch. I only got to see the second half, but that was enough.

The Euro brackets are really screwed up. Italy's reward for winning the best or second best group is Spain in R16 and probably Germany in the QF. I didn't get to see the Croatia-Spain game today, but it sounded very exciting. Not sure what Del Bosque is up to. Why leave Costa at home but then not play Pedro, and why in the hell is Ramos taking a PK? I'm not a Spain fan, but I'd be really annoyed if I was.

Soren · « **Reply #460 on:** June 22, 2016, 10:33:37 AM »

I love Klinsmann but he deserves that drubbing and anything future drubbings if he continues to drag the likes of Beckerman and Wondolowski out for a do-or-die match. It's been 2 years since the World Cup. These guys do not work on the big stage. They don't work on the small stage either. The US has nothing to lose and they decide to come out with the weakest, safest lineup they have.

NWR_insanolord · « **Reply #461 on:** June 22, 2016, 12:24:48 PM »

Just like he didn't bring a true backup for Jozy to the World Cup two years ago, he didn't bring a true backup for Wood to this tournament. Jordan Morris would have been a like-for-like replacement for Bobby Wood, but he was sitting at home in Seattle.

rygar · « **Reply #462 on:** June 22, 2016, 02:43:07 PM »

Quote from: NWR_insanolord on June 22, 2016, 12:24:48 PM

Just like he didn't bring a true backup for Jozy to the World Cup two years ago

You can't possibly bring along the US GOAT if it means the coach and his kid would lose the opportunity to settle a personal score. Priorities!

NWR_insanolord · « **Reply #463 on:** June 22, 2016, 03:34:18 PM »

Landon should've been there, but he wasn't a true backup for Jozy. If you're going to build a team around a target man you should bring more than one, and that means somebody like Eddie Johnson should have been there as well.

rygar · « **Reply #464 on:** June 22, 2016, 05:25:29 PM »

I realize he wasn't a like-for-like, but he would have been the player I brought in when Altidore went down. With all the interchangeable ten, nine, false nine and free roaming winger shenanigans you can pull, to me it's more about getting the proper balance of creativity and and clinical scoring, rather than the particular offensive formation you play. I have no doubt that Landon was sorely missed in Brasil.

Euros were great this afternoon. Some extremely juicy games coming up.

rygar · « **Reply #465 on:** July 07, 2016, 10:07:02 PM »

I'm going to be very pleased with Sunday's result regardless of the outcome. France and Zidane, and then through him, Real Madrid, have been a blast to follow for the last 18 years. France is like a favorite club team to me, and Ronaldo and Pepe (and Fabio Coentrao) have done fantastic things for Madrid, so good luck to all of them. France are rightful favorites, but for all the talk about Portugal not winning games, they haven't lost a non-friendly since the first qualifier either.

Carlo Ancelloti is going to do wonders for and with Renato Sanches.

NWR_insanolord · « **Reply #466 on:** July 07, 2016, 11:10:50 PM »

A bit more off the beaten track, but I was very happy to see Boca Juniors lose the first leg of the Copa Libertadores semifinal for extremely selfish reasons (for Nicolas Lodeiro's season to be over sooner so he can sign with Seattle).

Soren · « **Reply #467 on:** July 08, 2016, 10:54:46 AM »

Now that the international tournaments are over I can shift to seeing what Pep does with City. I am still in the honeymoon phase so PEP CAN DO NO WRONG AND IF YOU SAY OTHERWISE YOU ARE WRONG OH SO WRONG.

rygar · « **Reply #468 on:** July 08, 2016, 04:05:40 PM »

I think De Bruyne and Sterling are going to be terrifying under Pep.

NWR_insanolord · « **Reply #469 on:** July 08, 2016, 06:20:15 PM »

It's a pretty impressive swath of managers in the Premier League right now. As something of a Liverpool supporter I was interested to see Klopp sign an extension through 2022 before he's had any real ability to put his mark on the team. The owners must have done a great job of convincing him.

NWR_insanolord · « **Reply #470 on:** July 09, 2016, 09:33:20 PM »

The Sounders are going to get a lot better in this transfer window but it's going to be too late.

Edit: I'm not sure how it took me this long to realize there isn't currently a natural #10 on Seattle's roster. Even if we still had Oba, that'd be a problem. Lodeiro can't get here soon enough.

NWR_insanolord · « **Reply #471 on:** July 14, 2016, 12:34:56 AM »

Last in the West Seattle beats 1st in the league Dallas 5-0. That's MLS for you. Five different goal scorers for the Sounders, including the first of Cristian Roldan's career. If only Dempsey hadn't gotten sent off and thus suspended for the Portland game on Sunday it'd be perfect.

rygar · « **Reply #472 on:** August 10, 2016, 06:23:45 PM »

The European club season never really ends – there is only about a month between the Champions League Final and the first round of qualifying games – but the domestic leagues are restarting this weekend in earnest, with the Premier League, Ligue 1, and Primeria Liga all kicking off. La Liga and Serie A start next weekend, and then the Bundesliga on the 26^th. The Eredivisie actually already started.

Putting the Premier League to the side for a moment, of the four other biggest leagues, 5dimes has all the returning champs as big favorites, with only Madrid (and to a lesser extent Atleti) being given a good chance of challenging. It’s hard to argue with that. I couldn’t find a straight BPL futures table, but it looks like 5dimes has City, United, Chelsea, and Arsenal in that order of favorites. The relegation odds have the foxes at 10^th, but there isn’t a direct carry over, because they have Arsenal as 2^nd least likely to relegate. You could make a case for Tottenham over pretty much anyone but City in my opinion, but I will be very surprised if one of the Manchester squads doesn’t win the league. It should be fascinating given the huge amount of coaching talent.

Madrid began its European title defense yesterday with a tough match against the Europa champions Sevilla. I’m of the opinion that the Super Cup is a real trophy and I think the game yesterday was played at a pretty high level. Carvajal and Marcelo look like they may be the best pair of attacking fullbacks in the world, and Lucas has quietly turned himself into Di Maria 2.0. Sergio Ramos had as Ramosian a day as you could expect – continually flirted with a red card, gave up a stupid penalty, had some beautiful on-ball defending, and then somehow scored again when defeat was imminent. Asensio looks like he is going to heap even more pressure on James, but Morata probably didn’t worry Benzema too much.

There are some interesting ties in the last CL qualifying round (UEFA calls them playoffs) before the group stages are determined. I don’t think Fox televised these in the states last year, but I’m hoping the presence of Guardiola changes that. Steaua Bucuresti will likely provide only a challenge because of the travel, but I’m still interested in seeing it. Porto-Roma could be a knock-out round game in many years and we are getting that in August. Bucharest-City is on the 16^th and Porto-Roma on the 17^th. Some biggish names have already been knocked out in the previous round: Olympiacos, Shaktar, and Fenerbahce.

NWR_insanolord · « **Reply #473 on:** August 10, 2016, 06:43:16 PM »

This year I'm planning on getting a lot more into the Bundesliga, mainly because of how many Americans are playing there. You've got our lord and savior Christian Pulisic at Dortmund, John Brooks anchoring the back line at Hertha Berlin, Fabian Johnson on the wing at Borussia Moenchengladbach, and it sounding like Julian Green possibly getting real first team minutes at Bayern Munich, plus Bobby Wood, Aron Johannsson, and now today we're seeing rumors of Matt Miazga being loaned into the league as well.

rygar · « **Reply #474 on:** August 10, 2016, 08:55:56 PM »

My familiarity with the bundesliga is strictly through the champions league, but that would be a good reason to watch it. FS1 has them in HD too. I'll probably check it out in the spring. I'd never root for Bayern, but I'm a big Ancelloti fan, and Xabi Alonso is maybe my second favorite player ever. I wouldn't mind watching him play against some US prospects.

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Author Topic: Soccer Discussion: 1.67% Chance of Being the Best Thread on the NWR Forums (Read 276577 times)