Official Team USA Soccer Thread

Post #301 » by **KF10** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:40 am

Here is the USA v Mexico U-23 game:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFNeklpbmNE[/youtube]

I'm a Mexico fan and I have to say that you guys played really well. Mexico looked really sluggish all game. You guys definitely can make some noise in the Olympics if you can build from this game.

Gyau (if I remember correctly) looked real good. Extremely quick. . Agudelo & Adu looked good too.

Good luck with your qualifiers.

PANDEMONEUM · Post #302 » by **PANDEMONEUM** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:53 pm

USA 6-0 Cuba

hat trick from Joe Corona
Agudelo Adds First-Half Goal
Adu Powers Home Second-Half Strike from Distance
and Cuba scores on themselves
Bill Hamid Earns Shutout in Goal for USA

In the 19th minute, Cuba suffered a blow to its Olympic dreams after defender Dairo Macias inflicted two blows to the face of Agudelo. As the U.S. striker turned up the right side of the field inside his own half with Macias in tow, both were chasing a ball and arm battling. Agudelo tugged Macias first, who then responded with a slap across Agudelo’s face with his left hand and then a straight elbow to Agudelo’s jaw with his right. Referee Roberto Garcia did not hesitate to pull out the red card and sent Macias to the showers, forcing Cuba to play the final 70 minutes a man down.

starting 11 featuring eight players from Major League Soccer
4-3-3 formation,
1-Bill Hamid;
3-Kofi Sarkodie, 2-Ike Opara, 4-Perry Kitchen, 5-Zarek Valentin;
6-Jared Jeffrey (16-Amobi Okugo, 64), 8-Mix Diskerud, 10-Joe Corona;
9-Juan Agudelo (12-Teal Bunbury, 46), 7-Freddy Adu (capt.), 11-Brek Shea (14-Joe Gyau, 57)

Subs not used:
13-Jorge Villafana, 15-Terrence Boyd, 17-Tony Taylor, 18-Sean Johnson, 19-Sheanon Williams, 20-Michael Stephens

thats a very skilled top 3 in Agudelo, Adu, Shea

PANDEMONEUM · Post #303 » by **PANDEMONEUM** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:24 am

USA 0 - 2 Canada

4-3-3
USA:
1-Bill Hamid;
5-Zarek Valentin, 2-Ike Opara, 4-Perry Kitchen,13-Jorge Villafaña;
6-Jared Jeffrey (16-Amobi Okugo, 76), 8-Mix Diskerud, 10-Joe Corona (14-Joe Gyau, 46);
7-Freddy Adu (capt.),12-Teal Bunbury (15-Terrence Boyd, 56), 11-Brek Shea

not much to say
none of our crosses connected
we looked good, except for the lack of scoring

now a MUST WIN game vs El Salvador on Monday

PANDEMONEUM · Post #304 » by **PANDEMONEUM** » Thu Mar 29, 2012 10:07 pm

so
nobody wants to talk about that game vs El Salvador ?

i didnt post right away cause i was phooken pissed
actually
im still mad about that game
it was a huge FAIL

Point forward · Post #305 » by **Point forward** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 1:09 pm

Just saw the unlucky 3-3 draw of US vs El Salvador which eliminated the US. Our German SPIEGEL Magazine just ran a piece on this game, concentrating on US Olympic captain Freddy "once hailed as the next Pele" Adu. They said that he serves as a warning what happens if "certain people overburden a talent". Here a list of his ex-coaches comments:

* "Borderline genius ball handling, but horrifically inefficient off the ball"
* "Low soccer IQ"
" "Low on work ethic"
* "Does not hustle on defense"
* "Super passive, especially relative to his talent level"
* "Stopped growing as player "since age 15".

According to that article, despite having an "great game" vs El Salvador, Adu "also hurt the team by being so utterly passive - as always - in the prior games." Maybe harsh, but since our German Ingolstadt FC turned Adu away (dead last in the 2nd Bundesliga) for "not being a finished player", and after X failed stints in Europe, I tend to believe this. What a shame - even if he was not the next Messi, he should at least been the next Joe Cole or even Toni Kroos.

One final tidbit: the article ends that Gregg Berhalter had a better career than Adu, because he had 1% of the talent, but 1000% of his maturity level. :-?

Kaizen · Post #306 » by **Kaizen** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 3:25 pm

A lot of US fans are saying it is your coach's fault for playing him out wide when he needs to be in the center. They also think your players were tired because they had to play 3 games in 5 days while other teams rotated their players.

Point forward · Post #307 » by **Point forward** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 7:23 pm

^^Klinsmann is known to be a good offensive coach, but a sub average team micromanager. He likes the "attack first, ask questions later" style. If he misused players or/and rotated badly, he made the same errors as during his stint at Bayern Munich...

Kaizen · Post #308 » by **Kaizen** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:44 pm

Caleb Porter was the Coach but Klinsmann was at the games and could have played a role in the decisions.

PANDEMONEUM · Post #309 » by **PANDEMONEUM** » Mon Apr 2, 2012 9:24 pm

Point forward wrote:Just saw the unlucky 3-3 draw of US vs El Salvador which eliminated the US. Our German SPIEGEL Magazine just ran a piece on this game, concentrating on US Olympic captain Freddy "once hailed as the next Pele" Adu. They said that he serves as a warning what happens if "certain people overburden a talent". Here a list of his ex-coaches comments:

* "Borderline genius ball handling, but horrifically inefficient off the ball"
* "Low soccer IQ"
" "Low on work ethic"
* "Does not hustle on defense"
* "Super passive, especially relative to his talent level"
* "Stopped growing as player "since age 15".

According to that article, despite having an "great game" vs El Salvador, Adu "also hurt the team by being so utterly passive - as always - in the prior games." Maybe harsh, but since our German Ingolstadt FC turned Adu away (dead last in the 2nd Bundesliga) for "not being a finished player", and after X failed stints in Europe, I tend to believe this. What a shame - even if he was not the next Messi, he should at least been the next Joe Cole or even Toni Kroos.

One final tidbit: the article ends that Gregg Berhalter had a better career than Adu, because he had 1% of the talent, but 1000% of his maturity level.

all of those things could be true
so, as a coach, put him in a position to excel
"Borderline genius ball handling"
then put him at center Forward
or an attacking Midfield role

Adu was not the reason why usa lost
1st, they shouldnt have lost vs Canada 2-0
that was a poor team performance
then vs El Salvador
we seemed to play very cocky
and had a few lapses that cost us 2 goals
i did not like that in the final 15 minutes, we didnt even try to score or finish the attacks
we went into delaying the game, or dribbling into the corner mode
i also agree, more substitutions were needed

PANDEMONEUM · Post #310 » by **PANDEMONEUM** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:47 pm

now that Clint Dempsey is on a scoring run with his club team

do we use him as a F with team USA ?

------------------------- howard--------------------
Chandler -- Bocanegra -- Cherundolo -- Spector/Goodson
---------------------------- Edu -----------------------------
----------------- Shea -- Bradley -- Donovan ---------
----------------Dempsey -- Altidore--------------------

jerrod · Post #311 » by **jerrod** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 2:14 pm

i do like that lineup, a lot. but i'm not sure that an out and out forward is the best spot for him, i think being an attacking midfielder with tons of freedom is where he's the most effective.

PANDEMONEUM · Post #312 » by **PANDEMONEUM** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 10:09 pm

jerrod

i guess thats the next question then
do we run a formation that represents the team well
or do we change/alter it to suit Dempsey better ?

id have no problem playing Altidore high and Dempsey behind him as the roaming F

i still want to see Buddle get playing time
hes our best shooter/striker
he gets more shots off than anyone on the team
i had hoped a young guy would b able to take his spot
but theyr not ready, and idk if they will ever b as good

jerrod · Post #313 » by **jerrod** » Fri Apr 13, 2012 2:25 pm

hmm, if we had a meaningful game tomorrow i think i'd go with that lineup with dempsey behind altidore.

otherwise, to get buddle out there, i might go
------------------------- howard--------------------
Chandler -- Bocanegra -- Cherundolo -- Spector/Goodson
---------------------------- Bradley -----------------------------
----------------- Shea -- Dempsey -- Donovan ---------
----------------Buddle -- Altidore--------------------

donovan as the other striker would work too

PANDEMONEUM · Post #314 » by **PANDEMONEUM** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:52 pm

http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Mens-Natio ... ersey.aspx

USA new jerseys

HORRID, IMO

BUCKnation · Post #315 » by **BUCKnation** » Thu Apr 19, 2012 5:00 pm

Dont like them either. Just keep it simple, with one main color and other colors for slight accents.

jerrod · Post #316 » by **jerrod** » Thu Apr 19, 2012 9:42 pm

i think they're ugly too, but the bigger problem is that the gap in the stripes where the number goes is going to look really stupid without a number there.

PANDEMONEUM · Post #317 » by **PANDEMONEUM** » Thu May 3, 2012 9:42 pm

lets remember
we have a few friendly matches coming up

U.S. Men vs. Scotland
May 26, 2012
8 p.m. ET
EverBank Field Jacksonville, Fla.
NBC Sports Network

vs Brazil
Date: Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Location: FedExField; Landover , Md.
Kickoff: 8 p.m. ET

vs. Canada
Date: Sunday, June 3, 2012
Location: BMO Field; Toronto, Canada
Kickoff: 7:00 p.m. EST

PANDEMONEUM · Post #318 » by **PANDEMONEUM** » Wed May 16, 2012 5:49 pm

NO TIM CHANDLER

he has decided to "rest"
and not play on the USA team

it seems like he is holding out, hoping he joins the German National team
he has dual citizenship
and has NOT played an "official" game for USA yet,
so he can still play for Germany

i say
if he DOESNT report in the next 2 weeks
hes DONE
all your chances have been used up
and now you will NOT be on the USA team
then i hope Germany passes on him too

yea. so wer screwed on D

Post #319 » by **fatlever** » Thu May 17, 2012 1:01 am

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/usa/ ... mnt-051512

ives has a good article up about chandler. very disappointing to say the least.

luckily we are in a much better position at left and right back now than we were 2 years ago. i dont think there is much drop-off between chandler and lichaj and fabian johnson. apparently castillo has been having a very good year in mexico as well. i need to see this morales kid play for us before i make a judgement about him.

PANDEMONEUM · Post #320 » by **PANDEMONEUM** » Thu May 17, 2012 6:12 pm

NO CASTILLO, HES HORRIBLE

i think theres a very big drop off
and this hurts our future development
i dont thin Lichaj has been with the team since JK has been the head coach

i like Lichaj and Fabian and i hope they do well
*

IMO Chandler is making a bad choice and ruining things for himself