Off Topic Thread

[ccbballin]

R.I.P. Cat Sajak.

NEbody watchin the US vs. Italy tomorrow? An upset would be awesome just to generate a little buzz in the sports world. I don't expect much from the US though. My guess is Italy by 2. I hope I get home in time to catch most of it at 2:25 but theres always the repeat at 10.

That comeback against Honduras was great!

[fatlever]

cc... i will definitely watching all the us games this week.... via dvr. i'll be happy to get 1 pt out of these 3 games. hell, i'll be happy just to score a goal that doesnt come from a set piece.

things i want to see...

no beasley, not as left back, not at left mid, not at left wing... not on the bench.
give torres some minutes. i love this kid.
let adu be the sparkplug that comes in around 70th min. they have to find a way to get him more minutes. he is one of the few attacking players we have.
spector at right back. he looked good vs honduras.
jozy to shake off the rust and have a big tourney.
benny over pablo as bradley's backup
no sasha.
tim howard is a stud.
love to see landon finally show up against a real team... for once in his life.
hoping gooch as a good showing to generate some transfer buzz. last i heard fulham was looking at him.

[e4Nf6]

Fortunately I just happened to be sick today and unable to go to work. Thus allowing me to watch US-Italy live.....What luck.

I hope we can give the Italians as much of a game as we did last time, but I'm not optimistic. There is no team anywhere in team-sports that I hate more than the Italian National team. I would like nothing more than to take points off those diving, injury-faking, match-fixing SOB's.

Suppose I'll follow Fat's stream of conscience list format with my thoughts.....

Agree on Beasley, he's looked terrible recently
I think we need to have either Feilhaber or Torres on the field, otherwise we can never hold on to the ball for more than 10 seconds
Popcorn is tasty and not too filling, I plan to eat some during the game.
Jozy didn't look great in the last two games, I think he needs another forward beside him, I can't remember the last time he won a ball out of the air Ching/Mcbride style.
Sasha to me is a low-rent version of Feilhaber/Torres/Adu, so no thanks.
No mention of Jermaine Jones in Fat's Bullets.....very disappointing
I think Bornstein is going to start on the left side and get blown up badly, when you look at the line-up sheet his name really sticks out as being a couple gears below the rest of the team.

[fatlever]

agreed on torres or benny on the field... one or the other... unless adu plays. we need someone who can hold the ball and link the midfield and the forwards. landon and dempsey just arent getting it done in that regard from the wings. the forwards get isolated and jozy just isnt the lone striker type. long ball just doesnt work unless you have someone like drogba up there holding off 3 defenders and still winning balls.

i thought bornstein looked pretty good against honduras... but compard to beasley and pearce, its not hard to look good. we desperately need a left back. what about moving boca to left back and moving demerrit in the middle? does it really matter though? we are gonna get roasted over there regardless. might as well stick me over there... hell, left back was my preferred position back in the day.

[ohara]

So sorry for your loss Walt. I love pets and know how it hurts. Thoughts and prayers my friend.

[e4Nf6]

You know Boca plays on the left with his club team, so it's not crazy. I think the problem is that the US NEEDS width from the full backs on both sides, as there are 0 honest-to-god wide players on the team. Donovan and Dempsey are the ones in theory who should be out there but in practice they are both basically CAMs that want to drift back to the middle to get the ball, which is fine IF you have the back screaming down the sideline Hedjux-style.

I imagine the only solution other than just sucking it up and playing Bornstein is to convert one of our RB's. Spector played some on the left at West Ham and I could swear I've seen Hedjux do it at some point too.

[fatlever]

yeah, i was really hoping that beasley would be the answer at left back and with frankie on the right would could have had two backs on the wings allowing all our 500 cms room to play together in some type of diamond or whatever. too bad beasley is a nightmare back there.

[RichBoy923]

yeah, i was really hoping that beasley would be the answer at left back and with frankie on the right would could have had two backs on the wings allowing all our 500 cms room to play together in some type of diamond or whatever. too bad beasley is a nightmare back there.

Yeah, Demarcus Beasley is not a LB. I have no idea why Bradley played him there. He's a midfielder.

And Adu needs to get more playing time.

[fatlever]

FREE ADU!!!!!!!

i need to get some of those t-shirts and bumper stickers printed up.

[RichBoy923]

Landon with a PK 1-0 USA

[ccbballin]

I missed most of the game but saw the last 4 minutes. At least we scored, I think that's the first in a while against a powerhouse team.

Should have been 2-1 but Italy scored late. Will we ever be able to move the ball the way a team like Italy or Spain does? It's amazing how much better they are than us.

[RichBoy923]

Just to let you know we were down to 10 men even before our 1st goal. It was a harsh red card but a silly foul. Not to say we would have won if not for the red but you never know.

[e4Nf6]

It would be nice one day to play 90 minutes against Italy with 11 guys on the field. I guess it's to be expected when the guys you are playing are known to write the refs a check sometimes.

[fatlever]

just got done watching the game.... ugh. what a soft red car. what is it w/ usa getting red cards in big games.

still... team played good today for the most part.... considering.

rossi... man, we could really use him. of course, bob bradley would probably sit him on the bench next to adu and torres and keep playing beasley and sasha.

[countryboi]

man soccer is boring...i did my best but i had to switch it to the history channel...

[RichBoy923]

man soccer is boring...i did my best but i had to switch it to the history channel...

See that's what I thought a couple years ago. But you need to watch English Soccer (EPL) and you'll see it's much more exciting. The talent in that league is probably greater than any other. It's fun to watch the US National Team but if you can find a team over in England to support (mine is Arsenal) you will have a new respect for the sport.

[fatlever]

not the gunners.... come on over the dark side and be a blues fan, where thugs thrive.

what changes should we make for the brazil game?

1. NO BEASLEY
2. NO SASHA
3. start torres for clark
4. start boca (if healthy) at left back for bornstein
5. give dempsey some rest... at least sub him around 60 min for adu... but wouldnt mind seeing him take a game off.
6. give benny one more half to redeem himself from the italy game, if he doesnt pan out, put adu in at half.
7. but most important... get adu some damn minutes either for dempsey or benny.

my lineup

-------------------jozy--------------------
---donovan-----------------dempsey (adu at 60 min?)
-----------------benny (adu in at half?)--
-----bradley----------torres-----------
boca--demerrit--gooch----spector
--------------howard-------------------

[ccbballin]

7. but most important... get adu some damn minutes either for dempsey or benny.

At least give us Adu to watch. I'm tired of Dempsey and Beasley doing little to nothing. Brazil is vulnerable to the upset. Go US.

[fatlever]

and sorry, forgot to address the jermaine jones thing.... man, we could really use him now w/ edu injured and clark playing like a renegade. looking forward to seeing him in action in october.

brazil game will be open and up and down. perfect for someone like adu.

[RichBoy923]

This CWS game has been good. Arkansas and UVA are now in the bottom of the 12th and Arkansas is up 4-3. Loser goes home.