Official Team USA Soccer Thread

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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#21 » by Boognish » Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:48 pm

Wooooo Michael Bradley to Aston Villa on loan!

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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#22 » by and1GS » Mon Jan 31, 2011 3:48 am

Interesting move, especially when you consider they need to get Delph PT at CM as well. I think Petrov's days are numbered though and our depth at CM has always sucked.

I don't think jones will seriously be in the mix in 4 years. He'll be in his 30s by then won't he? I can easily see him replacing Clark, but I don't see him starting.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#23 » by Sandlot » Tue Feb 1, 2011 12:24 am

I would agree. I haven't been impressed by what I've seen of Jones anyways. I think Bradley, Edu, and Holden will be competing for the two center mid spots. (I'm assuming we stick with the 4-4-2) Bradley should get some great experience on his loan stint. Hopefully when its over Villa, or another English club, will be looking to sign him long term.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#24 » by and1GS » Wed Feb 2, 2011 5:06 am

I'm sure they'll try and buy him at season's end...our CM depth is absolutely horrid after the sale of Milner/Barry/Sidwell and the epic fail/eventual loan that is Ireland. All we have is Petrov/Delph and a bunch of rejects. Bannan has showed some promise I guess but everyone else either isn't that good or has failed in all their attempts at starting in the middle. Also, I have no idea why Houllier plays Young as a CAM but I'm getting off topic.

Bradley will probably be bought by Villa by season's end...they need to try and make some progress via transfers after MON **** us and Houllier sat on his hands.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#25 » by Munchlaxatives » Wed Feb 2, 2011 5:32 am

As much as I like Charlie Davies...I don't want him at DC United. He's too good for the MLS.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#26 » by and1GS » Thu Feb 3, 2011 2:10 am

After his near fatal car accident this might be the best move for him as I don't think Sochaux was gonna give him much of a shot. He played in preseason but has only been on the active roster once this season. Don't really see him regaining his starting striker spot, not for a while at least. After that devastating of a car accident the only teams that would be willing to give him a shot would be ones in the country he's from, the US.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#27 » by Sandlot » Fri Feb 4, 2011 5:31 am

I think the MLS is underrated in terms of giving players a chance to succeed. Donovan has done fine internationally and is a lifetime MLS player. There are a lot of US players that are spending too much time on a foreign club bench, rather than getting legitimate minutes. Freddy Adu left way too early. I think Altidore is hurting himself with his lack of game time. (hopefully his most recent move helps) If you have the choice between starting in the MLS or never playing for another club, then I think you have to choose the MLS. I would also love to see more US based players come back and help legitimize the league.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#28 » by and1GS » Fri Feb 4, 2011 9:06 am

The major thing is that it's in the US. Players native leagues are more likely to give them a shot over someone from a random country. In France Charlie Davies was that someone from a random country. It's the same reason why you see so many average to below average Spaniards starting in La Liga as opposed to the EPL or Bundesliga. It's their native league so they're given more of a shot to succeed and a much longer leash.

Especially when these guys are young this is really important, and Jozy is a great example of this. Was he loaned out from Villareal again? He wasn't even dressing for matches this season.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#29 » by Sandlot » Fri Feb 4, 2011 11:25 pm

and1GS wrote:Especially when these guys are young this is really important, and Jozy is a great example of this. Was he loaned out from Villareal again? He wasn't even dressing for matches this season.


Yeah. He is on a six month loan to Turkish champion Bursaspor. Players need to play. They aren't going to get better if they aren't getting game time in competitive matches. The MLS is a great place for that for our young guys. I feel like Altidore is on the verge of being the next Adu. He might not even be playing for the US in the next world cup cycle if he can't get minutes.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#30 » by and1GS » Wed Feb 9, 2011 1:43 am

Word. Young guys not getting PT on good clubs always reminds me of Dos Santos. He barely played on Barca, then barely played on Tottenham. His ego kept ballooning and he kept getting loaned out. I doubt he gets any better at this point in his career.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#31 » by Sandlot » Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:48 am

and1GS wrote:Andy Najar and Agudelo look awesome. Agudelo in limited time but IMO Najar is one of the very best in the MLS at age 18. I'm happy we have legitimate options now, might force Altidore to work harder.

Najar still hasn't decided which country he will play for. If he chooses the US then he still has a few years before he can play because of citizenship. Also, I really liked Aguedlo but he hasn't played many minutes at all. He only really played in the last few NY games and the 2 US games he has played.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#32 » by and1GS » Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:25 am

? I thought he was already a citizen? And I doubt he chooses Honduras. He was born there and spent his childhood there but all of his development (HS and on) as a person/player has been in the US. He's also never going to make it to the WC with Honduras.

Agudelo hasn't played much but he's shown immense ability. He already scored for the USMNT.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#33 » by Sandlot » Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:06 pm

He hasn't had his green card long enough. I think he is still pretty loyal there. He is supposed to make a decision in the next couple of months though. Honduras claimed he had already committed to them but I think it was taken out of context.
I really like the promise Agudelo has shown too but Freddy Adu and Jozy showed a lot of promise and neither of them are where they could have been.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#34 » by and1GS » Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:38 pm

The thing with Adu is that the only time I've seen him be technically a few levels above his competition was when he played for the US youth squads. He looked head and shoulders above his competition there and his technique was unmatched by anyone his age. Then he got to the MLS where he's a short kid playing with grown men who revert to shoveball when they aren't as talented as the other team.

As for Jozy i like what I've seen from him, but he's never had remarkable technical ability. Big/strong and oddly fast but his technical ability isn't that great. Agudelo's is and he tore it up in the MLS playoffs.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#35 » by Little Italia » Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:56 am

and1GS wrote:? I thought he was already a citizen? And I doubt he chooses Honduras. He was born there and spent his childhood there but all of his development (HS and on) as a person/player has been in the US. He's also never going to make it to the WC with Honduras.

Agudelo hasn't played much but he's shown immense ability. He already scored for the USMNT.


Honduras is a strong team. They have a lot of good young players. I expect them to be the 3rd best team in the Concacaf for a long time.

USA
MEXICO
Honduras

That's the top 3. 4th is always up for grabs but Costa Rica is stronger than the rest.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#36 » by Point forward » Fri Feb 11, 2011 4:13 pm

and1GS wrote:The thing with Adu is that the only time I've seen him be technically a few levels above his competition was when he played for the US youth squads. He looked head and shoulders above his competition there and his technique was unmatched by anyone his age. Then he got to the MLS where he's a short kid playing with grown men who revert to shoveball when they aren't as talented as the other team.


Adu recently tried out for FC Ingolstadt, 17th in the Second Bundesliga, and got axed. His on ball skills were sweet, but his toughness, durability and defensive hustle were non existent. What a waste of talent :-?

BTW, how is Jermaine Jones doing? The guy remembered he was American when it *cough* became evident that he was not good enough to play for Germany. He is a fiery "Number 6" who deftly cleans up the defense, but sometimes his temper gets the better of him.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#37 » by and1GS » Fri Feb 11, 2011 6:13 pm

Jermaine hasn't done anything for the USMNT yet. He was injured for the WC and I haven't heard any news on him since.

And yes that's mostly what is holding Adu back. He got so used to smoking 17-20 year old Americans that he totally forgot there are other parts to football. Namely physicality and defense, and it is amazing how easy it is to push Adu around.

He needs to go back to the MLS and prove himself there. Being loaned out to random squads annually isn't helping him develop.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#38 » by Sandlot » Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:09 am

Jones is on loan to Blackburn. He played the full 90 against Newcastle over the weekend. I don't think he will be a big part of our team. Edu, Bradley and Holden are all looking superior right now although Bradley might find it hard to get minutes at Villa.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#39 » by and1GS » Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:50 am

Jones is a douche anyway, I don't want him to play for us.
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Re: Official Team USA 

Post#40 » by Dirty Water » Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:18 pm

I remember for a while Adu was supposed to be the savior of American soccer. He literally fell off the face of the planet.

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