OT: soccer thread

[JDR720]

http://www.espnfc.com/english-premier-league/story/2900990/premier-league-refuses-to-speculate-on-effects-of-uks-brexit-from-eu

brexit and the EPL

pure craziness

other countries are wanting to hold a vote too. italy, france and the netherlands. soccer in europe could be very different soon. i didn't even know this was a thing until a couple days ago.

[fatlever]

[fatlever]

Messi just said he's retiring from playing for the national team. Um, What?!?!

[BatumtheGlue]

Messi just said he's retiring from playing for the national team. Um, What?!?!

Impossible, what's the reason? He must win at least 1 world cup, then i'll call him the GOAT. At this point of his career he's not much better than CR7.

[JDR720]

sounds like half the team is retiring.

[driveandkick]

You guys should all come see the local team the Charlotte Independence play Swansea City in a few weeks. It looks like the team is about to move to Memorial Stadium uptown, they really could have an exciting future. Games are fun, fun supporters section and every thing.

[fatlever]

this Italy German shootout is a trainwreck. Wow.

[fatlever]

this Italy German shootout is a trainwreck. Wow.

LOL, two more misses since I posted. What is happening?

[JDR720]

good to see Kljestan get called up again. has 1 goal and 1 assist this match.

[fatlever]

Pulisic plays 20 minutes and gets 2 goals and an assist. As some point JK will stop messing around and make him an automatic starter.

[Flip Murray]

Pulisic plays 20 minutes and gets 2 goals and an assist. As some point JK will stop messing around and make him an automatic starter.

Pulisic is the best prospect this country has ever produced

[fatlever]

Pulisic plays 20 minutes and gets 2 goals and an assist. As some point JK will stop messing around and make him an automatic starter.

Pulisic is the best prospect this country has ever produced

He's definitely the most exciting prospect to come along since I've been really closely watching the USMNT. I wasn't paying as much attention back when Landon Donovan and DeMarcus Beasley were kids and people were flipping out over their potential. Unlike so many before him, Pulisic, so far, is backing up the hype.

My one criticism of Pulisic and the one area I think he will really improve with maturity and experience is his passing. He's already so good at running at defenders, 1 v 1, getting shots on goal, tracking back on defense, crossing, basically all the things you want from a winger. But he's still got a ways to go in terms of picking out the right pass as the right time. There were at least 10 times tonight were he was running at defenders and he'd have Fabian making an overlapping run to his left or Jozy running down the seams in the middle and he would either ignore the run, wait too long to make the pass or play the pass behind them. The one time Fabian really made a run at the defenders he played a perfect pass to Jozy which led to a goal. Pulisic will improve in that area with time. He's awesome.

[fatlever]

1) Christian Pulisic’s star power is solar — I’m sure at some point it could get tedious to marvel at his skills, but we aren’t there yet. Even when the soon-to-be 18-year-old gave the ball away on the edge of the T&T 18, he ripped it back with style. And, to boot, when he missed a 30th minute shot off posts, you’d be forgiven for wondering why even his misses have a bit of unintentional artistry to them.

Pulisic is a freak show: intelligent, crafty, quick, nimble. I’m honestly unsure we’ve ever seen a player at his age look this good in a U.S. shirt. Lots of respect to Landon Donovan, but at this point it’s the only comparison worth considering. And if Pulisic has a career on the level of Donovan, well, that’s pretty, pretty, pretty cool.

http://soccer.nbcsports.com/2016/09/06/three-things-we-learned-from-the-usmnts-controlling-defeat-of-trinidad-and-tobago/

Man, Pulisic is promising

He’s not a finished product by any means, but Pulisic’s soccer IQ, burst with the ball and smooth technical ability make him the most exciting U.S. prospect since Landon Donovan.

Pulisic was confident on the ball all night long and showed a real spark both out wide (where he worked a give and go with Kljestan and fed Altidore brilliantly for a gorgeous goal) and moving into the center (where Pulisic will be a force eventually as an attacking central midfielder). It will be challenging for Klinsmann to keep Pulisic out of the lineup moving forward.

Now the challenge for Pulisic is to earn playing time on a stacked roster at Borussia Dortmund, which named him to its Champions League roster last week.

http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2016/09/06/usa-trinidad-tobago-world-cup-qualifying-pulisic-altidore-kljestan-hex

[JDR720]

he is probably the best midfielder on the team already.


and in other news, it looks like Canada might be getting their own pro soccer league in 2018.

wonder how that will impact the 3 canadian MLS teams.

[Flip Murray]

anybody going to be watching the Cuba game today? Field conditions look pretty wack

[fatlever]

anybody going to be watching the Cuba game today? Field conditions look pretty wack

Yeah, I'm off work today
Gonna watch for sure.

[fatlever]

super excited about this lineup

Planet Fútbol ‏@si_soccer 3m3 minutes ago
#USMNT XI vs. Cuba: Horvath; Yedlin, Brooks, Cameron, Johnson; Green, Bradley, Kljestan, Pulisic; Altidore, Wood http://on.si.com/2dypR0n

[Flip Murray]

super excited about this lineup

Planet Fútbol ‏@si_soccer 3m3 minutes ago
#USMNT XI vs. Cuba: Horvath; Yedlin, Brooks, Cameron, Johnson; Green, Bradley, Kljestan, Pulisic; Altidore, Wood http://on.si.com/2dypR0n

holy **** this is THE lineup we've all been waiting for

[fatlever]

Is that seriously the best field Cuba has to offer for this game? That's awful. Youth rec league fields where they played 10 games a day are nicer.

[fatlever]

I don't even think prime Barcelona could string together 5 successful passes on this field.