2014 FIFA World Cup (contains spoilers)
- Thread starter pdxKingsFan
- Start date
Our defense played great. Unfortunately it took an 0-2 deficit for the USA attack to join the game. We had several chances there that didn't break our way, but we also got a little lucky to get to Extra Time. Every game in the World Cup is tough though. I think the team overall had a pretty good showing.
We obviously still can't play with the big boys.
Our tactics really sucked. We were in a defensive setup which doomed our offense, which is why yedlin had an open left side and no one to center to.
They have improved a tad since South Africa. A lot of us who have suffered through this bad soccer were hoping for a little more improvement from 4 years ago. Heres to hoping klinsman has a plan to decreasing that gap between us and the big boys.
Our tactics really sucked. We were in a defensive setup which doomed our offense, which is why yedlin had an open left side and no one to center to.
They have improved a tad since South Africa. A lot of us who have suffered through this bad soccer were hoping for a little more improvement from 4 years ago. Heres to hoping klinsman has a plan to decreasing that gap between us and the big boys.
Ok, we couldn't play with the big boys. One takeaway.
On the brighter side: Losing Altidore killed us. He played what, 15 minutes of the tournament where we scored the fastest goal in US cup history. 5th in World Cup.
Then today we lose our best field player in the tournament. Yedlin is forced to come in early when he is better suited to coming in as a late spark. He is forced into his "natural" position of Full Back even though he is defensively awful leaving others to cover his space.
One of the top two American players goes MIA for the entire tournament.
The other is forced to play outside his natural spot due to Altidore.
Landon Donovan is left home.
And still, we fed Chris Wondolowski sitter to win and advance with minutes to play in regulation.
A lot of the kids today will be hitting their primes in 2018 and 2022. 4 more years of JK poaching German talent. Maybe we can get more of the Latin American kids in over the next 4 years. I think we have a lot to look forward to. Two years ago a lot of people looked at this as going to be Landon Donovan's last hurrah and then the team will wither.
I think we would have benefited with Landon over Wondo, but neither are going to be in the 2018 picture so its water under the bridge now. The young guys got big minutes and responded (would have liked to see Jóhannsson more).
In the mean time, support soccer in Sac or wherever you live
It can only grow.
On the brighter side: Losing Altidore killed us. He played what, 15 minutes of the tournament where we scored the fastest goal in US cup history. 5th in World Cup.
Then today we lose our best field player in the tournament. Yedlin is forced to come in early when he is better suited to coming in as a late spark. He is forced into his "natural" position of Full Back even though he is defensively awful leaving others to cover his space.
One of the top two American players goes MIA for the entire tournament.
The other is forced to play outside his natural spot due to Altidore.
Landon Donovan is left home.
And still, we fed Chris Wondolowski sitter to win and advance with minutes to play in regulation.
A lot of the kids today will be hitting their primes in 2018 and 2022. 4 more years of JK poaching German talent. Maybe we can get more of the Latin American kids in over the next 4 years. I think we have a lot to look forward to. Two years ago a lot of people looked at this as going to be Landon Donovan's last hurrah and then the team will wither.
I think we would have benefited with Landon over Wondo, but neither are going to be in the 2018 picture so its water under the bridge now. The young guys got big minutes and responded (would have liked to see Jóhannsson more).
In the mean time, support soccer in Sac or wherever you live
It can only grow.
Huge congrats to USA for the way they played last night. I was a neutral going into the game, but by the end I was willing the US to victory. Great show of courage and determination. I wasn't the only one, my twitter and facebook feed was blowing up with everyone supporting the US. You gained a lot of fans over here and I'd imagine the rest of the world too. Tim Howard was heroic. Was great, btw, to see Americans embracing "soccer" and getting fully behind their team.
edit: forgot to add that your fans were absolutely brilliant in Brazil.
edit: forgot to add that your fans were absolutely brilliant in Brazil.
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TBH, American Outlaws are pretty weak compared to the support going on at the club level here. Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Montreal, Kansas City stand out and quite a few others are getting there. Sacramento is kicking butt so far and I imagine you would find our second/third division soccer downright unwatchable (with no direct route to promotion it's not even clear which is which). MLS is rapidly improving despite that it can't quite figure out if it is going to be a selling league or a retirement league in the near term future, but NASL and USL yikes.
I think today is the first day with no soccer for me for 3 weeks. Not sure what to do with my afternoon!
I think today is the first day with no soccer for me for 3 weeks. Not sure what to do with my afternoon!
That's mostly on the player pool we have available.
We're between generations. We knew that heading into this WC. We've got talent coming through the pipline in quality and quantity we've never had before. Green/Yedlin are just the beginning. Agudelo/Boyd will be back and grow, but guys like Parker/Flores/Hyndman/Stanko/Packwood/Pelosi/Rubin are some real high level prospects.
You can't close the gap without the talent. Every team we played had more talent man for man than we did and it wasn't even close with Germany and Belgium. We punched above our weight.
We're between generations. We knew that heading into this WC. We've got talent coming through the pipline in quality and quantity we've never had before. Green/Yedlin are just the beginning. Agudelo/Boyd will be back and grow, but guys like Parker/Flores/Hyndman/Stanko/Packwood/Pelosi/Rubin are some real high level prospects.
You can't close the gap without the talent. Every team we played had more talent man for man than we did and it wasn't even close with Germany and Belgium. We punched above our weight.
Nagbe should also have citizenship by the end of the year and would be at the tail end of his prime next cycle. Can't imagine he won't jump into the mix immediately.
While World Cup is the grand stage let's not forget the Copa América Centenario is only 2 years away and is going to be a HUGE deal even though a lot of 4 year soccer watchers may not know it yet
While World Cup is the grand stage let's not forget the Copa América Centenario is only 2 years away and is going to be a HUGE deal even though a lot of 4 year soccer watchers may not know it yet
Copa América is the South American championship. It will be hosted in the US in 2016 with all 10 CONMEBOL teams and 6 from CONCACAF (US and Mexico plus 4 others). This would be the 100th anniversary (Centenario) and it will truly be special.
Also, apparently Yedlin is already on his way out of Seattle with Anderlecht being the likely destination. I'd like to personally thank you Juergen Klinsmann. If I can't see Rubio Rubin in a Timbers jersey, well...
Also, apparently Yedlin is already on his way out of Seattle with Anderlecht being the likely destination. I'd like to personally thank you Juergen Klinsmann. If I can't see Rubio Rubin in a Timbers jersey, well...
Predictions World Cup semi-final:
Germany 1 Brazil 0
Germany now slightly favored over Brazil with huge loss of Neymar hurting home team - probably too much to overcome. Muller, Schweinsteiger, rest of the machine get it done.
Argentina 2 Netherlands 1
I like the way Dutch are playing but Messi & company the edge over Robben's orange crew.
Germany 1 Brazil 0
Germany now slightly favored over Brazil with huge loss of Neymar hurting home team - probably too much to overcome. Muller, Schweinsteiger, rest of the machine get it done.
Argentina 2 Netherlands 1
I like the way Dutch are playing but Messi & company the edge over Robben's orange crew.
