World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Man, Austria must have really blown their wad in qualifying.

I want them to succeed, but they just seem to have no business in this tournament.

[FreshFish]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Man, Austria must have really blown their wad in qualifying.

I want them to succeed, but they just seem to have no business in this tournament.

They missed a penalty shot in the first half against Iceland. At halftime, Iceland 1, Austria 0.

[Jimjamesak]

I agree with you that the pool is better, I think selection is part of the problem. Wondolowski should not have been on this team. Nagbe and Pulisic should have gotten more playing time leading up to this tournament to be prepared to play. I do think that it is hard to argue with anyone saying that the suspensions was probably the biggest issue with the team last night. That continuity that led to the success was broken and basically the entire attacking left triangle had to be replaced. THat would be hard for just about any team to deal with. I will say that my biggest issue with last night's game was Klinsmann talking about not playing scared and taking it to Argentina and then choosing the most conservative lineup he could and effectively having his actions speak louder than words that his team should be scared.

Bad selection isn't really a problem as its really more of a symptom of a major fault: a lack of a long term plan.

With Klinsmann you really don't have an idea of how things are going to go. What style are we going for? What formation(s) is best? Which players? This was a problem in 2014 as well, he didn't have his formation and lineup set until a week before the World Cup, and at that point you can't answer the "what do I do when X gets injured or suspended?" And in a long tournament you need to be able answer those questions.

And going conservative is another symptom of that. "I have no idea, I'll play the vets and hope for the best" is Klinsmann's MO in these situations. He didn't have a replacement for Wood or Jones, he never looked for one. He brought Wondo and Beckerman because he knew them, they had experience, and that seemed a better option than playing someone else or having a different formation. What was he trying to do? Bunker and counter? You can't do that with Dempsey and Wondo, you need speed. Press? Against Argentina? Have fun with that. No, he got thrown a curve and had no idea what to do.

[Jimjamesak]

I feel like I was saying we had a lot of talent (albeit young and unproven works in progress) to compete for the open spots.

Sorry, it wasn't directed at you. It's more directed toward people like the guys at Deadspin (who I'm sure think soccer didn't exist before 2012) and others who can only say "well of course that happened our talent pool sucks!" (who is also probably people who think soccer didn't exist until 2012).

[ticapnews]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Iceland!

[joecct]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Iceland!?!!

[RaceBoarder]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

That earthquake you felt was a result of The Mountain celebrating Iceland's 94th minute goal...

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Turkey is the only third place team in doubt now. To advance they need:

Ireland to lose or tie AND
Sweden loses OR Sweden ties OR Sweden wins by 4.

[FreshFish]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Iceland!

Next up: England.

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Perfectly fine with Turkey going home with their flares.

Go Ireland. Go Sweden.

[J.D.]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Accumulation of yellow cards is such a stupid rule...

Been saying that for a long time. I understand punishing someone for an accumulation but I just don't like the way the rule is now in regard to timeframe. Be a little more lenient.

Guzan was awful last night. that Messi goal should have never gone in.

I'm not a huge Guzan fan but I'm not sure what he did wrong on that goal. That was a tremendous shot. Perfect accuracy with just enough pace on it.

[J.D.]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Would have been great if Hungary held on to one of their 3 leads and sent Ronaldo home. Oh well. Still can't name a single player on Hungary, nice run for them.

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Been saying that for a long time. I understand punishing someone for an accumulation but I just don't like the way the rule is now in regard to timeframe. Be a little more lenient.

It seems like it would make sense to be suspend for a 3rd yellow card over a period of 5 games or a 2nd card in 2 games maybe (which still would have seen Bobby Wood suspended)?
I understand what they're trying to do but I think its executed poorly. Bedoya got a yellow card in game 1 and game 4 of the tournament...very silly that he gets suspended for that.

I'm not a huge Guzan fan but I'm not sure what he did wrong on that goal. That was a tremendous shot. Perfect accuracy with just enough pace on it.

His first step right before the kick betrayed him...he stepped right when he should have trusted his wall and stood his ground

[ticapnews]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Gosh, both games are scoreless at halftime. Yawn.

[manurespreader]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

No matter what talent you bring in, you have to get experience against the best out there if you want to compete. I think the issue was that we held the ball for so long that it allowed the press to operate. And I fault the mid field for not moving the ball quick enough or with enough authority. I would like to see us bring in a lot of young midfielders and get them developed.
On the Messi free kick goal, the argentine players did move the point of the kick up 5 yards, which mattered. those little things add up.

I hope we can come back against Colombia and play better. I disagree that Klinsmann had no clue, but whatever plan we had went out the window in the 4th minute. The score doesn't reflect it, but I thought we played better as we got more used to the style of game.
BTW, Higuain scored 36 goals in the Italian league. 36. The top scorer in the EPL had 25 and I bet no one in MLS had more than 25 as well.