World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

[J.D.]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Or maybe not

[unofan]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Well, this is going to be a nervous 15 minutes

[J.D.]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Looks like we're now back to our typical defending

[unofan]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

So their coach can just stand there?

[unofan]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Well, getting to the semis is nice, I guess.

[J.D.]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Argentina should run a train on us but semis is progress from where they were

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Go Venezuela. The only advantage the US has in the semifinals is 2 days extra rest. Too bad Wood, Bedoya and Jones won't be able to play...they will be able to return for final/third place game though...

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Yedlin for Jones I call an even trade at this point, but I don't know who replaces Wood. And agree they need to protect some of the others.

Does Fabian Johnson play right mid with yedlin right back? being able to have them switch back and forth?

[Jimjamesak]

Does Fabian Johnson play right mid with yedlin right back? being able to have them switch back and forth?

Have to think he swaps in Beckerman for Jones, Zusi for Bedoya, and either Wondolowski (no) or Pulisic (yes) for Wood.

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

I say keep Besler, add Yedlin and move Fabian up as SG said.

Then Zusi for Bedoya. If you put in Pulisic, he obviously doesn't play Wood's role. But then again, aside from the injured/maybe-already-past-his-prime/not-on-roster Jozy Altidore I don't know who really could. Nagbe?

[Jimjamesak]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Slightly different topic, somewhere John Brooks' agent is going "so many Euros, so many Euros..."

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

I wouldn't be surprised to see him move to a more renowned German team, if any of them are watching this tournament. Maybe even a PL team.

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

BTW, taking a look at what our team might look like for 2018... it could potentially be the most talented US team we've ever seen.

Of course, some of the young guns could stall or not develop much (namely Green, Pulisic, Kiesewetter and the various kids coming up through prominent PL youth systems: Zelalem, Miazga, etc) and a few veterans (Dempsey, Bradley, Jones) could run out of gas and it won't necessarily be that great. Yet some others (Diskerud? Boyd?) might simply not be as good as we thought they could've been and there's a reason that they aren't out there now.

[BoomGoestheDynamite]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

BTW, taking a look at what our team might look like for 2018... it could potentially be the most talented US team we've ever seen.

Of course, some of the young guns could stall or not develop much (namely Green, Pulisic, Kiesewetter and the various kids coming up through prominent PL youth systems: Zelalem, Miazga, etc) and a few veterans (Dempsey, Bradley, Jones) could run out of gas and it won't necessarily be that great. Yet some others (Diskerud? Boyd?) might simply not be as good as we thought they could've been and there's a reason that they aren't out there now.

Hopefully Klinsman has learned from his mistakes that tinkering with crazy formations and playing individuals out of position leads to losses to Guatemala. Trying to follow some sort of conventional wisdom and strength can lead to semifinals in a major tournament.

I am a little worried about 2018. The one World Cup hurdle we've never crossed is reaching the second round (or even winning a game) in Europe. Russia is probably about as unfriendly a place in UEFA for the traditional powers so this might be our best opportunity ever to get over that hurdle. If we make the Round of 16 for the third time in a row on three continents, I'd feel pretty comfortable that we'd reached upper middle class status in the global game.

[FreshFish]

Re: World Soccer XXVII: The REAL Football

Go Venezuela. The only advantage the US has in the semifinals is 2 days extra rest. Too bad Wood, Bedoya and Jones won't be able to play...they will be able to return for final/third place game though...

The way the US team has been playing, I would have liked our chances at full strength vs Argentina very much, a tie would not have been unlikely and who knows what might happen in a PK shoot-out after 90 minutes?

Wood has done a great job of stretching defenses and giving Dempsey room to operate, and Jones has been strong in midfield. While his talent might be matched by a replacement, his tireless work rate and crunching tackles might not.