Official Major League Soccer/US Men's National Team Thread

#2,251
#2,251
volball625 said:
Altidore is "ready and available" for Belgium game tomorrow.

I know conditioning will be an issue and I'm always questionable about returning players early with hamstring issues, but start him. Roll the dice. He adds a goal scorer to a lineup scarce of them.
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Agreed, you have to start him tomorrow.
 
#2,252
#2,252
It's more of a gamble than it would have been in group stage. We don't want to have to take him out after 15-30 minutes if we have a 120 minute match on our hands.
 
#2,253
#2,253
n_huffhines said:
It's more of a gamble than it would have been in group stage. We don't want to have to take him out after 15-30 minutes if we have a 120 minute match on our hands.
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If you don't start him you aren't using him. You must start him. A lot easier to sub him out at 20 minutes then to bring him on at 60 and sub him out again.
 
#2,254
#2,254
MSUDuo said:
If you don't start him you aren't using him. You must start him. A lot easier to sub him out at 20 minutes then to bring him on at 60 and sub him out again.
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Agreed. Playing him off the bench means you almost have to play the game under the assumption you have only two subs. Can't afford to have him get hurt in the 100th+ minute and be out of subs and play a man down in the crucial final minutes.
 
#2,255
#2,255
Watching this Germany game makes me realize that we are probably one of the worst teams in terms of skill. We are bottom in possession. Algeria is doing great at little touches here and there to maintain possession against a good German team. We just don't have the types of players on this team.
 
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#2,256
#2,256
volball625 said:
Watching this Germany game makes me realize that we are probably one of the worst teams in terms of skill. We are bottom in possession. Algeria is doing great at little touches here and there to maintain possession against a good German team. We just don't have the types of players on this team.
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It's especially glaring on defense. Other teams possess and build out of the back, while our D seems to just string one or two passes together and boot it up the field
 
#2,257
#2,257
volball625 said:
Watching this Germany game makes me realize that we are probably one of the worst teams in terms of skill. We are bottom in possession. Algeria is doing great at little touches here and there to maintain possession against a good German team. We just don't have the types of players on this team.
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With all due respect, but in thinking about most of your assessments of the US team the past couple weeks, Is anything in this post any new revelation to you?
 
#2,258
#2,258
orange parmejohn said:
With all due respect, but in thinking about most of your assessments of the US team the past couple weeks, Is anything in this post any new revelation to you?
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I think it just became a little more obvious to me when you watch an Algeria team that is supposedly not as good as us.

It just speaks to how good a job JK is doing. Talent wise, we are in the bottom five in terms of talent in this tournament, yet we progressed in one of the toughest groups.
 
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#2,260
#2,260
volball625 said:
I think it just became a little more obvious to me when you watch an Algeria team that is supposedly not as good as us.

It just speaks to how good a job JK is doing. Talent wise, we are in the bottom five in terms of talent in this tournament, yet we progressed in one of the toughest groups.
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Not picking for an argument at all, you know the game much better than I,but what are you basing your "supposedly not as good as us" statement? Rankings? Last WC?
 
#2,261
#2,261
orange parmejohn said:
Not picking for an argument at all, you know the game much better than I,but what are you basing your "supposedly not as good as us" statement? Rankings? Last WC?
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Well we dominated them last WC. They were considered one of the worst teams in the tournament going into this summer.
 
#2,265
#2,265
orange parmejohn said:
X and O question. Would Altidore take us away from what has gotten us this far, scheme wise?
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No. It'll improve it if he's healthy. Outside of club morale and confidence, we haven't played our best soccer, especially in the middle of the field. We haven't had a striker like Jozy for two games and had MFs step up in the box. Now add a capable guy in there and an extra to defend the counter. I think it helps because they can go back to their usual scheme.
 
#2,266
#2,266
Very good piece from Deadspin on Bradley: "The Case Against the Case Against Michael Bradley"

"As the tip of that arrow, Bradley must bunker with the back line in defense, then tear ass down the field at a faster pace than his teammates on the counter, then quickly recover to join in the defense again in the event of a turnover. In essence, for Bradley, it is a 90-minute series of thankless, often off-camera wind-sprints. In the World Cup. In suffocating heat."

The Case Against The Case Against Michael Bradley
 
#2,267
#2,267
JohnMarxism said:
Very good piece from Deadspin on Bradley: "The Case Against the Case Against Michael Bradley"

"As the tip of that arrow, Bradley must bunker with the back line in defense, then tear ass down the field at a faster pace than his teammates on the counter, then quickly recover to join in the defense again in the event of a turnover. In essence, for Bradley, it is a 90-minute series of thankless, often off-camera wind-sprints. In the World Cup. In suffocating heat."

The Case Against The Case Against Michael Bradley
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That's called being a center mid. Every center midfielder does that. He's trained for it and it's not his fitness that hurts him. It's the choices he makes, the bad trap, the ill advised pass, etc. He's fit enough.

I played that position when I played in HS. I grew up in central east coast Florida so humidity and heat were common place.
 
#2,268
#2,268
JohnMarxism said:
Very good piece from Deadspin on Bradley: "The Case Against the Case Against Michael Bradley"

"As the tip of that arrow, Bradley must bunker with the back line in defense, then tear ass down the field at a faster pace than his teammates on the counter, then quickly recover to join in the defense again in the event of a turnover. In essence, for Bradley, it is a 90-minute series of thankless, often off-camera wind-sprints. In the World Cup. In suffocating heat."

The Case Against The Case Against Michael Bradley
Click to expand...

Haven't read the article yet, but the part you quoted is very true.

The people bashing Bradley don't truly understand soccer, specifically the role of a box to box center mid that plays on the USMNT. We aren't Germany, Spain, Netherlands etc... We don't possess the ball like they do to give Bradley time to do his job. When we played lesser teams in qualifying of course he looked like Pirlo, because we were the better team and gave him time to do things.

He hasn't played up to his potential, but he is right there with Dempsey and Howard on being the best player we have to offer. We lose him and we are ****ed.
 
#2,269
#2,269
utvols88 said:
That's called being a center mid. Every center midfielder does that. He's trained for it and it's not his fitness that hurts him. It's the choices he makes, the bad trap, the ill advised pass, etc. He's fit enough.

I played that position when I played in HS. I grew up in central east coast Florida so humidity and heat were common place.
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This is what I don't get. Everybody is talking about the humidity being to much for the teams. Water breaks? Really?

I played club, high school and college soccer. I know it's not the world cup, but I've played 4 game tournys in the middle of the summer in places like Florida and Mississippi. It sucked ass inn that humidity, but we did it over and over again.
 
#2,270
#2,270
Hayezb said:
Haven't read the article yet, but the part you quoted is very true.

The people bashing Bradley don't truly understand soccer, specifically the role of a box to box center mid that plays on the USMNT. We aren't Germany, Spain, Netherlands etc... We don't possess the ball like they do to give Bradley time to do his job. When we played lesser teams in qualifying of course he looked like Pirlo, because we were the better team and gave him time to do things.

He hasn't played up to his potential, but he is right there with Dempsey and Howard on being the best player we have to offer. We lose him and we are ****ed.
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I completely disagree. I played the position and I am ripping him. We don't possess the ball because we don't control the middle. We don't control the middle partly because of Bradley. Bradley hasn't been on point with his touches. Bad passes, traps, touches and decisions are coming from Bradley too often. It's the World Cup. You must perform to win. Period. Bradley is not at this point.

A CM doesn't require everyone else to do their job. Win the ball and create. Make a tackle or take advantage of your touches. Stop acting like he needs everyone else to do his job. In this World Cup, he's been a big weakness. I just hope it changes.
 
#2,271
#2,271
Hayezb said:
This is what I don't get. Everybody is talking about the humidity being to much for the teams. Water breaks? Really?

I played club, high school and college soccer. I know it's not the world cup, but I've played 4 game tournys in the middle of the summer in places like Florida and Mississippi. It sucked ass inn that humidity, but we did it over and over again.
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Same here and I never trained half as hard as pro guys.
 
#2,274
#2,274
utvols88 said:
That's called being a center mid. Every center midfielder does that. He's trained for it and it's not his fitness that hurts him. It's the choices he makes, the bad trap, the ill advised pass, etc. He's fit enough.

I played that position when I played in HS. I grew up in central east coast Florida so humidity and heat were common place.
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Wrong. He's not a CAM. The more he plays up, the more out of position he becomes. His position is not the same as some high schooler CM.
 
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