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Back to real soccer news...
Watching the Euros has been fascinating comparing styles of teams. Spain v. Italy for instance.
Spain plays out of the back, possession style football.
Italy plays opportunity and pragmatic football.
Very evenly matched.
You don't have to play out of the back to be competitive in world class football.
You don't have to play out of the back to be competitive in world class football.
True, but you have to have the capability to do so.
Because a team should act as a unit and do the same thing. That was my point and only criticism and was also why I posted no clickbait link.Originally Posted by sportdawg
Other teams don't have a problem standing as a unit, so I expect the US team to also have no problem doing the same thing.
But IMO there were at least two if not three players in that line being outright disrespectful after looking at multiple pictures and videos myself. Trying to hide behind an anti-social media post after the fact just doesn't cut it.
Of course there were team members being disrespectful.
I agree that the whole team should have done the same thing (probably kept straight forward). I watched the video from ESPN and didn't see anything disrespectful. (Fact Check-Members of the U.S. women's national soccer team faced flag or war veteran during anthem at Olympic send-off match | Reuters )
There were fans in the stands facing the flag at the end of the stadium as well. But, most telling is how each member of the team signed a ball for him. You can hear the comments between Pete and the players too.
And, have any of you seen the video from the World Cup visit to Normandy from last year where the USWNT met with some veterans...hmmmm? Watch that and then tell me the USWNT disrespects our awesome veterans.
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US men's team, well our B Team, er C Team, opens Gold Cup play tonight vs. Haiti. Hope they can get the 3 points.
Cuz Mexico didn't, had to settle for 1 point in a 0-0 draw with T&T. Despite dominating the run of play missed opportunities and desperate nick-of-the-time defending by T&T kept Mexico off the scoreboard.
And all this hype about Messi...I don't see it. He's good, yeah, but "the best ever"? Nah! Nowhere close. And now they say he got the monkey off his back with Argentina winning the Copa America!? No way! That is hardly a true international tourney as it is restricted to South America. It's a good tourney, with quality sides, but it is not anywhere close to the World Cup (of course) or the Olympics. Even the Confederation Cup is a better represented tourney than Copa America. Nope! sorry Lionel, keep trying.
And the worldwide headlines of "Messi leads Argentina to Copa American Win" is utter bullchit! He wasn't the best player on the field last night for Argentina, he was just kind of out there and did not contribute much of anything leading to the 1-0 win over Brazil. Di Maria scored the goal and was a constant threat to Brazil's very average back line. And Argentina's holding midfielder kept Neymar bottled up and was "man of the match" with his defense and possession of the ball.
US 1 Haiti 0
The youngsters had their moments and showed tremendous potential. Fourteen players on the roster are playing in their very first Gold Cup. Shows how new this bunch is.
They have talent to make the finals, and if they can gel/find a line up that works well together during the group stage, they have a shot. Man would it piss Mexico off to lose to this group after losing to our A group a month ago. Especially since they brought a significant portion for their top team.
What I liked last night is that while we continued to play from the back, at times, the distribution forward was quicker and our guys, especially Moore, pushed the pace. Attack! Attack! Attack! The ball didn't linger on our half with pointless passes back and forth between defenders. Nothing wrong with "building from the back," in fact it is an absolute must! It was a defender who scored the goal, Vines, and another defender, Zimmerman, who had the two best other chances, one off the crossbar. But, the strikers and attacking midfielder MUST be in attack-mode all the time applying constant pressure on the opposing back line. For one reason to pin them back there and keep the other side from involving their defenders in the offensive attack.
Soccer is a complicated game of a lot of moving parts all at the same time...but it is also a simple game of tactical fundamentals, when one applies them. It was also my favorite part of coaching the game. My teams weren't always the best individually skilled but they knew where to be and when! I spent 75% of practice time on tactics and the complex movement of players, such that we got a lot of "cheap" goals simply by being in the right spot at the right time. And we pitched a lot of shutouts (clean slates!) by my defenders knowing how to properly mark up and position themselves every time!
That's one thing that drives me nuts about Brazil! Loaded with talent and play some of the worst tactical soccer on the planet.
South American teams always depend on stars/individual play, and that why they usually falter against the quality European sides. Germany, France, Italy have stars but play as a team/unit. Brazil has had enough talent to win, but they have largely been the exception to their region, and I agree their tactics are usually crap.
Qatar 3 Panama 3 in Gold Cup action. All 6 goals came in the 2nd half... some of the worst fundamental defense I have seen by both sides, I was screaming at the dern TV! And...how is it a Middle East country, Qatar, is now in CONCACAF?
They are the guest squad this year and Europe and South America basically told them no to any tournament games. All they have been able to line up to prepare for the Cup outside their region was a handful of friendlies. Everyone knows their bid was bought off just like Russia’s. Two worst bids in the pile last time around both landed Cups….. and after swearing they wouldn’t need to move it now the 22 cup is of course going to be played in the winter.
El Salvador punched the first ticket into the next round and it looks like Mexico will probably be the 2nd place team out of their group.
Since Qatar is the host nation and are automatically in the WC Finals, field of 32, they obviously don't have to qualify. But why aren't they playing in their own association's qualifying tourney? I think host countries have participated in their associations' World Cup qualifiers before. Can't go a full year+ with no matches, of course. If said nation were to earn one of the qualifying spots simply remove them and move up the next country in line.
So...didn't Qatar bump a member of CONCACAF from this tourney then? That's just plain wrong.
I like Dike.
The guy has an eye and touch for the goal. We need a good striker. Especially a young one with a good touch.
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