All-Purpose, Never-Ending Soccer Thread

A good win any way you slice it...

First of all, beating Mexico Never. Gets. Old. Never. That it hasn't scored on American soil since March of '99 is merely a pleasant byproduct.

Mexico's in the middle of its league season. The U.S. is nowhere near its. And I believe only four U.S. players came over from Europe, so it's not like the Americans are in peak form.

My 13-year-old son had a great take... the crowd is silent, Wynalda is commenting how the U.S. play is taking them out of the game and my son said "There's something wrong when you have to take the crowd out of the game in your own country."

Conrad looked great and it was good to see Donovan actually show some aggressive play and use his skills. In goal, it's great to see Howard back in form. Sure, he got lucky on that one header, but he was aggressive blowing up the corner kicks and coming out.

 

From the AP gamer:

"Before the game, USSF president Sunil Gulati told reporters the result "is not going to lead to a direct decision as to who the national team coach will be.""

Well, OK then. At what point do you give it up then, Gulati? Because unless you have Klinsmann in your hat, NO ONE IS COMING.

 

Great result, but I didn't think that we played well at all. Almost nothing was going on more than five yards from the sidelines. We also gave up a ton of half chances in the last 15 minutes. Also, we really need a striker.

And way to show class, Mexico! I doubt it, but that attempted diving tackle by Sanchez should lead to a FIFA suspension.

 

In Serie A news: Five weekend matches will be played behind closed doors, five will be open to fans.

I hope some of the closed matches will be on FSC. It'll be interesting to watch and hear the match sans fans.

 

Fixed.

 

I think they are allowed to let season ticket holders in ... not positive though

 

I've seen some of these behind closed door matches before on TV, and it's not interesting at all.

 

Honestly, while the overall performance wasn't as good as I'd hoped for, there were some good things last night. Donovan wanting to take people on was very positive, unlike his passive performance against Denmark. Conrad was a stud at the back, and Bornstein got over some early jitters to play well for the last 70 minutes.

On the flipside, I don't see how Albright gets another start if there's a full sqaud available. I lost count of the number of times he got skinned down the Mexican left. That was the avenue Mexico got all of their chances off in the second half becaue Bornstein had the right wing pretty locked down.

 

Bornstein looked five different kinds of fast against Mexico. Sometimes that happens when you're in a couple of footraces with somebody like Blanco, but I don't think it was just him who looked slow in comparison.

On the MLS-EPL front, just saw this on the wire:

More out there on the wire and other locations, I'm sure.

 

I'm not seeing the benefit for the EPL side. Lil help?

 

They may be able to loan players to Colorado during the summer and have first pick of any players the Rapids might look to sell. Liverpool had a deal like this with Crewe Alexandra in England, and I think there are other examples of where this happens.

If they're going to be rebranding to Arsenal's colors, since they've already changed the name, is that going to happen now or next season?