All-Purpose, Never-Ending Soccer Thread

Re: USA/Poland Thread (soccer)

I'm missing the second half, which is fairly annoying.

I saw that the US scored and knowing it was Dempsey is a good thing. It means he decided to show up in the second half.

I wish I was watching this.

 

Re: USA/Poland Thread (soccer)

Snow starting to build up on the field, even though it's heated. And it's tough to see the players from certain camera angles.

 

Re: USA/Poland Thread (soccer)

I'm hearing the Germany game was just called because of the snow. They couldn't even see the lines anymore.

 

Re: USA/Poland Thread (soccer)

It's getting close to that point with US/Poland. They just switched from a white ball to the yellow and black bumblee bee ball.

 

Re: USA/Poland Thread (soccer)

Watching the post-game, it looks like there's a good three or four inches on the ground.

 

Re: USA/Poland Thread (soccer)

1-0 to the Yanks...

Meanwhile England sucks. Down 1-0 to Uraguay.

 

Re: USA/Poland Thread (soccer)

I missed the majority of the second half. I'm rather annoyed at this fact.

I did see that Howard was put in to guard the old onion bag.

I'm just not sure where he should be on the depth chart. At this point, I think I would go with Reis over him in the number 2 hole.

 

Re: USA/Poland Thread (soccer)

I would put Hartman over Reis.

 

Re: USA/Poland Thread (soccer)

Just got back from "staff development" and caught the game..... my takes:

1) first half was very, very sloppy.  Remarked to a co-worker that the team that beat Guatemala could have beaten today's side with as disjointed as they played.

B) second half was much better.  An awful lot of good chances, not really good shots, but solid passing and creativity.

III) I think it was Balboa who said that they didn't have Reyna to slow the game down and control the midfield.  Watching the game in the second half, I gotta think that's a good thing.  With the speed we've got, I don't want to see us plodding along, I think our best chance comes when we're flying at full speed at the defense.

****) Dave O'Brien did the announcing, and I thought he was really good in the first half, enough so that I was thinking he'd be a good first team announcer for the cup.  Second half, he wouldn't shut up about the snow.  He lost whatever points he'd accumulated in my book.

Oh, and Keller's number one, Howard's definitely number two.  You can take any stiff you want for the third keeper.  Howard's my man if Keller goes down, hands down.....

 

Re: USA/Poland Thread (soccer)

Just want to emphasize this point.

 

Re: USA/Poland Thread (soccer)

Poin, I know you aren't a big fan, but I think Reyna has a roll on this team. The team can run and progress and push with him on the field. However, with him off of it, you see lot of disjointment in the midfield. The US is not able to control the flow of play as easily.

Reyna is a playmaker. And as such he will push the ball to the open man. If the team is going up the field, he won't slow it down.

 

Re: USA/Poland Thread (soccer)

Reyna has always been an undependable player, an injury waiting to happen. But he was great in 2002, for the first time on the national stage. The team seems to believe in him as a stabilizing force in the middle, though I agree that he would merely slow down the attack as it is right now. Also, chemistry has to be a issue, when was his last appearance? There is a new, younger (healthier) generation out there now, and he just seems a relic of Arena's final days at Virginia.

He would have a good role at defensive mid if we look to play a slowdown game against someone, but I'd have to think that he would hinder a lineup based on speed.