All-Purpose, Never-Ending Soccer Thread

I doubt Fergie is going to the EPL again. Murray spent a lot of money bringing him back.

As to the US...
I would put Ching over EJ up top and your right back would be Wynne.

 

New rumors for Rangers...
Smith & McCoist - Appointed before Monday.

Interesting. We shall see.

 

I like Ally McCoist, and I'm sure he's still a huge fan favorite. Bringing Walter Smith back would be positive as well, and maybe he teached McCoist the ropes so he can take over in a few years.

 

So Rangers cast their lot with a midfielder of middling talent instead of a manager who's a proven winner. Bully for them. Hope Walter Smith **SPIT** is smart enough not to question the club's Sacred Cow.

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aya,

That "someone" you refer to would be Steve Cherundolo. Perhaps you've heard of him.

 

For goodness sakes, they lost to the Czechs, who had far better overall talent, and to Ghana, which had two players who would walk onto the U.S. roster and be 20 percent better than the best we had -- and they lost to Ghana on a ridiculous call. The U.S. drew Italy and nearly won the game, and Italy went on to win the whole freaking thing. Nobody else got a point against that squad.
Was it what we all hoped for? No. But it wasn't nearly as bad as everyone wants to make it out to be.

 

I was looking a couple of years into the future. Cherundolo? Maybe. Or Maybe Marvell or that Demerit (sp ?) guy from Watford. Who knows? Maybe Bradley's kid will step up to be one of the defensive mids.

And I'm sorry Two Back, I've heard all the excuses, but 0 wins and 1 goal is bad no matter what.

 

Well, I wouldn't say they really stuck by their boy. I think PLG was looking for a way out. The man looked miserable on the sidelines and none of his moves worked.

As to Barry, he's the captain of their national team. I wouldn't exactly call him "middling."

The whole situation is shit. But the manager they hired was awful.

 

we've got four players capable of playing for a mid-table premiership side. and four shots in three games is, as andyouare says, bad no matter what.

 

Dolo is 27. He has, at least, one World Cup cycle left in him. Wynne is still far too raw -- more athlete than soccer player. Demerit is a center back, and nothing but. He doesn't have the pace or the crossing ability to play outside.

If you want young'uns, play Spector at right back and bring Heath Pearce or Todd Dunivant at left back.

Baby Bradley has game, as does Feilhaber. It's way too early to look to them to run the show, though. If you need a new name instead of Mastroeni at d-mid, think about Rico Clark or Brian Carroll.

 

I'm not making excuses. I'm evaluating the performance. In that group, somebody good was going home unhappy. It didn't have to be us, but it was. I'm just saying that to suggest because we can load up a mid- to lower-level EPL team we had no business losing to teams featuring an alltime great (Nedved) and a Chelsea star (Essien) -- that's just ridiculous.

 

Or Juanito Bornstein, the MLS Rookie of the Year and quite possibly the most flexible youngster the U.S. has. He can play anywhere on the field and would probably make a good keeper if he wanted to be.

 

I'm going to have to disagree. If we had played the Czech Republic tough, but there was one turn of skill, one brilliant play by Nedved or Rosicky that turned the game, I can live with that. But we got embarrassed! I don't understand how a national team that's played so many games together can look so unprepared and flat.

Yes, we played valiantly against Italy and Gooch's red card and Reyna's giveaway was a killer against Ghana, but, overall, I can't let them off the hook. Not so much for failing to qualify for the next round, but for their overall performance.

It just seems like the sum of their individual parts should be higher -- or however that saying goes.

As far as the future, funny how we haven't mentioned Adu. I'm not sure how/if he'll fit into the national team. If he flops at RSL, it'll be a major letdown.