Assess the USA soccer situation here

Landon - mental fragility. Absolutely spot-on analysis.

The worst thing in the world for him was to come back to MLS after not cutting it in Bundesliga the second time. You gotta tough it out, take the risks, and trust yourself that you will succeed in spite of the odds. He did not. He came home, where it was safe.

Landon is talented enough to compete in any league in the world, I think. But he's got the A-Rod quality of losing some kind of belief/confidence in himself -- for no explainable reason at all -- when he's really and truly challenged, on the highest levels of his sport. It's just not in him, for whatever reason.

We talk about a wide receiver or a starting pitcher being a No. 1 -- a stopper's mentality. "The buck stops here, it stops with me." Those two guys do not have that mentality, regardless of their immense talents.

Landon can keep the armband. And I'd want him on my team.

But we need a No. 1. We need a stopper. He's not it, and he's not going to be it.

 

Well, obviously, I take some offense at Ben Olsen being depicted as a rec-league player.

He has as good a pedigree as most for the U.S. team ... Nottingham Forest, D.C. United, college player of the year.

 

You want to know why? Because we have a bunch of prima donna, self-centered fuckheads who would rather collect a nice hefty paycheck and try to win "The Big One" instead of representing their country in international play. Say what you want about our soccer players not being up to par with the world powers, but at the very least they want to represent our country. They proudly wear the red white and blue. I can't say the same for half the dipshits in the NBA and MLB.

That's the main reason this World Cup hurt so much for myself and why I laughed myself silly when Puerto Rico kicked the "Dream Team's" ass at the Olympics.

 

king, you're right, of course. But the only way for soccer players to gain credibility on the world stage is to play in the World Cup. You can't say the same for baseball or basketball players re international competitions.

 

I agree. He is at least good enough to play in USL!  ;D

Birdscribe, that seems more like a rant of someone that didn't really want to look at what was out there. The only thing that was correct was the assessment of Donovan.

He bashed MLS as some rec league and propped up the EPL, etc. Fine for him if he feels that way about MLS, but the majority of those on the roster are playing in the leagues that he props up. It was an MLS player that performed the best on the pitch, Dempsey.

As to Gooch, well, some will agree, others won't. I thought he played well. He did seem a bit overmatched in the first game at times, but he found his barings.

The idea that MLS needs to be the EPL or is even needed to function like the EPL is just foolish. It is merely more Europhile BS. The league needs to progress as it has. And with that, they will be just fine.

One more thing... Arguing that the US would have been knocked out by anyone other than Mexico could be true. But it is hardly predictable. I state this knowing that had Frings' handball on the goal line is all that kept Germany with the lead in that tourny.



SIDE NOTE: I'm sure I'm not the only one that saw the Croatian handball in the box that wasn't called and want to scream out, "You know you would call that against the US fuckers!"

 

Thank you, Mark Cuban.

 

My wife asked me at dinner tonight a funny question. Keep in mind, she's an average sports fan. She knows who Kasey Keller is and Landon Donovan and Brian McBride, but other than that, she may not be able to name another US soccer player.

Any way, we're watching highlights of today's World Cup games, and she sees the Onyewu "foul" again. She says, "Do you think the referees just don't like America?"

I replied, "Ask yourself this: If Onyewu was playing for Brazil or Germany, would that foul have been called?"

We all know the answer there.

 

We do?

 

Right. Do you honestly believe that if the same incident happened for Brazil or Germany they would have called a foul?? Good grief, Viduka got football tackled in the box today and a PK wasn't called. Croatia committed a worse handball in the second half and one wasn't called. Yet, Onyewu barely bumps a guy - while never looking at him and winning a routine head ball - and a PK is called.

 

Too many playground moves (individual instead of team) in basketball and not enough sandlot moves (team over individual talent) in soccer, right?

 

Don't know the game nearly as well as most other posters on this thread. But I do know when I'm bored, and the US was a very boring soccer side for the three matches I watched. Grit me no grit about the Italy draw, either. To draw two red cards after an Italy own goal and red card shrieks of "can't stand prosperity" to me.
Why the US was boring or how it can stop being boring, I leave to minds more steeped in the game than mine. But until I see a US side capable of entertaining yours truly, I don't foresee much World Cup success.

 

Greece won the 2004 European Championship with a brand of soccer that was so boring, it wasn't even funny. Italy advanced to the 2000 Euro final the same way. Negative tactis, winning soccer.

Entertaining soccer is not necessary to victory.

That said, the US played a very uninspired and uninspiring brand of soccer for the past two weeks. I don't envy the next coach.