Assess the USA soccer situation here

Agreed, Crass. But then it should have been phrased that way by the writer, not like he was lights out from the first minute against Czech Republic.

That's all I'm sayin'.

FACT.

 

Again, Xan, what makes up Adu's resume right now?

Somebody loved the kid playing U-14 soccer at some point. I don't know, he scored 23 goals against somebody.

He went Michelle Wie, and now he's a part-time starter on an MLS side -- and as far as I can tell, those part-time starts may be as much as a gate attraction as anything else.

I'm guessing Michael Owen might have had better credentials when he stepped up to the big leagues.

 

    Shottie: It's that sort of thing that'll elevate US soccer to a true world power if anything does. Sports is an evolutionary process. The 4 minute mile was impossible. Five years after Roger Bannister did it, it was easy. Soccer just hasn't grown deep enough roots in American athletics to produce players who can be innovative as well as fundamentally sound. I hesitate to blame the coach for the dull American effort. If the best players in Arena's nation are all hard-working scrappers, then that's the team he's got and that's how he's got to tell them how to play.
     I've watched soccer at every level in my town from under 6s to high school, and without exception, the most successful players, the ones who moved up to the next level the fastest, were the best learners, the most disciplined students. You can't teach creativity, that's individual genius backed by a tradition of shared knowledge. So I wonder if the men at the pinnacle of US soccer haven't advanced pretty much the same way.
      The one thing that screams at we casual soccer followers (I'm not a once every four years guy, but hardly a maven) is the four US shots in three games. For once, an American sports team NEEDED Stephon Marbury. It's purely mental, an utter lack of confidence that I could even get lucky with a low-percentage shot.
       I don't mean to offend the deep soccer fans on this board. You're teaching me a lot and I'm grateful. But I think that if we review the comments made during the Cup, the Americans who love soccer the most all too often bring a defensive attitude to the table when discussing their passion. In short, the attitude that cost the American team in Germany is one all of American soccer needs to shed to reach its goals, fans, players, coaches, everybody.

 

Are we to the point where American kids are going to have to start doing like so many junior tennis players, meaning they have to leave home at a young age if they want to be among the best in the world?

Tennis players have been going to Nick Bollettieri's or other academies in Florida or California for decades now because they can't find the instruction or competition in their cities, so are soccer players going to have to move to Europe and finish school there while playing in those junior leagues?

 

The possibility definitely exists.

If an American kid can be an U-18 star nationwide, lead his high school team to glory, go to one of the U.S. college soccer powers and excel, and he's not ready for prime time when he emerges ... it would seem that would be the only other reasonable step.

 

re: Birdscribe's rant

I think Arena kept juggling and tinkering and moving people around because he truly thought he had every opponent figured out, and he figured that beasley would be successful against czechs here, and successful against ghana there.
same deal with eddie lewis.

all in all, a very good era of soccer under arena. im fairly certain it's over.

not to defend bruce, BUT the US did get a shit draw. us, czechs, and italy were all highly ranked teams, and as bogus as the rankings are, i had the feeling it was like an ncaa tourney where a team plays nobody, but wins all their games, gets a high ranking, and loses in the first round.

 

I can't break down every nuance or stat (or lack thereof) of Adu's. I just wanted to see him there, playing. Maybe he's the most overhyped player we've ever created for the sport, and maybe I bought into it, but him barely logging MLS minutes doesn't mean he's not a good player. I want to see him perform on the biggest stage. He certainly wouldn't have done any worse than the dreck we saw.

 

Hey, I could be wrong too. Perhaps he IS the real deal, just waiting to mature into the next great thing.

I just need somebody to tell me WHY that's the case. WHAT does he do that sets him apart?

 

i wanted to start a thread on your 2010 us hopeful soccer team, but i dont know the u20 and u16 teams well enough.

but the US definitely needs to work on the middle - need a stud central defender, play making mF, and a scoring forward.

do they have any of these guys now?

im thinking

f- johnson, twellman
m- beasley, donovan, pablo, dempsey
d - dont know ages of boco and dolo, gooch, albright

others: convey, olsen, adu

dont know the age of pablo and too lazy to look it up

 

This was definitely Olsen's last hurrah. He won't be around come 2010.

 

32 isn't too old for a playmaking central MF.
but this is good news ... more likely Adu will be in the middle

 

I'm afraid Ben overachieved getting this far on a shattered ankle. He was never really the same after stepping in that hole with Nottingham Forest. Which is another reason why I felt he should have gotten more credit for what he has done.

Just to be clear on him one more time, and then I'll stop. He got one chance in the past two weeks, and when he was in, he TRIED to attack. He drew more fouls than anyone else they had. He had one of the few goals the U.S. could claim as their own in the last three months on a great individual play.

In other words, I do not see why people wrote him off as a defensive midfielder without attacking skills. If there was one thing you can say about the guy, it is that he DOES attack.