Donovan was awful in Europe.
Don't forget Ernie Johnson. Not flashy but a very respectable career in the Eredivisie.
USA Men's Soccer National Team
Donovan was awful in Europe.
Don't forget Ernie Johnson. Not flashy but a very respectable career in the Eredivisie.
salisboss
RIP Jake 8/17/01-9/21/14
good call on Johnson.
staticline
New member
They mentioned some NJ kid, Rossi?, playing in Italy. Born in the USA. Parents are Italian. Moved back to Italy to be "properly trained".
Really good sure. Didn't make the team this cup. Just never a US National team player.
deuce
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If the game is tied with about ten minutes to go, I imagine both sides will pull their best players to avoid the potential for injury and play out the string. If Germany is up, they may do the same thing anyways since they're pretty much guaranteed to advance which may possibly give us the opportunity to tie the game late.
I really hope that goal doesn't come back to bite us. It would have been a statement win, even with Portugal in a weakened state. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going into the future.
I really hope that goal doesn't come back to bite us. It would have been a statement win, even with Portugal in a weakened state. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going into the future.
Sanzabar
Oh So Colt!
Don't think this has been posted, but here is a good chart to show the advance vs. not advance for the US!
deuce
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So at the very worst, we're hoping for a close Portugal win over Ghana and a close game between us and Germany. Crazy that Ghana can advance relatively easy if we lose to Germany by two or more even though we beat them head to head.
IndianBird
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I think the simplest thing to do is hope for no worse than a tie.
I'm "working from home" so I don't miss any of it
Mark_UK
Legal Alien
USA Men's Soccer National Team
Listening to an interesting piece on NPR about the US team and football in general (I'm sorry, I flatly refuse to call it soccer). It's great hearing how it's grown since 1990, and I agree when they say no other country has probably seen a rise I popularity like seen here. They are talking about the chances of the US becoming one of the powerhouses in world football. Of course, all these folk are saying it can happen, but I see a major hurdle in stopping that. The MLS! Whilst this system is in place, I can't see the US ever reaching the top tier. The MLS has next year 21 teams I believe. The league still works on a franchise system meaning teams can't start up and enter the league like elsewhere in the world. Limiting professional football to franchises that have ridiculous start up costs in a league that limits the amount of teams in existence does nothing to help homegrown talent IMO.
Listening to an interesting piece on NPR about the US team and football in general (I'm sorry, I flatly refuse to call it soccer). It's great hearing how it's grown since 1990, and I agree when they say no other country has probably seen a rise I popularity like seen here. They are talking about the chances of the US becoming one of the powerhouses in world football. Of course, all these folk are saying it can happen, but I see a major hurdle in stopping that. The MLS! Whilst this system is in place, I can't see the US ever reaching the top tier. The MLS has next year 21 teams I believe. The league still works on a franchise system meaning teams can't start up and enter the league like elsewhere in the world. Limiting professional football to franchises that have ridiculous start up costs in a league that limits the amount of teams in existence does nothing to help homegrown talent IMO.
I agree it's the MLS. But only because there isn't am academy system.
One thing to remember is that everyone else in the world has a jump on the US when it comes to soccer and the truly talented players. It's like comparing the NFL to NFL Europe. Sure it was the same game, but one look and you could tell the talent and quality of play is not the same.
As far as MLS teams to enter other leagues, not being based in those countries makes it a logistical nightmare for games. I think MLS may be expanding too much, but at the end of the day smarter people than I are making those business decisions and the revenue must be there to justify the expansion. The European & Latin American leagues have so much history and tradition that MLS has a long way to go before it becomes a league on that level. It cannot be the league where old stars go to finish out their careers. It has to get young stars on the rise to garner the attention/prestige of the European leagues.
Mark_UK
Legal Alien
USA Men's Soccer National Team
I agree 100% on the US is a long way behind in an established league. But to use England as an example. There are 92 professional teams spread across 4 league. As we all know, you do well, you get promoted, you do badly, you get demoted. In theory, a team can start at a local level, progress through various regional leagues and eventually reach one of the professional leagues. I imagine most other leagues follow the same format. Here, you pay your millions to the MLS for a franchise opportunity if a franchise opportunity exists. I'm sorry, I don't see how that system can help the US develop as a serious football nation. Split the MLS in half so you have promotion and demotion. As more teams start up, start creating leagues. Sure it's gonna take a few years, probably 20 or 30, but at least the game will truly grow here rather than limiting professional football to 20 odd teams.
I'm not saying American teams should be playing in foreign leagues, I'm saying professional football should be opened up and moved away from the restrictive franchise system.
I agree 100% on the US is a long way behind in an established league. But to use England as an example. There are 92 professional teams spread across 4 league. As we all know, you do well, you get promoted, you do badly, you get demoted. In theory, a team can start at a local level, progress through various regional leagues and eventually reach one of the professional leagues. I imagine most other leagues follow the same format. Here, you pay your millions to the MLS for a franchise opportunity if a franchise opportunity exists. I'm sorry, I don't see how that system can help the US develop as a serious football nation. Split the MLS in half so you have promotion and demotion. As more teams start up, start creating leagues. Sure it's gonna take a few years, probably 20 or 30, but at least the game will truly grow here rather than limiting professional football to 20 odd teams.
I'm not saying American teams should be playing in foreign leagues, I'm saying professional football should be opened up and moved away from the restrictive franchise system.
I would love to see a promotion/relegation type system. But the demand needed for that system to "spring up" doesn't exist here in the colonies. The MLS isn't a bad league. It just isn't a top league.
The biggest issue plaguing American soccer is the fact that the best athletes here are not playing the game. If the 3rd best US athletes start playing soccer, it's an entirely different global sport.
It's a catch 22...when you have ownership structures like MLS does (modeled after every other US professional league), you are never going to have owners that agree to a promotion/demotion structure. They have paid to be in the big league. That being said, the fans in the US who have observed the global leagues would typically like to see a promotion/demotion structure, in theory, until it effects their team. There are other leagues in the US as well, without the official tie to MLS that essentially serve as the tier 2, 3, and 4, but without promise of promotion. So, the ~20 teams in MLS are not the only professional teams, but those are the only guys who can probably live on the soccer salaries they are making.
I agree with Blu (always creepy when that happens) that the bigger issues holding back the American talent pool are the facts that our best homegrown athletes play other sports traditionally, and that our college system makes it so that all but the truly elite don't even enter professional soccer and the associated training until about 22 years of age, at which point they are 8-10 years behind other countries.
arydolphin
GTHC!
Pretty sure I'm not this hardcore of a fan:
deuce
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We have a structure like this in place really. It starts in the youth leagues, works its way up through grade school, then high school and summer leagues, and then college. Those who don't have the talent to move on, won't. Those that do, will. No need to promote/demote teams ... promote players.
As others have pointed out, it's not the system that isn't working it's the dearth of players. That translates into a lack of players with international exposure who can play on the grand stage. As a matter of fact, I was reading an article that criticized England's team as not having many players who played outside of their own country and by importing so many players into the English leagues it was preventing English talent from moving up and developing. American's need to ensure that MLS keeps enough room for growing American talent, and in the meantime American talent needs to get out and about and learn the game internationally.
ESPN radio is adding a bit of drama saying it may be postponed. I doubt it.
mikedean441
6X HOF
Could u imagine walking that far then having it canceled
deuce
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The rain will be a great equalizer for us. Germany isn't going to risk injuries due to cruddy pitch conditions.
arydolphin
GTHC!
Game won't be postponed based on the journalists I'm reading on Twitter right now. Example:
Since qualifying started, we played in a snow storm and in a jungle...biblical rains kind of seem fitting.