The [Horribly Unpopular] Soccer Thread

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Reno_eNVy said:
I'm prepared for at least half the stadium to be full of fans of Arsenal, to whom they have no affiliation other than "they're good", but can't bring themselves to support their local club.
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Eh, I'm not so sure about that. San Jose doesn't have a lot of Eurosnobs, it's more of a Liga MX area. Plus the San Jose Ultras might shank you.
 
7am and I've got the match of the century about to start, Arsenal V. Leicester, on the TV. I'm going with coffee, way too early for my ESB. No black pudding either.
 
Almost lost my mind there at the end. A big win, and the gap with the Foxes for the top closes.

Etihad emptying in droves, and Yiddos still in full song, with a nod from Poch and the players. Glad they caught that on camera.

COME ON YOU SPURS!
 
Well, the Sounders are down one striker today after Obafemi Martins left for Shanghai Shenhua.

Martins Heads to China

It's the first major purchase of an MLS player by the Chinese league. The Sounders will likely try to find a replacement in midfield instead of up top, as they still have three good strikers in the form of Clint Dempsey, Jordan Morris and Nelson Valdez. The Sounders only have about a month to find their replacement designated player before the regular season starts though.
 
The 2016 Copa Centanario pots have been announced and the US seems to be in a good spot to get a winnable draw for the group stage. You can find the info on the draw here. Group 2 will bring the most potential pain for the US, with Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay, no easy matches there. Group 3 and 4 are largely composed of old rivals that shouldn't be too tough, but one does stand out: pot 4 includes Paraguay which could be a nasty threat to the USMNT. A worst case scenario would probably be USA, Uruguay/Colombia, Costa Rica/Jamaica and Paraguay, while the best case is probably USA, Chile/Ecuador, Haiti/Panama and Bolivia/Peru.
 
That's really cool, I know a lot of different Seattle players love craft brews, but I'm not sure if any of them brew their own.
 
Talgrath said:
That's really cool, I know a lot of different Seattle players love craft brews, but I'm not sure if any of them brew their own.
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Apparently he lives in my town, and he's also a local boy (at least went to high school around here), and a clubmate is apparently friends with his sister, so we're trying to track down how to get him to come to our club meetings.
 
I wanna play a game, it's called guess Klinsmann's ideal XI. Now I say guess because he'll probably never have all these players at the same time. The rules is it has to be in Klinsmann's seemingly prefered 4-4-2 diamond wide. Second is that you have to consider positions Klinsmann likes players at, so no CDM Bradley. Third is you have to consider players he likes. So no Feilhaber.

Here's my crack

GK - Howard - I think he gets a slight nod over Guzan. Looking at choiced in WCQ, Howard started the more difficult match.
LB - Ream
CB - Brooks
CB - Cameron
RB - Chandler - Only thing I'm not sure about is Chandler vs. Yedlin. I know Yedlin is our long term option, but Chandler is better now. Not sure if Klinsmann shares that view.
CDM - Jones - I'd rather have Trapp here or Acosta (or Acosta at LB) but I'm going off who I think Klinsmann wants there
LM - Johnson
RM - Bedoya
CM - Bradley
ST - Dempsey
ST - Jozy

BEnch (7 man)
Guzan
Yedlin
Besler
Mix
Wood
Zardes
Morris
 
If we're talking real ideal, I think he wants Yedlin on right mid, but he doesn't want to push Yedlin into it too much for whatever reason. I think if Yedlin was more experienced, he'd be the regular starting right mid now. Other than that, i think I'd agree that that is Klinsmann preferred Starting XI.
 
So, the first competitive matches for MLS teams are coming up in CCL and the start of the season isn't too far off, so I'm tossing out some speculation on how the MLS teams will do this year. My predictions are probably way off, and it's possible teams will add more players or trade away others before the official start on March 6th, but hey it's fun to speculate. I'll go in reverse order of where they ended in their respective divisions.

The East
Chicago Fire
Chicago's offseason moves are a mixed bag. Their move to trade Harrison to NYCFC for a pile of money and the 4th round pick was good, and the Fire picked up lots of players in the draft. On the other hand, the Sounders probably probably got the better deal to pick up Joevin Jones in exchange for their near end of the first round pick. Trading Harry Shipp to Montreal is a real head scratcher too. But let's be real, for the last few years the Fire's problem has not been an issue with talent, but coaching. Frank Klopas was followed by the slightly worse Frank Yallop, architects of some of the worst football play in MLS across multiple teams. Veljko Paunovic, their new coach is talking the right talk, but can he walk the walk? MLS history is littered with failed foreign coaches. I'm honestly not sure what to expect here, but I don't think the Fire will be a major eastern power, they could return to the playoffs.

Philadelphia Union
Every time I think the Union have things figured out, they screw it up. The Union sent Maidana to Houston for a ham sandwich and replaced him with...Chris Pontius from DC United. There's some other players added of course and I fully expect a better back line, but now offense looks to be a problem. It's possible their young new talent will step up, but I think this is going to be another lost season for fans and that could be a real problem; already attendance is way down at Union games.

New York City FC
NYCFC fired one of the best coaches in America in their first season after (allegedly) neutering his ability to field the best formation possible even if that meant benching big stars. NYCFC picked up some new young talent in the draft and they have a new coach from parent club Manchester City with a lot of hype, but unless Patrick Viera is empowered to bench players when he wants even if they have names like Lampard, Villa or Pirlo, this won't be a great season. Realistically, the old men have had a long offseason to rejuvenate and train together, so I expect NYCFC to start strong, but I think they'll fade out during the second half of the season.

Orlando City SC
Orlando City just barely missed the playoffs and they've had a relatively quiet offseason compared to many teams, but they have built what I think is a better roster. With some solid picks from the SuperDraft and the acquisition of CDM Antonio Nocerino Orlando has largely solved their weak midfield problems. As long as Kaka can keep doing his thing without injury and Cyle Larin doesn't have a sophomore slump I think Orlando City should make the playoffs this year and if they follow my advice and switch to a 4-3-3 they might be a real threat with Kaka, Rochez and Larin up top.

Toronto FC
Last year Toronto got into the playoffs for the first time, largely because Sebastian Giovinco put the team on his back and carried them in one of the best MVP displays in MLS history. Toronto didn't get any further than the first round, but it's encouraging for a team that has largely languished in the east despite big bucks backing it. Giovinco shouldn't need to walk on water this year to get Toronto into the playoffs though, Toronto has largely fixed their defensive issues from last year and gotten rid of human red card machine Jackson, I expect Toronto to be a major power in the east this year, anything less should be viewed as a failure.

New England Revolution
Last season saw the New England Revolution go from dominant eastern force to barely squeaking into the playoffs, their season ended in an inglorious exit that included Jermaine Jones getting a 6 game suspension for getting physical with referee Mark Geiger. New England added precious little in terms of extra personnel and with Jones apparently done with MLS it's hard to see how New England can continue to compete in the increasingly loaded up eastern conference. Unless Lee Nguyen has another MVP-caliber season like he did in 2014 or or Agudelo and Fagundez figure out how to score on a regular basis I don't expect to see the Revolution in the playoffs. Someone should tell Bob Kraft that his other football team sucks and that he needs to spend some money so they don't anymore.

DC United
The east's oldest beast looked weak, soft and slow when they exited the 2015 MLS playoffs to their rivals NYRB without scoring a single goal in their two game series. With Bill Hamid out for a long stretch, DC United could be in some real trouble at the start of the season. That said, United did pick up some solid mid-tier MLS talent, probably the most important being former Sounders winger Lamar Neagle and offensive creator Marcelo Savras. Savras did great things with LA, but languished in a defensive schema in Colorado. DC have mostly played defensively in the past, but if they can use these additions to get more offensive and creative they will do very well. With all of that said, DC is still trying to field a team on a budget, so they are unlikely to set the east on fire, I expect DC to make the playoffs though I don't expect a deep run.

Montreal Impact
The Impact had probably the quietest offseason of all the MLS clubs, mostly it simply involved declining or waiving options on veteran players. Of course, the Impact probably feel they have a good thing going so why tinker with it? Drogba and Nacho Piatti formed a pretty solid partnership in the second half of the season and they were good defensively all year. With the addition of Harry Shipp Montreal has one of the better offenses in the East, as long as Drogba keeps Drogbaing and Nacho Piatti keeps doing his thing, Montreal will be in the playoffs and be poised to make a deep run.

Columbus Crew
The Crew got all the way to the MLS Final, but fell just short in no small part due to a weak defense. The Crew have made the effort this offseason to load up on defenders to correct that one, glaring flaw. If Greg Berhalter can keep the offense in tip-top shape and have a solid defense I'd say the Crew will be the scariest team in the east. Of course, then again, when you get to the MLS Cup everyone takes notice...and takes better notes, it's possible the Crew could find teams more prepared for their swarming, high energy offense; the bee hive might be less effective if everyone is wearing a bee suit.

New York Red Bulls
The new, less flashy style of the Red Bulls' spending continued this offseason, with the exception of Gideon Baah every player the Red Bulls signed was a homegrown player. The additions are almost entirely defensive, which should make their already stingy defense even stingier. I think the Red Bulls could use a creative player besides Sacha Klejstan and maybe another excellent striker besides BWP, but make no mistake, this roster is as good as last year's roster, and that probably means another trip to the playoffs.

I'll toss up the West's breakdown next week.
 
Wonder if Tim Howard has finally lost his spot starting for Everton. Joel has had four clean sheet after five starts across all competitions and made a huge penalty save at 0-0 in the first half of our match last night. In fact, he's only let in one goal in five matches. I can't see how Martinez puts Timmy back in after the recent results.
 
What a dismal match. We played poorly, Palace played well. But we didn't play badly enough to deserve that result. Numerous chances that there's no reason they didn't go in. "Force field" the term thrown out by the announcers. Obvious the way the day was going after Dele Alli has a ball go off not one, but both posts before being cleared.

Sad to be out of the FA Cup running. But less congestion is a good thing. On to Fiorentina at WHL midweek.

Although Backstabayor getting constantly booed was fantastic.
 
So, the Copa America draw was tonight and for the USMNT it's not good, but this is a winnable group, getting out in second place is pretty likely. Running down the list of matches:

USMNT vs Colombia
The USMNT start off with the bitterest pill in the bunch, Colombia is a fast and creative offensive team with a deadly counter attack. If there is one spot that it could be said that Colombia falters though, it's in transition between offense and defense. If you can break up the attack at midfield and counter quickly you have a pretty good shot. That said, team USA is probably not winning this one.

USMNT vs Costa Rica
An old, not so friendly face, the USMNT has had a run of bad form against Costa Rica, losing their last two games against them, but this is a game team USA should win. The USMNT can't be caught sleeping though, Costa Rica are solid defensively and have a nasty counter attack.

USMNT vs Paraguay
Five years ago, Paraguay beat the USMNT 1-0 in a friendly and before that 3-1 in the Copa America...but that was then and this is now. Since then, both teams have changed managers (Paraguay multiple times) and as it stands Paraguay hasn't beaten a FIFA top 40 ranked team in two years. On paper, with the USMNT at home in Philadelphia, this should be a win for team USA.
 
So, the Copa America draw is done and we have our groups. Here's how I see each group shaking out:

Group A
USA
Colombia
Costa Rica
Paraguay

I already covered this pretty thoroughly above, theoretically anyone can come out of this group, but on paper this should be Colombia in first and team USA second.

Group B
Brazil
Ecuador
Haiti
Peru

Brazil must be salivating over this group. The only real dominance threat here is Ecuador, but even that isn't all that scary. Anything other than winning this group is a huge slip up for Brazil. Haiti and Peru should be sheep to the slaughter and Ecuador should wind up second.

Group C
Mexico
Uruguay
Jamaica
Venezuela

If there is a group of death in this tournament, I'd say group C is it. Uruguay are monstrously good, Mexico is the current Gold Cup champion and Jamaica is no slouch, Venezuela is theoretically the punching bag here, but if they can sort out their interpersonal issues (the players protested due to a recent spate of bad results) then they could be a surprise threat. That said, on paper this should be simple, Uruguay annihilates everyone else and then Mexico picks up the scraps to take second place.

Group D
Argentina
Chile
Panama
Bolivia

Anyone wanna bet against a team with Lionel Messi getting out of their group? I didn't think so. After that, I think Chile, who are scary fast and almost entirely ignore defense in favor of offense, will take second. Bolivia is just happy to be here and are probably the punching bag. The only way Panama has a chance here is if their defense is absolutely 100% perfect against Chile and they can counter attack effectively against Chile's 3 man defense and then beat Bolivia too.
 
Grannyknot said:
yes, or any of the other stupid crap he has done.
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I was being facetious. If it were up to me, would have ended the loan spell and that would have been it. Alas, it's not up to me (which is probably a good thing, because Erik Lamela would have been offloaded long ago, when fortunately people who know more than I do were smart enough to keep him around and it's paid off).

But what can you do. Hindsight is 20/20. At least he's (mostly) gone (except for that portion of his wages we still pay).
 
Last Friday I covered the east, well let's talk about the west now. Disclaimer: I'm an unabashed Sounders fan, I'll try to keep any vitriol out of my breakdown, but fair warning that I have some biases.

The West
Colorado Rapids
Hooboy. There's a lot to unpack here. Let's start with Marco Pappa, the big offensive acquisition of the winter for the Rapids almost immediately got himself in trouble while still living in Seattle after the trade, getting stabbed in the abdomen by the now former Miss Washington who was described as his girlfriend in a police report; Pappa was still married at the time, whoops! Still, a Pappa-Savras partnership in midfield could have been great...except Savras was traded to DC. The Rapids then tried to pick up Alejandro Bedoya...and failed when Nanes turned them down flat; oddly now they're reportedly trying to pick up Tim Howard despite having a perfectly fine keeper in Zach MacMath and really defense wasn't their problem last year. So what's happening here? Well, either the Rapids' front office has no idea what they're doing (very possible) or they're looking to sell the team. A USMNT player like Tim Howard shows the team has "value" and could add valuable dollars to the price of the Rapids. Either way, I don't see the Rapids doing much of anything positive this year unless recently acquired Designated Player Shkelzen Gashi happens to have a Giovinco-style season.

Real Salt Lake
At one point, under coach Jason Kreis and GM Garth Lagerway, Real Salt Lake was a force to be feared in the west. With Kreis setting up his much-dreaded diamond passing formation and a defense bolstered by a top of their games Beckerman and Rimando, nobody overlooked the team from Mormonland come playoff time. Those days, unfortunately for RSL fans, are long gone; Kreis has since moved to NYCFC and been fired, and now seems to be the tactics man for the USMNT. Garth Lagerway is working his roster sorcery in Seattle. Kyle Beckerman is now old and slow and Nick Rimando might never be the same after meniscus surgery, and the current management doesn't seem to have ready replacements. The only potential bright spark this season is Yura Movsisyan, a highly competent Armenian American striker currently "on loan" from Spartak; he's lit up teams in eastern Europe and could be the offensive spark RSL need. I think RSL will return to the playoffs if Movsisyan can match his production in Russia (which he should).

Houston Dynamo
Houston had a pretty lousy first season under Owen Coyle, but there were some positive signs. Coyle abandoned the defensive philosophies of his predecessor, by and large, and tried to play possession oriented footie. Probably the most important offseason acquisition for the Dynamo was Christian Maidana, the former Philadelphia playmaker, Maidana is almost certainly the aging Brad Davis' replacement at Houston. For me though, there's one player that I think is more important, Erick "Cubo" Torres. The young striker tore it up for Chivas USA in their last year, but his trip to Guadalajara was marred by controversy (charges of rape that were later dropped) and failure, and Owen Coyle seemed largely uninterested in fielding the striker after his return to MLS midseason; only putting him on as a late game sub. As an MLS team, you cannot leave that much money on the bench, Houston either needs to trade Torres to a team that wants him or field him and hope he recaptures 2014.

San Jose Earthquakes
San Jose's first year under Dominic Kinnear, the man who always seemingly snuck Houston into the playoffs at the last moment, didn't manage to do the same for the Quakes, but he did manage to do better than his predecessor. San Jose have long relied on one of MLS's most prolific strikers in Chris Wondolowski, but as age has caught up to the veteran striker they seem to have slowed down, they need a replacement for Wondo, and sooner rather than later. San Jose brought in precious few reinforcements this offseason though, so it all hinges on the young guns this year. Fatai Alashe, Tommy Thompson and JJ Koval are all supposedly good, young players with potential San Jose will need them to step up if they want to get back to the playoffs.

Sporting Kansas City
Sporting's first season back in the west ended in Portland in an agonizing 11 round shootout that included a shot bouncing off of both posts. But for cruel fate it could have been Sporting KC holding aloft that cup...in theory. In reality, Kansas City barely got in to the playoffs and was lucky to be there, with Zusi out most of the season and not looking like himself, it was up to Benny Feilhaber and Dom Dwyer to get the Wiz back into the western playoffs, they managed to, but just barely. The reality is that Sporting KC can't cruise into the playoffs via a weak eastern conference anymore, and they need better talent to be a real power in the west, unfortunately they added virtually no one in the offseason. Last season, an MVP caliber year from Feilhaber dragged Sporting into the playoffs, this year I don't think they're quite so lucky and they'll miss out.

LA Galaxy
Credit to the Galaxy, they are thinking outside the box. While the rest of the league went younger, LA went older, much older. Their starting line-up only has two people under 25 on it, Zardes and Emmanuel Boateng. The Galaxy's bench isn't much better in terms of age either. LA made no effort to get more young players either, trading away their only draft pick for allocation cash. Bruce Arena has long been known for his ability to get the most out of veteran players, but this seems like overkill and it's hard to see them being able to sustain these salaries and the injury and age issues that will pop up with a veteran roster like this one, so what's going on? Putting on my tin foil hat, I think this is Bruce Arena's last year; the team is loading up on veteran talent to make one last push to get another Cup victory before the old man retires. I could be wrong, I probably am...but it's not that crazy of an idea. Anyway, this team is good enough to get to the playoffs, but I'm skeptical of the idea that it can survive with few enough injuries to win the cup.

Seattle Sounders FC
As a Sounders fan, I could tell you all about the offseason drama of Jordan Morris' signing and Oba's trade to China, but realistically here's all you need to know: Sigi Schmid is still the coach. As long as Schmid is the coach, the following will occur:
1. At some point, the Sounders will look unbeatable, like they could win the EPL.
2. At some point, the Sounders will look like your local rec league team.
3. The Sounders will make the playoffs.
4. They won't win MLS Cup.
Time is a flat circle.

Portland Timbers
The MLS Cup champions smartly offloaded Maxi Urruti in the offseason like I recommended and picked up the much more affordable (and roughly as effective) Jack MacInerney from their recently defeated foe Columbus Crew. The biggest change to win them the cup was moving Nagbe to center mid though, a move that surprised Sporting KC and kept their playoff foes off balance. This season, Nagbe and the Timbers won't have the luxury of surprise, still they're likely to do well in the west, I just don't see a repeat in their immediate future.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Vancouver was one of the teams leading the MLS youth movement last season and were one of the better teams in the regular season. Their ignominious exit from the playoffs against the Timbers was due, in no small part, to a lack of consistent striking. Vancouver should have fixed that problem now, they added Japanese striker Masato Kudo, a 25 year old with a prodigious scoring rate in the J1; shoring up their midfield is the veteran Christian Bolanos of Costa Rica. I fully expect Vancouver to be one of the scarier teams in MLS this season, expect to see them in the playoffs.

FC Dallas
The other "young guns" team was arguably the strongest team in MLS in the regular season (NYRB had an easier schedule) and it looks like they're doubling down on youth. Most of their veteran players are gone, and their starting line up doesn't have anyone over 30 in it. The most intriguing acquisition is Maxi Urruti from the champion Timbers. Urruti in Portland was a decent scorer, but far overpriced; if Oscar Pareja can unlock Urruti's potential then this could be one hell of a great season for Dallas, as all they were missing was a great consistently quick striker. If nothing else, Dallas should be an exciting team to watch this year, young, fast and lean. I expect Dallas to be a great western conference team again, expect to see them back in the playoffs.

So that's it! Some MLS teams get their first competitive game tomorrow in CONCACAF Champions League action, but for the rest of the league the season starts March 6th.
 
Talgrath said:
So, the Copa America draw is done and we have our groups. Here's how I see each group shaking out:

Group A
USA
Colombia
Costa Rica
Paraguay

I already covered this pretty thoroughly above, theoretically anyone can come out of this group, but on paper this should be Colombia in first and team USA second.

Group B
Brazil
Ecuador
Haiti
Peru

Brazil must be salivating over this group. The only real dominance threat here is Ecuador, but even that isn't all that scary. Anything other than winning this group is a huge slip up for Brazil. Haiti and Peru should be sheep to the slaughter and Ecuador should wind up second.

Group C
Mexico
Uruguay
Jamaica
Venezuela

If there is a group of death in this tournament, I'd say group C is it. Uruguay are monstrously good, Mexico is the current Gold Cup champion and Jamaica is no slouch, Venezuela is theoretically the punching bag here, but if they can sort out their interpersonal issues (the players protested due to a recent spate of bad results) then they could be a surprise threat. That said, on paper this should be simple, Uruguay annihilates everyone else and then Mexico picks up the scraps to take second place.

Group D
Argentina
Chile
Panama
Bolivia

Anyone wanna bet against a team with Lionel Messi getting out of their group? I didn't think so. After that, I think Chile, who are scary fast and almost entirely ignore defense in favor of offense, will take second. Bolivia is just happy to be here and are probably the punching bag. The only way Panama has a chance here is if their defense is absolutely 100% perfect against Chile and they can counter attack effectively against Chile's 3 man defense and then beat Bolivia too.
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I kind of agree.

Group A - I think Columbia is the best team. It's IMO down to US vs Paraguay. Costa Rica could surprise. But USA and Paraguay should be the 2nd and 3rd battle. Columbia not getting out of the group would be awesome though. Would love for USA and Costa Rica to get out of a CONMEBOL competition as group victors.

Group B - Brazil should walk away with 9 points and not break a sweat. Easily the weakest group, Only pot Brazil didn't get the worst team from was Pot D but getting anyone buy Paraguay from Pot D is pretty weak. Though Peru is rising pretty well. I would guess Brazil and Ecuador should walk through this group, Brazil with 9 and Ecuador with 6

Group C - Pretty weak group, Mexico and Uruguay should advance, Venezuela is probably the worst team in the tournament, Jamaica will be looking to stun, but they'll likely struggle.

Group D - Most interesting group after A, Argentina and Chile should walk out as they're 2 of the best countries in the world right now. Panama is weak as is Bolivia. They should get out but the battle for first will be interesting.

For the US what concerns me is that the US plays better vs European teams than CONMEBOL opponents. I think that will be their Challenge. Can they play well vs Paraguay and Costa Rica to get the points they need to get out of group. I assume COlumbia rolsl through the group, James Rodriguez will score a buttload of goals.
 
Here's a question, probably covered before I joined this thread but don't feel like digging back.

I'm assuming most of you play and/or played. What is/was your position? I was always left midfield, usually more of a holding role, sometimes more forward, but in reality usually pretty box to box. I played center back and striker a couple times and was alright, but was never my cup of tea, but preferred CB to striker. Tried keeper in a pinch, and was terrible at it. As I've been getting back into shape, I'm looking to start playing again.
 
Qhrumphf said:
Here's a question, probably covered before I joined this thread but don't feel like digging back.

I'm assuming most of you play and/or played. What is/was your position? I was always left midfield, usually more of a holding role, sometimes more forward, but in reality usually pretty box to box. I played center back and striker a couple times and was alright, but was never my cup of tea, but preferred CB to striker. Tried keeper in a pinch, and was terrible at it. As I've been getting back into shape, I'm looking to start playing again.
Click to expand...

Right Wing up until I was about 15, then Sophmore->Senior year of HS played Right Back. In adult league, I typically play right wing, but have played everywhere except GK, CF, & CB.
 
Qhrumphf said:
Here's a question, probably covered before I joined this thread but don't feel like digging back.

I'm assuming most of you play and/or played. What is/was your position? I was always left midfield, usually more of a holding role, sometimes more forward, but in reality usually pretty box to box. I played center back and striker a couple times and was alright, but was never my cup of tea, but preferred CB to striker. Tried keeper in a pinch, and was terrible at it. As I've been getting back into shape, I'm looking to start playing again.
Click to expand...

Started playing when I was 4 but was a keeper by 9 or 10, occasionally playing fullback. Never liked playing keeper indoor, though.
 
Started around 6 or 7. Played midfield until middle school and started playing keeper. Loved playing keeper. Freshman and sophomore year played indoor and outdoor (in Iceland). Was in talks with a Florida university before I was hurt my senior year. Played in the Marine Corps. Started a high school team and coached it for two years before the administration hired the principal's cousin who knew nothing about soccer. Both years I had them they went to the playoffs even though only 2 had ever played soccer.
 
Qhrumphf said:
Here's a question, probably covered before I joined this thread but don't feel like digging back.

I'm assuming most of you play and/or played. What is/was your position? I was always left midfield, usually more of a holding role, sometimes more forward, but in reality usually pretty box to box. I played center back and striker a couple times and was alright, but was never my cup of tea, but preferred CB to striker. Tried keeper in a pinch, and was terrible at it. As I've been getting back into shape, I'm looking to start playing again.
Click to expand...

I don't know how old I was when I started playing like everyone else. It was pretty young ike probably 4 or 5. It was basically once I was old enough to play as the field was just a short walk away. For positions I was pretty mch predominately a goal keeper. Being the tallest and slowest kid on the team it's pretty much the natural progression to head there. I also was one of the smartest kids so I learned the angles and was really good at it. Aside from goalkeeper I also played some CB, some central mid, and an odd game at striker. What I lacked in speed I made up for in intelligence which is why I was usually paired with someone faster to handle the straight breaks. My whole playing career I only scored one goal, it was on a free kick from the edge of the box as I curled a low shot aroudn the wall and in, I probably couldn't have done it agian if I tried. Probably the reason I was so poor at finishing (aside from not being a forward by trade of course) was my flair for the dramatic as I was a big fan of outside the foot shots that I was hoping would just whiz inside of the post. I stopped playing at about 12. I had a disk in my hip start slipping. I thought I pulled a groin muscle at first but after my first game that year when I couldn't even run (still held a shutout in my half in the net) we went to the doctor, I had the surgery, but the age group I was in was settled out. As a 6 foot something 200 something pound kid in highschool I opted for Football. I wouldn't have likely hacked it in soccer without taking diet more seriously so I don't really regret my choice, but it's fun to think about what may have happened if I was determined to play soccer.

For my general best moment playing, it came the year before I hurt myself, it was the best I was, I was smart and had fast reflexes, and better than 20/20 vision and I used all of those things to dominate my league. My team and 2 other teams were the ones destined to the final. We hit one of them in the semis and went to penalties where I saved 2 and conceded 1. en-route to a 3-1 victory (one other kid missed, I like to think my spastic movement on the line got in his head haha) That PK was probably the best sporting thing I did in my life. Only thing that could have topped it was I almost saved a penalty that would have won us the Championship. But alas I was confused on the rule about leaving the line and that may have been the difference between a save and a goal. Not to take anything away from the kicker, he put the ball in theside netting, I just read him perfectly and almost got there.

And that's my way too long details on my playing career haha.
 

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