The [Horribly Unpopular] Soccer Thread

RustyHorn said:

That's a good point... why are 1860 Munich called that? The rules of Association Football hadn't been made yet so I doubt a German club had founded a team! The oldest club is Sheffield FC. They formed in 1857 (rules were slightly different).
Quick Google... 1860 Munchen started life as a gymnastic team! They started playing Football in 1899.

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That is because 1860 Munich is the name of the sports club. It eventually only became a soccer team. Turn -und Sportveiren means something and sport club.I can't figure out what Turn is. I want to say it's a term for gymnastics.

hoppyhoppyhippo said:

That is because 1860 Munich is the name of the sports club. It eventually only became a soccer team. Turn -und Sportveiren means something and sport club.I can't figure out what Turn is. I want to say it's a term for gymnastics.

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Turn is the German word for gymnastics. Turnen (v) = do gymnastics, Turner = gymnast.

Bill Hamid is our 4-6 months, apparently he tore his right knee's meniscus. Ouch.

Bill Hamid Out 4-6 Months

It's worth noting this is the same knee he had surgery on in July of last year for a similar issue, at the time it was to "smooth out" his meniscus, but I guess that didn't solve the issue. It's possible that Hamid is injury prone, two surgeries in less than a year on the same spot is not a good sign; if this continues to be a problem it could really be a problem for Hamid's international ambitions and his club career. Hopefully he comes back in full force.

Well it will keep him around MLS likely for one more year.

Also Jordan Morris is a sounder.

Yeah, as a Sounders fan that is a nice to see him in Rave Green, though I wonder exactly how he will fit in. We're already going to be running a 4-3-3, and unless Dempsey (no!), Obafemi Martins (oh hell no!) or Valdez (...this is acceptable) are being traded or sold off that means he's probably coming on as a "super sub" in the last 30 or so minutes of a game. Either that, or one of the four strikers plays out of position in the midfield somewhere. Though now that Morris is in the fold, those rumors of Valdez being traded suddenly seem a lot more likely...

So uhhh...Tim Howard won male goalkeeper of the year for CONCACAF...'kay.

Tim Howard Goalkeeper of the Year

Admittedly, Tim Howard is still very good..but he only played in a handful of games for team USA this year. Kind of weird.

The 'Pool and Canaries match was absolute madness. Wow.

Looks like our solid defense has taken a huge hit. Vertonghen out obviously injured.

And that's that.

Meanwhile, time for the LVG sacking rumor mill to start up.

In case you missed it, glorious strike from Dele Alli.

<iframe src="https://vine.co/v/ielFQ50u73X/embed/simple" width="600" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe><script src="https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js"></script>

Damn that is impressive as hell.

Everton are breaking my heart. We are the new Wigan thanks to Martinez. I don't think I can handle watching any more live games... especially if Howard starts. We're 19th in goals conceded in the PL. We had 21 PL wins in Martinez's first 38 games (an Everton record) and now just 18 wins in the last 61 PL matches.

It was brought to my attention today that had we won our midweek Premier League tie against Leicester instead of losing (which is how it should have played out, and if it weren't for Schmeicel would have played out), we would currently be 1st in the league.

:smack:

EPL is incredibly soft this season. 23 games in and only Leicester could finish north of 90 points. This has the potential to be one of the lowest wins in the EPL in a long time. Since the turn of the century, no team has had less than 80 points to win the league. With only 45 points up for grabs, I think that's very very likely as no one is gonna win out or come close to winning out. Right now we're looking at mid-high 70s in points would win the league.

ShizuokaBrad said:

Everton are breaking my heart. We are the new Wigan thanks to Martinez. I don't think I can handle watching any more live games... especially if Howard starts. We're 19th in goals conceded in the PL. We had 21 PL wins in Martinez's first 38 games (an Everton record) and now just 18 wins in the last 61 PL matches.

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Yeah, Everton has been really rough. I also think the collapse of Phil Jagielka has been huge for them in a negative way. He went from one of the better CBs in the premier league to pretty bad form in no time. Stones is too young to be anchoring the line. THey should have sold him to Chelsea for the 40 million pounds for Stones. They could have turned that into a number of quality players. Stones is a great young talent, but he's not gonna stick around and you might as well capitalize on that.

http://www.theguardian.com/football...nnor-wickham-ban-tottenham-violent-conduct-fa

Wickham facing a very much deserved 3 game suspension for the blatant elbow to the face of Jan Vertonghen that the officials missed.

Also, the giants have certainly been floundering, but I think the lower sides have been a touch stronger (what with extra TV money and the like). But yes, it's been a soft season. If it lifts us into Champions League (or even the title), and a few good cup runs in a season where none of us were expecting great things, I'm all for it. I'm just happy to be in the tight top 4 grouping rather than the distant 5th/6th/7th with Man U, Hammers, and Liverpool.

http://www.espnfc.us/story/2793779/alexandre-pato-set-to-complete-chelsea-loan-move-sources

Alexandre Pato finally returning to Europe, after being a star for AC Milan, he fell off the face of the earth (went to Brazil to try to make WC roster IIRC) and Chelsea are gambling on him being even the shell of his former self.

So, we now have our 5 candidates confirmed as being eligible for the FIFA presidency. The election is February 26th

Here's a breakdown of each candidate:

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein He's got a singing genie and he had a giant parade, how can he lose?

Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa I really enjoyed his latest album, Blacc Hollywood and his duet with Charlie Puth for the song "When I see You Again" featured on the movie "Furious 7" was really touching. Unlikely to win here though, FIFA executives are heartless bastards.

Jerome Champagne This man enjoys baguettes, cheese, wine, champagne, cigarettes and mocking American tourists. He's likely to win because he'll undermine FIFA executives' confidence.

Gianni Infantino Name translates to Giant Baby, also his mob name. Unlikely to win as the mob are small potatoes compared to FIFA, has the mob killed thousands of slaves in Qatar? I don't think so!

Tokyo Sexwale This is actually me, I'm the house DJ for FIFA parties. My music is an eclectic mix of J-Pop, whale songs and voice tracks from pornos. I don't know why the FIFA executives like it so much, but they're unlikely to give me the nod based on my music alone.

In all seriousness, Jerome Champagne is one of Blatter's old lackeys and is likely to replace him by all accounts. The circle of corruption is complete having ushered the filthy secrets into a dustpan, for now. Nothing substantive will change.

Sounds like Adebayor has been signed by Crystal Palace, Townsend is off to Tyneside, Shaq Coulthirst has been sold as well, and the Two-ssa Dembele deal will likely fall through (or at least not serve our ends) as Fulham demands the only way is to keep him on loan through the end of the season.

As the transfer deadline looms, I guess we'll see which of the thousands of (mostly fake) rumors will actually pan out. Going to be a nutty week.

Matt Miazga is heading to the EPL, specifically Chelsea:

Matt Miazga to Chelsea

That's a pretty strong move for such a young kid, great to see a USMNT member get that sort of success.

A huge decision looms soon in regards to US Soccer and youth development. It could soon be determined whether US Soccer will allow compensation solidarity payments.:

FIFA Decision on Solidarity Soon

Ideally, this could eventually eliminate the "for pay" training clubs as those clubs will get payments from player signings and transfers. As it stands now, MLS neither receives nor gives out solidarity payments, though Don Garber mentioned that the payments might count on the cap (boo!). Now, technically, the FIFA decision is non-binding...but it sounds like all sides are okay with following the decision, more or less.

Talgrath said:

Matt Miazga is heading to the EPL, specifically Chelsea:

Matt Miazga to Chelsea

That's a pretty strong move for such a young kid, great to see a USMNT member get that sort of success.

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I doubt he plays more than a handful of games for Chelsea. He'll be loaned out to Vitesse next year for sure and I'm guessing Chelsea will sell him in a season or 2.

Supposedly, Miazga will not be loaned out:

No Loan for Miazga

Now, granted, end of this season maybe that changes, but it's also possible he has "no loans" language in his contract too.

Everton ****ing robbed again. What a massive crock of ****.

Talgrath said:

Supposedly, Miazga will not be loaned out:

No Loan for Miazga

Now, granted, end of this season maybe that changes, but it's also possible he has "no loans" language in his contract too.

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Well I suspected he wouldn't be loaned out this season. Similar to Yedlin with Spurs last year odds are this year he'll spend time learning from guys like Terry and Cahill.

Not sure how certain this is given the whirlwind of transfer season rumors, but new one says Howard may be leaving Everton at the end of the season and back to MLS.

http://www.espnfc.us/story/2787394/colorado-rapids-want-to-bring-tim-howard-to-mls-sources

This is a little more of a "possible" measured take, and less of the "sources say it's definitely happening but we won't offer proof" of the UK football rags (like the one I originally read this on earlier).

Glad to hear that Adebayor is officially Palace's problem now, he can poison THEIR dressing room instead of ours, and he's mostly off our books (100k/week is now 35k/wk, with CP paying the balance). Not sad to see him go. Townsend I'm a little more sad about, but he wasn't doing well so it is what it is. And it sounds like Moussa Dembele may be back on the table with Fulham now allegedly willing to sell without the loan stipulation.

I hate this time of year. So much unconfirmed gossip to get your hopes up and then dash them again before getting them up again.

Also I don't know how I missed this last time, but it's funny. Or embarassing. Depends on who you ask. If you accept it as just being silly, I think it's catchy.

https://www.facebook.com/ynfathehub/videos/907246842645545/

The Rapids might have the top spot in allocation, but there's no guarantee that's how it will be in May, so any sort of future prognostication that far out to be fairly premature. In that time another USMNT player could become available, or a new shiny might only be available to the Rapids if they give up that top allocation spot. Howard to the Rapids wouldn't be that crazy though, Howard would put butts in seats that the Rapids desperately need, even though what they need competitively is offense.

Also Howard shouldn't come back to MLS. And why waste your DP slot on a GK? Even factoring in seats gained by Howard, you'd gain, it isn't as much as you'd gain by winning more. And a mediocre GK or finding a young American keeper (we seem to have them growing on trees) and real use for DP like CB, CM, or ST, you'd have more options.

http://www.espnfc.us/team/united-st...son-and-michael-bradley-top-us-top-25-players

This article is really silly overall. They get somestuff right. Top 3 is correct. I'd still put Bradley over Fabian, but given his club form recently hard to argue with Fabian's ranking. I severely disagree with Jones and Beckerman's rankings. Where is Wil Trapp? Or Perry Kitchen?

And Damarcus Beasley? DAFUQ?

hoppyhoppyhippo said:

Also Howard shouldn't come back to MLS. And why waste your DP slot on a GK? Even factoring in seats gained by Howard, you'd gain, it isn't as much as you'd gain by winning more. And a mediocre GK or finding a young American keeper (we seem to have them growing on trees) and real use for DP like CB, CM, or ST, you'd have more options.

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Well, this is just my putting on my tinfoil hat, but I think ownership is looking to sell. First they tried going after Bedoya, a smart move since that could give them more offensive firepower, but he wasn't available, now they're pining for Howard? Zach MacMath may not be an amazing keeper, but he's plenty good enough to start in MLS and it's not like MLS lacks for quality keepers. I think ownership wants a big USMNT signing so they can point to it and say "see? Valuable!" and jack up the price...but I don't have any definite proof of that.

hoppyhoppyhippo said:

http://www.espnfc.us/team/united-st...son-and-michael-bradley-top-us-top-25-players

This article is really silly overall. They get somestuff right. Top 3 is correct. I'd still put Bradley over Fabian, but given his club form recently hard to argue with Fabian's ranking. I severely disagree with Jones and Beckerman's rankings. Where is Wil Trapp? Or Perry Kitchen?

And Damarcus Beasley? DAFUQ?

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Yeah, that's a very funky list. I'd be put Yedlin and Zardes much higher, and Omar Gonzalez has no place in the top 10. As you mentioned, Jones and Beckerman have been garbage this year. As much as I love him as a Sounders fan, Brad Evans is not in the top 25 either.

Talgrath said:

Yeah, that's a very funky list. I'd be put Yedlin and Zardes much higher, and Omar Gonzalez has no place in the top 10. As you mentioned, Jones and Beckerman have been garbage this year. As much as I love him as a Sounders fan, Brad Evans is not in the top 25 either.

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Beckerman has been wrecked for USMNT. ANd he wasn't great for RSL either. Jones was very meh for New England, but he was solid for USMNT. He should be on the list (while Beckerman shouldn't have) but maybe around 16 or so.

FWIW my list would be something like (sticking only with players who're regularly called in USMNT as well asthat seemed at least kind of like what ESPN intended)

1. Bradley
2. Fabian
3. Cameron
4. Howard
5. Guzan
6. Dempsey
7. Bedoya
8. Brooks
9. Nagbe
10. Jozy
11. Yedlin (though of course on ability he'd be higher, just hasn't been getting club time and mediocre on national level)
12. Besler
13. Johannson (had same concerns with his health)
14. Gyasi
15. Omar
16. Wood
17. Jones (could move him anywhere between 15-20)
18. Ream
19. Morris
20. Morales
21. Trapp
22. Nguyen
23. Miazga
24. Chandler
25. Evans

If I went with club form being heavier, then I'd add McCarty, Vilafana, and Finlay there.

Talgrath said:

Well, this is just my putting on my tinfoil hat, but I think ownership is looking to sell. First they tried going after Bedoya, a smart move since that could give them more offensive firepower, but he wasn't available, now they're pining for Howard? Zach MacMath may not be an amazing keeper, but he's plenty good enough to start in MLS and it's not like MLS lacks for quality keepers. I think ownership wants a big USMNT signing so they can point to it and say "see? Valuable!" and jack up the price...but I don't have any definite proof of that.

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I can see that. I hope Howard doesn't fall into that trap. To me nothing good will come of his career coming to MLS. Only way he can return to MLS is with NYRB and I don't see that happening.

I don't think a return to MLS would be terrible for Howard, as long as he went somewhere where he is being challenged and pushed for that top spot; the Rapids are not that place though. The problem is that, at his contract price, the only teams that might be willing to go for him in MLS are bad teams looking for a name to bring in fans; he's going to take a DP spot unless someone has an buttload of allocation money that they are sitting on to bring his contract down beneath the minimum and most of the good teams are out of DP slots. Unless Robles gets hit by a bus tomorrow, I don't think the Red Bulls will be looking to bring Howard back anytime soon, either.

Well I think a Scenario where NYRB and Colorado trade Allocation spots could happen, like Colorado gets Robles, money and NY's spot, but I just can't see it happening. NYRB don't need Howard even for the potential boost to attendance.

I don't see a scenario where Howard to MLS makes sense. If he's lost his starting spot in Everton he should be the backup. Though the thrashing RObles took the other day will hurt.

The only team I could see the move making sense for from a competitive standpoint is Columbus Crew SC. Steve Clark is generally solid..but sometimes he has some major screw ups (like the one against the Timbers during the MLS Cup Final). The Crew don't really have a great back up either and they've got a SP spot open...so it makes a certain amount of sense. Howard could help coach Steve Clark while he plays for the 2-3 years he's probably got left in the tank to help improve his skills too. Of course, Columbus is probably one of the poorest teams in the league from a financial standpoint and Howard would command big bucks, so I don't see it happening.

If we put in a performance like this even against a Premier League relegation side (instead of a struggling League One side), we'd be in trouble. Aside from good performances from Chadli and Trippier, and Lamela/Erisken/Kane looking alright, we look absolutely awful. Tom Carroll especially. Cleanly dominating everything, but not like we should be, especially considering that aside from the back four we're playing predominantly first team. Should be up by 5 or 6 instead of only leading by one.

LA Galaxy vs FC Shirak preseason friendly on YouTube, second half right now.

A trio of LA youngins just put the G's up 1-0.

Maganto with a through-ball up the right side to Sorto, cross from Sorto into Villareal who snuck behind the defense barely onside to redirect and smash the ball into the upper-90.

There is a lot of panic from the LA faithful about the recent signings but I think this team is going to be deep, with talented and ever-improving youth learning from tested veterans. I'm still crossing my fingers for the rumored De Jong deal to go through.

Update:

LA defeat FC Shirak 2-1.

LA to win 2016 Cup confirmed