The [Horribly Unpopular] Soccer Thread

[mrgstiffler]

I'm ready!

 

[Punity]

^Booo!!! Haha I'm stuck at work right now

 

[HoppyDaze]

Timbers tie game at 90 minute mark. Eff you Sounders

 

[mrgstiffler]

Was a great game. Both teams played hard and put on a good show.

 

[Punity]

Good game should have put it away early but always tough games with rivals.

 

[mrgstiffler]

Good game should have put it away early but always tough games with rivals.

Yeah, definitely.

 

[Punity]

Yay for your 2 pts enjoy them

 

[mrgstiffler]

Yay for your 2 pts enjoy them

We can definitely agree that the Whitecaps need to be taken down, though.

 

[Punity]

We can definitely agree that the Whitecaps need to be taken down, though.

Agreed

 

[Reno_eNVy]

It's just too bad you guys got the good rivalry match this weekend. LA could be playing San Jose, but noooooooooooooo. We have to stomp on our Mexican red-headed step child again and pretend it's a rivalry because those damn goats won't get off our lawn.


EDIT: Also, the Montreal vs Toronto match was a really entertaining one. And the Impact are looking like they're going to be playoff contenders this year.

Did anybody watch RSL vs Colorado? That, too, was quite a show. I knew this was going to be a crazy one when Rapids keeper Matt Pickens broke his right forearm in the 2nd or 3rd minute. Poor dude just looked more pissed than in pain.

 

[lgilmore]

Seattle lacked a first touch on the ball last night. Haven't seen so many passes bang off players since the early days of the MLS. It looked like Seattle was tighter than Portland and the game wasn't that pretty based on how the ball was handled or mishandled. Portland was the better team for a majority of the night. Caught our CB "watching" as he's been known to do since he got here. 89 minutes of good play by him with 1 minute standing still and watching his man make a play. It's sort of a given with him, but the other CB is still in a cast.

Watched our new DP put a beautiful ball across the goal mouth last night that johnson just needed to redirect. Poor time to not try Eddie. Couldn't believe the new DP's face after that.. it was like "really?, I play a perfect ball for you and you can't be troubled to try? Really?" Yes, EJ is our goal scorer, but everything is meant to go through him at the finish... he should be our scoring leader. Missing a game winner last night cause you didn't commit to the pass.... well crap.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

So I was wondering, considering that countries like England and Mexico have national stadiums, do you think it may be time for the US to consider a national stadium? There's a handful of options, it wouldn't have to be a permanent location, but a preferred venue if you would. Or maybe have 2 of them one for east coast one for west coast.

 

[Grannyknot]

I kind of like it the way it is. At least it gives the fans a chance to occasionally see the USMNT play close to their home.
Wembly & the Azteca also hold 100k people. We don't have that.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

I kind of like it the way it is. At least it gives the fans a chance to occasionally see the USMNT play close to their home.
Wembly & the Azteca also hold 100k people. We don't have that.

Michigan Stadium 100K
Beaver Stadium 100K
Neyland Stadium 100K
Ohio Stadium 100K
Bryant-Denny 100K
Texas Memorial 100K
LA Memorial Colloseum 90K
Rose Bowl 90K
Sanford Stadium 90K
Tiger Stadium 90K
Cotton Bowl 90K
Jordan-Hare 80K
Kyle Field 80K
Metlife Stadium 80K
Bobby Bowden 80K
Gaylord Family 80K
Silverdome 80K
Fedex Field 80K

I could see doing a rotation thing as well. Maybe pick a handful of venues

Metlife, Cotton Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Husky Stadium, Covers several big markets. Could change them of course, but that should give large venues.

BTW all of the ones I listed above are bigger than Stade de France. I could do with holding small matches around the nation but it would be nice to kind of have a national identity at certain stadiums.

 

[dwarven_stout]

Seattle lacked a first touch on the ball last night. Haven't seen so many passes bang off players since the early days of the MLS.

True for Portland as well. They have the excuse of looking over their shoulder for Alonso though. Maybe Seattle was looking over their shoulder and seeing their supporters?

 

[user 107007]

Haven't had a chance to go back and watch all of the MLS games yet, and due to location the RSL/Rapids was what was on the tube.

All that aside a decent start to the season. Hoping that there's a good "race" for the top seeds this year. Get some good rivalries back in full swing maybe start a couple new ones.

 

[Grannyknot]

Michigan Stadium 100K
Beaver Stadium 100K
Neyland Stadium 100K
Ohio Stadium 100K
Bryant-Denny 100K
Texas Memorial 100K
LA Memorial Colloseum 90K
Rose Bowl 90K
Sanford Stadium 90K
Tiger Stadium 90K
Cotton Bowl 90K
Jordan-Hare 80K
Kyle Field 80K
Metlife Stadium 80K
Bobby Bowden 80K
Gaylord Family 80K
Silverdome 80K
Fedex Field 80K

I could see doing a rotation thing as well. Maybe pick a handful of venues

Metlife, Cotton Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Husky Stadium, Covers several big markets. Could change them of course, but that should give large venues.

BTW all of the ones I listed above are bigger than Stade de France. I could do with holding small matches around the nation but it would be nice to kind of have a national identity at certain stadiums.

Yes, those are all large stadiums, but I'm talking soccer specific stadiums.
Soccer in an MLS stadium is worlds better than the setups we had for WC94. Our lack of large soccer specific stadiums has been widely discussed as one of the main reasons we didn't get the 2022WC...although most believe the votes for Qatar were bought.

I can't speak for the other football stadiums, but a WC soccer field will not fit in Neyland Stadium, unless the opposing teams stand behind the goals.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Yes, those are all large stadiums, but I'm talking soccer specific stadiums.
Soccer in an MLS stadium is worlds better than the setups we had for WC94. Our lack of large soccer specific stadiums has been widely discussed as one of the main reasons we didn't get the 2022WC...although most believe the votes for Qatar were bought.

I can't speak for the other football stadiums, but a WC soccer field will not fit in Neyland Stadium, unless the opposing teams stand behind the goals.

Most Football fields can support soccer as well. I've seen 3 or 4 games at football stadiums and they work great. Lincoln Financial and Metlife both. NFL stadiums have such gigantic sidelines (some college stadiums may not have the same luxury)

 

[Reno_eNVy]

It's true that American football fields can work for soccer... but I don't want to settle for that.

My solution (though it will NEVER happen) would be to have four national stadia, one in each region... time zones would be a good division. My criteria for where they would be built would go as such, in descending order of importance:

- Areas with a large population of soccer support
- Areas that don't have a MLS club yet
- Centrally located to areas of dense population
- If above is not possible, adjacent or in the middle of areas of dense population
- Areas with a secondary appeal (i.e. what else can traveling fans do while they're there)


Options for Eastern Region:
New York, NY - duh. Plus that could be the home of NY2
Richmond, VA - Just got a NASL club, right smack in the middle of the east coast
Miami, FL - Consistently the city with the second highest USMNT TV ratings, just behind NY. Also the stadium could be the home of a MLS club that is so needed in the south


Options for Central Region:
Houston, TX - Big soccer community, big population
St. Louis, MO - Another big soccer community, has been in need of a club since theirs folded. Right in the middle of four large cities


Options for Mountain Region:
(okay, this is where it gets tough, since everything is so spread out)
Albuquerque, NM - Decent sized population, surprising good soccer culture. Easy to get to from Arizona, Texas, and Colorado
Denver, CO - Pretty centrally located in the Mountain time zone


Options for Pacific Region:
Las Vegas, NV - Acceptably close to a lot of big cities, especially the LA region. Then there is the draw for traveling fans to do touristy things. (fun fact: my spell check seems to be okay with the word "touristy")
LA County, CA - duh. Plus, the Galaxy can move there and let Chivas have HDC.
Bay Area, CA - Potential to draw travelers in from Vegas, Reno, LA, SD, Portland, and even as far as Seattle, Phoenix, etc.
Portland, OR - duh


Man I have a lot of time on my hands today

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

I would love that idea. But I would tweak it, for starters

I would go with the 5 tradional regions, Northeast, South East, Southwest, Midwest and Pacific.

Northeast I'd go with NYM somewhere in North Jersey or Central Jersey. But also could understand DC Metro, as it's near the capital.

Southeast, could be DC Metro as well in the Virginia area. Could maybe go to the Carolinas, but I think Miami is a good place as well.

Midwest, has to be St. Louis, Chicago, or Michigan. I would think St. Louis would be good.

Southwest - Texas is the ideal choice, Could maybe do Arizona as well.

West - All over Cali, Wash, or Portland would do well

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Fair enough. I like those ideas. I just feel Vegas would be a better choice over Arizona. More appeal, closer to other cities. Just my $0.02

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Well I'd take Texas over either of them. You're bound to wind up with some people who'll be upset cause there's not a stadium close to them. I think covering NYM, either DCM or Miami, Texas, St. Louis and a big west coast market would work the best. LA or Seattle would probably be my picks for western cities.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

I have to say, reading this article, I love Klinsmann and hate whoever is bitching

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1381628/report:-some-u.s.-players-lose-faith-in-klinsmann%27s-leadership?cc=5901

It's not like US Soccer was some kind of power house before Klinsmann took over. His early returns have already seen them win for the first time ever in Azteca and beat the Italians for the first time ever, on Italy's soil.

To me it honestly sounds like someone new needs the captains arm band, If this is the kind of clubhouse Bocanegra is cultivating, maybe it's time for some new blood to take over. I hope it's Mike Bradley. Just watching him play he looks like a leader.

I hate players who make excuses like "we're not the Germans or Spaniards" cause the Germans weren't the Germans too long ago. The Germans used to be Stout defense and counter attacks, but Klinsmann changed them. He can do the same here. The old guard who's not willing to change won't like it, but we'll cultivate young stars who can TCOB.

I especially hate the fact that people are bitching about the German-American's getting playing time, you know why they're getting playing time? Cause they're putting in the work. Regardless of that as I recall 3 Germans played the last match, Johnson, Chandler, and Jones. 2 of them deserve to start cause no one is better than them (Jones and Johnson) and Chandler is close to Johnson but only started cause Cherundolo was hurt. It's not like he's starting Terrance Boyd at striker or something like that. He's putting his best team forward. I disagreed with benching Boca, and maybe I was right on that one (cause Gonzalez and Cameron looked brutal) but in the end the players have to perform as well. Right now everyone who likes to grumble about Klinsmann needs to look back at what happened under Bradley.

2 times we had a championship won, that we promptly pissed away in the second half. 2009 Confederations cup, we beat the Spaniards in a shocker (they didn't have their A game TBH) and had a 2-0 lead at half, which was quickly given away to a 3-2 loss. Then the true travesty, the 2011 Gold Cup, first off we didn't win out group, I know Panama is a good team, but we shouldn't have lost to them. Then we have the Gold Cup Final. US gets out to a 2-0 lead, and promptly lets Mexico score 6 and 13 minutes after the second US goal, then Mexico adds 2 more in the second half as the US was severely impotent. Until it happens, I refuse to believe Klinsmann would let up 2 goals with a lead.

I'm really excited to see what will happen in the qualifiers. There's a ton of injuries so I think Klinsmann will be forced to be highly creative with the lineup. I wonder if he'll consider going with like a 3-5-1-1. Maybe stick 3 big guys in the back with Gonzalez, Cameron, and one of Goodson or Besler.

I guess given the injuries this is what I'd do

LCB - Besler
CB - Cameron
RCB - Gonzalez
CDM - Edu
RM - Zusi
CM - Jones
CM - Bradley
LM - Shea
CF - Dempsey
ST - Altidore

 

[Grannyknot]

I will be out of town friday night, struggling to find a bar that will show the game rather than NCAA basketball.
Wish me luck. I'll need it.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Some bar will do it. Maybe only on one TV if they have like 20 haha.

I will miss the beginning since I won't be home til at least 8:30 but I should catch the whole second half.

BTW I really hope Klinsmann uses Shea, either as a starter or sub. Need a kid with his ability on the squad. Until Landon decides to stop being a baby, Shea is the best wing we have.

 

[lgilmore]

Would really like to see Ozzie Alonso get the call up. There isn't an MLS forward that doesn't fear the guy. And the English teams that have come over like him too. Makes Beckerman look like a little kid in comparison. He's a citizen now.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Haven't really watched Alonzo, but I'd be hard pressed to think he's better than Jones or Bradley Maybe he'd be better depth, but I don't think he's the missing link. What the US needs is a CB more than anything else.

 

[lgilmore]

Alanso been in the top 11 for MLS the past two or three seasons. Pair him with Bradley and you own the middle. Best defensive center middie out there that is american.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

I like Jones and Bradley together. I think they play well off each other.I don't like CDMs especially in a scheme like the US's they'd need more attacking players to really utilitze a CDM. Only shot of that is if Shea turns into a star and Landon comes back you could then do a 4-2-3-1 with

CDM - Alonzo
CDM - Bradley
RAM - Donovan
CAM - Dempsey
LAM - Shea
ST - Altidore

But given the current makeup, I wouldn't think a pure CDM would come in handy right now.

 

[Grannyknot]

4-2-3-1....My favorite formation.