This thread has been in the works for some time - a place for Kansas City fans to discuss the men's and women's national team in good company. We qualified top of arguably the toughest hex ever! It's still, by all reasonable predictions, not good enough for a seed, but good enough to hope for a respectable showing next summer in South Africa. The next three matches announced are as follows. Nov. 14, 2009 U.S. Men vs. Slovakia 10 a.m. ET TBD Bratislava, Slovakia Fox Soccer Channel and Galavision Nov. 18, 2009 U.S. Men vs. Denmark 2:30 p.m. ET NRGi Park Aarhus, Denmark March 3rd, 2010 U.S. Men vs. Netherlands TBA Netherlands I like the fact that we're trying to test ourselves against better opposition in the lead up to the cup. It should make for some interesting offseason viewing. With Demerit and Onyewu nursing serious injuries, what are the odds Jimmy gets named to the final 23? I'd say right now it's 50-50. Could a mod add a (R) tag to the thread title? Scores will inevitably be given here.
Re: US National Team(s) Thread US U-17's got bounced out of the World Cup by Italy, 2-1. I didn't see the match - anyone get to watch it? Was it even televised in English in the U.S? I was less than impressed with the group play. They seemed more skilled individually than Hackworth's teams in the last cycle, but I didn't see any real improvement in production. Decisions in the final third were still lacking, and there was little purpose or consistency in the way our players move without the ball.
Re: US National Team(s) Thread Didn't get to watch the U-17 (think it was on ESPN 360). But there's a story up now on goal.com about Castillo getting the called for the upcoming matches.
Re: US National Team(s) Thread I watched the replay (on 360) yesterday. We really seem to have some technically skilled players but yes, like you said, we lack in the final third. We missed an early PK. I have now witnessed a handball in the box from an unchallenged throw in. My life is complete. It wasn't a greatly taken shot either. The team kind of faltered the rest of the half and we were lucky to get out of there only down 1. The defenders were not on the same page. The outsides never pushed up to the level of the central guys so long balls over the top were wreaking havoc. Second half came out strong. Hit the crossbar immediately. Traded goals. Ours off a corner and theirs off of no one stepped up to challenge the guy at the top of the box. Kind of an elementary school mistake there. Maybe lack of communication? There were plenty of numbers back but they all just stood there. We pushed frantically in the last 20 minutes but Italy just had too many guys back. A few good chances but their keeper really bailed them out a number of times. It's sad to say, but I actually saw one point in the box where I was thinking, "An Ital would have dove." Possibly would have gotten the call but you know the US, we fight to stay up at all costs. The red at the end was deserved. Cleaned the guy's clock. Basically a cross check with the elbow up. Didn't stop the Italian dude from hamming it up though. He was screaming before the contact. It is what it is.
Thanks for adding this thread.... The U-17 team looked so good against Italy yesterday, especially towards the end. Very dissapointing to see them go down. I've never watched soccer of that age before this WC. It turned out to be very skillfull and entertaining, but at the same time you can tell they are just kids. I'm pretty excited with our two matches in Europe this month. I'm really anticpating who is going to be called up. I would think Jimmy should, maybe Eddie Johnson? With Donovan (maybe Bornstein if they win), Clark, Ching, Holden, Robbie Rogers and Frankie most likely out, its going to be quite the fresh team. Maurice Edu is just about fit and could be called in. It might be time to give Beasly a shot again. Of course Edgar Castillo is rumored to be called up, which I like. I think Chris Pontius deserves a call up in the coming months. Jerimiah White is another rumor. Its been a couple years since he has played for the Nats. The game on the 14th (SAT) starts at 9am. I would like everyone to get together and watch that if possible, its going to be a long winter.
Probably won't be until next year, the Camp Cupcake game against a Scandanavian team in LA most likely.
Roster won't be announced until this weekend's playoffs games are done it seems. Which means Bradley won't call up any players still in the playoffs, that means either Donovan or Bornstein, and any other players still playing won't be there. I expect Jimmy to be called up, especially if the Crew are still alive and Marshall doesn't go. I think Johnson may get the call, same with Findley if RSL is out. We have to work to find another "speed" forward to help cover the loss of Davies.
Agreed. I think the common thought is that we will also have South Korea somewhere like Salt Lake City. Then a send off game in New York. It isn't easy getting major teams right before SA, home or away. 3 home games and maybe 8 to 10 away games before the WC next spring is what I am thinking.
US-Denmark is going to be on ESPN Classic/ESPN2, they're going to switch the game to ESPN2 after the Ukraine-Greece game is over. Not sure how I feel about this, with the midgame switch.
This could go a few different places, but I'll post it here since it's the US Soccer Hall of Fame. This years finalist are out. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/so...all_of_fame_nominees.html?wprss=soccerinsider 6 current/former Wizards on the list. Sorber is in his final year of elligibility before being moved to the veterans category. Mike Burns Chris Henderson Roy Lassiter Preki Radosavljevic Mike Sorber Peter Vermes Me personally I like Goff's list for entry with maybe Etcheverry as well.
Well last year Preki and Dooley finished 1-2 among the also-rans. Now what we need to do is figure out who the newly eligible are, because presumably they would be the only ones likely to finish ahead of them. Looks like Pope must become eligible next year; I thought he retired after the 2006 season.
No way Henderson or O'Brien finish ahead of Preki or Dooley. I'm not familiar with Hurtado but if the wikipedia write up is half accurate, he doesn't sound like HoF material; not in America anyway. Colombia maybe, but it sounds like his time in the US was mostly disappointing.
Wasn't sure where to put this. Nice Article on 'Footballs Forgotten Superstar' .... Freddie Adu. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/chrisbevan/2009/11/freddy_adu_footballs_forgotten.html
Hurtado doesn't deserve to be even in the list. He is not even considered HoF material in Ecuador - if we had something like this.
Via Grant Wahl's Twitter... "US fans should hope URU beats C. Rica in World Cup playoff. 3 CONCACAF+5 CAF in same pot=33% chance US draws S. Africa (not 7 other seeds)." Wouldn't that be great....
Via Tom's Twitter... "If URU beats C. Rica in World Cup playoff. 3 CONCACAF+5 AFC/OFC in same pot=12.5% chance US draws S. Africa (not 7 other seeds)." Wouldn't that be great....