USAprospects @USAprospects 3h US '97s goals from Collin Fernandez and Amirgy Pineda. Could not tell from feed. US will play Uzbekistan. #usynt USAprospects @USAprospects 3h US '97s defeated Bulgaria 2-0 this morning. They will play the winner of Uzbekistan and Uruguay match #usynt
The U.S. women don't exactly play attractive soccer, either. They would be the same place the U.S. men's team is if the European and South American countries valued women's soccer anywhere near what they do for men. For the women, the youth organization and NCAA helps American (and Canadian) women because it gives them structured training and coaching that until recently the rest of the world didn't really have. We'll see whether the U.S. continues to be at the top in the women's game in the years ahead. That status has definitely been eroded during the past 10 years. Anyway, the problem with the men's program is no different than what is facing the women's team. The difference is that the women's teams aren't usually exposed because their competition can't yet do so consistently. As an aside, I took some of the girls I coach to the Portland/Chicago NWSL match yesterday. I'd not watched a NWSL game until yesterday, and found it interesting. The top 4 players on each team were gone for national team duty, and it really exposed Portland, who was missing their two starting forwards. Without them, their attack was uncreative, predictable, and direct, and Chicago was hardly troubled. It also didn't help that their first touch was awful. My guess is that normally Portland plays long balls and crosses to these two great athletes (Alex Morgan and Christine Sinclair), which can certainly be effective. To wit, Portland was leading the league going into the game. Without them, they looked like, well, your typical American male team. Chicago looked better. They attacked Portland's short keeper with set pieces lofted directly at her, which set up their goals. Despite that, there was some nice one touch passing, some creative one-on-one moves, and more build-up rather than hoofing and hoping. It wasn't beautiful soccer, but it wasn't ugly, either. We got to the game early and watched the two teams warm up. What I saw should have showed me what I was about to see. Portland did simple passing and shooting drills. Chicago worked exclusively on short-side/small-space one and two-touch drills. I don't know what they do during normal practices, but I'd guess Chicago focuses on these drills, whereas Portland doesn't. I'd have liked to see more creativity from Chicago, but they were at least closer to the ideal than was Portland.
I normally don't like thread police, but why are we talking about women's adult professional soccer in Chicago (at length) in a thread about USYNT U16 boys tournament in Azerbijan?
I don't mind people diving into topics but a tretise on women's professional pregame rituals are a bit much.
My apologies for going overboard trying to explain that US women's soccer has the same issues as US men's soccer, despite the relative positions of the two programs in the world of soccer. I'll step away.
I'd rather have people go overboard every once in a while then never try to post some thoughtful ideas. Just didn't see the connection to this thread. No problems.
Just to be picky, it's Jim Rooney, who was one of the better dmids in the early days of MLS. I seem to remember that before the league got going, he'd been a plumber or a contruction worker or something along those lines. Getting back to the tournament itself, it's pretty underwhelming to lose to Azerbaijan, with our only goal coming from a major goalkeeping blunder.
Azerbaijan is playing in the championship game. That said, it's a game we could have won, but that's football for you.
They win 5-2 against Uzbekistan. Lennon grabs 4 goals (including 3 in 2 minutes). FT: U.S. U17 (97s) MNT 5-2 Uzbekistan. @lennon_brooks clearly man of match with 4 goals. Pablo Palaez, Ami Pineda, & @Tian_50 played well.— J.R. Eskilson (@JREskilson) June 4, 2013
Oh wait with brooks being the acception the so cal guys are only given credit. Your missing half the the team who create great chances for these guys that's top drawer for you
The fact that Azerbaijan reached the final doesn't mean much. After beating the US, their next game was against Georgia in the semis, tying 0-0 and advancing on PKs.
This is pretty cool. Via twitter: Brooks Lennon @lennon_brooks2h Won the Golden Boot for the tournament! Super pumped!⚽ #USA #CaspianCup
All the highlights I could find: Kyrgyzstan: Uzbekistan: Bulgaria: Azerbaijan: (not sure of the order)