LD makes the all time best XI for US Soccer with the most amount of votes: 52/57. What I want to know is who those bitter 5 people are!! http://www.ussoccer.com/news/articles/2013/12/131220-mnt-best-xi.aspx
Whenever he's on one of his "All of US soccer, you should do THIS!!" rants, I just remember that John Harkes banged his wife and his irritating obnoxiousness just melts away... Or for those who feel I shouldn't make light of that: Whenever he's on one of his "All of US soccer, you should do THIS!!" rants, I just remember Warren Barton smirking incredulously at his ill-informed, ameteurish analysis and his irritating obnoxiousness just melts away... I think someone in MLS should offer John Harkes a coaching job, just to see Eric's reaction.
Whenever he's on one of his obnoxious rants, I think NO WONDER his wife was easy pickings for Harkesie.
hate that US Soccer has enough politics/personal issues that 5 people could vote 6 MF/FW ahead of LD. i mean, really?
Actually, given all the politics in US soccer, it's amazing that ONLY 5 people did this. And I think some of them must be regular contributors to the Big Soccer U.S. men's team message board.
Not really Galaxy related but since we all probably care about our WC chances: http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...Dozy-Jozy-Altidore-s-a-real-miss-for-the-fans WHEN is a striker not a striker? When he scores two league goals in 45 matches. Jozy Altidore has this dismal record in the Premier League from his time at Hull and now Sunderland – and Wearside fans gave their own verdict when he was taken off midway through the second half. Cheers rang around the Stadium of Light and they were not entirely reserved for substitute Steven Fletcher, who has a vastly superior scoring record but has been omitted in recent weeks for the American. Connor Wickham, scoring freely on loan at Sheffield Wednesday, must also be wondering what he has done wrong as Altidore gets the nod. All good forwards go through lean spells, but full-back Phil Bardsley looked far more likely to break the deadlock than Altidore, who had one good chance, only to delay and allow the Norwich defence, which had conceded seven at Manchester City and five at Liverpool, to regroup. ....
^That is scapegoating at it's finest. Jozy is the least of their problems. Wow. What a load of bullcrap. Maybe if their midfield could string more than 3 passes together he might have a shot at goal.
I believe you that Sunderland's midfield sucks. But I have to say I've never, in my entire thirty years or so of watching soccer, have seen a player's repeated lack of goals or even shots on goal been more often attributed to "lack of service" than it has for Altidore. He went on a three year scoring drought for the US Nats (2010-2012, 29 starts, 5 goals) and the reason given game after game after game was always "lack of service." Any other player would have just been given the hook. I've often wondered if Altidore physically looked like Wondo or Johannsson and had such crappy stats for so many games and for such a long period of time would he still have gotten so many chances? On the plus side he did score a lot of goals in the Eredivisie and had a good string of games this year for the US including an absolute blinder against Bosnia and Herzegovina but other than the Bosnia game he has never impressed me unless he was playing against weaker competition where his size and strength give him an advantage. Against good competition (again with the exception of Bosnia) he's always been too static and shown little creativity around the box. And if the fans of Sunderland are cheering his removal from the game they may be seeing the same thing. Eriedivisie and Concacaf are one level; EPL, like the WC, is a completely different animal.
So you don't count turning Sergio Ramos and scoring against Spain in the Confederations Cup as performing against top competition? Also, his PL goal came against Chelsea (he rightly should've had one against Arsenal, too, but it was waved off). If anything, Jozy doesn't really use his size enough, which is his problem at Sunderland (in my opinion). He was brought on to be a target striker in the mode of Drogba, but Jozy really prefers to play getting the ball at his feet and playing quick combinations with a second striker or midfielder. He doesn't credibly challenge for 50/50 balls in the air like you'd expect from a guy his size and he doesn't have a great poachers instinct in the box like Wondo or Dempsey. Given that Sunderland barely has any decent passers or players that can combine with him, Jozy's going to have to learn how to make the most of the few chances he's gotten (missing a fairly good chance in his last game isn't helping his case). He'll have to plug these holes in his game if he wants to be an elite striker, but I'd still say he's the best in our pool.
You and I have had this conversation. I think it is no coincidence he started scoring when the US midfield actually provided some passes to him, and he looked great doing it. He has done a solid job at Sunderland trying to make something out of nothing imo. And though the EPL may be another level, Sunderland isn't. And are far from it.
In the games I've watched, Altidore looks slow and lazy, and has missed numerous chances that many other players in the PL are putting away. He looks great on the US team, but to me he looks very poor in the PL. Not sure what his issue is, but if I were a Sunderland fan, I would say he is more of a problem on the team than a solution. One game I watched, he came on as a late sub, and still he looked like he was pacing himself out there, compared with teammates that were hustling after playing the entire game. What's the excuse for that?
He wasn't great against Cardiff yesterday. I thought he was going to get subbed out for sure, but he didn't. Let's hope it was just one of those bad hair days.
To each his own. I never understood the amount of crap that gets slung his direction. Has he gone through dry periods? Yes. But the vitriol about him rivals LD's. By the way, what "numerous chances"? Sunderland is terrible. They've played different forwards now beyond Jozy...and guess what? Same result. Maybe, just maybe, they should be eyeballing their midfield.
LA Galaxy Insider reporting that both Omar and LD expected in camp. Brian Sciaretta reporting that Magee is angling to go to camp. Hope he gets his shot. SKC reporting several players going to camp including: Zusi, Besler, Meyers, Sinovic and "maybe" Feilhaber (he's apparently on the cusp). I find it interesting that after Klinsman made the grand stink about players going on loan from MLS, a grand total of 1 from the national team has gone.
What crap and what vitriol? I'd say the vast majority of people have been singing his praises (and if anything, overhyping him) for his performances with AZ Alkmaar and the USMNT. As weak as Sunderland is, he still gets probably on average one decent (half chance) to good chance a game (at least in all the games I've watched that was the case). It's not like he doesn't ever touch the ball near the opponent's goal. The lack of service talked about is also partly on Jozy, as he doesn't make enough darting runs to get himself open when chances start to develop from what I've seen. At any rate, one goal is just not enough for (at least what is supposed to be) your starting striker. By rights it should be two goals due to the one that was wrongly disallowed, but even that is not nearly enough. And my evaluation of him is not solely based on statistics. If he looked like he was playing well and helping generate some serious offense, I would give him credit for that. But he's not, at least in the games I've seen. I guess it's possible he's playing amazing soccer in the games I've missed.
Of the 23 players called up, 20 are from the K-League and 3 are from the J-League. We should beat this S. Korea team without much difficulty.
South Korea and Japan both have good leagues, many would argue better than the MLS, so that's not a given.
@GrantWahl: USMNT January camp squad is out (Mike Magee included, as are many others) http://t.co/O480UFPI10 Good for Magee.
@MLS: Can they coexist on the #USMNT? @MarchToTheMatch --> http://t.co/cjCuljSMbt http://t.co/ZyBs4nRu2y Team LD versus Team Zusi? WTH, MLS! More importantly, how is this even a discussion! One is arguably the greatest US player (still is) while the other is really good. So much LD hate. They should be comparing Bedoya and Zusi. That would be good discussion.
Wait, are we still keeping this thread alive or are we supposed to post in the 2014 edition? Oh wait, I know how to get this thread closed. Your move, mods.