I found this in 8 seconds on Google. “The style of play we are going to develop is in line with what Technical Director Claudio Reyna and myself have been working on the past two years with the U.S. Soccer curriculum,” Perez said. “It will be an offensive style, a dominant style, and it will give the opportunity to the most talented players to develop possession and quick circulation of the ball to create goalscoring opportunities.” That was from a press on USSOCCER.COM from when Perez was hired where he openly states that the curriculum was written more than a year before Klinsmann was hired. Whoops. Do you actually take any time at all to research your beliefs?
Thanks for the correction xsosx. I'm optimistic about Claudio, Jurgen and Javier doing a good job fixing up the youth system.
I put together a results spreadsheet to play around with and came up with this: Code: W D L GD PTS Mexico 7 0 3 +9 21 USA 4 4 2 +2 16 Panama 4 1 5 -1 13 Honduras 4 1 5 -3 13 Costa Rica 3 2 5 -1 11 Jamaica 3 2 5 -6 11 That's about what I'd predict. It's all very close. No clear weaker teams.
Just want to point out that you only have 5 draws. Thats extremely unlikely. Statistically you would expect 9 to 11 ties (roughly 1/3 of matches end in a draw).
I'm trying to figure out where the 4 draws and 2 losses are coming from. (at Mexico is probably a L of course). I don't think we draw at home except like Mexico. There's really no other team I think we can't beat at home but I could see us being held to a draw maybe one other time at home. I don't know why but I have this feeling but I just don't see Mexico getting 21 points. I don't know why but I just don't see it.
15 points at home (azteca) 3 points in Costa Rica (we always beat them in san jose) 3 points in Panama 3 points in Jamaica Draw with USA and Honduras at their homes. Total: 26 points, enough to be in Brasil 2014
You had a convincing argument until you said 3 points in Panama and 3 points in Jamaica. I think 2 points in those 2 games should make you happy. Also I don't think you draw the US or Honduras. We shall see.
Antigua and Barbuda was still in the game against us at home up until the 72nd minute. We lost at home to Costa Rica's B team in a friendly. Barely beat a Honduras B team 1-0 in a game where we conceded five 1 v Howard breakaways. In other words, we haven't exactly been dominant against CONCACAF opposition at home. Not even against their B teams. Not quite sure why people think our home soil is going to be some fortress where we are unlikely to drop any points.
On june 11 we complete the first half of the hex with a home game against Panama. The nightmare scenario is the one in which we get our first points in that game. If we beat Panama at home June 11 and have 3 points out of the first half, I could see us, on the second half, beating Jamaica at home and Panama away (the last two games) which would give us 9 points total but the rest would have to come from Honduras and Mexico home and Costa Rica away. That is why the Costa Rica game in Denver in March is so important. If we dont win that one, we risk losing twice to 3 different opponents out of the 5 opponents in the hex and we would have to get ALL our points from Jamaica and Panama. The last game of the hex is vs. Panama @ Panama. I hope the conditions in Denver in March dont backfire on us. I call this the glass is totally empty post
I think we've slowly improved as a team, but I'm still concerned. I think there is a very real possibility that we drop some crucial points at home and let some draws slip through our fingers on the road. I still think we qualify in the top 3, but it's probably gonna be more squeky bum time than we've gotten used to.
We played A&B in a Monsoon on a cricket field full of speed bumps. On a barely regulation field no less. The games you are naming are friendlies. We may not be that great but Panama,Honduras, Costa Rica, and Jamaica aren't exactly world beaters. I could see some draws on the road but at home on our turf I think our team is simply better than any team not named Mexico(and I wouldn't exactly count us out of that game either). Jamaica (home)-Should definitely win Costa Rica (Home)- Tough game as always but we should win a close game Honduras (Home)- Tough game but should win Panama (home)-Definitely should win Mexico (home)- Could win but I could see a draw Jamaica (road)- draw possible but we were winning until major mistakes by Beckerman loss that game Costa Rica (road)- draw possible but we could win. The location of game will be a big deal(stadium wise). Honduras (road)- draw very possible. I could definitely see a W too though. Panama (road)- If you are basing your analysis on our team on friendlies we beat Panama not to long ago on the road. This is a winnable game. Mexico (road)- Loss very likely. But who knows.
I think we probably win at home against Jamaica, Panama. That said, that Paul Pfeiffer looking goalie that has been playing for Panama the last 80 years always plays out of his mind against us. I think there is a very realistic chance that Honduras and Costa Rica manage draws against us on our soil. And I think there is a very realistic chance that Mexico beats us at home. That would leave us with 8 points at home. Could we sweep all 15 points at home? Sure. And I could meet a lingere model that is as obsessed about sports as I am and doesn't mind that I'm about 10 pounds overweight.
I was talking about the A&B game at home where the score was still 2-1 in the 72nd minute and we hardly looked convincing. A&B sure didn't look like a team comprised entirely of guys playing in the US 3rd division that night. And our guys sure didn't look like a team comprised of players primarily playing in the top flights in Europe. We pretty much never do since the new regime took over. You're right. They aren't world beaters, and on paper, we are the superior team. But the preferred tactics and lineups of Klinsmann allows these teams to stay close. And at that point, it only takes one lucky deflection, one breakdown on defense, one brilliantly struck free kick for 3 points to turn into 1 or 1 point to turn into 0. Aside from the Guatemala game at home last round, we haven't had a single convincing performance against a CONCACAF team of any stature.
On the other hand, here are the total number of draws in each of the four previous hexes: 2009: 5 2005: 4 2001: 6 1997: 13 So 5 does not really seem to be "extremely unlikely" to me.
Well it is. 120 games with on 28 ties (23%) is a statistical anomaly. I would still expect 9-11 ties this round, especially when you consider that the weaker teams are much more talented than they've been in the past.
I personally believe we took A&B lightly that first game. Keep in mind they don't all play for the Barracudas. It was a very unimpressive win. It should have been 6-1 or 6-0 but considering the team came in too confident and on a rainy night I'll give them a slight break. It's going to take time for Jurgen's tactics to truly pay off. A couple of years is a short time to try to build a whole new culture. These great soccer nations were not built over night. It took years for them to become powers and keep it going through their youth. Not only do ( I say "do" and not "did" because we're still doing it) we have to rebuild our aging team with our youth right now but we have to prep our younger youth to come in soon. We don't have the luxury of having a team that can perform at a high level while the youth develop. That means our youth will have to develop the rest of the way on the national team. In power countries they are developed and ready to go before they join. Keep in mind we should have won at Guatemala 2-1 but our advantage was not played. True while our wins haven't been convincing I'd rather finish the Semis off with our most complete performance. Better to finish strong than to start strong and stumble into the Hex.
I have a gut feeling -- without statistical proof -- that the average home-field advantage in the CONCACAF hex is larger than the average international home-field advantage; and further, that the home-field advantage tilts the average result away from a draw, and towards a home win. The anticipated dominance of Mexico also suggests a lot of Mexico away wins (in addition to the usual Mexico home wins), and thus fewer draws. I agree that the lack of a minnow could tilt the results toward draws -- average team at average team is now more likely to be a draw than minnow at average team would be -- but it could also tilt the results away from draws -- average team at average team is now less likely to be a draw than average team at minnow would be. All in all, I'm up for a friendly bet: I'll take 8 or fewer draws in the 2013 CONCACAF hex, if you'll take 9 or more. No stakes other than bragging rights.
You're right. Some of them play in the English conference, meaning they aren't even good enough for USL Pro. What is this new culture he's trying to build? If this was truly something that JK was interested in, why is it that he has done absolutely nothing at all with regards to youth development? NOTHING. What makes you think that we will suddenly be an entirely different team going forward? We have absolutely ZERO evidence to suggest that we will do anything short of bunker and hope for 1-0 wins. I mean, you sound more full of shit that Jurgen does. All this philisophical bullshit, like you somehow think you exist on a higher plane of thinking than anyone else. You're pointing out shit about "soccer powers not being built over night" as if you are having some sort of original thought. EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS THIS. EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS WHATS WRONG WITH OUR CURRENT DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM. KLINSMANN ISN'T SAYING ANYTHING THAT EVERYONE DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW. Its pretty simple. The player that you have are what they are. There is really very little you can do as a national team coach to change that. So at the senior level, you need to develop a system that maximized your talent and potential. And if you want to truly make a change in the culture of the game, you take an extremely proactive role with the youth development. To date, JK has done absolutely nothing at all at the youth level outside of hand picking a coach for the U-23s who failed to qualify for the Olympics and then jumped ship for an MLS gig. That's the sum total of the impact he's had on "changing the culture" in this country.
Its almost like you went to Klinsmann's Cult Camp and definitely drank the kool-aid... Do you really believe this bolded part? Psht, c'mon man, its RHE-TOR-IC. Anything Klinsmann is opening our eyes to has already been in place for years now and people are trying to give him credit for it like he was the one who came along and cultured us poor Americans who didn't know one foot from the other? As someone who has actually been around the game at almost every level and has seen and worked with talented trainers and coaches who really know their shit in this country, I'm slightly offended by that notion and its sad to see that people are so easily brainwashed persuaded. Its comical because I could put a pigeon in charge of the USMNT and our youth development would still be improving every single day, because guess what? The infrastructure and coaching has been there for YEARS. You're about to see it coming through, but when it does, it will be unjustly credited to someone because of their playing pedigree and use of persuasive, cliched expressions. It WON'T be credited to the people who are actually developing the youth, and that is the grass roots trainers and coaches at various clubs, high schools and colleges around the country. Shit, this isn't the Klinsmann thread. /hi-jack, sorry mods.
I'd take that bet, but I'm starting to doubt myself. Looking at other regions' World Cup qualifiers, it appears that there are less ties in international football than there are in league play. I'm not quite sure why. Of the eight six-team groups in 2010 UEFA qualifying, only one had more than 8 draws. Maybe the fact that the games are eliminations places more importance on wins. In league play (especially without playoffs), there are way more teams that are just treading water that are happy with a tie. In elimination rounds of tournaments, you need wins. However, given that 3-4 of 6 teams qualify out of the hex, you would think that more teams would be happy to take a point on the road. Who knows.