About the 63K, there is no doubt that soccer in the US is slowly going up in popularity. All the youth players both male and female of several years back are now becoming adults and paying customers. The sport will continue to rise in the US.
Especially as parents stop pushing their kids into football due to the risk of brain injuries. (i know concussions are prevalent in soccer, but they certainly are less frequent than in American football)
I can't get too excited over winning a tournament where the talent level landed Zusi on the GC Best XI team as a RB.
To consider that close my eyes and hit the ball a cross by Zardes does a disservice to people that actually put in crosses.
Let's wait on that until the competition level is actually halfway decent. In our recent WCQers we looked like complete shit outside Pulisic who created just about everything and come Sept, it looks to be that way again, the Pulisic show as literally no one else can create or do anything in the final 3rd other than Clint, who's now benched.
Thats down to a foolish selection process. Alvas Powell was a far better right back in this tournament, and was also in the final. Blake should have been the Golden Ball winner. You cant go on who the idiot suits selected.
This is quite a relief, as I think I still had the soccer fan version of PTSD after Jamaica embarrassed Klinsmann's US in 2015.
I don't have to go on him though. It was a B team tournament, we didn't face El Tri, we were the only team who resorted to calling in 6 replacements as we were lifeless before that and it took a wonder goal in the final ticks to beat Jamaica. But celebrate. Have at it.
A wonder goal? Come on. It was a decent strike inside the box. It wasn't like Jones v. Portugal. Your negativity is astounding sometimes.
What do you guys think of Yedlin-Cameron-Brooks-Villafana Nagbe-Bradley-FJ Altidore-Pulisic-Dempsey I still think Dempsey needs to start during the WC
What was the name of that guy that won that Gold Cup for us? Dan something? The one that was kicked off the team in less than a year?
Mexico sure didn't need that 2015 Gold Cup, right? They didn't get anything out of it, that's for sure...
You slammed this team all tournament lol. You're arguing a strawman now? Ok, I'll participate. Glad the 2013 GC meant so much. Enjoyed our performance in Russia.
There were plenty of pro-Mexico fans there, judging from the number of people chanting offensive things.
Not a strawman. This Gold Cup is 1/2 a ticket. So were 2013 and 2015. Mexico sent a strong squad in 2015, won, and used that as a way to get to the Confederations Cup. I see no reason why we should poo-poo a Gold Cup win that gets us halfway to a Confederations Cup spot. We can never have too many high-level games, and games against the top UEFA, African, and Asian teams can definitely be useful. The BS about how Jamaica is an inferior opponent is just that, BS. We didn't face El Tri because they were garbage and got beat. No ref to bail them out this time. We reinforced our squad because we saw what lots of those players were made of. It wasn't good. So instead of a C/D team, we played with a B team instead of a team full of scrubs (like Mexico, we'd have been going home losers if we'd stuck with the group stage guys), and we win. Aside from style points, there's very little to complain about. This wasn't a game in which we were on the ropes, or gave up lots of chances. Jamaica had two shots on goal, only one of which was dangerous (the one they scored on ofc), a blast off target going nowhere, and that's basically it. Now, we'll see who Bruce looks at integrating going forward. Hopefully it's more of the Rowe variety, and less of the Pontius. But, for what it is, this is about as unassailable a tournament as possible. Muddle through the group with scrubs. Bring back enough veterans to pull the team together to win the whole thing. Learn about the player pool, especially young MLS guys/flavors of the week, while continuing an unbeaten record? What more do you want? Because a 5-0 pasting of Jamaica would've still left an asterisk, using your standards.
Agree with this. Smug Bruce actually had a good strategy for this GC and accomplished what he was trying to do. That all made sense to me. As for Rowe, after watching him for 5 and a half years on the revs, I didn't recognize him in this tournament. He was consistently motivated, could complete a pass, scored goals and actually looked like he belonged out there. Even if he was sent home early with the riff raff guys, safe to say he made a case for himself to get more opportunities.
I not disagreeing with that assessment. I am concerned about what we look like in the final third, but that is no different. What is different, we create more chances and take more shots. But I'll ask you again, who is playing at a lower level to their ceiling under Arena vs. under Klinsmann?