News: 2018 Other Teams Discussion Thread (spoilers)

I think there's still a chance it can go to 48, but right now, it's being planned as a 32 team World Cup.

 

I can’t fathom FIFA being able to make peace in Gulf region right now. That’s some long simmering, deep running shit. I’d wager a lot on 32 teams

 

Pisa skipped the first two playoff rounds in quality of best third qualified overall serie C. We played Carrarese sunday away, tied 2-2 after being (undeservely) down 2-0, tomorrow (wednesday) we play them again in Pisa, a win or a tie of any kind (away goals do not count at playoffs, only the better position at the end of the regular season) will see us advance. We are favorites, but Carrarese can not be trusted, they have the best attack of all serie C and two "old foxes" like Tavano and Maccarone, plus in recent years they have won in Pisa several times. So we need to play to win, without any twisted calculation.

 

Its laughable that Guzan is on the USMNT list and not Hamid. Guzan has ALWAYS had extremely poor distribution... all the way back to his days when he was in his prime at Villa (he was good for about 1.5 seasons). Now at Fake United his shot stopping ability has regressed terribly to match his poor distribution.

I really don't understand why Hamid is getting railroaded.

 

Maybe Gregg thinks Guzan is better than Hamid as far as distribution.

Or maybe he knows Bill Hamids comments in January about being better than all of the other keepers isnt good for chemistry in camp?

 

Or maybe Beerholder is an idiot.........

 

No doubt speaking out isn't generally viewed as a good thing, but its been poorly managed on Berhalter's end as well.

 

Bill speaking out didn't matter because he clearly wasn't in the plans before he spoke out.
Alex Bono, Tyler Miller and Sean Johnson got January camp invites over Bill showing that he was behind them on the depth chart.

Bill probably spoke out because he knew he wasn't in the plans.

 

Ask yourself if you would trade those keepers for Hamid.

All of them. Together.

 

Matt Doyle tried to defend Hamid's exclusion by contending that he isn't good in Berhalter's system and misses on long range shots. He also linked a tweet from some guy at the Athletic who said Hamid wasn't good at distribution and didn't command his box. While I get the distribution part -- sort of. but then again DCU never has had anybody capable of playing the ball out of the back until this year -- I've never thought Hamid fails to control the box. As for Doyle, I don't know what long range shots he's referring to. As for a "system" GK, the GK's primary job is stopping shots after the "system" breaks down and allows a good chance on goal. What I think is going on is the Beerholder doesn't like Hamid for some reason and the rest of the sports "journalists" just talk to one another and echo chamber has decied that Hamid is poor at distribution and doesn't command his box. Whether or not any of them have seen him play is immaterial to their decisions.

 

I agree that this is prolly what is happening. The media is circling the wagons to protect the USMNT staff. However this tactic/strategy falls flat on its face when anyone with soccer knowledge looks at the team sheet and sees the name:

BRAD GUZAN

 

Berhalter wants to be able to pass the ball back to his keeper and not have his keeper just kick it up or kick it straight out of bounds (Bill does this).


If it makes you feel better as DC United fan that there is a bigger conspiracy behind this, then go on. But its quite obvious.

Maybe we should go back to Bruce Arena or Klinsmann?

 

At least he doesn't play it into his own goal like Sean Johnson. He's no worse at playing a hospital ball up the middle like Horvath. He's a better shot stopper than both of them.

The Berhalter years are going to put the final nails in my coffin WRT country over club. I am damn near down to the last one at this point. I already will not pay $100+/seat to see us play a B list CONCACAF opponent in a friendly. Not sure what's next.

 

We should be happy he's not going to the Gold cup.

How much worse would we be without him? All for him to sit on the bench for a few weeks.

 

You're not wrong.

 

You haven't seen many games recently then. At times Bill will make a pass to another teammate, but yes, he often punts the ball upfield. That is a function of two things -- First, until DCU got Jara, Mora and Brillant, there were no defenders on DCU you could trust to move the ball under pressure. That leads to number two -- most of the backpasses to Bill have been situations in extremis where the defender essentially says -- holy shit! I can't deal with this! Just punt it! -- For examples, look at tape of DCU with either Kofi Opare or Jalen Robinson playing in the back.

 

Just saw it on Twitter, FIFA gave up on expanding the World Cup. Its gonna be 32 teams.

 

FIFA obviously reads my posts here and was like "oh shit, we didn't settle that."

 

Pisa-Carrarese 2-1, we are through to the next round.

In Viterbo, Arezzo beat Viterbese and went through, Arezzo's president was punched in the face in the VIP tribune.

I love this game.

 

https://www.boston.com/sports/socce...1rbKEbiLPCwr78u4XOxv9nKWZWUZsBbwM83GXBPmwwFJY

Roma fans take the protest to the next level.

 

🎶 I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike 🎶

What's the best bicycle kick in league history? // @Target pic.twitter.com/wp01tdzZzw

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 23, 2019

Two of the Top 5 were against us

 

It's bcs of Olsen!

 

So reading this article about the struggles of lower league teams in England really leads me to wonder what happens with the potential for a Pro/Rel structure in the US. Jason Davis had Hercules Gomez on yesterday talking about the challenges in Mexico right now where they've suspended pro/rel and are essentially selling the 20th spot in the top division. I am not trying to stir the pot too much, but its a poignant piece about what the implications are for lower league teams in any country. Lets face it, as a kid born in the early 70s, growing up it was baseball, baseball and baseball. Then this family from Brazil moved in behind us. Things changed for me. Maybe football was next, but definitely hockey and prolly basketball were not on the same par like they are today. Today NFL is the king, baseball is in decline and I don't think many would argue. NFL might even be in decline. MLS is clearly ascendant, but history tells us a day could come when its not.

The article basically says half the teams in League 1 & 2 don't have a sustainable financial model at the moment. It does make me wonder if the American way with cost controls and revenue sharing might be better or even dare I say best. Its not hard to see how those mechanisms might work in a pro/rel world, but I don't see the MLS owners opening things up, just for the good of the game. The closed system has been good for all the North American sports leagues and may prove to outlast the European model.

 

I think your observation is correct. I, for one, don't get the explosion of USL teams -- sort of like toadstools after a thunderstorm. I think many of those were started by rich boys who hoped to get an MLS expansion franchise like Cincinatti and Nashville. Once that dries up, I don't see most of those guys staying in USL. Teams like Richmond and Charleston that have real histories will be fine as will the minor league clubs operated by MLS teams. In other words, there will be no real clamor for pro/rel if many of the teams in the league are farm clubs for larger clubs.

Overseas, the issue would seem even more dire. Someone tweeted out the payout in the EPL this year. Even a rotting corpse like Huddersfield picked up 96M pounds through TV money, revenue sharing, etc. When the EPL started in the early 90's, the payout was in the order of several million pounds for the first place team. I don't see how any team in League 1 or 2 could ever hope to gear up for a run a promotion unless it's owned by sugar daddy who wants to spend big bucks on his hobby. Similarly, several teams in Serie C in Italy didn't even finish the season. Lucca bounced its application check and was "fined" 45 standings points, but could still stay up in the play out with Cuneo because so many other teams "self relegated" during the season by folding. It's a mess and the talk of a European Super League or fixed slots in the Champions League will only accelerate the problems.

 

USA U20 XI vs Ukraine. Kick off at 11:30 a.m. (PT) on FS1. #usmnt pic.twitter.com/QqQ5QzCZ2Q

— J.R. Eskilson (@JREskilson) May 24, 2019

Durkin is in the starting XI for the U-20s.

Here is to a good tournament which ups his value and helps the club transfer him this summer.