I said last match I'm giving everybody a pass and I'll stick with that. Memo to USSF: These u17 teams need a brain in midfield. Big picture was totally missing here. I don't agree the players didn't have desire. I think it just looks that way when you're getting pounded and I'm sure most of us know how that works from our beer league games.
There you go, right? We need one guy to dribble, another to finish but where is the connection? There hasn't been a connection all nite.
The Dutch need another goal to be safe, the Chileans only got 4 yellows while they have 6, so if this stays this way, they'll be depending on the Tajiks not getting anything from Argentina. And it's over.
Japan is beating Senegal 1-0 with 1 minute left. We could get their sporting director but he doesn't speak Dutch.
The other conclusion I draw is that pro minutes in the U.S. leagues mean squat. So many of these guys have USL and MLS minutes. So what?
Been a shocking 3 year period for the entire men's side of the US soccer bracket. Poor kids, it's like a polish cavalry charge into a machine gun. Marketing doesn't win soccer games, but it sure seems to win everything else around these parts.
Japan and the African champs finished 1-2 in this group. Euro pedigree is so over-rated. They are Orc factories. We need to fire Earnie Stewart and take another direction. The Egg bros. can take a hike as well. Let's get some Yankee ingenuity into this program. We'll do tons better.
Yeah because these guys are totally the best, right? Robles, Atencio, Fuentes and Serrano also have pro minutes but who gives a sh*t about them.
and Tab the best coach. We have been blessed with so much good marketing that the soccer becomes irrelevant.
The worst part about this tournament, to me, was our embarrassing, anemic offense. 270+ minutes of pathetic goal less “possession” ball. An abject failure of management that in a serious federation would mean Wicky’s job. The stubborn refusal to play to our teams strengths and blindly insist on a failing system is depressingly familiar.
Well, when Nederland scored they said it was their second goal of the tournament. They went on to score 3 more. And you say the offense was anemic? Not arguing with the facts but I think your perspective is oddly askew.
One more pathetic performance by a US Men's team trying to implement a "system." That is: a - Not a good system and b - unsuited to the players trying to play it. The staff at US Soccer appears totally incompetent at selecting talent, putting what they select together as a team or getting even average performances out of the players they have. (motivating players) Of course the cancer that infects US Soccer peculates all the way down through the coaching ranks so I have VERY little hope for our men's program. The few good coaches that exist are almost totally ineffective because their abilities get overcome by the incompetence of most of the others.
I get the feeling they are trying to create the ultimate automaton without any regard whatsoever for the "game". At some stage you have to realize that the chess pieces are what they are and it's all about how you play them.
I also am highly suspicious of: 1) The teams style reminded me what we see the Sr team trying to do. Can't believe that is an accident. And BTW, the results are the same. Little offense, few shots 2) The sudden departure of Tab. Could it be that GB is trying to force his game plan all the way down through the youth ranks? Im sure Tab would not want to do that so maybe he quit or maybe he was given the choice to do as he's told or get out? All I know is that what I saw looked too much like EGG ball for my liking. It doesnt work as we've seen at the senior level and now at the U-17 level. I have never been more discouraged than I am right now. We will not qualify for the WC at the senior level and now the youth teams are turning to $hit too. I think Ernie was a mistake and he is going to support GB until its too late to make any change
Just watched a couple of replays. Not a very good team. Too bad. Would think that the US is still pretty close to world development standards for 16-year olds but guess not.