As a youth player, you mean? I know for certain he played for Hertha as a pro and he was still in his teens then.
Athletically speaking, there's probably better talent here than what's available for the Americans elsewhere.
They aren't getting technically good players from germany though lol. They aren't even getting the side chick, they are getting the fat chick that you used to break a slump a few years back.
In most cases, the difference is marginal. Most of the technical players that are clearly above what you can find in the US end up flopping.
Dead. This is a bit off-topic, but I think a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 would be the best choice for the USA: Howard/Guzan; Brooks, Besler, Cameron; Johnson, Jones, Bradley, Yedlin; Dempsey; Zardes, Altidore They don't have good defending fullbacks and have a handful of "decent" CBs. They don't have any wingers that can make a difference, so it's best to use Johnson and Yedlin as wingbacks. @benni... aren't you an USA fan? Any thoughts?
I think Altidore's done and I always knew he was a cone but I think he's really given up so i'd go Zardes and Demsey up front even though Zardes can't finish to save his life. 3-5-2 is what they should do, everyone in concacaf will be playing it soon lol. other than that i'd have the exact same lineup. and add a danny williams or beckerman.
I agree on Altidore, but when you bring in an Aron Johannsson in, you see why they've had as much patience as they have with Altidore. lol
No, I would just like a higher standard of "cleanliness" by the best NT ever. Apparently you are OK with the best nation ever having to commit so many tactical fouls against tiny Costa Rica. And please answer my questions. Are you OK with teams constantly fouling Neymar? Were you OK with Holland tactically fouling Brazil every time they crossed midfield in WC2010?
1. My "you mad, bro?" was a response to your jab at my reading comprehension: I perfectly understood what you were saying. I made a parallel comment (that actually partially agreed with your position that CR is not likely to repeat their WC performance anytime soon; I merely restated it and never implied that you were not conceding that particular point) not only directed at you but at other posters as well and addressing the issue in general. You took it personally and started a personal attack. 2. Let me repeat this: "Costa Rica shot once, zero on target (if we don't count their wrongly disallowed goal, but then, it gets cancelled because we also had a wrongly disallowed goal). We shot 18 times, 8 on target. Possession, 62 to 38%. Corner kicks, 11 for us, 2 for them. They were pretty pathetic." Now, you focused on the one stat that went their way, the fact that we fouled 19 times and they fouled 8. First, 19 is not that bad. Games with 35 tactical fouls are the ones that are really bad. It's not that Brazil fouled excessively; it's more that Costa Rica didn't foul much, given that they didn't do much of anything else, and were apathetic and timid. Brazil simply challenged the ball more and disarmed more aggressively than apathetic CR so there was some differential in fouls. No biggie. 3. It's not that fact that Brazil had 11 more fouls that explains all the other stats I repeated in point 2 above. The order of magnitude of simply having 11 more fouls over 95 minutes of play doesn't explain 18 to 1 shots on goal, 8 to zero on target, 11 to 2 corner kicks, and 62% to 38% possession. To pretend that this *thorough* domination came from fouling 11 additional times, is frankly ridiculous. You said more fouls can cause a severe impact on the attacking stats. Sure, but no, not to this degree of domination seen in this match. It doesn't explain 18 freaking shots (a very high number) versus.... brace for it... one! One miserable shot! Off target, to boot! Who are you kidding? You think a few more suffered fouls can explain a team spending 95 minutes in a soccer match and shooting... once, and off target to boot? You are out of your mind if you think that's what defined that game. Preposterous! 4. No, I don't approve of the two examples you gave, but then, they aren't good analogies because Brazil did nothing like that. Again, 19 fouls in a game is pretty standard or just slightly up. The average for Brasileirão last season: 32.6 per game. For the German league: 30.7 per game. For the Italian league: 30.8. Dividing that by each team, we get to 15 to 16 fouls per game per team. So Brazil was off that average by... some 3 fouls! Oh my God, the sky is falling!!! And off course, not all 19 fouls committed by Brazil were tactical fouls. 5. Now, because *this* time my point 3 does have some strongly phrased opposition to what you are saying, I expect that you'll be mad again, bro. Fine with me. Whatever.
It's unfortunately quite hard to say when Neymar it's really fouled and when he dives. Of course Santos fans will most likely deny, but fans of other teams complained about Neymar theatrics long before here went to pay for the national team. As for the Dutch making lots of tactical fouls, I am more ok with that than with Brazil conceding 2 stupid goals.
Cause even in our crushing loss to Celta this past Wednesday there was a play in which he was in the penalty area and was being fouled, but stayed on his feet, when the 'old' Neymar would've fell down!!