This "tournament" is just an idea being batted around. FIFA may shoot it down. But there is money FIFA can make, especially given the USA's track record at making money hosting tournaments, I'd bet FIFA would make it happen, WC or no WC. When does FIFA say two federations can't schedule a friendly? I find that a bit much. You know why. $$$$. Screw hindering development. I agree with you. (!) Bruce didn't play a U23 team because he was trying to get us qualified for the WC; U23's would help the future, but Bruce pretty much said to hell with the future.
TBF, Bruce's mandate was a rescue mission, nothing else. Everyone knew that. I don't particularly like that people are slowly changing the narrative away from that because they're mad.
Just saw on Wikipedia that Yedlin's mother is from Latvia. I thought there was something wrong with that guy... I shall amend my statement as per the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy... "Mostly useless." Lithuanian wannabes......
People are mad because they feel Bruce didn't play the best players. There is a rumor that MLS had a hand in squad selection but it is a rumor at this point.
Damn right. Latgalian power, bitches. It's oh, so right. Hah. You couldn't even have an empire without the Poles to prop you up.
You really think that there is that much money in a tournament that won't have everyone's first teams? Come on. This isn't the usual preseason money grab thing. How on earth do you market it? "Come see the teams who can't make the World Cup. It's not their proper team and that will be $100 please" Why would FIFA allow any attention away from their showpiece event? If FIFA says you cannot play, then you can't. Not sure why you don't get this. Push comes to shove "Anyone who plays in this unsanctioned match is banned for 6 months" FIFA sets aside specific timeframes for internationals.
You are correct, but that's not what I was responding to. The notion that Bruce had a mandate to bring alomg a youth movement in addition to qualifying is pure revisionism.
Then the Gold Cup should have used to prep the team for the qualifiers. Not that weird thing that he did.
Now the US is stuck with a situation where there isn't a meaningful game until 2019. Was it realistic to play Under 23's? Nope. At some point someone is going to have to play a mid to long term game instead of short termism. There really appears to be no coherent strategy from US Soccer apart from " It will work out" As noted - The U23s haven't played a game since March 2016. They had a 3 year spell between 2012 and 2015 without playing a game. That's ridiculous. There's players who age out of the U20s and then nothing.
Why are you positioning me as a defender of USSF? Stop it! BTW, I know most of the big countries run basically a fully parallel U-21 schedule including competitions, at least in UEFA. I've never heard of a similar U-23 thing. If you know different that's cool.
I'm not - the whole Arena thing was weird. Though I guess the goal was to qualify, would have been interesting to see what he actually did as opposed to what he claimed he would do next Summer.
You happened to be the jumping off point for a stream of thought. Wasn't trying to position you as such. Under 23 is the Olympic name. Under 21 is the UEFA name. Same players. The UEFA tournament is the qualifying tournament for the Olympics (for most countries) The current qualifying is for the 2019 tournament. Top 4 go to the Olympics No reason Concacaf can't have a Under 21/23 tournament every two years.
Well, we manage to draw huge crowds to see Real Madrid's or ManUre's preseason boarderline players play the Galaxatives, etc. If it's not done DURING the WC and FIFA can make money on it, why not? As for the internationals, we've played A LOT of friendlies outside of International Dates. Camp Cupcake every January, for instance. I imagine it is a sanctioned match then? If FIFA says you can't play, fine. What "I don't get" is why they'd be against something they could get a money grab from. Again, my main point is: we need to play as many matches as we can to bloody the young guys.
Real Madrid and Man Utd. Not Chile and the Netherlands. Again - How much money is there to be made from a tournament of b and c teams. The United States already plays more games than anyone. Quality over quantity.
If the aim is development and long-term thinking, who. ********ing. Cares. That's fantastic, coming from footballing cultures with a 50-100 year head start, but we're just not there yet. You can't wish "quality over quantity" to be true because you click your heels enough times.
So there’s a magic number, and if we play more games than ENG of GER, that is hilarious? Yes, we’ve played a lot of matches in the last 4 years. Do we have a seasoned young squad ready to go for the next Gold Cup and next WCQ? Hell no. But I guess we need to play less games because England.