Which is why I said that we should allow for MLS to maintain their spot but if they become erratic, they no longer become a core players. I’d rsther have an erratic major league player than an erratic minor league one.
Dempsey and Bradley had just come back from the majors. Johnson was a major contributor to our success. My point has always been that MLS can and will contribute but they shouldn’t be the core players we rely on as we hope that our best players are playing in the major leagues. I am only talking about Brazil. IIRC, brooks and woods were stars in Copa
It’s ironic that USMNT fans can sneer at the successful tactic of a WC team who just got points off of one of the favorites while the USMNT finished 5th in the Hex.
Clint Dempsey went to Sounders in '13. He did extremely well in the Copa: 3 goals and 3 assists. That's not a star turn?. Johnson was garbage in the Hex. Zardes had a goal and an assist in the Copa. Donovan did well as a core player for the team. The individual merits of the player are what should matter. Letting rep be the guide cost us dearly in the Hex.
I am not sneering at Iceland. This is their first world cup and they are playing a style that suits their current player pool. We have long passed Iceland's stage of development and should be looking at moving into the consistent #7 to #15 in the world range. We should not be going back to soccer adolescence. We did not miss WC2018 because of style of play so not sure why you bring that up. From a results perspective, 2012 to 2013 was the best 2 year period in the history of the program. We achieved that by having a core of difference makers (Howard, Dolo, Chandler, Parkhurst, Williams, Johnson, Jones, Dempsey, Bradley, Cameron, Kljestan, Guzan, Ream, Edu, Bedoya, Shea,) playing in top leagues in Europe. 2020 to 2021 in European top leagues we could have Horvath, Brooks, Miazga, EPB, CCV, Robinson, Yedlin, Moore, McKennie, Adams, Green, Wood, Sargent, Parks. Williams, Chandler, Morales, and Mix may still be around to provide veteran depth. That is not a 10 men behind the ball 2 deep blocks of 5 squad.
nope..playing at a high level is good. you can't build around guys not playing at a high level hoping they can flip a switch. its much better/safer to go with guys who play at that level on a regular basis. nagbe and johnson had the same impact on the last two matches of the hex...strange thing is one started both matches and the other was hurt and wasn't called in.
the us hasn't passed iceland in anyway at all. 7-15...lets start with 25-35 maybe get into the high 20s and then can worry about that.
he had a bad game...if you rated their matches from worse to best it would be cameron...besler like fifteen times and then cameron again. Besler is one of those players that always seems to have great views of other teams goals. cameron has played in premier league for years...if besler was better or even good...he wouldn't be in mls. This is something people have to realize about nagbe too.
The history of the team from '02 onwards doesn't support this claim. Nagbe had an assist in the T&T match.
I’m not sure we have really progressed in any meaningful way as measured by the World Cup. Not sure what amazing success we had in 2012-2013 — outside the World Cup, hard to really get tested and measured in a real way. Our World Cup history simply isn’t great. Sometimes we win one match, sometimes none. Once, we won two matches. This time we didn’t even qualify. Based on these results, I don’t know why we’d think we’re in better shape now than we were prior to WC in 2002 or 2006.