Australia played a lot better than the USA. I knew Argentina would win in the end but good job Socceroos!
great example actually. Tons of great Italian Canadian/American hockey players (Roberto Luongo, Phil Esposito, Mike Modano, etc etc) . None of them would develop in Italy in hockey cause they don't have the systems or coaching etc etc for hockey. Same goes for calcio... i'm sure there's talent that could be cultivated here.. its just not happening at the pace of Europe with the current systems in place.
I love you Falvo... but its because 9 out of 10 of us on the forum know that MLS is the shits.. and you are the 10th guy.
It's the mentality in the US and other nations like even Canada showed this, that it's fitness first and when that runs out they have no ideas and cannot keep the ball long enough to do anything with it. They need to start bringing in top level Italian or Spanish coaches to revamp the system from the bottom up. Or not. Who cares what they do in the end. It's was fun watching and listening to the once every four year fans think they're going to go somewhere then come back to Earth when they get f'd by a Croatia or Holland
I never posted or thought MLS was this great league. I’ve always thought it was a second division at best. I mean I don't think it's worse than the A, J or K Leagues but no one ever talks about how bad they are, just about how MLS sucks. Still, my point is everyone always brings it up, then complains when we talk about it. Also, everyone keeps associating it with the play of the Canadian or American national teams when most players don’t even play in the league and are mostly in Europe. I don’t see the correlation.
Italian coach would still play Dempsey and Donovan. Btw Donovan is a terrible analyst. His voice is just weird. Like he needs a Kleenex or serious allergy medication. Coni Jones, Maurice edu all suck as well Best is Lala's the Greek god who played in Italy lol @falvo you ever meet Alexi??
After France were awarded a controversial penalty in 2018, that's all they did was sit back and counter. This is knock out football. Of course Holland and Argentina are going to take the ball to the teams that sit back, that's a default position to take. If Australia didn't try to break Argentinian legs, sitting back, they would literally have no chance in the game.
I guess I'm thinking about it from a classical sense. The most significant characteristic of which was players switching positions constantly. They can say they played a total football game against the US because they were actually playing football. That's the only comparison I see to the actual mechanics of total football. That style is as dead as catennacio.
At least they have a style. After 32 years and 8 World Cup tournaments of watching, the USMNT, I still haven't seen that they developed one. They have no system in place.
The USMNT is still overly influenced by the English. Until they lose that mentality from the bottom up they won't go anywhere internationally. While there's a lot of change happening at the grass roots level and players are being coached into the technical aspects, moving the ball and general IQ of the game, it still has a ways to go. The best players going to Europe is a big start, though my suspicions is that it won't be enough. Pulisic is the only player that belongs on a big club and he was helpless today. McKennie is shit.
I heard an interview where Dest said Ronald Koeman wanted to pick him to play for Holland but he refused and wanted to play for the USA. I don't know if he will have improved playing with them or not but he probably wouldn't have lasted. He may play more World Cups with the US team. Not because he is great player but mostly because the depth in the Dutch team will probably be a lot greater than anything the US can put forth. I think he is on the bench at Milan. Not sure if he was just injured or not ready for the Serie A. It's because of the English language and US soccer fans , players and coaches think EPL is the best. I never thought they were at least not historically when you compare it to the Serie A but everyone else does. I personally think the EPL is overrated and overhyped. . As for Weston McKennie, I keep hearing he will be gone from Juve in either January or June. At Juventus, he plays in midfield, in a holding role, or even as a more offensive–minded central mid but he isn't a great 'mezzala' Juve is used to. He played a lot this tournament but I don't think his stock rose that much. Too bad Tim Weah couldn't be like his dad.....
The reason USA and Australia are heading home…you can run and preach fitness all you want, but you need individual flair and football street smarts. You’ll never win the World Cup through sheer effort. You need spacing, patience, and situational awareness along with creativity and individuality. USA and Australia - my message to you..,you can be praised for running the most marathons during the tournament, but in all actuality you deserve to be ridiculed for playing football like a retarded monkey. The World Cup is much better off when the all fitness teams go home.
The world should root against these teams devoid of any genius or creativity. Look how both teams scored today. Both goals deflected off of who knows what and by luck into the net. And we should cheer that? Ugly football. All run, no thinking. The quality of the World Cup just got much better with the fitness hacks sent packing. Also, if you tie mediocrity like England, you should be sent home immediately
I don’t know what it is but to me the USA seemed very slow. The defense, mids and forwards looked lazy. I didn’t see all this running and if they were, their timing was off. A bright spot is at least they made it to the round of 16 and are still all pretty young.