Pre-match: USA vs Portugal; November 14th, 2017

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by Sebsasour, Oct 16, 2017.

  1. TimB4Last

    TimB4Last Member+

    May 5, 2006
    Dystopia
    We're all Italian-Americans today. It's the tie that binds ...
     
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  2. Red Card

    Red Card Member+

    Mar 3, 1999
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Compare our fouls w and w/o J. Jones. He was our "policeman". He protected M Bradley and protected the CB. When he moved up, MB stayed back. Without J. Jones, and CP instead, there was too much responsibility for MB.

    Too many posters are blaming Ream, Omar, others. No J. Jones was the problem.
     
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  3. truefan420

    truefan420 Member+

    May 30, 2010
    oakland
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Dude I feel.
     
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  4. TheFalseNine

    TheFalseNine Moderator
    Staff Member

    Arsenal
    United States
    Jul 15, 2014
    Norman, Okla.
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah, we feel ‘ya, GY. Major suckage. This would’ve been a good year to expand the WC field!
     
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  5. Real Corona

    Real Corona Member+

    Jan 19, 2008
    Colorado
    Club:
    FC Metalist Kharkiv
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    World Cup NIT tournament is gonna be pretty lit this year
     
  6. TimB4Last

    TimB4Last Member+

    May 5, 2006
    Dystopia
    Someone probably already proposed this, but keeping things simple, sometime next summer:

    USA, Italy, Netherlands, Chile would make a nice group (of Death!) for a week.

    Three double-headers - Saturday, Wednesday, Sunday - in US three cities.

    Friendlies, of course, but three good ones (for us). I would rather 'finish fourth' in a group with these three than build (artificial) confidence v a few lightweights.
     
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  7. COMtnGuy

    COMtnGuy Member+

    Apr 5, 2012
    Higher than you
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Wow, just realized what a crappy broadcast time this is here. Oh well, I will catch the highlights if there are any.
     
  8. Red Card

    Red Card Member+

    Mar 3, 1999
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ghana instead of The Netherlands. Make it 4 continents.
     
  9. RalleeMonkey

    RalleeMonkey Member+

    Aug 30, 2004
    here
    Not me, I'm laughing.
     
  10. RalleeMonkey

    RalleeMonkey Member+

    Aug 30, 2004
    here
    Don't know if it could happen. But, that would be great.
     
  11. frankburgers

    frankburgers Member+

    May 31, 2016
    yup! im here for anytime Italy loses.
     
  12. LouisZ

    LouisZ Member+

    Oct 14, 2010
    Southern California-USA
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Let's not forget that most of the time that Jones played with Bradley it didn't work as planned, Jones was the wild one that was all over the place, once he figured it out to follow the game plan is when we noticed that Jones was the better player of the two.
     
  13. GiallorossiYank

    GiallorossiYank Member+

    Jan 20, 2011
    NJ/Roma/Napoli
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Doesn't happen much so get your shots in now :thumbsup:
     
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  14. TheFalseNine

    TheFalseNine Moderator
    Staff Member

    Arsenal
    United States
    Jul 15, 2014
    Norman, Okla.
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    PBP thread here. Kick-off is set for 3:45 EST.
     
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  15. rgli13

    rgli13 Member+

    Mar 23, 2005
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    damn you swedish-mexicans...
     
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  16. portugamerifinn

    portugamerifinn Member+

    Feb 22, 2005
    Bay Area / London
    You're looking way too closely at caps. Bedoya has 65 caps, but many around here don't even want him on the team. Meanwhile, Goncalo Guedes is a 20-year-old who entered this international break with three caps for Portugal and played one minute against Andorra in qualifying, but he's been so good in La Liga this season that he's virtually guaranteed a spot next summer. If he went out and scored two goals today, it wouldn't be a stain on the legacy of the U.S. national team because he's got few caps to date.

    Caps are all relative. Would Tim Ream have 26 caps if he was a Portuguese or Belgian international? How about Agudelo? Meanwhile, Bernardo Silva only has 20 caps for Portugal. If he played today and ran circles around people, it wouldn't be a further sign of disaster for the U.S. because Danny Williams has more caps. The same if Nelson Semedo got his eighth cap and played great because he's not just some "experimental" bum, he's a guy who starts 60 percent of the time for Barcelona.

    As far as experimentation goes, Portugal is experimenting mostly at LB and one of the CB spots next to Pepe. The midfielders and forwards are half squad regulars (including some starters) and half fringe guys who all have a shot at next summer. Interpret today's result as you will, but if Portugal does play with a sense of urgency like it did against Saudi Arabia and win convincingly, it doesn't really mean much one way or the other for the U.S.
     
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  17. TimB4Last

    TimB4Last Member+

    May 5, 2006
    Dystopia
    I will consider your suggestion. I definitely feel three quality teams is the way to go. Eight or twelve teams gets too complicated and dilutes the quality. [Sadly, our presence provides sufficient dilution.]
     
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  18. TimB4Last

    TimB4Last Member+

    May 5, 2006
    Dystopia
    Enjoying the pain of others used to be considered perverse, but these days that seems to be the norm. So laugh away - I'm sure you're in good company.

    @RalleeMonkey Spoke too soon - my apologies!
     
  19. RalleeMonkey

    RalleeMonkey Member+

    Aug 30, 2004
    here
    Italy's pain is Sweden's gain. And, between the two soccer communities, I've found Swedes to be moderately less pompous and condescending.
     
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  20. RalleeMonkey

    RalleeMonkey Member+

    Aug 30, 2004
    here
    How did you come up with that?
     
  21. DIMITAR BERBATOV!

    Aug 2, 2010
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Even without Ronaldo, Portugal will be a huge test for our defense. Guedes and Bruma are both really good wingers if they play. Pacy with lots of skill.
     
  22. Lookingforleftbacks

    Galaxy
    United States
    Dec 17, 2016
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Think most of us are expecting this to devolve into a bunker about 5 minutes in
     
  23. eainterplay

    eainterplay Member

    May 11, 2008
    Alabama
    Club:
    Rangers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You apparently weren't around BS when Bedoya, as you call, "was new pussy". No one was ever really excited for him. In 2009ish a few called for his inclusion because of his status of starter in the Swedish league, but as numerous posters pointed out, the Swedish league was worse than MLS outside of the top 2 teams. Anyway, after his ho-hum debut (which is pretty much every game he plays) no one was really excited to see him again. He has never had a fan club on these boards.
     
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  24. Borrachin

    Borrachin Member+

    Feb 28, 2006
    Houston
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Then he comes out and say young guys need to show that they belong, really? How about, they just need to be like me, average and they should be fine.
     
  25. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
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