Yanks Abroad 2024/25 thread

Discussion in 'USA Men: News & Analysis' started by OWN(yewu)ED, Aug 2, 2024.

  1. grandinquisitor28

    Feb 11, 2002
    Nevada
    This is NFL Draft 101, and reinforces why it is very good for elite players to fall to quality organizations rather than go in the top of the draft to dysfunctional, stupid ones. Usually the players learned this w/time as apparently Jozy did. It's a shame his father was an idiot. Jozy had already won the lottery by becoming a pro athlete, and was already in the process of securing his future, you can purchase insurance for injury if your so worried about losing your career, you should never make a terrible move for a quick buck. Just idiotic. Adu's family screwed him too w/idiotic loan moves and what not. It's a shame when foolish self-interested parties get in the way of rational, intelligent decision making. At least in the end, Jozy got his long profitable career, but he absolutely did not come close to realizing his potential as a club player due to this foolishness, and simply had terrible luck with injuries in terms of his international career (and admittedly just ended up ----ing the bed in his last major moment of consequence as a senior player).

    For me he's one of those guys like John O'Brien, like Stuart Holden, Renken, Taitague, Steve Snow (always got to throw him in there) where it's just an epic could have been. What he did was still impressive, but I seriously bet if he replayed his career 10 times, you get 2-3-4x as impressive a career 75% of the time. Just bad luck and some bad decisions mixed in.
     
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  2. grandinquisitor28

    Feb 11, 2002
    Nevada
    In 2007 I was buying all the stock of Altidore I could find. He and Adu and Bradley were absolutely spectacular at the U20's that summer, and just turf, bad weather and a goalie injury kept them out of the U20 WC Semifinals. They scalped Brazil AND Cavani and Suarez's Uruguay in that tournament, think about that and then fell to freaking Austria. I lost my ---- that day. Could not believe it. In retrospect its even stupider w/the passage of time, just a freaky astroturf goal in bad weather against a goalie nursing an injury like Turner a few months ago.

    By 2009, it was hypearama, didn't score at WC '10 but it looked so so so good, and then the next decade went as wrong as it could possibly go, other than club goals in MLS and friendly goals and gold cup goals. It was almost certainly the worst many worlds scenario of his career imaginable from July 2010 to the end. Just ridiculously floor for how good he was and could be. :(
     
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  3. grandinquisitor28

    Feb 11, 2002
    Nevada
    Had no idea they had Perisic!
     
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  4. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It happens to a lot of soccer players.

    Agents run soccer and agents are always going to recommend moving as that's when they make their money.

    NFL had leverage over agents as it has a monopoly on the sport. There's no single regulatory body for soccer agents.
     
  5. Bajoro

    Bajoro Member+

    Sep 10, 2000
    The Inland Empire
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Sweet touch by Sargent!
     
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  6. gomichigan24

    gomichigan24 Member+

    Jul 15, 2002
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    FIFA does regulate agents. They are trying to institute various good rules/reforms the agents are suing to try and prevent and so are on hold.

    One big difference with the NFL is way less of the contracts are guaranteed compared to other sports.
     
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  7. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #907 xbhaskarx, Sep 28, 2024
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2024


    Ricardo Pepi barely plays



    Sargent's coach (this is before his two assists)

     
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  8. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Balogun





    Pepi

     
  9. jaykoz3

    jaykoz3 Member+

    Dec 25, 2010
    Conshohocken, PA
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
     
  10. KALM

    KALM Member+

    Oct 6, 2006
    Boston/Providence
    I might be wrong but I think he was already a top 5 USMNT goalscorer in a top 5 league just based on his very first season in France, before he even played for the USMNT.*

    As a result, I think everyone was already super-hyped about Balogun being potentially our best #9 ever before he had even suited up for us. It was his performance at the club and national team level over the next year or so after that which I think deflated some of that hype. But it's still early enough in his career that the narrative again could change pretty quickly depending on how this season goes.

    *Unless I'm missing someone, the list would be:

    1. Clint Dempsey - 57 goals
    2. Roy Wegerle - 55 goals
    3. Christian Pulisic - 49 goals
    4. Brian McBride - 36 goals
    5. Folarin Balogun - 30 goals (21 in his first season)
    6. Thomas Dooley - 20 goals

    Although this also depends on what you consider to be a top 5 league. For instance, England wasn't ranked top 5 going by UEFA coefficients for much or any of Roy Wegerle's time there (and only 13 of his 55 goals came during the Premier League era), while the Netherlands was ranked top 5 for several years during the Eredivisie career of Earnie Stewart (who managed 93 goals in the league during his time there).
     
  11. butters59

    butters59 Member+

    Feb 22, 2013
    There is no such thing as top 5 league.
     
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  12. Shaster

    Shaster Member+

    Apr 13, 1999
    El Cerrito, CA, USA
    Now we should remember this:

    If you want to put a fire under Puli’s lower back, just told him if you don’t win the game then we will change the coach to Thomas Tuchel. That will do the job.
     
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  13. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The top 5 leagues by UEFA coefficient are the top 5 leagues.

    I guess you could argue there is more of a top 4 and a top 8 but the point stands.... there's not much movement at the top anymore

    1 1 – [​IMG] England 90.589
    2 2 – [​IMG] Italy 80.231
    3 3 – [​IMG] Spain 75.132
    4 4 – [​IMG] Germany 72.910

    5 5 – [​IMG] France 60.379

    6 6 – [​IMG] Netherlands 55.733
    7 7 – [​IMG] Portugal 51.816

    8 8 – [​IMG] Belgium 45.000

    "Top X league" certainly exists as a thing far more so than the nebulous concept of "world class" that people are busy debating elsewhere...
     
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  14. 50/50 Ball

    50/50 Ball Member+

    Sep 6, 2006
    USA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It’s crazy to look back at a guy who’s scored the goals for club and country, won hardware in two countries and still feel like there was a lot more there. I think we all do it though.
     
  15. butters59

    butters59 Member+

    Feb 22, 2013
    No, there is no top 5. Two years ago Netherlands were above France. There are top 4, and far away there are 5-7.
     
  16. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I literally just said that in the comment you're quoting?
     
  17. Maximum Optimal

    Maximum Optimal Member+

    Jul 10, 2001
    Baller.

     
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  18. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think you mean they are trying to regulate agents. There are 208 legal systems to comply with, 180 if you consider the EU as one.
     
  19. grandinquisitor28

    Feb 11, 2002
    Nevada
    As mentioned this past summer. He needs to leave in the winter, or summer of '25.
     
  20. grandinquisitor28

    Feb 11, 2002
    Nevada
    The issue is he missed WC '14, Copa Centenario, and WC '18, to some degree because of how ---- he was in qualifying for WC '18. In addition his European career was hot garbage other than his time in the Netherlands. We've gone back and forth on him over the years in here, but the 1 area we do agree is that he was an immensely talented player, we just disagree about how well he performed as a USMNT player (I heavily weight WC's, Copa Centenario's, Confed Cup, and games in the past against the only teams in concacrap that didn't historically stuck: Mexico and Costa Rica) and to some degree w/club.

    But there's no question he had immense talent, and personally, I've always felt his international career in games that are valued by me and the fan base (WC's, Confed Cups, Copa America's, the rivalry with Mexico in qualifying and tournaments, away games against Costa Rica that sorta thing) basically was at the absolute floor of what expectations would have been circa 2007 and especially 2009.

    But he's not the only guy that happened with, mostly due to injury. Happened to O'Brien, to Mathis, to Snow, to Holden, to prospects like Zelalem, Taitague, Renken and has happened to Reyna since '21, hell maybe you can say it happened to Steffen too (I don't know how good he was gonna be, but I know after he collected the piles of injuries he was never a good goalie again).

    Frustrating to note that that famous '07 U20 team got slammed by injuries with Altidore, had Bradley's career partially compromised by a foot injury what six years later, and Adu flamed out as well.
     
  21. grandinquisitor28

    Feb 11, 2002
    Nevada
    Was his exclusion from the olympics a coaching decision or a club decision?
     
  22. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    His club coach said he wanted him to play at the Olympics.

    https://geissblog.koeln/2024/07/dann-schluckt-man-diese-pille-downs-wichtiger-entscheidungstag/

    'FC coach Gerhard Struber hopes his player will be nominated: "It's something special to be able to take part in the Olympics. We definitely want to give him this chance," said the Austrian on Friday after the 6-0 friendly win against Sportfreunde Siegen.'
     
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  23. Maximum Optimal

    Maximum Optimal Member+

    Jul 10, 2001
    When we look back on that Olympic team it will be noted for its exclusions. Downs. Luna. Cowell. Neal. All coach's decisions.
     
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  24. gomichigan24

    gomichigan24 Member+

    Jul 15, 2002
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well I’m not actually sure the extent of what regulation they were doing previously but they are definitely trying now and for the most part the proposed reforms are good ones.
     
  25. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Shrug.

    That's the just the way it goes. The same happens with every youth roster. Our pool is expanding in depth. Its just one coach's selection of players from a growing pool.

    Its like people complaining about the exclusion of Pepi in the last Olympic cycle, which was before he'd really broken out. Soto was picked for qualifying ahead of Pepi. He was coming off a good season for Telstar.

    Damion Downs had how many career first team goals when Mitrovic had to name his roster?

    Damion played ~170 league minutes last season.

    Heck, maybe some years from now its Logan Farrington who'll be mentioned as a forward miss on the roster too.

    At this point, with the number of players this board seems to think should have been at the Olympics, you'd think the roster size was 30 players.....................
     
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