yeah that shit was FUCKED up. The ref stabbed a player, then the crowd beheads the ref! what the F?

what is worse is it was both just a FRIENDLY and just an AMATEUR game? To me, that is penultimate what the fuck??

oh, shit! yeah i boned the dates-- i actually didn't (couldn't) watch the 2008 euros. the loss to italy was on the 2006 world cup semis and it was klinsmann's team (though reportedly w/ low's tactics who was his assistant).

i'll have to disagree with you on the tactical front. picking your formation to beat the opponent is crucial to ANY game. harnessing your player's talents in the right formation is essential as well. yes, players either choke or rise to the occasion, no question about that, but tactics, primitive as they may be vs. , are central to victory or defeat, and have made football history, even when teams weren't champions--- hungary 56, netherlands 74, etc etc.. so yes i give you the increased role of a players character no doubt but how teams are laid out and who occupies each seat (and hell, who gets called up) are absolutely vital. smart coaches win games and stupid ones lose them. knowing what your players can or cannot do-- vital. the relationship of player and coach-- ha! ask the french! a lot rests on those shoulders.

eh, im on a brief hit-and-run post here but if you get a chance to get by your office scanner... or shit, just a phone photo should suffice, the perfect is the enemy of the good eh? thanks man.

alright man thanks!

ps- okay, maybe low has just been unlucky. and maybe it DOES bug me that he eats boogers. on camera. creepy

The thing is I love his eccentricities: the haircut; the slightly too tight matching outfits for him and Flick; the weirdly effete manner. He half reminds me of those celebrity lifestyle gurus you had in California in the 80s. But as you know, my default setting is to never want Germany to win, so as long as he continues to entertain me with his quirks while consistently taking Germany just far enough to ensure he keeps his job, without them actually winning anything, I'm happy.

Re the article, I'm on summer break at work so I'm not going in as much as normal. I have a meeting on the 17th though so I can scan it then (I'm the only person I know who still doesn't have any kind of mobile phone/camera).

Wow. I never knew anything about it. Just googled it. So a referee stabs a player to death during a game, then fans run on and behead the referee, putting his head on a stake in the middle of the pitch. Hard to know what to say really, other than wow. I mean where do you even start?

I loved the police statement: "Actions like this do not correspond with state law."

Ya don't say.

Speaking of Klinsman, all respect due to Bob Bradley but the US Men's Team is playing like a different animal, even with our b-side roster in the Gold Cup. This US-Belize game was a lot of fun, and Belize didn't look as outplayed until after the first 40 minutes. Well. They did look like the team of amateurs playing against a foreign team on their home field BUT their goalkeeper was damn good, it could have been like 15 goals by the US if that dude wasn't on it ;)

Pep's apparently making a big move to take Barca's Thiago Alcantara to Bayern. Not sure how that'd impact on the current Bayern midfield set up if Pep does get him but he'd be a great buy, imo. He's only 22 but definitely one of Spain's future stars.

Refs bailed out Mexico with a bullshit penalty kick which absolutely destroyed the morale of an otherwise surprisingly competitive Canada which may have at least been able to bring it to a draw. I still predict Mexico's decline (their rankings are still good, they just haven't passed the smell test to me in a year whereas they were HOT just a little over a year ago) in CONCACAF at a time when US is getting stronger by the game. They just haven't been themselves for the past year, just as other teams like US, Panama, and Costa Rica are rising..

Interestingly enough, I find myself totally agreeing the current FIFA rankings..

You do? You still think Spain are the no.1 national team even though they were comprehensively beaten by Brazil, who apparently aren't even as good as Uruguay, who they also beat? And how the fuck does Colombia get to be placed 3rd?

EDIT: Hang on. were you just referring to concacaf? (the link defers to the overall list), in which case you're probably right, although I've only really seen the top two teams play.

oh shit man sorry i didn't mean to get all pushy. don't sweat it.

i used to not mind germany win/don't win but i wanna see a great squad go far. nowadays that im bundesligaed i suppose i favor them more.

also: thiago silva-- WTF is guardiola cooking up? javi martinez at the back? (i wouldn't mind the loss of boateng actually-- he's good but not tat good-- and badstuber is probably ruined for life plus he had a terrible temper anyway always getting yellow cards)

i can't wait to SEEEEEE!!!!


a nice man of good character, but in football terms just a dude who played in princeton in the 60s or whenever-- in other words, a nobody with LITTLE and irrelevant experience.

i gotta see the klinsmann squad again but this concacaf golden cup sounds pretty ridiculous to my spoiled ears. call me when they play a serious team. say a friendly with argentina?

The FIFA ranking to me is an all things considering, and at this point, while I predict Spain's decline, that one loss in the Confederation Cup doesn't knock them off the top of the list just yet. Yes, I was referring to CONCACAF, but I posted a link to their rankings too. Mexico is number one BUT they are falling just as US is rising.

We beat Germany 4-3 a few weeks ago

oh shit, i was moving house at the time.

i'll check out the highlights & see what i can gather.

ok, so far i see this:

Germany: ter Stegen, Jansen (Aogo '46), Mertesacker (Wollcheid '46), Howedes; Reinhartz, L. Bender (Westermann '46), S. Bender (Kruse '46), Draxler, Podolski, Schurrle (Sam '68), Klose


--


none of them is in the first team. regardless, beating germany's 2nd or 3rd squad is not bad at all. sure is better than losing!

Whats impressive at this point isn't necessarily the caliber of opponents beaten, but the increasing development of skilled offensive playing, smart defense, and a scathing attack. We've been scoring an average of 3.6 goals per game over the past 4 months, THAT is very new for the US who traditionally have had NO problem on defense but a hell of a time scoring goals.

i wouldn't say "no problem on defense' but attacking football is way more fun.

clint fucking dempsey! awesome!

alright. i'm still not sold because we have so many shit players but here's hoping.

laters!

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Clint Dempsey err.. !@#$%! again.
US defense was about THE ONLY thing keeping them in the 20s and mid-teens in the FIFA ranking over the past few years, the only thing keeping us winning and getting runner up in the Gold Cup, and the only thing keeping us in the past three world cups, because simply put, we couldn't score a goal to save our lives, but we were damn good at stopping others from doing the same. The typical story line of every US win under Bradley was that the other team had more possession time, more kicks on goal, more strikes in general, and looked more or less like they were going to win until US got a clutch stop. Hence why defense was the name of our game, but under Klinsmann we've developed some offensive skill.

I agree, I am reserving judgment until the World Cup Qualifiers begin again, but the US team is definitely looking better than we have in 10 years so there more to look forward to than not ;)

why don;t you guys post awesome futbol animations????

just for you ...




It's the other Thiago. Alcantaro, not Silva. He's not as well known but Pep apparently loves him. Man U want him too.


You and el Symbols are better placed to know but I think these periods where USA start to look good occur quite frequently. Its problem seems to be with consistently producing young players good enough to keep the momentum going. Mexico are in a dip at the moment but they've got some great young players waiting to emerge.

I am forever grateful.....

no yes yes yes. i slept little last night. i saw thiago alcántara at the u21 uefa. i know it's him. im drinking coffee now after much bacon trying to awake.


i'll probably manage by 2pm (it's 1:20 here at the moment...)

that was right before a dortmund game. she got a big bouquet of flowers at the end.

I can't believe the cameraman didn't yell "heads up!!"

is fake but funny

THAT IS FUCKING HILARIOUS!






YOU SIR NAILED IT. The US team has never had a problem competing with any team in the world, it is CONSISTENCY and developing new talent which we lack. We are always on the cusp of advancing or winning big, and yet fall back a step. I think with Klinsmann we've addressed those final hurdles, as he has implemented a better "farm system" to bring in and rotate between new, young talent.

As to Mexico, (or even Spain) and their u-17 or u-21 teams, I don't buy into the model that a talented young team naturally translates into future talent. Those young players look great the same way college basketball phenoms look great, because they are playing their A game against a variety of mediocre and developing talent. Put those same players against the top rosters in the world? Its a 50-50 crap shoot that they can't make the leap. As to Mexico, trust me, their inching towards decline because the CONCACAF is getting better, they don't have that usual fodder to build up their confidence. As to Spain, we will wait and see if their young guys can step up in the Big Time

http://youtu.be/NF-z0HoxL04

I wanna see something this fun when i next go see a Houston Dynamo match.

There's no guarantee but, unlike in college-centric sports, the better u21s in football can expect to have an established place in a top club side where they've probably already had some CL football. But you're right, there's obviously still no guarantee.

the problem with the usa is that (as far as i know anyway) there is not established system for recruiting and cultivating young talent. i don't mean 18 year olds, i mean 6 year olds like neymar who was "discovered" playing on the beach. 6! messi was taken from argentina to barcelona when he was 12.

the other problem is "soccer moms". basically american "soccer" is a middle class sport that requires "moms" in minivans carting children around from one place to another and incompetent coaches instructing kids to kick and run, kick and run.

whereas in the rest of the world football is a street game before anything else. natural selection operates at full throttle. football is played before school starts, at school during recess, in the street where kids say "car" when a car is coming through, in parks and parking lots and at the beach. it's a thing people do all day and everywhere, much like baseball used to be in the usa or maybe basketball in cities. there are no "soccer moms" because you play football to get away from your mom, your house, your teachers, and then you keep playing when you're old to get away from work or family or worries.

and then of course if you're good as a kid you might be 6 or 8 or 12 when you go play for a team that develops your talent with a view to professional work, and not with this bullshit college system of middle-class amateurs who are just trying to get free tuition so they can become lawyers or PE teachers.

FUCK COLLEGE.

soccer is the most played amateur league sport in the US, both for kids, in secondary schools, and with adults. However, it is not the most professionalized sport like basketball and american football. there are several native born Americans playing in Europe the way there are plenty of great Europeans in the NBA. However, me and a friend were JUST now talking about this during the US game today. US has always had the talent to compete with any team in the world. The problem has been that under Bob Bradley US never had that killer edge. They played too safe. They didn't play to their fullest potential. For example, USA was down 0-1 and two years ago I would have told myself, "Ok, our hope is to draw. We just need one goal." Under Klinsmann after the past six months, I literally told myself," I know we can win this." What was the final score? 4-1 USA wins. That being said, this is a new US team. Our coach has developed our talent. We never lacked talent. Our farm system is fine. Our domestic talent is world-class, we just never took ourselves serious enough to capitalize on it. We were like pre-2010 Lebron James, everybody liked us anyway, win or lose, so we didn't push ourselves to our potential. Klinsmann has brought our killer instinct out. He is reminding us of how the rest of the world snickers about our team. Fuck that. I hope ALL of Europe and South America have been watching USA games since January and been getting nervous, and should be telling themselves, "Shit, the fucking American finally figured it out."

It'll be interesting to see how they do in the WC. They're definitely playing in a more attractive, attacking style than they did under Bradley, but this is against very ordinary opposition, and I can see stronger teams getting at their defence without too much trouble at all. And would you seriously consider even your best players (Dempsey, Bradley, Howard, Jones, Altidore) as 'world class' (which I tend to think of as a player among the very best in the world in their position and who would stand out as exceptional in any team they play for)? I know I wouldn't. Messi's world class, along with the likes of CRonaldo, Lahm, Pirlo, Cavani, Falcao, etc. Even someone like Dempsey is obviously miles behind any of those and, if anything, seems to be going backwards as a player, at least compared with where he was a couple of seasons ago (and I say that as a big Dempsey fan).

To me, when it comes to something like the WC, the US still looks like a quarter finals team at best. Obviously they could get lucky and progress further but so could any team. In terms of overall quality, though, I'd still say the quarter finals are about where the US is at internationally - and that's assuming they don't end up in a particularly difficult group.

thiago went to bayern for MORE playing time? hmmm. he can't get into the barcelona midfield, what makes him think the bayern one is any easier? kroos, goetze, mueller (kinda sometimes), swtgr, gustavo, martinez.... WHAT THE HELL WAS HE THINKING!??! xavi has a year more in his gas tank to be a full time starter, cesc is not an automatic... he couldn't stick it out one more year? a move to man u made much more sense

I agree, I am very excited and yet anxious at the same time for the US in the upcoming World Cup. It is our final chance to make it big or flop out as usual. Personally, seeing what has developed over the past year, I think we can make it over our hurdle and advance at least to the Semis for what will be the first time since 1930!

that, right there. that's the problem. that's why we can't fly.


pep!

apparently he has some kind of scheme ("concept", he called it) in mind. and he really really really wanted thiago-- the only player he wanted to acquire, he claimed.

i can't wait to see what kind of what he comes up with. i wanna see those chalkboards!

Talk all the shit you want, that is just empty hubris. In American sports, we have a different football, which has no other name than football, meanwhile soccer is perfectly appropriate description. I'd rather not type out American football every time just appease your ego. Sometimes I use futbol but for you? never ;)

my point is that it's an artificial name for an artificial school practice plagued by helicopter parents.

show me the street games and i'll show you the world cup.

I think Thiago might be sidelined very early on but I think Pep's ultimately planning to establish something pretty quickly around him, Martinez and Gotze as his core midfield unit, to the extent that I have to wonder what his plans are for someone like Schweinsteiger, never mind the players more generally accepted as being at risk, like Robben and Ribery. The Thiago signing is a real sign for me of Pep's core tactical plans. He's about as 'Barcelona' as it gets in terms of style and overall attitude, so for him to be Pep's first big 'priority' transfer probably doesn't bode well for those Bayern fan fearing any kind of Barca-fication of their team.

EDIT: Lots of talk now about Man U offering Barca £26m for Cesc.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...r-united-offer

"D'ya want a red one?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP5J9qD73rQ

US under Bob Bradley in the 2011 Gold Cup

2-1 with 4 goals in the group stage, 2 in the quarters, 1 in the semis, and 2 in the Final for a total of 9 (Jamaica's in the group).


Under Klinsmann in 2013 and with a predominantly B-team roster?

11 goals in the group and 3-0. We play the same intense defense but now a smarter, more Euro style offense. Its great to watch, and in the past 3 months that its really clicked we're scoring goals like crazy. You'd think it was American Football looking at the scores!

suchfriends- that's the difference between some dude who played in college and a guy who won the world cup (even he might not be the greatest coach on the planet). experience counts.

--

anyway looks like thiago alcántara (like gotze) went to bayern because of pep:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...h-8711476.html

It also helps when your agent (in the case of Thiago) is Pep's brother.