[h8kurdt]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

by "the year" the mean last season yes? august --> august?

how long has it been since zlatan's bycicle kick vs. england? that has to wind the decade.

these awards are kind of funny. nice to remember some of those goals though, like van persie's superman flight. but yes, of those listed, james all the way. tim cahill's a 2nd? i haven't seen the vancouver whitecaps (lol) or the mexican 1a división or getafe for that matter.

You're the man to ask. So why have Dortmund struggled so hard this season?

Make your answer as long as you want. I'm intrigued to see your thoughts.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

All football needs is to replace Blatter with a dream team of Bernie Ecclestone and Don King and it could give up any pretence of credibility altogether.

You forgot Bernie Madoff to do the accounts

[h8kurdt]

All the goals here btw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GESyL...DGti_i&index=1

[h8kurdt]

Watching them all I'd say...ooh maybe Stephanie Roach (featuring all 6 people in the crowd) or Rodriguez's. Honestly, I'd be tempted to say Roach's goal. Would be great to see that from a different angle.

Funny thing is on the comments for the Roach goal there's a comment about Joe Garner's goal for Preston *takes hat off proudly*

Proud Preston lad

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by h8kurdt

You're the man to ask. So why have Dortmund struggled so hard this season?

Make your answer as long as you want. I'm intrigued to see your thoughts.

i'm no expert but i think 2 problems have occurred:

1) started the season with a *very* shallow bench-- 9 starters injured at some point i think i recall.

2) said shallow bench was burned at the champions league matches, which i think left them tired for weekends.

3) while the rest of the planet perceives the bundesliga as a one-team league (bayern), they are all highly competitive -- much more than la liga for example. lots of ups and downs midtable. dortmund's first win in quite a while was vs. a team (monchengladbach) that's battling for 2nd place, while they lost against various relegation contestants-- one would have expected the opposite.

4) dortmund is best on the counterattack, when they have possession they don't seem to know what to do with it. other bundesliga teams seem to have figured this out and let them have possession.

5) they've had a lot of shots on goal but they have consistently failed to convert. mkhitarian, immobile, aubameyang. ramos and even (especially) reus are ultimately constipated. witchcraft?

6) none of the new guys is good enough replacement for lewandowski. even though immobile was capocannoniere in serie a last year...! he seems lost now, not sure why.

7) klopp keeps subbing in grosskreutz for kagawa. how very wrong, but that's their shallow bench-- a lumbering mostly defensive jack of all trades for a gifted creative midfielder.

8) a lot of key players are still injured out or not in full form. hummels, sahin, and i think gundogan were watching from the bleachers last weekend. last time gundogan came in (after 15 months) he was way below top form--supposedly man u want him now.

9) weidenfeller, while big and strong and imposing, can sometimes be a slow lumbering dumbshit. dortmund needs to start looking for a good alternative.

10) witchcraft, obviously.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

by "the year" the mean last season yes? august --> august?

how long has it been since zlatan's bycicle kick vs. england? that has to wind the decade.

these awards are kind of funny. nice to remember some of those goals though, like van persie's superman flight. but yes, of those listed, james all the way. tim cahill's a 2nd? i haven't seen the vancouver whitecaps (lol) or the mexican 1a división or getafe for that matter.

I think it's from Dec to Dec.

The Zlatan goal I think you're talking about was about a couple of years ago now I reckon, although the one on the list is great too and just as 'pure Zlatan' as the earlier one.

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

witchcraft, obviously.

Given they seem to be fine in the CL, that might be the best answer.

EDIT: And Baines out of England with a hamstring injury, straight after I took a massive points hit in FF trying to shoe-horn him and Sanchez into my side. Baines you fucking neo-Mod-looking bastard!!!! Get well soon!!!!

[h8kurdt]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

I think it's from Dec to Dec.

The Zlatan goal I think you're talking about was about a couple of years ago now I reckon, although the one on the list is great too and just as 'pure Zlatan' as the earlier one.



Given they seem to be fine in the CL, that might be the best answer.

EDIT: And Baines out of England with a hamstring injury, straight after I took a massive points hit in FF trying to shoe-horn him and Sanchez into my side. Baines you fucking neo-Mod-looking bastard!!!! Get well soon!!!!

Gutted. That's another injury for everton. Barry, McCarthy, Pienaar, Coleman, Stones and Kone (lol) all out.

[!@#$%!]

u.s. colombia starts in a couple of minutes! anthems right now.

bale plays for england? so wales doesn't have their own team? (northern ireland does, so i'm puzzled)

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

u.s. colombia starts in a couple of minutes! anthems right now.

bale plays for england? so wales doesn't have their own team? (northern ireland does, so i'm puzzled)

No Baines, not Bale. Bale is Welsh and they have their own team. Wish he was English, though.

Watching the USA game now.

[!@#$%!]

oh ha ha. misread.

bale is awesome! unfortunately he'll never be world champion.

usa colombia a little messy but entertaining. wtf kind of name is "craven cottage"? ha ha ha. worst name ever!

[demonrail666]

Yeah, messy but entertaining. USA haven't been good but might've easily gone in 2-0 up. Your midfield is awful though. Will be amazed if Colombia don't at least equalise in the 2nd half. And their pen shout seemed right. Yedlin's been your best player so far.

Haha. Craven Cottage is a really lovely old stadium right by the Thames. Probably one of the nicest in the country.

Edit: 90 mins

Enjoyed it. US looked better at the beginning of the 2nd half but, like the first, they let Colombia gradually creep back in. US hve no connection between their midfield and forwards, letting Colombia swamp them, who in the end definitely deserved the win. The US are sloggers. Defending well enough but that's about all they're ever allowed to do. The way Klinsmann has them play they just draw far too much pressure onto themselves. They're still stuck in backs-to-the-wall mode, which looks heroic but hardly looks like a step forward.

[!@#$%!]

i have more criticism towards colombia who had the superior players and had to struggle so much to score. i thought their defense was rather meh. usa got a free penalty since armero was pushed and was spared a penalty for jj's handball. so it would have been 4-0 if judged correctly.

most entertaining moment of the game for me was hearing the colombian fans rudely chant "hijo de puta, hijo de puta" near the end of the first half.

usa appeared really in shambles but let's be honest, most of the players are all a bunch of 2nd and 3rd raters. i did like yedlin, guzan & bedoya today. heard that yedlin is going to the premier league to that's really good for him-- hope they train him well. (meanwhile, mls owners bitching about klinsmann's lack of respect for mls. but seriously, fuck the mls.)

maybe the disconnect from midfields to forwards had to do with having jj as a centerback today? wtf. maybe klinsmann has been smoking pep's drugs. also, i keep hearing about the famous diskkerud but all i noticed was he looked like a musketeer--otherwise nothing.

next week usa vs ireland. that should be a more even match (no offense to ireland but they are no colombia).

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

It was a friendly. Lets not make too much about it for either side

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i have more criticism towards colombia who had the superior players and had to struggle so much to score. i thought their defense was rather meh. usa got a free penalty since armero was pushed and was spared a penalty for jj's handball. so it would have been 4-0 if judged correctly.

most entertaining moment of the game for me was hearing the colombian fans rudely chant "hijo de puta, hijo de puta" near the end of the first half.

usa appeared really in shambles but let's be honest, most of the players are all a bunch of 2nd and 3rd raters. i did like yedlin, guzan & bedoya today. heard that yedlin is going to the premier league to that's really good for him-- hope they train him well. (meanwhile, mls owners bitching about klinsmann's lack of respect for mls. but seriously, fuck the mls.)

maybe the disconnect from midfields to forwards had to do with having jj as a centerback today? wtf. maybe klinsmann has been smoking pep's drugs. also, i keep hearing about the famous diskkerud but all i noticed was he looked like a musketeer--otherwise nothing.

next week usa vs ireland. that should be a more even match (no offense to ireland but they are no colombia).

Colombia weren't great but it was a difficult game for them to look good in. for all the criticisms of the USA, we know they pack the defence. On another day Colombia might've taken their chances but we regularly see superior sides struggle in games like that.

I completely agree with you about the Klinsmann debacle but he can't treat the national team like it's a separate entity from the league. A national coach's role is a political one as much as it is a purely footballing one. If he sees it as anything else he should've managed a league team. And for me, he hasn't shown much signs of actually improving the national side anyway, even with his weird re-nationalised Germans. They're still the same fairly hard to beat but ultimately quite pedestrian team they've always been.

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

It was a friendly. Lets not make too much about it for either side

True but some friendlies feel like friendlies while some feel like competitive matches. This one definitely felt more like the latter.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by h8kurdt

Gutted. That's another injury for everton. Barry, McCarthy, Pienaar, Coleman, Stones and Kone (lol) all out.

I've mixed feelings. It's bad news for me from a FF pov but Everton's next game is against WH so obviously wouldn't mind him being rested for that one.

Anyway, England's starting lineup against Slovenia:

1 Hart 2 Clyne 3 Gibbs 4 Henderson 5 Cahill 6 Jagielka 7 Wilshere 8 Lallana 9 Welbeck 10 Rooney 11 Sterling

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Colombia weren't great but it was a difficult game for them to look good in. for all the criticisms of the USA, we know they pack the defence. On another day Colombia might've taken their chances but we regularly see superior sides struggle in games like that.

I completely agree with you about the Klinsmann debacle but he can't treat the national team like it's a separate entity from the league. A national coach's role is a political one as much as it is a purely footballing one. If he sees it as anything else he should've managed a league team. And for me, he hasn't shown much signs of actually improving the national side anyway, even with his weird re-nationalised Germans. They're still the same fairly hard to beat but ultimately quite pedestrian team they've always been.

yes. klinsmann is not magic. he can't conjure up great players out of nothingness.

the complaint about him was that as coach he can say whatever he wants but as (also) technical director of us soccer he's in a different position-- and yes, maybe he's not diplomatic as he could be, but the mls is a joke regardless, this is where old players come to die not where great players flourish.

Originally Posted by demonrail666

True but some friendlies feel like friendlies while some feel like competitive matches. This one definitely felt more like the latter.

friendly (this is for suchfriends) just means a training game, and the point here is-- training for what? there was no attempt at keeping possession, there were a lot of old players who won't be here for the next world cup, it was a lot like the belgium game. one espn commentator said-- if you're going to practice possession then do it and take the beating that comes with it until you do it right. he had a point i thought.

about what you said above re: pedestrian. well, yes, most american players are a bunch of nobodies by world standards. and this is where i side with klinsmann-- american players have to go to europe in order to become good because the mls is a joke. our best players of late-- dempsey, howard, bradley when he played in his correct position, jozy when he's fit & in the mood-- all earn/ed their bread in major european leagues (not norway, iceland, 3rd bundesliga, etc). fingers crossed for yedlin.

--

on other news: chile on fire beat venezuela 5-0. my favorites for next year's copa américa ahead of brazil & argentina.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

I disagree completely that US players need to develop in Europe. It has some merits but look at how basketball players from Euro leagues are increasingly finding their way successfully into the NBA which is obviously the top tier league in the world. The "Americans HAVE to go to Europe to prove thrmselves" is becoming less valid every year the MLS develops. I've watched a few MLS games this year and in all honesty guys may be "no names" but they were hardly talentless indeed the gap is shrinking if you ask me. DUH the Eurotrash leagues are best in the world but futbol is growing.. further the international team affords American players a lot of great opportunities to play against European level competition so there is that too

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

is becoming less valid every year the MLS develops.

of course. when the boy grows up he will become a man but today he is still a boy.

part of that growing up is to hold the mls to higher standards and developing players from the bottom.

meanwhile, american players have to go to europe to reach their top game. same thing in south america, and there's no shame in it. the thing is though that in south america there is a lot more "seeding" because the way the clubs are structured from the bottom (youth teams, academies, b-leagues, etc).

okay. busy saturday. i hope that suffices to explain what's needed.

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

basketball

that's a street game in america. futbol is not.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

I disagree completely that US players need to develop in Europe. It has some merits but look at how basketball players from Euro leagues are increasingly finding their way successfully into the NBA which is obviously the top tier league in the world. The "Americans HAVE to go to Europe to prove thrmselves" is becoming less valid every year the MLS develops. I've watched a few MLS games this year and in all honesty guys may be "no names" but they were hardly talentless indeed the gap is shrinking if you ask me. DUH the Eurotrash leagues are best in the world but futbol is growing.. further the international team affords American players a lot of great opportunities to play against European level competition so there is that too

Yes and no. I think Klinsmann's a self-serving snob BUT the gulf in quality is greater than yougive credit. Klinsmann's problem is that it's ok sending US talent to Europe but a lot of them hardly play. Most are on the bench. Not all but most. Is it better being a bench warmer in the Prem or the Bundesliga or La Liga or actually getting guaranteed game time in the MLS? That's the $1m question.

Anyway, good win for England tonight. Made hard work of it to begin with but no complaints in the end.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

that's a street game in america. futbol is not.

Its not street game that produces professional athletes its pro quality youth and amateur leagues and that definitely is where US needs to improve but our college and national team farm systems are developing quite nicely in that regard. However interestingly enough here in LA people dont play ball in the park, they playing futbol