soccer - USMNT in the hex

[bbb]

I find that not interesting. I want a sport where this is one grand prize - Stanley Cup, Lombardi Trophy, etc.............I follow a few people on twitter who happen to be soccer fans and every other week is the biggest match ever. Nothing ever was important vs. Honduras.

[meazza]

I find that not interesting. I want a sport where this is one grand prize - Stanley Cup, Lombardi Trophy, etc.............I follow a few people on twitter who happen to be soccer fans and every other week is the biggest match ever. Nothing ever was important vs. Honduras.

 

Well for me personally, I enjoy the competitions. For example, my club AS Roma is a volatile team constantly trying to challenge the top 3 teams. Finishing top 3 in the Italian league will earn you a spot in next years champions league. Finishing 4-7 will get you in Europa league. Obviously prize money has a lot to do with this and helps the club grow. They were purchased by an American hedge fund with the goal of turning it into a European powerhouse.

 

Literally the sport is purely capitalist.

[bbb]

Seems that way. Which is the American way.........But, everything else is so foreign. I can't imagine having the Bills or Sabres playing in two leagues at once, as my understanding of the EPL/Champions thing goes.

[ajzepp]

Seems that way. Which is the American way.........But, everything else is so foreign. I can't imagine having the Bills or Sabres playing in two leagues at once, as my understanding of the EPL/Champions thing goes.

 

It also correlates with the level of international participation and interest in the sport. If you had an International governing body for american football, and then you had the equivalent of the NFL in Canada, Mexico, England, Germany, etc, etc, then there would be many more opportunities for the exact same thing. The best baseball, basketball, football, and hockey players all play in this country because those leagues either dont exist elsewhere or not to the same level of competition and skill (which equates to salary). With soccer you have the best players in the world spread out among La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, EPL, and now even MLS is making blips on the radar based on what Meazza and others have shared with me recently. The scope of the sport is just immense and nothing else compares to it in those terms.

[meazza]

Seems that way. Which is the American way.........But, everything else is so foreign. I can't imagine having the Bills or Sabres playing in two leagues at once, as my understanding of the EPL/Champions thing goes.

 

So you're much more content with following an NFL that is out of contention for anything other than a high draft pick by mid October?

[bbb]

So you're much more content with following an NFL that is out of contention for anything other than a high draft pick by mid October?

 

If that's what your team does, then that's what you get.............How would it have been in the 90s, playing for both the Super Bowl and the Grey Cup at the same time? Which is more important?............Do we want them to lose the Grey Cup games to save themselves for the Super Bowl games......Should we loan Thurman Thomas to the Roughriders? Wait - which Roughriders are we loaning him to again?......Ridiculous. One team = One goal.

 

And, then have a friggin offseasons, forgodsakes! Something cannot be so friggin important every month of the year.

[meazza]

 

 

If that's what your team does, then that's what you get.............How would it have been in the 90s, playing for both the Super Bowl and the Grey Cup at the same time? Which is more important?............Do we want them to lose the Grey Cup games to save themselves for the Super Bowl games......Should we loan Thurman Thomas to the Roughriders? Wait - which Roughriders are we loaning him to again?......Ridiculous. One team = One goal.

 

And, then have a friggin offseasons, forgodsakes! Something cannot be so friggin important every month of the year.

 

You cant really compare nfl to soccer. 16 game seasons are enough for football. Maybe to mlb? 162 games and very little to play for?

 

Anyways its a different dynamic. Personally it took some getting used to when i started following it but now i cant live without it.

[bbb]

You're the one who brought our hapless Bills into it..................MLB teams are playing for a very important thing - the World Series title!

 

So, back to my first question - is there any offseason?

 

And, a second question. So, you have say Manchester United playing at the same time in the EPL and in the Champions League. Which one do they/their fans want more? Are they playing 100% for both - seems impossible.

[meazza]

You're the one who brought our hapless Bills into it..................MLB teams are playing for a very important thing - the World Series title!

 

So, back to my first question - is there any offseason?

 

And, a second question. So, you have say Manchester United playing at the same time in the EPL and in the Champions League. Which one do they/their fans want more? Are they playing 100% for both - seems impossible.

 

The offseason is in the summer. If there is the Euro or World cup, then the leagues finish a couple of weeks earlier and start a couple of weeks later.

 

Usually the teams that are in multiple competitions will add more depth which is the challenge. International Milan a few years back won the treble (serie A, Champions and Coppa Italia) which is why they'll go in the history books as one of the best teams ever. Generally you have to finish in the top 3-4 of your league (depending on your country) to qualify for next year so a team like Man Utd would be considered a disaster if they didn't so it is all about always finishing in the top of your league as well as taking that little extra risk for the champions league.

Edited March 24, 2013 by meazza

[Pete]

awesome game in the snow!

[bbb]

As long as it's Alex Morgan:

 

[Cugalabanza]

That was an awesome snow game. So glad they didn't suspend it. So fun to watch.

 

Nearly impossible to evaluate the players though. The only thing you really have to go on is work rate & hustle. With that in mind, I liked the play of Goodson, Beasley, Bradley, Gomez, Altidore & Dempsey. Zusi never seemed to be involved much and Geoff Cameron gave the ball away too many times.

 

Mexico Tuesday night. The popular opinion is that we'll be lucky to come away with a point. I'd rather see a more optimistic game plan, but it's never easy at Azteca. This (Mexico away) is the single most difficult game for us in all of qualifying.

[bbb]

The offseason is in the summer. If there is the Euro or World cup, then the leagues finish a couple of weeks earlier and start a couple of weeks later.

 

Usually the teams that are in multiple competitions will add more depth which is the challenge. International Milan a few years back won the treble (serie A, Champions and Coppa Italia) which is why they'll go in the history books as one of the best teams ever. Generally you have to finish in the top 3-4 of your league (depending on your country) to qualify for next year so a team like Man Utd would be considered a disaster if they didn't so it is all about always finishing in the top of your league as well as taking that little extra risk for the champions league.

 

Holy crap - so they were playing in three leagues at once?!? Plus, they probably had guys do national team stuff at the same time....................The whole thing runs counter to the way my brain works - one team - one goal. Stop the clock after a goal instead of letting it run while one guy runs half a mile with the rest of the chasing him, takes off his shirt and then gets mobbed (and the clock keeps going) injury time that is ALWAYS 3 minutes. Every game I've ever watched...........But, nobody knows when it really ends except for the ref with his secret clock.

 

It drove me crazy going to my niece's games that part of the strategy is letting balls go into the parking lot or whatever and be in no hurry to get it if you are in the lead.

 

The goal is 50 yards wide and yet balls go it in about once or twice a game. But, then it gets settled on the flukiest of tiebreakers. Goalies guessing which way to jump.

 

I could take that game, make about ten changes to it, and it would be a sport that Americans could be in synch with. It has potential!

[ajzepp]

 

 

The goal is 50 yards wide and yet balls go it in about once or twice a game.

 

That's a common criticism, but a couple cool things about the scoring is 1) a near-goal can be almost as exciting as an actual goal, and sometimes even more exciting, and 2) goals often look completely different from one another. Take baseball, for example...how often does one home run truly look different than the last three? Baseball highlights look pretty much the same game to game, night to night. With soccer you'll often see a high degree of variation, sometimes even seeing something you've never seen before. Those of us who have played the game also tend to have a lot of appreciation for ball movement. It's a very intricate game that requires far more skill than people realize. I"m not the biggest fan of a shootout either, but you have to realize that by the time they get there they've already had a full 90+ min of regulation plus two additional OT periods. At some point you just have to decide a winner. With the exception of the BS diving, I just don't find much about the game that I don't love.

[Cugalabanza]

I love soccer. It has become my #1 sport to watch.

 

I'm becoming increasingly bored with the commercial aspects of the other big sports. So so many commercials. Plus all the instant replay reviews that take forever. The commentary being entirely focused on whatever stupid narrative the network is pushing ("Is Tom Brady the best ever?" "Ray Lewis the wise old leader." "Peyton Manning, boy he really keeps 'em guessing with all those genius audibles." "Check out Ryan Fitzpatrick's wedding band. He went to Harvard, ya know. He's really smart."

 

All the stupid explosions and jock rock that goes along with it all. The refs taking 10 minutes to figure out what happened and then giving a convoluted, long winded explanation to the fans. Gets annoying. The false starts. The last-second timeout to ice the kicker. etc...

[meazza]

Holy crap - so they were playing in three leagues at once?!? Plus, they probably had guys do national team stuff at the same time....................The whole thing runs counter to the way my brain works - one team - one goal. Stop the clock after a goal instead of letting it run while one guy runs half a mile with the rest of the chasing him, takes off his shirt and then gets mobbed (and the clock keeps going) injury time that is ALWAYS 3 minutes. Every game I've ever watched...........But, nobody knows when it really ends except for the ref with his secret clock.

 

It drove me crazy going to my niece's games that part of the strategy is letting balls go into the parking lot or whatever and be in no hurry to get it if you are in the lead.

 

The goal is 50 yards wide and yet balls go it in about once or twice a game. But, then it gets settled on the flukiest of tiebreakers. Goalies guessing which way to jump.

 

I could take that game, make about ten changes to it, and it would be a sport that Americans could be in synch with. It has potential!

 

1) Injury time varies though three minutes is usually the norm.

2) League games are usually high scoring. International games aren't because the quality is a bit higher and teams don't have the same amount of time to gel.

3) The Euros don't want the Americans to get in sync with it but given the growing popularity of the MLS, it still might happen

Edited March 26, 2013 by meazza

[bbb]

That's a common criticism, but a couple cool things about the scoring is 1) a near-goal can be almost as exciting as an actual goal, and sometimes even more exciting, and 2) goals often look completely different from one another. Take baseball, for example...how often does one home run truly look different than the last three? Baseball highlights look pretty much the same game to game, night to night. With soccer you'll often see a high degree of variation, sometimes even seeing something you've never seen before. Those of us who have played the game also tend to have a lot of appreciation for ball movement. It's a very intricate game that requires far more skill than people realize. I"m not the biggest fan of a shootout either, but you have to realize that by the time they get there they've already had a full 90+ min of regulation plus two additional OT periods. At some point you just have to decide a winner. With the exception of the BS diving, I just don't find much about the game that I don't love.

 

The highlights are amazing and the skill level is amazing. The bicycle kicks, the bending like Beckham kicks, etc....................However, where baseball highlights are amazing are not the home runs, but the fielding. Those can be equally amazing as soccer's.

 

You bring up another tweek I would make to make this a game that makes more sense. Make it sudden death overtime forgodsake!! Goals are so few and far between, if somebody scores one in OT, the game should be over. 99% of the time if the other team scores, you are going to another OT, and probably penalty kicks. WAY fairer to decide it on sudden death, than penalty kicks.

 

I love soccer. It has become my #1 sport to watch.

 

I'm becoming increasingly bored with the commercial aspects of the other big sports. So so many commercials. Plus all the instant replay reviews that take forever. The commentary being entirely focused on whatever stupid narrative the network is pushing ("Is Tom Brady the best ever?" "Ray Lewis the wise old leader." "Peyton Manning, boy he really keeps 'em guessing with all those genius audibles." "Check out Ryan Fitzpatrick's wedding band. He went to Harvard, ya know. He's really smart."

 

All the stupid explosions and jock rock that goes along with it all. The refs taking 10 minutes to figure out what happened and then giving a convoluted, long winded explanation to the fans. Gets annoying. The false starts. The last-second timeout to ice the kicker. etc...

 

If ESPN has their way and really does force soccer down on our throats like they are trying to, you will get all the same stupid questions about it, that both you and I hate about American sports - faux arguments about the stupidest things.

 

1) Injury time varies though three minutes is usually the norm.

2) League games are usually high scoring. International games aren't because the quality is a bit higher and teams don't have the same amount of time to gel.

3) The Euros don't want the Americans to get in sync with it but given the growing popularity of the MLS, it still might happen

 

I was born in '62, and when I was ten years old or so, everybody said soccer is the game of the future. Pele on the Cosmos, etc. It still hasn't happened in 40 years and I think alot of it are the changes that I would makes to the game that I've outlined.

[bbb]

0-0 draw. I'm shocked. Shocked!

 

From Bill Simmons, who has been pushing soccer at the behest of espn for years now:

 

Bill Simmons ‏@BillSimmons 3h

Remember that time the U.S. almost got off a shot?

[Wayne Cubed]

0-0 draw. I'm shocked. Shocked!

 

From Bill Simmons, who has been pushing soccer at the behest of espn for years now:

 

Bill Simmons ‏@BillSimmons 3h

Remember that time the U.S. almost got off a shot?

 

Meh, boring Soccer/Football games happen. Just like boring American Fooball games happen.

 

Being an American currently living in England, I have been exposed to loads of Fooball and I agree it can get rather confusing. But to me, what sets it apart from other sports, and I think comparing it to MLB is a better than comparing it to American Football, is the opportunity for lower league teams to make a run at higher league teams. Can you imagine the Rochester Red Wings competing against the NY Yankee's for a title? That happens here in Football. Hell, it happened this year, when Bradford City a League 2 team(so 3 leagues below the Premeirship) went on to beat Ashton Villa and Arsenal. Thats huge. Makes for some exciting games.

 

But I do agree, it's confusing between all the different titles.

[Cugalabanza]

Good game last night. 0-0 draw, I’m sure would have bored many people to death, but I enjoyed it. Very good for the U.S. and Mexico is probably in a panic at not having won a hex game yet, including two at their precious Azteca.

 

Some really excellent performances from Gonzalez and Besler, the two centerbacks. Very solid. I didn’t even really know who Besler was until he was called in last week. Very encouraging because the back line was the biggest question mark coming in.

 

Bradley, as usual, was very good. Graham Zusi surprised me. I cringed when I saw he got the start again, but he played his heart out all over the field, winning balls and keeping posession. Brad Guzan looked great. Totally solid.

 

Some soft spots: Geoff Cameron just looks shaky at times. Beasley worked his ass off, but he’s always had a clumsy touch in my opinion and he got beat a few times. He was lucky that Gonzalez and Besler were able to bail him out. Beasley won’t be in the mix when WC time comes. Everybody knows that and basically just appreciates that he’s still around to fill in for these very tough spots in qualifying. Maurice Edu got some praise from the commentators, but I just saw him making mistakes. Sloppy on the ball and he got very lucky to get away with that terrible tackle in the box. Probably should have been a penalty.

 

Loved the game plan. They were able to keep enough offensive possession to take Mexico off their game a bit. The second half subs showed that Klinsmann was aiming to be aggressive and steal a late winner. It didn’t play out that way, but it was still effective in making a game of it and coming away with a point.

 

I’m happy for Klinsmann as I think these two games will serve as a minor vindication for him in light of the recent criticisms. They got four points from these two tough games. And most importantly, the team played well together and showed a ton of guts. They look like they're going in the right direction.

Edited March 27, 2013 by gringo starr