2010 World Cup discussion

[Judai]

Out of the teams with sizable contingents of Premier League players in their squads, only the USA, superbly coached and motivated by Bob Bradley, performed better than expected.

Just for that comment the writer is an idiot. Bradley did a horrible job motivating and coaching. He continuously made retarded lineups and the team never started games well which would be horrible preparation and motivation by the coaches.

[Gadritan]

lol. That was my initial reaction too. The US went as far as it did because of the players. We got probably 80% out of the team that we could have thanks to Bob.

Watching Donovan -> Buddle goal last night in the LA-SEA game just made me shake my head again. Buddle was on fire before the WC...and still is. Why the fuck he didn't get more time is baffling.

[Headspace]

Yeah, I'd say the players go through the group stage despite Bob Bradley

[Gadritan]

He does have a point about Rooney though. He seems to be more of a product of the system. I'd have a hard time putting him in the same conversation as Messi, Villa, or even Forlan for that matter.

[Zoolander]

Yea that article is kinda meh. How did the US perform better than expected too? They lucked out against a struggling England team and struggled to tie and beat two teams they should have beat. Then they came out flat yet again to a respectable but beatable Ghana squad and ultimately lost. Where is the part that exceeded expectations? Sure winning the group was cool, but that was more despite the USs efforts and kind of defaulted to us. This WC should be seen as nothing more than a disappointment from a competition standpoint. Luckily most Americans don't realize/care about that, which is a good thing for the future of the sport. Remaining cautiously optimistic though.

I do like the indictment on the EPL though. Always thought it was a bit overblown.

[Mayareira]

Uh, oh.

http://img.mynet.com/ho/spor/ronaldinho-gobek.jpg

[Kuya]

lol

[Tyrath]

Yea that article is kinda meh. How did the US perform better than expected too?

They got top in their group and made it out of the group. How it happened doesn't matter. They did better than they were expected to.

[Judai]

They did better then expected by people who don't know shit about soccer maybe. Playing like crap due to horrid coaching and barely getting 4 pts against two teams we should have stomped is pathetic. The players willed themselves through the group and I am proud of them but they could have easily done so much more if it wasn't for horrible lineups.

Expectations for most avid soccer fans changed once we saw the group selection and then Ghana> Uruguay v S.Korea in the knockouts. We could have won two games there and really shocked the world.

[Stiker]

I agree with the coaching sentiments. I mean, if you are well coached you don't consistently fuck up and give up a goal within the first 10 minutes that often (goes back before Cup games too). After the USA got about 25-30 minutes in, they would look like a different team completely and seemed to let their talent take over (out of desperation possibly).

USA did great, but just imagine if they don't allow those early goals. We'd be talking about a team that easily won its group and making surprising noise in the bracket rounds most likely.

I don't want to take away what our boys achieved, but I definitely feel like they had the potential to do even more than they did.

[sruon]

Really, comparing Premier leagues to WC is 'lol' at best.

Clubs have money, choice on players regardless of their nationality, they play/train every day for months and actually have strategies tested and approved.

National teams have what? Players that play together maybe once every 2 months for a year, 3 weeks prior to WC with 3-4 matches at best and you're stuck with players of your own nation. You can't even get a working strategy in that time frame.

[Mayareira]

Really, comparing Premier leagues to WC is 'lol' at best.

Clubs have money, choice on players regardless of their nationality, they play/train every day for months and actually have strategies tested and approved.

National teams have what? Players that play together maybe once every 2 months for a year, 3 weeks prior to WC with 3-4 matches at best and you're stuck with players of your own nation. You can't even get a working strategy in that time frame.

Pst, that's what international friendly games all year round and international camps are for. Top teams have a massive pool of talented players.

Also certain leagues have restrictions. For example, Serie A sides cannot sign more than 2 non-EU players from abroad per season (bye bye cheap south american players). Spanish teams cannot have more than 3 non-EU players on the field, English teams have work permit restrictions (not an issue for top players, but yeah).

Not to mention, too many international players and cultural differences isn't always a good thing, it may end up damaging the squad harmony....and it does in most cases. Salary differences, expectations caused by high transfer fees, grouping of certain culture groups, financial troubles that keep hitting bunch of teams every year, other clubs getting players distracted....club teams also have serious issues out there. It isn't simply "they have money they buy whatever they want", and not all of them are Chelsea.

In many cases, successful international teams play very well with an unmatched harmony as long as they are managed well. Boost of national pride, same culture group, same language do help a lot.

[Tyrath]

I only really tune in to soccer for the world cup, but I've found it to be very exciting this year. I don't know if I'd care much about club scene, but I seem to enjoy international competition. Are there any international tournaments other than the world cup and the euro cup in the world of soccer?

[Mayareira]

I only really tune in to soccer for the world cup, but I've found it to be very exciting this year. I don't know if I'd care much about club scene, but I seem to enjoy international competition. Are there any international tournaments other than the world cup and the euro cup in the world of soccer?

World Cup, European Champoinships and Copa America are the best ones out there due to the competition and the quality of teams. Asia has AFC Asian Cup and Africa has African Cup of Nations.

Other than these, there is FIFA Confederations Cup which is some sort of a pre-world cup friendly tournament that is out there to help the host country for organization.

Olympics also has a football tournament but it is quite lol. Still, there is a gold medal for that.

[Moss]

I agree with the coaching sentiments. I mean, if you are well coached you don't consistently fuck up and give up a goal within the first 10 minutes that often (goes back before Cup games too). After the USA got about 25-30 minutes in, they would look like a different team completely and seemed to let their talent take over (out of desperation possibly).

USA did great, but just imagine if they don't allow those early goals. We'd be talking about a team that easily won its group and making surprising noise in the bracket rounds most likely.

I don't want to take away what our boys achieved, but I definitely feel like they had the potential to do even more than they did.

Idk, I think blaming the early goals on coaching is a cop out. Not saying Bradley coached well, as I know next to nothing about coaching in soccer, and from what I hear and saw, he did a pretty bad job with the lineups. I just think saying "we kept giving up early goals so the coach did a bad job motivating" is extremely weak logic. If you need motivation from your coach during the freakin world cup, you have deeper problems.

[volcanicweather]

I only really tune in to soccer for the world cup, but I've found it to be very exciting this year. I don't know if I'd care much about club scene, but I seem to enjoy international competition. Are there any international tournaments other than the world cup and the euro cup in the world of soccer?

The Champions League takes the best club teams in Europe (Barcelona, Manchester United, Inter Milan, etc) and makes them play each other to see which club is the best team in Europe... it is extremely exciting and probably the easiest competition to get into and follow. It is all over fox soccer channel (which more and more cable companies are adding to basic packages or is really cheap) and some matches are even played on fox.

Leagues such as the EPL (England), La Liga (Spain), and Serie A (Italy) require a bit more dedication to follow as matches are played at least once a week and more often twice a week. Each league also has their own "cup" also where teams from the top tier play against teams from the lower tiers (i.e. minor leagues) which goes on throughout the season. Imagine if baseball had a tournament where every Friday a major league time played against a minor league team for the entire season... it's kind of like that.

The best thing to do if you're looking to get into the sport is figure out which team you want to support. I've seen time and time again people will be more interested when they have something invested in a team. The team you choose can be through family heritage, maybe there's a player on the team from a country you've been to or are from, or just a place you have visited. It's not like the U.S. where you normally are grandfathered into liking local teams through your family and where you've grown up.

Just a FYI - if you choose say, Barcelona, some people may call you a bandwagon fan because they are what I call "football elitists", but just ignore them. As long as you don't act like a "know it all" most people will be glad to share their knowledge of the team with you and make you a better fan of whatever side you choose.

[Gadritan]

I'm predicting 2-1 Spain, though I'm going to be rooting for Uruguay. Got my financial investment in them, and I've gotten kind of attached to Forlan. I still can't put my finger on why he struggled with ManU so much. He was clutch at times, but wasn't a consistent contributor.

Makes me question saying Rooney is a product of the system in hindsight. Seeing as how he stepped in right when they ditched Forlan and produced immediately. I guess it's the lack of flair in how he plays, yet he's always in the right place at the right time. That can be priceless for a club.

[Mugekuge]

To add on Volcanic about leagues to watch, south american ones aren't bad at all, brazilian and argentinan leagues are fun to watch, games of flamengo, corinthians, vasco, fluminense, boca-river.

Also Copa Libertadores de América (south american version of champion league) is very good, actually it will resume after world cup is over, i think is on semifinal phase atm but stopped because world cup.

And of course gotta be a Real Madrid fan, fuck Barcelona .

[Tyrath]

Thanks for the info guys. Though like I said, I don't really think Im gonna get into club soccer and what not. I'll probably look out for the Euro cup and the Copa America when they happen.

[Devolver]

Uruguay has to have the worst national anthem I have ever heard.