General Soccer Thread

[thrill]

Wondolowski SUCKS.

[MrSaigon]

Would Giuseppi have put any of those in? Damn that was frustrating.

[thrill]

Clint with an absurd, silly performance. Awful game. Jamaica is scary.

[robbotis]

Would Giuseppi have put any of those in? Damn that was frustrating.

Of course. He's one of the top 15 finishers in the world.
On the game,
Wondowlski- blows
Altidore- FINALLY, amazing shot, needs to do that more often
Dempsey- Wow, he normally would have a hat trick w/ those opportunities.

Beating Guadaloupe 1-0, w/ all the studs playing, EMBARASSING.

That's like the US National team taking on a pickup game in Des Moines. And only winning 1-0.
The City of Des Moines has as many people as Guadaloupe, and the same quality of players.
It's embarrasing, and Bradley should probably resign before he gets canned.

[thrill]

Dempsey- Wow, he normally would have a hat trick w/ those opportunities.

Beating Guadaloupe 1-0, w/ all the studs playing, EMBARASSING.

These two things are related. We dominated, they had zero shots on goal and Clint would normally finish at least two of those. 1-0 wasn't indicative. It's frustrating, I agree, but it isn't as bad as all that. Des Moines couldn't finish second in the Caribbean Cup or 4th in a Gold Cup.

Anything less than a Gold Cup championship, however, I agree Bob needs to go. This team is too lethargic and too passive.

[thrill]

Jozy's bomb from last night:


[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSgii83h ... dded#at=44][/youtube]

[Freed Roger]

As much as I'd like to see the US team succeed in WC/internationally - I don't mind when an impoverished small caribbean country gives them a run.

[JackofDiamonds]

What's up with Charlie Davies?

[robbotis]

What's up with Charlie Davies?

He sucks. He wasn't that good before the bad car accident. I believe he's in MLS now, DC United?
I like my Forwards to either score goals, or be super creative and set up goals. He does neither.
The US has enough of these Possession, Holding, or Target forwards. They need scorers, badly.
That's why Aguedelo is getting hype. If he turns into anything it will be a scorer.

[thrill]

What's up with Charlie Davies?

DC United. Tied for 3rd in the league in goals. Leading the league in goals per minute.

He sucks. He wasn't that good before the bad car accident. I believe he's in MLS now, DC United?
I like my Forwards to either score goals, or be super creative and set up goals. He does neither.
The US has enough of these Possession, Holding, or Target forwards. They need scorers, badly.
That's why Aguedelo is getting hype. If he turns into anything it will be a scorer.

This is absolutely, flat-out wrong.

First off, Charlie Davies isn't a target forward. When he was up top in the Confed's Cup and World Cup qualifying, Jozy or Conor Casey played the target role. Charlie used his speed and craftiness at testing the offside line to get behind the back line and receive diagonal through balls from Landon and Bradley. When he was healthy, he was our most consistent forward period. Game in and game out he brought it unlike any pure striker in our entire player pool. His work rate, first touch, his strength, his skill on the counter attack, his direct style/dribbling in the box and his speed completely opened up our attack. If you even watched the Confederation's cup in '09 and still believe what you just posted, you're off your rocker.

Game 1 vs Italy - We start a 4-5-1 with Jozy as the lone striker. Jozy's inability to stretch the defense and not having a forward who can receive the ball running off the target striker allows the Italians to dominate possession in the midfield and flay us on the counter attack. offense gets destroyed in the midfield, Jozy gets no service and Landon and Deuce spend too much time dropping back to defend. We lose an embarassing rout to Giuseppi Rossi's brace and the rest of the Italian flop squad 3-1.

Game 2 vs Brazil - Bob does not learn his lesson. We play an inexplicable 4-2-3-1 with Jozy again the lone and Clint as the withdrawn forward. Donovan and Beasley on the wings with Kljestan and Bradley in the center. We again get worked in the midfield, Dempsey spends too much time dropping back and Jozy makes pointless runs with no service because he sucks at receiving the ball on transition. We lose 3-0.

Game 3 - Bob figures it out when he nothing left to lose. Adopts the same 4-2-2-2 formation we used up through the World Cup. Dempsey wide right, Landon wide left receiving balls on the half turn from the back line or Bradley in the middle and Charlie withdrawn to the left and Jozy high on the right. Our transition game dominates, Landon and Charlie work like a [expletive] dream on the counter attack with Charlie running the left corner receiving Landon's pinpoint pass, holding it and finding Landon on the give and go. Charlie's speed opens up the field enormously to give Landon room to operate which he so desperately needs. We dominate, Charlie shows his patented strength and determination in the box and opens the scoring, we advance on a miracle 3-0 win and an equally miraculous 3-0 Italian defeat.

Game 4 - The infamous Spain game. Bob sticks to the same tactics, Charlie's speed and combination with Feilhaber and Landon keep the midfield spread, Charlie's activity keeps the back line occupied so Jozy can receive balls and turn defenders one-on-one (his greatest strength) so Spain can't play it's customary possession triangle based game and we win 2-0 on two counter attack fast break goals.

Game 5 - Same deal, Landon and Charlie combine on a beautiful counter attack goal, Landon to Charlie, Charlie to Landon, goal.


Charlie Davies then of course used the very same speed, skill and chemistry with Landon on the counter attack to give us our first EVER lead at Estadio Azteca against Mexico, drops the stanky leg in the corner and of course we go on to lose 2-1.

Fact is, Charlie when he was healthy was the single most important igniting factor to make Bob's tactics work, give our best player Landon the best environment in which to play his best game (receiving on the half turn, running at the defender and springing pinpoint passes then running at goal) and was instrumental in making two of the biggest victories in US Soccer history (Egypt, Spain) as well as making two of our most disappointing losses competitive (Brazil in the final and at Mexico).