The Soccer thread

[EspyJoel]

If I was Tevez I would have left he puts in 110% for the club and is just shoved on the bench, he did not get enough first team football, he should have been playing virtually every game, but Man U didn't so he really had no choice if he wanted to further his career and play more.

 

[EconBiscuit]

1. Always thought Ronaldo would stay as long as fergie was there, yes they got £80million for him, Real would make that back in a season or two after merchandising him. Bad choice on Utd. part for letting him go.

2. Teves, never really liked the guy that much, and it just shows how much of a greedy bastard he is, Only reason Utd. couldn't guarentee him earlier was the amount that his owner wanted for him. Also, he was a big fish in a small pond at West Ham, but he's a goldfish in the Sea at Utd.

3. Giggs still plays well, as does scholes, they both still deserve there place in the team as far as I am concerned, Giggs and Scholes may not have the physical attributes but their footballing experience and knowledge are still unparalled. Giggs has stepped aside this season (was it 14/15 starts in all?) as has Giggs, but Anderson and Nani are too young to be consistently playing, same as Rafael. Giggs won't leave, but I can see Scholes moving to Oldham to finish off his playing career then going back to Utd.

4. Utd. are in need of a prolific striker, Rooney, can't fault him at all for anything, but Utd. are lacking that certain striker that they've always had Cantona, Nistelrooy, Law. They need a Torres, and they need him soon if they want to continue reigning supreme.

5. Come on the Poppies, League two here we come :P

 

[EspyJoel]

2. Teves, never really liked the guy that much, and it just shows how much of a greedy bastard he is, Only reason Utd. couldn't guarentee him earlier was the amount that his owner wanted for him. Also, he was a big fish in a small pond at West Ham, but he's a goldfish in the Sea at Utd.

He put in so much for Man U then is just dropped to the bench so stop having a go at him, he had no choice, he deserved 1st team football and wasn't getting it so of course he left.

 

[Taylor]

Ronaldo would not extend his contract and his current deal expires in two years. Now, if we were to keep him for another year, he would not sell for even £40m because Real would wait one more year for Ronaldo to transfer on a free. But we sold him two years early, therefore we made a lot more money. If we wanted to cash in on Ronaldo, it had to be this year.

 

[sbc]

He put in so much for Man U then is just dropped to the bench so stop having a go at him, he had no choice, he deserved 1st team football and wasn't getting it so of course he left.

Putting in 110% in is not sufficient to start for Manchester United. Rooney does the same, except he scored more goals and created more relative to starts and clearly loves the club much more than Tevez who'd rather fuck off to City than play for Manchester United. Good fucking riddance, he had a good first season but his technique and control at times last season were quite frankly appalling as was his pandering to the fans and in the media.

 

[EspyJoel]

Rooney fucked off from Everton to Man U so don't start talking about loving a club.

 

[EconBiscuit]

Ronaldo would not extend his contract and his current deal expires in two years. Now, if we were to keep him for another year, he would not sell for even £40m because Real would wait one more year for Ronaldo to transfer on a free. But we sold him two years early, therefore we made a lot more money. If we wanted to cash in on Ronaldo, it had to be this year.

I'm sure he signed a four year contract or something last year making him the highest earner at Utd? Maybe I was mistaken.

@ Joel: Tevez put fuck all into that club to make it any better than it was, All he was, was a someone to help rest Rooney. He wasn't good enough to stay on as a permanant first team member :P.

Also He is no Sosjkaer (Sp?)

Rooney left Everton too further his career, he's still Evertonian at heart.

Many players of a team have another team at heart, and have to leave the club they love for reasons that are beyond their/clubs control. However claiming time and time again that though Real was his Passion as a Kid, he'd always stick by his 2nd father and his "home" (club)

 

[eig]

How the Hell did USA pull that off?

They managed to make up a six goal difference thanks to Brazil destroying Italy, I was watching both matches on the BBC website, it was a massive comeback judging by the previous games.

 

[Taylor]

I cannot believe how the US qualified in those circumstances.

 

[EspyJoel]

Yeah I was surprised too, doubt they'll get much further but making up 6 goals was an amazing surprise so who knows, I still think Spain will take it as Brazil often choke although so did Spain till the European Championships.

 

[Raistmagic]

I'm proud as hell of the USA. Still wondering about some of the lineup decisions though.

A lot of the younger guys are being left out. We put Guzan in to give howard a break but still left out Adu, Torres, etc.

Maybe we'll be able to keep this momentum against Spain.

 

[Luphrous]

I can't believe USA made it....

USA's soccer team is just so...horrible. I hate watching them, it's embarrassing. And now I'm gonna have to listen to all these people talking about how well we did, all the positives, etc. for a year....

God forbid we do well against Spain >.< There would be no end to it...

Oh and fellow Americans, sorry if you disagree with my view lol. I suppose I'm not being very patriotic.

 

[Raistmagic]

I can't believe USA made it....

USA's soccer team is just so...horrible. I hate watching them, it's embarrassing. And now I'm gonna have to listen to all these people talking about how well we did, all the positives, etc. for a year....

God forbid we do well against Spain >.< There would be no end to it...

Oh and fellow Americans, sorry if you disagree with my view lol. I suppose I'm not being very patriotic.

Nothing wrong with disliking the way our team plays. We play very awfully at times. However, you can't deny that we played well today. The play that lead up to Bradley's goal was very impressive from a team that struggles to score goals regularly.

Btw, did you watch in 2002? That was a great team.

 

[Luphrous]

To be honest Brazil vs. Italy was the game of choice at my house, so I can't really say how well the USA played. However given they beat Egypt, who had done surprisingly well, 3-0, then I suppose I should admit that they must have been playing well.

Back in 2002 I was a mere 9 years old and didn't pay nearly as much attention to international football as I do today, so again I can't really comment on them. Though if I recall, they did do quite well, didn't they?

 

[NESgamer]

I think the US team has improved over the years though, the proof is how they advance in world cups and now the Confederations.

Even though, they got the assistance of Brazil, the terrible performance of Italy and even Egypt the "wtf" team of the group, great match against Brazil with an undeserved defeat, victory over Italy and then loosing against the US without the great football they displayed in the first two matches. Egypt was awful today.

Now i think Spain against Brazil is a good final, i doubt there will be surprises.

 

[husk]

The main problem I've seen with the american team is that they severely lack confidence versus "big" teams (italy, brazil, etc). As soon as the USA team has to play teams who are relatively smaller they play rather well (this is how we qualify for the WC each time in CONCACAF and lose shortly after). It's unfortunate that our next opponent is the most hyped team for the WC and so I don't really expect much of a performance from the american team. Even if the USA team does perform well I'm afraid I don't think it will be enough to defeat Spain =[. That being said, I'm cheering for the USA ^_^.

I can't believe USA made it....

USA's soccer team is just so...horrible. I hate watching them, it's embarrassing. And now I'm gonna have to listen to all these people talking about how well we did, all the positives, etc. for a year....

God forbid we do well against Spain >.< There would be no end to it...

Oh and fellow Americans, sorry if you disagree with my view lol. I suppose I'm not being very patriotic.

Obviously this irks me as an American supporter but aside from all of that I think you should watch more American soccer. Maybe not the international level where we freeze up 9/10 times but in the MLS. Just check out some of our players around the world. We're not as bad as everyone thinks we are. We're certainly no Brazil or Spain but there aren't many teams who can play at that level. I don't see everyone picking those teams apart, especially natives. I suppose you "hate watching them" so you've never really seen what they can do.

Further, "God forbid we do well against Spain"...what the fuck is that? "I hope the American team doesn't put up a world class performance versus a world class team. That would be so terrible ;_;" That's a douche move no matter who you're rooting for.

 

[Luphrous]

Further, "God forbid we do well against Spain"...what the fuck is that? "I hope the American team doesn't put up a world class performance versus a world class team. That would be so terrible ;_;" That's a douche move no matter who you're rooting for.

Ok fine, if we do good then that's great for their confidence and all. But from my point of view, I'm gonna have to hear people being all positive about our performances and how we got through for a year, I don't want to have to put up with hearing about our efforts against Spain too.

As for watching the MLS, I've tried that. I hated it, and found it very boring. That's probably because I was comparing it to the EPL, my channel showed mostly EPL games so when the MLS was on, I couldn't help but compare them.

For what it's worth, I don't just think all Americans suck at soccer no matter what. It's just the ones from the MLS, who of course make up most of the National team lol. But when I see and American playing abroad(Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, Brad Friedel, etc.), I do root for them and genuinely hope that they perform well.

 

[Lakers]

The main problem I've seen with the american team is that they severely lack confidence versus "big" teams (italy, brazil, etc). As soon as the USA team has to play teams who are relatively smaller they play rather well (this is how we qualify for the WC each time in CONCACAF and lose shortly after). It's unfortunate that our next opponent is the most hyped team for the WC and so I don't really expect much of a performance from the american team. Even if the USA team does perform well I'm afraid I don't think it will be enough to defeat Spain =[. That being said, I'm cheering for the USA ^_^.




Obviously this irks me as an American supporter but aside from all of that I think you should watch more American soccer. Maybe not the international level where we freeze up 9/10 times but in the MLS. Just check out some of our players around the world. We're not as bad as everyone thinks we are. We're certainly no Brazil or Spain but there aren't many teams who can play at that level. I don't see everyone picking those teams apart, especially natives. I suppose you "hate watching them" so you've never really seen what they can do.

Further, "God forbid we do well against Spain"...what the fuck is that? "I hope the American team doesn't put up a world class performance versus a world class team. That would be so terrible ;_;" That's a douche move no matter who you're rooting for.

Honestly, I can legitely see this game being closer then people think. Of course I dont think U.S. can win, but in the back of my mind I definitely think it could be possible. How could they not be hyped after they just pulled the near impossible to advance? Their confidence has to be up after that win, and I just cant see them getting blown out. Unless Spain plays amazing, which they can, I just cant imagine this being a blowout

 

[sbc]

You can't look performing well in the MLS as being a pre-requisite for performing well at international level because it's not that strong a league, considered on par with League 1 football in the UK or second divisions elsewhere. Which is one of the reasons why Beckham went off to Milan, because he couldn't be considered for the national team playing in a mediocre league. That said, the USA does have one major thing going for it, which is that all their players are generally quick and fit which gives them an advantage against any team outside the top 15 in the world and they've got a couple of decent players playing or have played in Europe like Altidore, Howard, Donovan, Dempsey and Bradley (lol Adu who's probably in fact 25).

 

[husk]

Well that's one of the main issues with the American national team. The coach performs extremely well in the MLS but seems to be a little out of his league coaching at the international level. I hope he proves me wrong however!

As far as the USA players fitness goes...if you check the confederations cup stats the top 3 players who covered the most ground in their matches are all (amusingly) Americans. Hopefully they can recover for the match against Spain.

Link: http://www.fifa.com/confederationscup/statistics/index.html

 

[EconBiscuit]

Further, "God forbid we do well against Spain"...what the fuck is that? "I hope the American team doesn't put up a world class performance versus a world class team. That would be so terrible ;_;" That's a douche move no matter who you're rooting for.

I see where he's coming from with that, I don't think he's anti the american's playing well, its the media response afterwards.

Me living in England with all the media surrounding them, can you blame me for hating the team?

 

[Taylor]

Landon Donovan and Brad Friedal are quality. Brad is perhaps one of best keepers in the EPL.

In other news: United are closing in on Costa and Benzema, with speculation over bids at an estimate of £20m and £35m respectively. Wigan starlet Valenica is set to move to Old Trafford for £17m. I don't think Ribery will move to England.

 

[NESgamer]

Honestly, I can legitely see this game being closer then people think. Of course I dont think U.S. can win, but in the back of my mind I definitely think it could be possible. How could they not be hyped after they just pulled the near impossible to advance? Their confidence has to be up after that win, and I just cant see them getting blown out. Unless Spain plays amazing, which they can, I just cant imagine this being a blowout

Oh right, it won't be easy for Spain. However even if the US did "the impossible" to qualify, Spain has a monster winning streak going on for like more than a year already,counting Euro, qualifiers and now confederations,all of that backed up by a good team.

I think the US will try to shut down Spain offensive sort of what Iraq did(barely 1-0 Spain), and hold until they get a chance (be that free kick, corner, Donovan etc).

My guess is Spain 2-0 USA

 

[Lakers]

Oh right, it won't be easy for Spain. However even if the US did "the impossible" to qualify, Spain has a monster winning streak going on for like more than a year already,counting Euro, qualifiers and now confederations,all of that backed up by a good team.

I think the US will try to shut down Spain offensive sort of what Iraq did(barely 1-0 Spain), and hold until they get a chance (be that free kick, corner, Donovan etc).

My guess is Spain 2-0 USA

Well yeh, of course I dont think the USA can win. However, in the back of my head I gotta think how can they not play hard/well after they pulled the near impossible to advance? They have to be hyped up after that, and I just cant see them playing so bad that they get blown out. 2-0 Spain would be a good estimate, anything beyond that I just dont see happening

 

[husk]

I believe the last time USA played Spain (2008?) it was 1-0 in favor of Spain. I'm not really sure exactly what the rosters were either. Anyone know?