Quote :

"Complain all you want, but when it comes to talent we are just outclassed."

How about heart? Effort? Motivation? Coaching and tactics that give you a reasonable chance to win?

Throw out all your fucking records and statistics and bullshit. There is absolutely no reason we should lose a game the way we did.

6/18/2009 1:21:09 PM

Just now watching the game on dvr. That third goal by Brazil was a thing of beauty.

6/18/2009 1:22:35 PM

for page 8

no one said we are more talented than brazil...no one in the world is, the only way you beat brazil is by outcoaching them. and its not like brazil just find the best players in the world and let them run around and do what they want, they do have good good managers for the national team.

you are making a weird argument...of course you can take the best team or 2nd best or wherever brazil is right now and show that they hardly ever lose...you can do that with any sport. but what you arent disproving is that we arent improving because of coaching. thats the obvious flaw on this team. sure, maybe brazilian players can juggle the ball up in the air a few hundred times more than american players but that doesnt do you any good on the field if you dont know where to pass it, when to pass it, when to dribble, when to cross, etc...

skills makes the player, were good on that. i have no problem with our players skill level
tactics makes the team, we dont have that. i do have a problem with this. we need a european coach badly

6/18/2009 1:23:23 PM

HIRE CARLO ENCHILADA

6/18/2009 1:29:18 PM

lol!


this loss will put bradley at a .500 record this year, and a loss to egypt will put us under .500 for the first time in a while i think. i think that shows how bad his coaching is right now

6/18/2009 1:30:27 PM

i have a lot of egyptian teachers...this should be epic

6/18/2009 1:31:30 PM

^^^^I agree that we don't have great coaching, but Brazil beat Italy and Germany to win World Cup titles in 1994 and 2002. Those teams have good talent and coaching, but still managed to lose. Give us a great coach and more often than not, we still lose to Brazil. I don't think our skill level is there like you say it is. Tactics are important, but Brazil is more skilled than us.

Quote :

"onyewu was looked at by man utd i think for a little bit at one point if i remember right bocanegra played for fulham in the epl dempsey is one fulhams leading goal scorers and prob most gifted player we have footskills-wise spector played for man utd and is still in the epl with west ham landon obv played in Germany for a bit jozy and davies play in europe a lot of our midfield play in europe most of our full national team play in europe, which shows we have the talent to compete with and on other european teams. and they are getting over there on talent alone. they arent starting over there because they lack the tactical knowledge all the other players around them already have... thats why many of our european players havent really been getting playing time, save for a few."

Yeh, but what teams are they starting for? Where is our poster boy midfielder or forward that is starting for Barcelona, or AC Milan like Kaka does? There is a difference between Fulham and AC Milan. Altidore didn't play in the Champions League this year even though his team did. When I see us passing and shooting, it looks as though we are not as skilled as other teams. Just look at Beasley's turnover that led to the second goal vs Brazil. Great players don't do that.

[Edited on June 18, 2009 at 1:33 PM. Reason : .]

6/18/2009 1:32:56 PM

Are you 5?

NOBODY IS SAYING WE HAVE THE SKILL BRAZIL DOES

6/18/2009 1:35:56 PM

beasley is terrible. every person on here has said that. no one wants him to start....jesus

quit comparing us to brazil. 9 times out 10 almost every team in the world will lose to them if they play them over and over....we lost to them, its over.


jesus christ... why not look at some of brazil's players too if you are so in love with them now, prob a 1/3 of that team are players that still play in brazil or teams that havent done that well this year. there is no national team out there that every player/starter on the team is on champions league winner or league winner...come on man, ^ is right, you are acting silly



we dont need a posterboy player. we need a posterboy coach. ill take a team of average players (which imo would be worse in talent, we are better than average) with a great coach before ill take a team full of stars with a shitty coach...

[Edited on June 18, 2009 at 1:40 PM. Reason : f]

6/18/2009 1:38:20 PM

i want to see what our recent record is after giving up the first goal. it seems that teams can sense that we just roll over once we go down

6/18/2009 1:39:41 PM

from the honduras game:

"Tonight’s come-from-behind victory was the first in qualifying for the Unites States in more than 24 years, the last occurring on May 15, 1985 against Trinidad & Tobago in St. Louis. Soldier Field hosted the latest come-from-behind victory as well, which occurred during the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup final when the U.S. came back from a goal down against Mexico to earn the regional title and a spot in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup."

6/18/2009 1:42:11 PM

wow lol

in other news, kaka for world player of the year

6/18/2009 1:47:28 PM

^^^^Exactly! My point is most teams lose to Brazil and there seems to be a lot of people on here that are acting like we should beat them. Iraq played better than us yesterday and still managed to lose to Spain. Our coaching is average and you can agrue about Bradley's line ups and formations all you want, but in the end we still lose big games. I don't think his tactics are quite as bad as some people believe, we just aren't that talented.

[Edited on June 18, 2009 at 1:49 PM. Reason : .]

6/18/2009 1:49:14 PM

no, people just expect us to actually show up for the game

6/18/2009 1:52:36 PM

well he picks the players, he makes the tactics, its also his responsibility to make sure the players are focused and look like they want to win. these are all the jobs of a manager, and imo he is failing in most if not all these aspects...

^^^lol. kakanaldo joint world player of the year??? duel midfield role???? ROBOMIDFIELDER?!

[Edited on June 18, 2009 at 1:55 PM. Reason : F]

6/18/2009 1:54:49 PM

lol show me one post where somebody expected us to beat Brazil today

6/18/2009 1:55:49 PM

real madrid for player of the year

6/18/2009 1:58:03 PM

ahahaha

6/18/2009 1:58:29 PM

Quote :

"no, people just expect us to actually show up for the game"

I think we did show up, but that early goal shook the team and the red card killed us. On top of that our back line is crap. Bradley has used a wide range of back lines since he started coaching the team and they still fail to mark their man on set pieces which results in giving up goals. This was a different lineup from the Costa Rica game and that back line gave up 3 goals too.

[Edited on June 18, 2009 at 2:04 PM. Reason : .]

6/18/2009 2:03:00 PM

all these points you just made, that falls on the shoulders of bradley...

6/18/2009 2:07:13 PM

Quote :

"red card killed us"

lol, I guess you missed the previous 55 minutes or so where we were getting obliterated... unbelievable

6/18/2009 2:09:37 PM

amac for world player of the year



jtmoneyncsu's reaction


im pretty sure i have over 50 posts today on soccer alone haha

[Edited on June 18, 2009 at 2:14 PM. Reason : e]

6/18/2009 2:11:56 PM

that would be the definition of not showing up...giving up a goal on a set play in the 7th minute. sasha's red card was horrendous, compounded by the fact that we were already down 2-0. cesar didn't even have to make a save all game. how was this showing up?

Quote :

"melo's goal marked the third time in four matches the United States fell behind within the first seven minutes"

6/18/2009 2:14:07 PM

poor coaching if this is a trend. im ok if brazil scores on us in he 7th minute and if we lose...but since this is becoming some sort of pattern, im a little enraged at what it appears to be bradley having a shitty approach to the beginning of our games

6/18/2009 2:15:51 PM

its not just how he prepares us, he makes horrible moves throughout the game too. I don't know why you wouldn't make the third sub, just to get a player experience against a top team in a competitive tournament, especially when your players are worn out from playing down a man for half the game. We are way better of a team than this, and all everyone wants is to play a good game, but the last 5 or 6 of our games that i've watched have been really difficult.

6/18/2009 2:27:26 PM

i was just reading through some soccer blog online, and the majority consensus is that people want a change. a lot of these people actually know what they are talking about and make valid points, most of which we are discussing on here...basically bradley is in way over his head in the international world. he peaked in the mls, and we all know how great that league is...

[Edited on June 18, 2009 at 2:36 PM. Reason : obama for coach '10???]

6/18/2009 2:35:51 PM

i may purchase firebobbradley.com

6/18/2009 2:37:56 PM

DO IT!

i will support the site

6/18/2009 2:41:18 PM

Quote :

"red card killed us"

i am so goddamn tired of hearing people use this as an excuse

shit play is shit play, regardless of a red card in the 55th minute

[Edited on June 18, 2009 at 2:44 PM. Reason : i don't even know why i bother to post that seeing as who is trying to use that as an excuse]

6/18/2009 2:43:19 PM

i completely forgot about this other game...0-0 37th minute, prob been a snoozefest


IF, and by god do i mean if, egypt were to pull a miracle out and win against italy we would still have a chance to go through...sadly...

we would have to beat egypt, prob not even badly. and just hope that brazil beat italy by a couple goals....


it would be an If-Fest





and egypt shouldve scored just then

[Edited on June 18, 2009 at 3:08 PM. Reason : yikes]

6/18/2009 3:07:00 PM

woot egypt lead 1-0!


BUT BUT BUT THEY HAD A GREAT 1 MINUTE AGAINST BRAZIL...i think ive said like 13 times egypt are a great tourney team...will big4 ever believe any of us online?!

egypt with all 17 of their posterboy players on that team lead the reigning world champions....




and this also goes with my theory that italy are getting worse...that defense just stood there and gave up a free header, when does italy ever do that?

[Edited on June 18, 2009 at 3:12 PM. Reason : old guys]

6/18/2009 3:10:24 PM

^^Our goal differential is -5 so I'm guessing we would have to win by 3

6/18/2009 3:31:06 PM

I can't wait to get home and watch this game. But I'm glad to see my countrymen are doing so well. I've been really disappointed in Egypt in the past when it comes to qualifying for the World Cup especially when we do so well in the Africa Cup.

6/18/2009 4:02:29 PM

wow - way to keep that one out of the goal...

6/18/2009 4:05:45 PM

Quote :

"all these points you just made, that falls on the shoulders of bradley..."

No doubt he is average, but like I said, he has tried multiple back lines and they are all average. We have no defenders that seem to be good at stopping world class defenders on a consistent basis. Honestly, we weren't doing that bad against Italy, but things kind of went down hill in the second half when we were down a man and they put more attackers on knowing we were going to have trouble creating offense. I want an 11 vs 11 rematch. Egypt didn't create much more offense than us today they just happened to have some act of God saves made by their GK.

6/18/2009 4:34:14 PM

w00t, egypt won.

I called it

6/18/2009 4:41:31 PM

Quote :

"I want an 11 vs 11 rematch."

ha

6/18/2009 4:45:06 PM

^Ok 12 vs 11 since the refs will find a way to help the other team win like the flop that led to the first goal in the Brazil game.

[Edited on June 18, 2009 at 4:51 PM. Reason : .]

6/18/2009 4:50:39 PM

Yeah, the refs always be hatin'

6/18/2009 4:51:14 PM

^They don't make it any easier for our back line.

6/18/2009 4:53:05 PM

HISTORY NOT HATE

6/18/2009 4:59:50 PM

can't blame the refs for any result the US has had this tourny.


You know, you guys are all ganging up on big4country. but i have to agree, teams like brasil just have natural phenoms with loads of talent. and that talent is much easier to coach. it's a circular argument. you could argue that michael jordan made phil jackson look like a great coach, and you could argue that phil jackson took michael jordan from a great player to the greatest player. either way, we don't have absolute geniuses the likes of a kaka, messi, or c. ronaldo. but that is all the more reason to find a manager who can do more with less.

in the end it doesn't matter. we've got to find a way to play with the cards we are dealt. i've waited patiently for bob bradley to come around. i even held my breath during copa america because he (stupidly) decided to play with poorer talent. but i think that decision is rearing its ugly head now, because we haven't played quality oppositions since the last world cup. why on earth would you waste any opportunity to play against world class opposition when you're trying to build a program from the bottom up? after this gutless and heartless performance in this tourny, i'm at the end of my rope with this guy. it's absolutely sickening to think that US soccer has barely (if at all) improved from that '94 world cup team. You can hear the pain and anguish in john harkes voice when he watches these effortless performances. JOHN FUCKING HARKES. I would like to see our team play with the passion that egypt has shown. or that turkey played with during the euro cup. you know, at least that '94 team played with pride.

the problem is the culture of ussf, as someone mentioned earlier. our only concern is to beat mexico. if we can beat mexico, we qualify for the world cup, and we just roll the dice from there. we've proven we can do that, and we've built a team that is pretty good at beating mexico. but mexico hasn't been a world power for years, and it pisses me off to no end that we waste away opportunities to play quality opponents so that we can instead focus on winning the "gold cup."

our players apparently have the conditioning of chain smokers. top players like messi and c. ronaldo are playing top level competitions 11 months of the year, and we're afraid of sending landon donovan to back to back international tournaments? we don't develop our talent, and if we do, it doesn't matter, because our coaches play favorites and continue to play players like beasley who just get worse and worse (and after a mistake like today, he should have to swim home). and this is coming from a guy who was in love with beasley after the '02 cup.

and what's with jozi not being able to get at least 80 minutes?

6/18/2009 5:11:11 PM

^I like your first paragraph. That sums up the argument. As for Copa America, he did the only thing he could do. Since it was not our confederations tournament the players clubs did not have to release them for international duty like they did for teh Gold Cup. Beasley had to fly across the ocean to sign a contract with Rangers that week and they couldn't let all of the MLS stars miss the entire season. They handled that as well as they could and it was a good experience for players like Davies.

6/18/2009 5:19:20 PM

^again, that is a fundamental problem with USSF.

Country > Club. Always.

And that passion isn't evident in the USSF, nor the players. I seem to remember Freddie Kanoute getting fined by Sevilla because he refused to play for them and instead chose to play an international match for Mali. This is big time club soccer we're talking here on the verge of qualifying for the Champions league, and he chose to play an international match for Mali instead. You mean to tell me that Landon Donovan can't miss a game for the Galaxy? (Not to keep blasting on Landon Donovan, but he sucks and you get my point.)

6/18/2009 5:26:40 PM

^^^ i agree with most of what you say, except for the refs, i think they fucked us against italy. we still might not have won, but it wouldve been a game.

I was thinking the same thing about jozy, he looked like he was finally starting to make plays when bradley took him out this game, thats why i was surprised about the move. its probably pretty tough on him with this single striker sort of hybrid 4-3-3 thing bradley puts out there, where jozy is alone most of the time. he never gets any help up there. bradley should just try running a 442 for once with someone like davies , i think they would play off each other well with davies being fast and jozy being able to hold the ball up

[Edited on June 18, 2009 at 5:30 PM. Reason : asd]

6/18/2009 5:30:32 PM

there's a local group of somali refugees where i live, quite large community, and if you go watch their pickup Futbol games, you'd think they take down our National team. Ridiculous on-the-ball skillz.

6/18/2009 5:45:06 PM

^^^The problem is you can't let players like Donovan, Mastroeni, DeMerit, Kljestan miss the entire season almost every year because of national team duty and MLS can't go to an August to May schedule because soccer is a nitche sport in the USA and would have trouble drawing fans when it ran the same schedule as the NFL, NBA, and NHL in the same cities.

6/18/2009 6:05:18 PM

wow, the US could still advance to the second round if italy looses to brazil and we beat egypt...crazy

6/18/2009 6:07:32 PM

^But it comes down to goal differential. That means we need to win about 4-0 since we are -5 in goal differential and Italy who is +1 needs to lose by about 2, or 3 to put us ahead of them.

6/18/2009 6:12:58 PM

just watched the highlights of Spain vs. New Zealand

and (though I haven't watched Eto'o and Imbrahimovic all that much) that pretty much sealed my opinion of Torres as the best pure striker in the world

6/18/2009 6:30:11 PM