The Netherlands finished 3rd in last summers WC. They are currently ranked 5th in the world. The US just beat them 4-3. It was only a friendly, but they were using it as prep for upcoming Euro qualifiers so played their A-Team. http://www.sbisoccer.com/2015/06/incredible-comeback-netherlands.html The Sounders Academy was in involved in 2 of those 4 goals. DeAndre Yedlin is a Sounders Academy alum, a Sounder from 2013-2014 (two seasons in our Spring to Fall schedule) and currently plays in England. Jordan Morris is a Sounders Academy alum, currently playing at Stanford. He's stated he will sign with the Sounders, but the more exposure he gets, the more worried we as fans are. However it's probably baseless as he grew up a huge Sounders fan (and coincidentally his father is the teams Dr.) and cones from a rich family. Combined with a degree from Stanford, it's not like he needs to grab every dollar he can as soon as he can. The Sounders showed with Yedlin and Fredy they are perfectly willing to let younger guys move on up if they have a chance to play in Europe.
A great result for the U.S., who used a lot of young players in this match. The U.S. plays World #1, Germany, in Cologne, on Wednesday.
The Champions League Final, between Barcelona and Juventus will be broadcast live on Fox. Today (Saturday) 2:00 PM Eastern 1:00 PM Central 11:00 AM Pacific Preview here http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/sto...-champions-league-final-preview-berlin-060415
Yep, that is one of the best parts. Due to Dempsey (birth of a child) and Altidore (injury) being out, we had a lot of youngsters up top. And they delivered. Gyasi Zardes, Danny Williams, and Bobby Wood all got their first international goals this match. Less enthusiastic about our newish CBs. I realize he doesn't exactly qualify as young, but he's young enough to play this whole cycle, why not try Evans at CB? Supposedly that is where Klinnsman was playing him in camp before his injury and he is performing well there for the Sounders. Would also like to see Robbie Rogers get a run out at LB. Yedlin has improved his crossing game. I think he'll lock down RB before too long if he continues to play/improve like he's done every year now.
You don't half talk some amount of shite when it comes to football. Yes, Netherlands are playing Euro qualifiers next week and yes its a warm up but if you think this was anything other than a training session you are off your head. All of Europe finished their domestic leagues a few weeks back. Players should be on their holidays kicking back relaxing. Unfortunately UEFA have scheduled qualifiers for this weekend. That means that all players involved in national teams have had to keep their fitness. Last weeks matches were all about keeping some kind of match fitness. Witness England and Ireland pound out what was referred to in the media as the most boring game ever. Scotland meandering to a 1 -0 win over the mighty Qatar, etc etc. What you will see this weekend from European teams participating in big matches will be nothing like last weekend.
Oh it was just a friendly, I didn't know that. Do you disagree that the Netherlands played their A-team? What big changes do you see them making for qualifying? Fact is, we've never beaten them before in a friendly or otherwise and now we have. Klinsmann has DOUBLED our number of European friendlies since he took over. The idea that if you want to be on the next level, you've got to play teams on the next level. We're also gearing up for our continental tournament (Gold Cup) with a Confederations Cup berth on the line. What'll be interesting is the 2016 Copa America. In honor of it being the Centennial, they've invited the best teams from CONCACAF. That means half the teams that made into the knockout stage of the 2014 world cup will be participating. Be a good test against the best.
Oh do stop talking shit, like you're the world's greatest authority on the sport. In fact, makes me laugh looked at the top of this page and your hero worship of Yedlin. Inside word is he's been utterly awful in training and only has a half decent post-season tour to thank for not immediately going on the sale list. That's why he's hardly featured in first team games. @Stallion is right on the money, and a side playing their "A team" means nothing at this time of the season in friendlies. The only thing that means anything are the competitive qualfiers and even then it'll be something of a labouring affair. Some of these internationals have come off a 50-60 game season. I'm sure most would agree that US football is progressing at a decent rate, but the level you think it's going at is nothing but delusional. It still has a long way to go yet and having a few decent friendlies doesn't mean shit. What you need to be doing is having consistently good tournaments and/or qualifying games to establish that there is genuine progression and that you are a side that deserves to be well ranked for more than a year or two. That test has yet to come and many sides have come off a good World Cup and vanished. If Klinsmann does well going forward, then props to him. Few more ready to see him do well than me, as I was watching the man smash them in when your interest in football was as distant thought. But lets be realistic here. Some of the stuff you come out with is as cringeworthy as Spurs fans who still think we can win the league every year.
This from the guy who said we wouldn't win a game in our group last summer. We then went on to get out of group. That makes two tournaments in a row, a first for us. Considering that is exactly the type of consistent progression we need to show, I have to wonder if you are lashing out just to lash out, it doesn't appear to fact based, just indignant that an American dares to have an opinion on soccer? Or are you still upset over the US beating England 2-1 last week in the Toulon tournament to take 3rd? Speaking of youth tournaments how's England doing in the U-20 World Cup. Just saw the US made it to the quarters, that's pretty cool. But back to you not actually reading or thinking. 3/4ths of my post was about competitive tournaments the US is in being the real test, I have to wonder why you felt the need to spend half your post saying the same thing? We have Gold Cup this summer, Copa America next summer, then depending on how this years GC goes (win is straight in, loss is a playin against the winner) Condferations Cup in 2017. Which I already said. Try reading next time, not just reacting.
(1) You won't ever get anywhere trolling me with shit about England, I don't even watch the national side unless they're in a major tournament. I find the whole thing a farce and national embarrassment - for reasons you could give a shit about enough to ask. What's the Toulon tournament? Under 21 nonsense kiddie cups? (2) The problem in your nonsense is your myopic view of world football. The Gold Cup? The Confederations Cup? Copa America? Really? What's the most you're going to do? Have a couple of matches against Brazil and Argentina? The real test will be if you can go to these most senior of these competitions and properly compete and then survive enough for the next competitions and the world cup. Your domestic league is a joke that relies on old has beens from Europe, while your home produce fails to cut it over here (at least to date). Whether you like it or not, it's that week in, week out football that will establish your country as a footballing power, not how well your national side do. I mean, seriously, have you never stopped and thought why the England team is full of disinterested, overpaid wankers that get nowhere and yet the Premier League remains the most powerful club league in the world? You may not like it, but the USMC isn't where the future lies. It's in your league. and until your league stops being a Mickey Mouse competition you won't be taken seriously. Your constant promotion of the national team as a world beater just makes you look a little bit silly because you're so obviously missing the point. What's more is that you have the audacity to sneer down at people and their families who have been supporting clubs for long before you and I were born. Clubs that have histories....and proper trophies. Not some Hollywood millionaire's cartoon folly that will probably be gone in twenty years.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The U.S. will win the World Cup some day, and the most exciting thing about that will be the spectacle of all the Euros diving in to a deep depression. People in the States still won't give a damn about the sport.
I would expect the main changes will be in the team talk, next week the Netherlands will be treating it as a real match. Against the USA they will have been told........ "ok boys, go out there, work on some of the formations we have discussed as prep for next week. Don't dive into any stupid tackles, no stupid red cards, enjoy yourself and take it easy!" As for your post a few later, you won't see me defending the England national team, by and large they underachieve and should be far better than they are. But before you get too excited about under 21 tournaments, you need to be aware that England are missing some big players who have featured for the senior side. Its been a point of some debate over here about whether they should field the strongest team or let the young guns who have stepped up, move on with their careers in senior football. What you will see are Ross Barkley, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Raheem Sterling all eligible to play in the competition, but were not selected.
You really ARE just making shit up in your head now. Seriously, put down the bottle and breath before the spittle ruins your keyboard. If you want to respond to what I actually said instead of just ranting against the voices in your head, feel free to come back after you've relaxed a bit and in state where you can think rationally.
For the third time, yes it was just a friendly. But the US is in a similar same boat with us competing for a berth in the Confederations Cup next month. No one wants to get hurt and miss out. That was mostly just to fuck with Chup, which he can protest it doesn't as much as he wants, me thinks it's a bit too much. However I do like seeing our Youth teams doing well. While only a few will be anything more than rotational national team players, the sooner we get them good competitive minutes the better. Especially when you consider that we are just starting to pivot away from our scholastic model for player development (meaning most youth players are still playing on shit teams).
It's a work in progress. On the plus side it's financially stable. Unlike some other leagues. Our best team hasn't gone bankrupt and fallen to the 4th tier league. Nor gone bankrupt and had to have the league bail them out. Or been forced down a league due to financials. Instead of talking about contracting (as Serie A is doing) MLS is adding teams. That financial stability comes at a cost though. Our restricted player movement and salary keep us from spending wildly on splashy signings. On the plus side it makes us get more value for our dollar (the good teams at least). It also forces teams to invest in their Academies (Academy signings are off cap). Here's an eye opening statistic about the growth of the game. In 2014 MLS teams spent more money on Academies than was spent on players salaries in 2004. That's a paradigm shift. MLS followed it up by partnering up with the USL (currently 3rd tier, but have submitted an application to USSF for 2nd tier status). Within the next few years, most MLS teams will have a farm team. This is huge as we've never had this many professional teams, meaning we've had so many chances to develop young players. Combined with steady increases in the salary cap as revenues increase and we'll be a top ten league in the next ten years.
While that will certainly be some nice icing on the cake, definitely not the most exciting. Actually it's the 3rd most popular sport for those 18-35. Depending on when we win, soccer will likely have overtaken hockey as 4th across whole pop. That's a lot of people in country this size. Baseball is kept alive by those 55+, if they can't figure out how to appeal to those not collecting Social Security checks it's in trouble.
Baseball has plenty of younger fans. It just no longer has a monopoly. It's pretty much just like the US still being the strongest economy, despite more of a share in world GDP found outside the US.
I was wrong, turns out soccer is 2nd with young adults, not 3rd. And while you old fucks may find baseball enjoyable no one else does: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4740668
So yeah, just another friendly but the US did go into Germany (reigning world champs for those with short memories) and beat them today. Yeah, not as good as the Netherlands win as they were down Neuer, Boateng, Lahm, Kroos and Muller, but I quoted myself for a reason. Brad Evans was a midgame sub, but proved he still has something to offer the USMNT. Here he nutmegs Lukas Podolski (I believe he plays for your team, right Chup?) https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CHKiexKU0AAV-rA.mp4 And here he is with the game winning assist: I'll also ad that it was the step over from Jordan Morris (Sounders Academy product) that drew in the defenders and set that up.
Oh my, that HuffPost article was written by an MLS flunkie. It has the same wrong and misleading talking points that we've seen from certain homers in this thread. Average per game attendance, for example. Yay, it's the same as hockey! Except hockey plays more than twice as many games. Total attendance says a lot more for a sport's viability. Of course, baseball crushes all other sports by that metric. And unlike soccer, with two or three pro leagues in US/Canada, baseball has dozens. Or we could talk about quality of play. The minimum wage at the MLB level is higher than the max for MLS. What does that say about revenue and market demand? Sorry, they aren't remotely in the same ballpark. Now some will claim yes, but what about tomorrow? No doubt Seattle is poised to become the great soccer capital for the world, but in the reality enjoyed by the rest of us, popularity is less noticeable. I'll go with anecdotal evidence for a moment, but there are dozens of youth baseball leagues in Boston, and perhaps 10 youth soccer leagues. Case closed.
Although this is interesting: So by far the largest demographic registers essentially no support at all for soccer. 3% is less than the margin of error. But yeah, soccer is poised to be the next big thing, and so is the metric system.
Like Chup, you apparently are getting so upset you can't read. Not favorite sport != no support. It means it's not number 1. You might not realize it, but there are quite a few professional sports in the US. Football, soccer, baseball, basketball, Hockey, Golf, etc etc. Most people are fans of multiple. And for those under 35 soccer is their second favorite (behind football).
The problem here isn't the status of football in your country, it's more your own behavior. You are, quite simply, getting ahead of yourself. The MLS and national side may be on an up turn at the moment, but if you weren't a hipster 5 minute fan you'd realise that it doesn't mean shit. If the game ever becomes a powerhouse in the US, as opposed to a fad, then there's a conversation to be had at the highest level, and then will be how to truly compete. For a start you can't compete at the senior level in Europe and that's where the top table of world football is....and it's not going to change anytime soon. There's being proud of your club and country's progress, and then there's being deluded and thinking you're on the crest of the wave of greatness. @gul is, like Stall, right in what he says. Plus, please don't undermine the national game of the US by pretending that football is anywhere near it. Do you know why I mock your five minute fandom so much? Because you don't appreciate what the sport really is to people outside of your country. You revel in it like it's a new fad, but I frankly find that offensive. In all your time being a Sounder hipster, how many games do you watch from the old world? YOu don't even know the difference between the Champions League and the Europa League, let alone the domestic competitions. I know American fans who watch games and support teams up and down the Premier League, let alone he other European leagues. But I also know the cunts who suddenly follow teams over here because an American player signed for them or an American team played them in an international. Your desperation to get one over me says it all. But you weren't there in the 90s watching a shit Spurs side play poor football and you haven't gone through the pain of things like a relegation battle. I wonder if you'll be there if your club or national team takes a dip? I suspect not. You'll have found a new fad by then.
