[phightin]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

Can the US ever beat a European team in something that matters?

not with bob bradley as our coach and our backwards youth development system

[Raderick]

Originally Posted by mlyons

Darren Fletcher? Seriously? The guy who started only 37 of their 66 matches despite not having any major injuries? Would you care to explain how he was better than Vidic and Rooney?

Don't get me wrong, Fletcher seems like a useful enough player with room to improve, but he's nowhere close to the best in England. Not by a country mile. Just for the sake of having some sort of impartial starting point, Actim (which tends to overrate players on winning teams) had him at #88 on their 2008-2009 rankings. Obviously, that's not any sort of definitive judgement or anything, but you're going to have to come up with an awfully persuasive argument to convince me that a guy whose manager selected him less than two thirds of the time at the position the team was weakest at could possibly be the best player on his team.

It'll be really hard for me to persuade anyone other than to watch tapes of him play and was lights out in his passing and challenges. The only reason why he started 1/2 of United games was because of Sir Alex's revolving door of midfielders all season long between Scholes, Giggs, Carrick, Anderson, Park and Nani.

[Raderick]

Originally Posted by bababui

Canned audience noise is about as idiotic a thing as I have ever seen.

Serious?

[bababui]

Originally Posted by Raderick

Serious?

Sadly, yes.

[mlyons]

Originally Posted by Raderick

It'll be really hard for me to persuade anyone other than to watch tapes of him play and was lights out in his passing and challenges. The only reason why he started 1/2 of United games was because of Sir Alex's revolving door of midfielders all season long between Scholes, Giggs, Carrick, Anderson, Park and Nani.

He had a revolving door because nobody played significantly better than any of the other options. He had just as many options in attack, yet he managed to find a starting role for Wayne Rooney in every game he was fit. Same with central defense, and yet Vidic and Ferdinand managed to find themselves on the team sheet whenever they were healthy.

Again, don't get me wrong. He's a fine player, and would walk into most Premier League lineups. He's just nowhere close to being the best in England.

[bababui]

Southhampton started training for 09/10 monday.

[mikev]

Somebody help me out -

Why is Ronaldinho not playing for Brazil?

[bababui]

Originally Posted by mikev

Somebody help me out -

Why is Ronaldinho not playing for Brazil?

His form has slipped considerably. He us no longer world class.

[mlyons]

Originally Posted by mikev

Somebody help me out -

Why is Ronaldinho not playing for Brazil?

Because Elano, Kaká, Robinho, Diego, and Julio Baptista are all better right now, and younger as well.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by phightin

not with bob bradley as our coach and our backwards youth development system

Is it time for them to get an experienced European or South American coach in and have a young American coach as his assistant.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by bababui

Southhampton started training for 09/10 monday.

They play their first pre season game in less than 3 weeks though and by the time Monday comes around it will be less than 2 weeks before they face Eastleigh.

[bababui]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

They play their first pre season game in less than 3 weeks though and by the time Monday comes around it will be less than 2 weeks before they face Eastleigh.

I meant they started training for the new season yesterday.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by bababui

I meant they started training for the new season yesterday.

Still not that far from pre season though is it, not certain if the league starts early this year with it being World Cup year, pretty certain it finishes early.

[ukhotstove]

The think tank really came up with a special name for this team, Singapore League Cup fixture for today is Home United v Singapore A F, wonder what their other ideas for a name were hmmm Football Team or Football City

[bababui]

Singapore Foodies!!

[Muppetus Galacticus]

I miss Deportivo Wanka

[Muppetus Galacticus]

I saw the last 15 or so minutes of the Spain v Germany U21 match last night, and they looked good; especially Germany. England really need to be as good as they can be to get out of the group.

[mlyons]

I'm not sure where all the criticism of Bob Bradley comes from. It's not really his fault that the US doesn't generate more talented players. Look at the rosters of yesterday's match; is there any American (outside of Giuseppe Rossi ) who would take a spot on Italy's squad? Personally, I think the fact that the US had a chance to win (don't forget, they were winning at the hour mark) even after Clark's moment of idiocy says pretty good things about Bradley's ability as a manager. Italy's a really, really good team, and they put their best squad on the field. There isn't much shame in finally running out of gas after being down a man for the majority of the match (and playing at altitude).

Really, apart from not convincing Rossi to play for the US, what has Bob Bradley (as opposed to the USSF) done wrong with the national team? Until America starts producing genuinely world-class players (at the level of De Rossi, Buffon, and Pirlo), it's asking quite a bit for the US to go out and outplay teams like Italy, Spain, or Brazil. Hell, the fact that we consistently play well against Mexico is impressive; there are no American players of comparable quality to Andrés Guardado, Rafa Marquez, or Carlos Vela.

[mikev]

Originally Posted by mlyons

I'm not sure where all the criticism of Bob Bradley comes from. It's not really his fault that the US doesn't generate more talented players. Look at the rosters of yesterday's match; is there any American (outside of Giuseppe Rossi ) who would take a spot on Italy's squad? Personally, I think the fact that the US had a chance to win (don't forget, they were winning at the hour mark) even after Clark's moment of idiocy says pretty good things about Bradley's ability as a manager. Italy's a really, really good team, and they put their best squad on the field. There isn't much shame in finally running out of gas after being down a man for the majority of the match (and playing at altitude).

Really, apart from not convincing Rossi to play for the US, what has Bob Bradley (as opposed to the USSF) done wrong with the national team? Until America starts producing genuinely world-class players (at the level of De Rossi, Buffon, and Pirlo), it's asking quite a bit for the US to go out and outplay teams like Italy, Spain, or Brazil. Hell, the fact that we consistently play well against Mexico is impressive; there are no American players of comparable quality to Andrés Guardado, Rafa Marquez, or Carlos Vela.

I think that's the inherent problem with US Soccer. There's tons and tons of rugrats that are running around playing soccer when they are little, but the development programs are awful compared to the rest of the world.

Granted, a good number of athletes are lost to Football/Basketball/Baseball, but the ones who stay and continue with footy are the ones who truly love the game and, IMO, their country has failed them by not developing them into world class players.

Does that fall on Bob Bradley? No.

Also "Clark's moment of idocy" is probably a bit much. It was a dumb tackle attempt, but was in no way deserving of a sendoff.

[mlyons]

Yeah, it was. It was late and high. That's a red.