USMNT - Gold Cup

Hello Kelyn Rowe. Good showing at left am so far.

 

That seems to happen on a semi regular basis, I've noticed. And it's not just under Juergen. Also happened with Bradley and Arena I. Sometimes players and teams just aren't on the same page on a particular day, it happens too often to our lads. That would suggest some sort of systemic organizational issue that's been neglected, or a facet of international play we're not privy to. Either way, someone at US Soccer needs to identify it and tell somebody who can do something about it. As for the match, I just couldn't bring myself to continue watching what amounts to our second string struggle against a small CONCACAF country we normally dominate.

 

No surprise for me at the scoreline. Panama is clearly the #4 team in the region this go around, well coached, and well organized. I was however shocked at Bedoya getting the armband. I hope he makes me eat my words, cause I'll never question his effort, but he is and has been utterly useless in the offensive 1/3 of the pitch for years. None of the midfield aside from Rowe had a good match, Panama broke out time and again. The one player I would like to see get benched is Zusi and his man bun at RB. He is so ssllloooowwww.

 

To your question HD...No. Which leads me to a question of my own that perhaps someone with a better memory than me can answer. Have we ever had a 'true' left back of any note? I'm not including Fabian Johnson or Eddie Lewis who both were solid despite being better midfielders.

I'm wondering if Arena talked to DW and wanted him to concentrate on his new gig w/Huddersfield. There is no way he hasn't talked to former US Nats player/Huddersfield boss David Wagner about Williams.

 

I've never understood how Danny Williams hasn't been given more of a look and I'm not sure who we have that is better than Villafana right now but he does look like he can be beaten for pace in my opinion.

It will be interesting to see what Arena does with the starting eleven tonight. Guys like McCarty and Acosta who looked good against Ghana had poor matches against Panama. I personally didn't see anything from Bedoya and was not really impressed with Omar. Whatever lineup Arena picks the one thing that is certain in my opinion is the US must dictate the game with more ball pressure. This team looked ugly when they sat back and let Panama attack.

 

There's plenty of time for Williams to be put in the mix - I think moving to the Premier League with a new club gives him a respite; (for the life of me I don't comprehend how is quality is routinely ignored - maybe he's a locker room cancer?)

Start Morris with Dwyer up top and press - those two fellas will run their "A's" off and can nick a goal. As for midfield, I'm perplexed - Acosta needs to be in there, McCarty not so much. Defense, whomever it is that lines up in the back four, should be enough to contain Martinique (that sounds like a Broadway Play).

 

I'm fully on the Jones should probably hang it up internationally (or more managers should stop calling him in), but Jones was one of our best players in Brazil.

 

He was easily our BEST outfield player at the WC.



P.S. Oh and the first of half against Martinique might of been the worst 45 minutes of footy by a US Men's team...ever.

 

2nd half was equally atrocious. Mutumbo and I shared the same reaction (execpt I did it for 90 minutes)

 

Gold Cup

I just want to vent here quickly...I'm super disappointed in the American Outlaws reaction recently to this tournament and many other competitions. This is the second time I've seen a player from another country go down with a legitimate injury, first time was vs. T and T, when Josie smashed into the GK in a game we were already winning, then last night a defender from Martinique got clobbered, unintentionally with a shin to the face, and he spends all of 30 seconds on the ground to make sure he's alright and here come the boos from AO. Wankers....
Its one thing if its Mexico or France, its another if the team is blatantly wasting time...but cmon man. Dont y'all know any songs? Cant you come up with something positive to chant for the 30 seconds while dude is making sure his nose isn't broken? These fans don't play and this new headband wearing, eagle mask doting, Budweiser american soccer bro is really starting to make me uncomfortable. I'd even prefer you hipster Arsenal fan to these clowns...

Just sayin, its a beautiful game, lets keep it that way.

 

Maybe just my opinion, but I too have noticed a very gradual culture shift with USMNT team supporters from niche nerds to bro jingoism. It's coincided with footy becoming more popular stateside overall, and AO monopolizing the "supporter group" market.

 

"Budweiser american soccer bro"

Classic. Aside from being inappropriate, YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO TAUNT OTHER NATIONS.

Humility and hard work - query, where are these things?

 

Yeah, AO needs to hire some Irish, Icelandic, Scottish, Swedes or Dutch to name a few, who can come on board and show the US Soccer fans how to watch, participate and most importantly how to party.

Case in point

 

My name is FulhamDC, and I'm an American Outlaw.

We've been involved for about 6 years, the first 3 we went on several away trips, and only went to US games here in DC and Baltimore. When we (my wife and I) first joined we didn't even know about the chapter system, or that DC had the largest chapter. On our first trip, we spent an hour chatting with one of the guys who founded the group, and had no idea.

Now, 6 years in, it's almost like there's 2 different groups. There's a core group of 50 or so people who try to make a lot of the road games, especially for world cup qualifying. For some games, that list can shrink (there were 17 of us in St. Vincent) and it can grow (700 in Mexico city in June). On the away trips, the crowd is older, and far more balanced between the genders. While we didn't go on their Brazil World Cup package, which I heard was a mess, I can say we've had good experiences with all the AO travel packages - and we will be in T&T again this October. We've made friends with other couples from around the country, people we stay in touch with between games, and visit with if we happen to be traveling in their town.

As I mentioned, the only US games we had attended were local, and being in the AO section here in DC is a nightmare. It's 80/20 male to female on a good day. It's probably 60% "Budweiser American Soccer bro's" (that is a FANTASTIC description) and it's just a drunkfest. Most of them are clueless as to what's happening on the pitch, or that it's even called a pitch. You know, like Chelsea fans. We stopped going to games at RFK 2 years ago.

We decided to go to some of the nearby Gold Cup games this year, we were in Nashville last week, and are heading off to Cleveland tomorrow. One reason was to see if other stadiums had become as bad as RFK - they haven't, yet. The explosion in the size of the group (now more than 55,000 paying members) and the size of the supporters section - most of the end zone seats in Nashville, has gotten a little bit much to contend with. And in good ole 'murica, like Nashville, the jingoism goes to 11.

The same three guys that started this 10 years ago in Lincoln, NE, can still be seen hawking scarves and grilling burgers at the tailgate parties. They're volunteers (although I think they get reimbursed for travel now) and still believe their role is to provide a fun atmosphere for as many soccer fans, new or old, as possible.

There's a code of conduct that they try to adhere to, and if someone is reported they will do their best to see that they no longer get AO section tickets for anymore games. But the whole thing has gotten far to big for a small volunteer organization to handle. I've enjoyed most of my AO experiences, and I hope they figure it out, before it swallows itself.

PS - if by "headband wearing" you mean a particular often seen African American guy with a red headband - he's from here in DC, and he's a great guy who busts his ass to try to keep things from getting to out of hand, when he's not mugging for the cameras!

 

Respect. Thanks for your insight DC, and of course I probably should have put out a disclaimer before bagging on real AO fans. I do love the mission, I love the idea of the traveling army and the costuming and for the most part, when I see them abroad in Brazil or South Africa, the folks I meet are pretty cool.

We have a local chapter here in Nola and for a while folks were at their own bar, doing their own thing, we would mix once in a while over local or National events, ie. Womens Champions Tour at the Superdome and it was cool.
But then they moved over to our place and now its non stop. I cant watch matches there anymore. I cant really watch the US anywhere known as a Soccer bar. Its especially bad being a referee....

 

I agree with the leadership comment HD. It's one of the things that makes me worry every time I see Omar Gonzalez's name in the starting eleven. He is a physically imposing defender but so far with him playing our back four seems unorganized and undisciplined. This is one of the guys that has been there and done that at a World Cup level but so far playing with Geoff Cameron hasn't seemed to rub off on him.