OT: 2022 World Cup Thread
- Thread starter cshelley
- Start date
A surprising lack of drama in R16 so far compared to Group Stage. Quarterfinal matchups look great, but need more competitive matches.
@mildone I agree wholeheartedly with every last word written here. GB needs to go, period:
worldsoccertalk.com
US Soccer needs a better coach than Gregg Berhalter
Despite making it to the knockout stage, it's evident that US Soccer needs a better coach than Gregg Berhalter to move this team forward. There's no other way to put it than to say that Gregg Berhalter has massively underachieved with the US Men's National Team (USMNT). The World Cup run for the...
worldsoccertalk.com
I said it above but I'd put a call into Pocchetino. Whats the downside? No idea if he'd be interested but that would be a move that would send a message internationally that we intend to really compete in 2026.@mildone I agree wholeheartedly with every last word written here. GB needs to go:
US Soccer needs a better coach than Gregg Berhalter
Despite making it to the knockout stage, it's evident that US Soccer needs a better coach than Gregg Berhalter to move this team forward. There's no other way to put it than to say that Gregg Berhalter has massively underachieved with the US Men's National Team (USMNT). The World Cup run for the...
Good and bad that news. So he's open to managing internationally, but we won't win a beauty contest with England. Let's hope they beat France then. Hard to fire Southgate if he delivers another top 4 (or better).
Yeah, that’s it. My hoo-hah is weeping.
Weeping tears of laughter at your lack of ability to knowledgeably or intelligently discuss soccer. Still waiting for you to demonstrate any understanding of the game.
You agree with that world renowned soccer expert, Lawrence Dockery? Oh, well gosh, why didn’t you say that was where you learned all you know about soccer?@mildone I agree wholeheartedly with every last word written here. GB needs to go, period:
US Soccer needs a better coach than Gregg Berhalter
Despite making it to the knockout stage, it's evident that US Soccer needs a better coach than Gregg Berhalter to move this team forward. There's no other way to put it than to say that Gregg Berhalter has massively underachieved with the US Men's National Team (USMNT). The World Cup run for the...
Lawrence Dockery
Lawrence Dockery is on Facebook. Join Facebook to connect with Lawrence Dockery and others you may know. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected.
www.facebook.com
All that experience he got as a legal assistant, a notary public, a youth soccer ref, and a sportswriter, will surely have prepared him to be an authority on soccer coaching. No doubt a man with such impressive credentials is well qualified to judge a US Soccer Pro licensed, UEFA A licensed soccer coach.
🤣
Want a mulligan? Surely you can find an actually qualified person, a coaching expert (you know, an experienced professional coach) somewhere who is calling for GB’s firing. That would be a better place to start, don’t you think?
Just to be clear on mine above. I'm not a GB hater. But there's always room to shoot higher. Golden generation/hosting the upcoming cup - I'd be in favor of going for a big name who stylistically fit what we should be about.You agree with that world renowned soccer expert, Lawrence Dockery? Oh, well gosh, why didn’t you say that was where you learned all you know about soccer?
Lawrence Dockery
Lawrence Dockery is on Facebook. Join Facebook to connect with Lawrence Dockery and others you may know. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected.
All that experience he got as a legal assistant, a notary public, a youth soccer ref, and a sportswriter, will surely have prepared him to be an authority on soccer coaching. No doubt a man with such impressive credentials is well qualified to judge a US Soccer Pro licensed, UEFA A licensed soccer coach.
🤣
Want a mulligan? Surely you can find an actually qualified person, a coaching expert (you know, an experienced professional coach) somewhere who is calling for GB’s firing. That would be a better place to start, don’t you think?
Was out all day (disc golf tourney in Manahawkin), so just caught up on the WC. France and England were both just dominant, setting up what I hope will be a great match on Saturday. Biggest issue for England - and anyone who plays France - is do they have any answers for Mbappe, who is taken over as the best player in the world, IMO. Netherlands - Argentina ain't a bad pairing either, lol.
I know you’re not, and you actually have a clue about the game, unlike Nuts.
I don’t attach myself to coaches, so it makes no difference to me if GB stays or goes. My only preference is, if we hire a new coach, that we continue on with the style of play GB has employed.
I think the two highest priorities for whomever the coach is are (1) add more depth at the back, particularly some center backs with great mid and long ball passing skills to facilitate counter attacks and make us more dangerous when we’re in possession up in the opponents final third, and (2) find a pure striker type, or two, up front to compliment Weah, Puli, and Reyna, each of whom I believe will only get better over time.
Tactically, the team needs to make better use of basic combination play in the attack. And needs to learn to make entry passes much earlier in the attack than we have been doing. I’d be inclined to lay this at GB’s feet, except GB made similar comments in a press conference or interview a while back, during qualifiers. Seems to be something he is pushing for, but for reasons I can’t imagine, this team seems allergic to combination play and oddly unwilling to cross or drive balls into the box until it’s too late.
IMO, GB or some new coach, whoever, needs to do more to correct that stuff. More training sessions together should help in this regard, long as the coach keeps emphasizing it.
Not sure how finding strikers to laud Weah, Puli, and Reyna is going to do anything other than give them all inflated egos. I'd rather find some good strikers to join the team, improving the play of everyone around them.
I meant complement, you usage-Nazi rat bastard. 🤣
I probably even typed complement but the whacky spell check here changed it on the fly. I’m innocent. I didn’t do the crime. It wasn’t me. Shaggy ain’t got nothin on me.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
GB trying to play out of the back the whole first half yesterday was the largest indictment we should move on. Ream and Zimmerman are not the players for that. I hope we move on and out of his system. As of now I'll have to do more research on who we could move to.
Also starting Ferreira and benching Reyna most of the tourney. Complete joke moves.
Also starting Ferreira and benching Reyna most of the tourney. Complete joke moves.
Even with the small sample size once Reyna was on the field he immediately looked more dangerous than our other offensive players. Will we ever find out why he wasn't starting? With what we saw his coming off the bench doesn't appear to be injury related.
Ferreira seemed essentially invisible.
Ferreira seemed essentially invisible.
Interesting not sure if this is widespread though. Definitely should be studied more. Soccer is still way safer endeavor than American football.Yes.
A Diagnosis Brings C.T.E. Into American Pro Soccer
Scott Vermillion, a former college star who played four seasons in M.L.S., died in 2020. He is the first American professional soccer player with a public case of C.T.E.www.nytimes.com
I was wishing for more of Reyna, in several of my posts earlier in the thread. But when he came in for the second half against the Dutch, he did not stand out. He worked hard, coming back to help defend and all, and that was nice. But he didn’t really do much to increase real US scoring chances.
The evidence from that half doesn’t support the idea that it was a blunder to not play him more.
Zak, I’m not understating what you mean by playing out of the back. All soccer is played out of the back, one way or another. In any event, Ream, at 35, has probably seen his last WC and wouldn’t have played much, if at all, if Miles Robinson was healthy. We do need to find more quality and depth at the back, the Ream/Zimmerman combo isn’t super helpful at facilitating the attack.
When Reyna and Aaronson were paired together in the second half they were attacking the Dutch defenders and had them on their heels more than any other part of the game. That's how we should have been playing all match. Our speed was the strength of the team and we neutralized it by the way Berhalter wants to play. Weah and Dest did the same a bit in the first and it's also when we had our best opportunities. Ferreira was just a body/ I don't know what the point in starting him was. He added nothing to the match.
As you mentioned the Ream/Zimmerman combo isn't helpful to facilitate but in the first half that's what we tried to do. We kept playing it back to them and asking them to have mid to long passes into the midfield as if it was going to break down the Dutch D. It turns out they missed a ton of passes because they aren't accurate and shouldn't be asked to do that. I know Ream isn't long for the squad anymore but this must have been something GB wanted them to do because it kept going on the whole half.
Agree that the top 2 needs are more CB depth and then a pure striker. I hope Pefok keeps developing or someone else steps up that's not on our radar yet.
we were also committing guys more fwd in the 2nd half to chase goals, so could be chicken or egg situation. imo, our speed advantage in attack was nullified by the fact that the dutch wanted nothing to do with trying to press us and create turnovers in the middle third. they were quite happy with us kicking the ball around and making our own mess, then hitting in transition. all hallmarks of a louis van gaal team. we need to find a way to attack teams like this through better use of passing triangles and movement between lines and half spaces, not the simplistic, take-the-ball-to-the-endline-and-pull-back-a-cross strategy. if you watched what england did yesterday, they turned kane from a 9 to a 10, with him dropping deeper, creating situations where a CB or mf had to come out and defend him in a space that was not comfortable for the defense. then bellingham and henderson were able to exploit the spaces created from kane drawing the defenders and mf out and make runs towards goal. this was created by movement to create angles, not pure speed. kane and hendo aren't fast. bellingham is pretty quick, but he's not saka or foden quick.
Serbia face Fifa disciplinary proceedings after stormy Switzerland showdown
The conduct of Serbia players, officials and fans is under investigation after the Group G game which saw 11 players booked as Serbia were eliminated from the World Cup
Serbia fans ‘showed fascist slogans and sang about killing Albanians’ at game
Serbia supporters displayed fascist slogans and aimed racist chants towards ethnic Albanians during the game against Switzerland, an eyewitness has said
fwiw, Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka of Switzerland are of Albanian descent.
Last edited:
I’m really not sure who the hell you think you are when it comes to these boards but you do realize that people do not have to answer your questions no matter how many times you ask them, right? You also do realize that people can be knowledgeable about a topic without writing essays about them, correct?
GB sucks. Been saying from day 1 I didn’t like this higher (as have MANY others) and his roster/lineup/substitution patterns are as bad as it gets (hopefully “got”).
That’s ALL I need to say. Get a grip.
You are 100% insufferable. Your arrogance knows no bounds.You agree with that world renowned soccer expert, Lawrence Dockery? Oh, well gosh, why didn’t you say that was where you learned all you know about soccer?
Lawrence Dockery
Lawrence Dockery is on Facebook. Join Facebook to connect with Lawrence Dockery and others you may know. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected.
All that experience he got as a legal assistant, a notary public, a youth soccer ref, and a sportswriter, will surely have prepared him to be an authority on soccer coaching. No doubt a man with such impressive credentials is well qualified to judge a US Soccer Pro licensed, UEFA A licensed soccer coach.
🤣
Want a mulligan? Surely you can find an actually qualified person, a coaching expert (you know, an experienced professional coach) somewhere who is calling for GB’s firing. That would be a better place to start, don’t you think?
What an AWFUL approach to taking PK’s by Japan. 3 of 4 guys go low-and-soft to the corners and all 3 EASILY stopped by The Croatian keeper. Oooof.
It's boundless, my arrogance. Limitless. Tremendous arrogance. I have the best arrogance. Everybody knows this. I'm the best. I could arrogantly shoot someone in the middle of 5th avenue and get away with it because of my great arrogance.
And you're completely wrong about me being 100% insufferable. I am at least 300% insufferable on my least insufferable day. Even my hands, which are really huge by the way, are insufferable.
I know what you're thinking, even better than you do. You're thinking: this insufferably arrogant mildone person sounds really presidential. He would make a great president.
And for once in this thread, you're absolutely correct. I would.
I hope I can count on your vote. 😉
Japan-Croatia, to me, was the worst set of PKs I've ever seen at this level. Am I wrong?
I mean Croatia went 3 of 4…but, as I stated above, Japan’s approach was just pathetic.
I mean Croatia went 3 of 4…but, as I stated above, Japan’s approach was just pathetic.
