ADVERTISEMENT

OT: USA vs. Columbia

J

JayDogSmooth

All Conference
Aug 18, 2006
3,537
2,709
113
It’s summer, no football so onto the Beautiful Game we go until fall

USA - Columbia this Saturday, 5:30 pm in Washington, DC.

Hoping for a big showing from the boys heading into Copa America

Heard rumors about 60/70 % fans attending will be Colombian - hoping that’s not accurate and we get a solid showing

Team Smooth will pack the car tonight and leave nice & early tomorrow from Monmouth County for what looks like a beautiful late spring day of tailgating, patriotism and football (the other kind)

Daughter is pumped, I’m stoked and my wife is excited too

In my best Hacksaw Jim Duggan voice…
USA! USA!! USA!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mike from MD, RUskoolie, cshelley and 3 others
JayDogSmooth said:
It’s summer, no football so onto the Beautiful Game we go until fall

USA - Columbia this Saturday, 5:30 pm in Washington, DC.

Hoping for a big showing from the boys heading into Copa America

Heard rumors about 60/70 % fans attending will be Colombian - hoping that’s not accurate and we get a solid showing

Team Smooth will pack the car tonight and leave nice & early tomorrow from Monmouth County for what looks like a beautiful late spring day of tailgating, patriotism and football (the other kind)

Daughter is pumped, I’m stoked and my wife is excited too

In my best Hacksaw Jim Duggan voice…
USA! USA!! USA!!!
Click to expand...
hopefully the USA doesn't FSU this game. You know completely embarrass ourselves and lose by 60 on national TV.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Rufaninga and fsg2
JayDogSmooth said:
It’s summer, no football so onto the Beautiful Game we go until fall

USA - Columbia this Saturday, 5:30 pm in Washington, DC.

Hoping for a big showing from the boys heading into Copa America

Heard rumors about 60/70 % fans attending will be Colombian - hoping that’s not accurate and we get a solid showing

Team Smooth will pack the car tonight and leave nice & early tomorrow from Monmouth County for what looks like a beautiful late spring day of tailgating, patriotism and football (the other kind)

Daughter is pumped, I’m stoked and my wife is excited too

In my best Hacksaw Jim Duggan voice…
USA! USA!! USA!!!
Click to expand...
WZEnJ5Za5eSl29cmxuTMYltrq-0L3H4QelVynYAfJD8MHyuShkETpVqjIKZD_j_lSb0atVC7QtziFyjWTpzP-4TD-SoOEplRqXNYzdvnCgD4ljc5ExHNA17VtmkDklcY3CAlKU8L8raOLDXxKk9HcGykHqd9vnrNdog
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: wheezer, Rufaninga, koleszar and 3 others
RUHotTrumpetMonkeyLove said:
I hear this, but I definitely pay more attention when they're leading up to a major tournament like they are this year. The Colombia game will be very interesting to watch.
Click to expand...
Yes, when they are right before the tournament they are the tune ups with the real rosters. Some guys may be out for precautions but generally these are the teams.
 
USA needs to make serious noise in Copa. It's about time Berhalter gets this team to the next level. The talent is there and with the run up to WC 2026 he better show he's the man for the job because he really hasn't up to this point. They really should have moved on from him in this cycle but alas here we are.
 
Zak57 said:
USA needs to make serious noise in Copa. It's about time Berhalter gets this team to the next level. The talent is there and with the run up to WC 2026 he better show he's the man for the job because he really hasn't up to this point. They really should have moved on from him in this cycle but alas here we are.
Click to expand...
The team is still missing some key pieces and lacking depth, especially on the back line. That’s what cost us in the WC and it looks like, despite some efforts made to find those missing pieces, it’s still the same basic team as the WC, subject to the same fragility in the event of injuries.

GB has done just fine coaching (he wouldn’t have been rehired if not). He does bear a small share of the blame for not finding more depth or a killer-striker type. But the greater share of blame for the striker and depth issues continues to be with US Soccer itself, and the talent ID system. And/or with our youth soccer system.
 
I know you like him mild but we don't want want someone who is doing fine coaching, we need someone who can lead the team to the next level. Also just because he was re-hired doesn't mean it was the right decision. The talent is there and it wasn't the back line that was all the problem in the WC against Netherlands but I am not going to rehash all that. Let's re-assess after Copa but the USSF should be prepared to make a move depending on the results.
 
Zak57 said:
I know you like him mild but we don't want want someone who is doing fine coaching, we need someone who can lead the team to the next level. Also just because he was re-hired doesn't mean it was the right decision. The talent is there and it wasn't the back line that was all the problem in the WC against Netherlands but I am not going to rehash all that. Let's re-assess after Copa but the USSF should be prepared to make a move depending on the results.
Click to expand...
Isn't the US limited in how much it can pay it's men's coach? I remember reading or thought I read something that said we can only pay the men's coach so much more than we pay the women's national team coach.
 
T2Kplus20 said:
WZEnJ5Za5eSl29cmxuTMYltrq-0L3H4QelVynYAfJD8MHyuShkETpVqjIKZD_j_lSb0atVC7QtziFyjWTpzP-4TD-SoOEplRqXNYzdvnCgD4ljc5ExHNA17VtmkDklcY3CAlKU8L8raOLDXxKk9HcGykHqd9vnrNdog
Click to expand...
It’s crazy but 20 yrs ago this was the prevailing American mindset which I fell into as well when not watching the World Cup.

That was then. This is now. You are a relic if you don’t realize that soccer will at some point be the third most watched and participated sport in US behind football and basketball when it’s clearly the number one sport everywhere else in the world.

GO RU
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: cshelley, demauroj and BLewis1968
satnom said:
It’s crazy but 20 yrs ago this was the prevailing American mindset which I fell into as well when not watching the World Cup.

That was then. This is now. You are a relic if you don’t realize that soccer will at some point be the third most watched and participated sport in US behind football and basketball when it’s clearly the number one sport everyone else in the world.

GO RU
Click to expand...
Another big difference, it that posts like that would derail the soccer discussion threads on this board back then, now they are pretty much ignored.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Doctor Worm, demauroj, BLewis1968 and 1 other person
ru109 said:
Isn't the US limited in how much it can pay it's men's coach? I remember reading or thought I read something that said we can only pay the men's coach so much more than we pay the women's national team coach.
Click to expand...
Not sure but USWNT just hired one of the best coaches in the world in Emma Hayes so she's getting a lot anyways and could be paid more if they had to be equal.
 
satnom said:
It’s crazy but 20 yrs ago this was the prevailing American mindset which I fell into as well when not watching the World Cup.

That was then. This is now. You are a relic if you don’t realize that soccer will at some point be the third most watched and participated sport in US behind football and basketball when it’s clearly the number one sport everyone else in the world.

GO RU
Click to expand...
Golf is probably more watched than soccer. It least prior to the spilt with LIV.
 
Zak57 said:
I know you like him mild but we don't want want someone who is doing fine coaching, we need someone who can lead the team to the next level. Also just because he was re-hired doesn't mean it was the right decision. The talent is there and it wasn't the back line that was all the problem in the WC against Netherlands but I am not going to rehash all that. Let's re-assess after Copa but the USSF should be prepared to make a move depending on the results.
Click to expand...
I don’t so much like him (he’s gives strange interviews, IMO) as I respect the level of play I’ve seen the USMNT achieve under him, which at their best, is far better than I've ever seen a USMNT play before this one. The team was inconsistent but that appears to be less of a thing. And the team's been hit by critical injuries at really bad times.

Trashing the USMNT coach has been a popular thing to do, historically. And that’s still the case today. But the vast majority of the critique I hear about GB is non-technical cheap-seats nonsense, at best purely speculative and hindsight-based, and more often than not, flat out incorrect or nonsensical.

GB appears to have a first-rate soccer mind, tons of experience, and it seems the players like him. Of course it's always possible to find "someone better". But when I look at the USMNT, l don’t see a coach holding a team back at all. I see a couple missing pieces and general lack of quality depth.

So, to me, it would be foolish to get rid of a perfectly good coach the players like and who gets the team playing at a very high level with increasing consistency, when whomever we might bring in will be saddled with the same personnel issues.

If we solve those personnel issues, and the team underperforms, then sure, try a different coach. I never get attached to coaches.
 
I 100% see a coach holding the team back in spots. He doesn't put his most talented players in position to do what they do best in every match.

Also this is not the best the USMNT has ever played. Bruce Arena in the 2002 WC gets that nod and he played to his talent of that team. Howard sat on his head but we played better under Klinsman as well and missed advancing to the quarters if Wondo didn't miss one of the easiest sitters ever. Advancing out of the group stage in 2014 a lot more impressive than what we did in 2022 WC.

This is all not to mention that he got the job in the first place because of nepotism and buddy buddy with most of the top of the USSF at the time. It's a bit mind boggling he got the job again and as I mentioned he can shut me up and have a great Copa.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: RUDiddy777
Zak57 said:
More so in the Olympics no?

We shouldn't throw away these friendlies. Need a strong showing in Copa going into 2026 US WC.
Click to expand...

I’m more of a casual fan, but it definitely feels like there is so much more talent coming up now than ever before. I was from the Landon Donovan era, but now it seems like there a bunch of kids with that level of talent vying for a spot.
 
Zak57 said:
I 100% see a coach holding the team back in spots. He doesn't put his most talented players in position to do what they do best in every match.

Also this is not the best the USMNT has ever played. Bruce Arena in the 2002 WC gets that nod and he played to his talent of that team. Howard sat on his head but we played better under Klinsman as well and missed advancing to the quarters if Wondo didn't miss one of the easiest sitters ever. Advancing out of the group stage in 2014 a lot more impressive than what we did in 2022 WC.

This is all not to mention that he got the job in the first place because of nepotism and buddy buddy with most of the top of the USSF at the time. It's a bit mind boggling he got the job again and as I mentioned he can shut me up and have a great Copa.
Click to expand...
Those teams got by with an ugly style of play that was never going to win a WC without huge doses of luck and personal heroics. Basically kick and run in the attack with brutish ugly defense to keep other teams from scoring. It's obviously possible to win games that way. But it's far too reliant on luck and wasn't a good foundation for reliably performing well year in and year out.

I agree JK was a good coach and he was trying his best to shift the players from the old luck-based kick and run w/brutish D to a reasonable style of play that embraced possession and tactically sound defending. That was always going to be (a) unpopular with many of the players, and it was, and (b) take a lot of time to accomplish. But because bashing USMNT coaches is such a popular thing, he was never going to be given the time and patience required.

GB came in and has finally successfully transitioned us into playing a good game of soccer. Now we just need to fill the missing personnel pieces.
 
koleszar said:
Guys hitting a ball with a stick, then walking to find the ball. IMO, Cross country with a ball is no more appealing.
Click to expand...
Right? Someone was telling me they even let you drive a cart to go find the ball, long as you dodge the wrought-iron benches they place as obstacles… which is almost motor racing.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: koleszar
You must log in or register to reply here.
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT
Top Bottom
Back