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OT: USMNT Soccer Thread


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I've been to Doha Qatar cool town very modern skyline, best looking airport I've been to but it isn't big.   I'm wondering about the venues,  plus there's not a huge amount of hotels.  

 

This is not the A team and they've found a way to get to the finals.   Hopefully this pays off in WCQ with experience in depth. 

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23 hours ago, TheA_Bomb said:

I've been to Doha Qatar cool town very modern skyline, best looking airport I've been to but it isn't big.   I'm wondering about the venues,  plus there's not a huge amount of hotels.  

 

This is not the A team and they've found a way to get to the finals.   Hopefully this pays off in WCQ with experience in depth. 

This is more like our C+ team. That’s not to say this team is not talented at all, but it’s VERY inexperienced. Berhalter deserves a lot of credit for taking this roster to the Finals after the EPIC win in the Nations League. And let’s be honest, Mexico hasn’t exactly looked like world beaters so far either.

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Just now, Reinert310 said:

This is more like our C+ team. That’s not to say this team is not talented at all, but it’s VERY inexperienced. Berhalter deserves a lot of credit for taking this roster to the Finals after the EPIC win in the Nations League. And let’s be honest, Mexico hasn’t exactly looked like world beaters so far either.

And their NOT using their C+ roster.

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12 hours ago, BilliesBy40 said:

Mexico is going to beat us by 2+ goals, which is fine.

I don’t know about that. The definitely should. But they haven’t been very impressive in this tournament for me. I’m not sure they deserved to beat Canada a couple nights ago. But you’re exactly right, even if they do, it’s fine. The vast majority of the guys who will be playing for us in WC Qualifying are not on this roster. The fact that we got to the finals is impressive.

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I'm going to be positive in that this is a team of mostly 2nd and 3rd string for our WC team ( assuming we qualify).

Bad things lack of a scorer emerging, we had high hopes on Dike.

 

Inconsistent play.

 

Failure to nullify Canada's adjustments by Berhalter

 

Good things

Back up keeper emerges

 

Increased depth with experience

 

Hoppe and Busio looked good along with S Moore at times.   Busio is going to Venezia right?  Or just speculation 

Overall I'm pleased

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49 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

I'm going to be positive in that this is a team of mostly 2nd and 3rd string for our WC team ( assuming we qualify).

Bad things lack of a scorer emerging, we had high hopes on Dike.

 

Inconsistent play.

 

Failure to nullify Canada's adjustments by Berhalter

 

Good things

Back up keeper emerges

 

Increased depth with experience

 

Hoppe and Busio looked good along with S Moore at times.   Busio is going to Venezia right?  Or just speculation 

Overall I'm pleased

Yes, Busio to Venezia is a done deal. I haven’t seen much from him, but Hoppe has shown flashes, and we might have found some back line depth. Matt Turner has looked really good.

Canada will be an interesting team to watch during qualifying. They have more talent than ever, and they should compete for a WC spot. I will be at the qualifier against Canada in Nashville.

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1 hour ago, BilliesBy40 said:

Yes, Busio to Venezia is a done deal. I haven’t seen much from him, but Hoppe has shown flashes, and we might have found some back line depth. Matt Turner has looked really good.

Canada will be an interesting team to watch during qualifying. They have more talent than ever, and they should compete for a WC spot. I will be at the qualifier against Canada in Nashville.

Starting to feel like that Sargent transfer isn’t going to happen.

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2 hours ago, BilliesBy40 said:

Yes, Busio to Venezia is a done deal. I haven’t seen much from him, but Hoppe has shown flashes, and we might have found some back line depth. Matt Turner has looked really good.

Canada will be an interesting team to watch during qualifying. They have more talent than ever, and they should compete for a WC spot. I will be at the qualifier against Canada in Nashville.

Canada was without 2 of their best players (and another got hurt early in the group stage game against us). They might be the 3rd best team in Concacaf right now.

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14 hours ago, brianstl said:

Starting to feel like that Sargent transfer isn’t going to happen.

Yep. It seems unlikely at this point. Werder reportedly wants $10M for Sargent, but his market value is probably closer to $8M. Werder is not a typical relegated team, and they view Sargent as a key piece to returning to the top flight.

Sargent could benefit from a few years in the Premier League, although I am not sure how beneficial it would be for his development to play for a bottom of the table team like Norwich City (who reportedly tried to acquire him). Still, it is obviously less than ideal for our starting striker to be playing in the second division while we are trying to qualify for the World Cup.

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25 minutes ago, BilliesBy40 said:

Yep. It seems unlikely at this point. Werder reportedly wants $10M for Sargent, but his market value is probably closer to $8M. Werder is not a typical relegated team, and they view Sargent as a key piece to returning to the top flight.

Sargent could benefit from a few years in the Premier League, although I am not sure how beneficial it would be for his development to play for a bottom of the table team like Norwich City (who reportedly tried to acquire him). Still, it is obviously less than ideal for our starting striker to be playing in the second division while we are trying to qualify for the World Cup.

I’m just spitballing here, not saying I believe it 1 way or another, but is it possible, the relegation might be a blessing in disguising. Don’t get me wrong, I’m never going to argue that playing against better competition is a bad thing long term. But it seems like the past 2 years Werder’s style of play was just to survive and try not to get relegated. And the lack of attack from his entire club has detrimental to his development as a striker. Is it possible that after being relegated, and now playing against 2nd tier competition, Werder will be able to open the game up more, which might allow Sargent to find his goal scoring again? Maybe compare it to sending a young baseball player down to AAA to work on things to make him better going forward. I’m just throwing it out there. Feel free to tell me I’m wrong and dumb. But I’d love to get everybody’s thoughts.

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47 minutes ago, Reinert310 said:

I’m just spitballing here, not saying I believe it 1 way or another, but is it possible, the relegation might be a blessing in disguising. Don’t get me wrong, I’m never going to argue that playing against better competition is a bad thing long term. But it seems like the past 2 years Werder’s style of play was just to survive and try not to get relegated. And the lack of attack from his entire club has detrimental to his development as a striker. Is it possible that after being relegated, and now playing against 2nd tier competition, Werder will be able to open the game up more, which might allow Sargent to find his goal scoring again? Maybe compare it to sending a young baseball player down to AAA to work on things to make him better going forward. I’m just throwing it out there. Feel free to tell me I’m wrong and dumb. But I’d love to get everybody’s thoughts.

I’ve seen others make a similar argument. That isn’t how development works, especially at his age. He needs to play against better competition than he’ll face in 2.Bundesliga and during training sessions. I have no doubt he will tear it up in 2.Bundesliga (as he should), but that will do nothing to help improve his weaknesses. 

Ideally he would move to a mid-table team in the Premier League or Bundesliga. Sargent proved he belongs in a top 5 league. Anything below that is a step backwards.

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3 hours ago, BilliesBy40 said:

I’ve seen others make a similar argument. That isn’t how development works, especially at his age. He needs to play against better competition than he’ll face in 2.Bundesliga and during training sessions. I have no doubt he will tear it up in 2.Bundesliga (as he should), but that will do nothing to help improve his weaknesses. 

Ideally he would move to a mid-table team in the Premier League or Bundesliga. Sargent proved he belongs in a top 5 league. Anything below that is a step backwards.

I guess what I was saying isn’t so much about “developing” in terms of honing skills, as much as regaining confidence playing in a team that’s actually actively trying to score goals and starting see the ball hitting the back of the net a lot more. For instance, hypothetically, he plays in 2 Bundesliga this year, then transfers next summer, that confidence might go a long way. Obviously, I’m terms of developing skill, iron sharpens iron. I just think it could be good for him to actually play in an attacking offense and scoring more goals, just to take a weight off and get the media (and everyone else) to stop asking him about it.

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Just now, Reinert310 said:

I guess what I was saying isn’t so much about “developing” in terms of honing skills, as much as regaining confidence playing in a team that’s actually actively trying to score goals and starting see the ball hitting the back of the net a lot more. For instance, hypothetically, he plays in 2 Bundesliga this year, then transfers next summer, that confidence might go a long way. Obviously, I’m terms of developing skill, iron sharpens iron. I just think it could be good for him to actually play in an attacking offense and scoring more goals, just to take a weight off and get the media (and everyone else) to stop asking him about it.

I just think there’s a mental aspect that gets overlooked. Being a striker for Bremen the last couple years has to have been demoralizing.

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13 minutes ago, Reinert310 said:

I guess what I was saying isn’t so much about “developing” in terms of honing skills, as much as regaining confidence playing in a team that’s actually actively trying to score goals and starting see the ball hitting the back of the net a lot more. For instance, hypothetically, he plays in 2 Bundesliga this year, then transfers next summer, that confidence might go a long way. Obviously, I’m terms of developing skill, iron sharpens iron. I just think it could be good for him to actually play in an attacking offense and scoring more goals, just to take a weight off and get the media (and everyone else) to stop asking him about it.

I agree he needs to leave Werder. Simply scoring goals - he had 2 yesterday - is not going to do anything for him. If that’s all you are looking for, you will be pleased with his performance this year. Unfortunately that will not help him reach his long-term potential.

He has real areas for improvement that would increase his goal scoring, including improving his technical ability in traffic. He also has a tendency to rush things when on the ball. This issue will only improve with more playing time at a high level.

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2 minutes ago, BilliesBy40 said:

I agree he needs to leave Werder. Simply scoring goals - he had 2 yesterday - is not going to do anything for him. If that’s all you are looking for, you will be pleased with his performance this year. Unfortunately that will not help him reach his long-term potential.

He has real areas for improvement that would increase his goal scoring, including improving his technical ability in traffic. He also has a tendency to rush things when on the ball. This issue will only improve with more playing time at a high level.

I think you’re completely ignoring a mental aspect of the game. Did you ever think he rushes things when on the ball because he knows that it will probably be the only chance he gets for the entire game? I understand that he has things he needs to work on that can only really be sharpened at the highest level, but he’s still going to to be playing in qualifying this year. I agree that if he plays in 2 Bundesliga for the next 5 years, that’s very very not good. But I think him dropping down a level and regaining some confidence for a year and then moving back up to a top tier team, might actually do him some good.

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48 minutes ago, Reinert310 said:

I think you’re completely ignoring a mental aspect of the game. Did you ever think he rushes things when on the ball because he knows that it will probably be the only chance he gets for the entire game? I understand that he has things he needs to work on that can only really be sharpened at the highest level, but he’s still going to to be playing in qualifying this year. I agree that if he plays in 2 Bundesliga for the next 5 years, that’s very very not good. But I think him dropping down a level and regaining some confidence for a year and then moving back up to a top tier team, might actually do him some good.

I am not ignoring anything. You are creating an imaginary issue with his confidence level to excuse deficiencies in his game. We are not talking about a 28 year old who has been on a long scoring drought. Plus, advanced stats indicate he has scored about as often as he should’ve given the quality of his chances while at Werder. I am worried about much more than goal scoring, although his output would increase if he rounds out his game.

He needs a change of scenery and continued time against top competition. Period.

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5 minutes ago, BilliesBy40 said:

I am not ignoring anything. You are creating an imaginary issue with his confidence level to excuse deficiencies in his game. We are not talking about a 28 year old who has been on a long scoring drought. Plus, advanced stats indicate he has scored about as often as he should’ve given the quality of his chances while at Werder. I am worried about much more than goal scoring, although his output would increase if he rounds out his game.

He needs a change of scenery and continued time against top competition. Period.

The fact that she’s scoring exactly much as he should have given the given the quality of his chances at Werder is precisely my point. If you don’t think playing that “grind it out and hope for a draw” type of soccer every game takes a toll on you, especially for a striker, I just don’t know what to tell you.

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1 minute ago, Reinert310 said:

The fact that she’s scoring exactly much as he should have given the given the quality of his chances at Werder is precisely my point. If you don’t think playing that “grind it out and hope for a draw” type of soccer every game takes a toll on you, especially for a striker, I just don’t know what to tell you.

I haven’t said it wouldn’t or couldn’t. I am saying the most important thing for him right now is continued development. There is no real sign his confidence is an issue.

But you are moving the goal posts to argue about something you previously acted like you don’t have an opinion on so I will stop responding.

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19 minutes ago, BilliesBy40 said:

I haven’t said it wouldn’t or couldn’t. I am saying the most important thing for him right now is continued development. There is no real sign his confidence is an issue.

But you are moving the goal posts to argue about something you previously acted like you don’t have an opinion on so I will stop responding.

By “no real sign his confidence is an issue”, u mean he hasn’t said it or trashed Werder publicly, right? How could you possibly know something like that? I haven’t moved anything. I think playing attacking soccer will good for him and his frame of mind, even it delays other parts of his development a bit. Seeing the ball go in the back of the net will be good for him, even if it’s against lesser competition. Not everything is about technical skill. These are human beings. 

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9 minutes ago, Reinert310 said:

By “no real sign his confidence is an issue”, u mean he hasn’t said it or trashed Werder publicly, right? How could you possibly know something like that? I haven’t moved anything. I think playing attacking soccer will good for him and his frame of mind, even it delays other parts of his development a bit. Seeing the ball go in the back of the net will be good for him, even if it’s against lesser competition. Not everything is about technical skill. These are human beings. 

Scold me as though I can’t know his confidence isn’t an issue but you are allowed to assume it is as if it is fact? What an absurd position. You are arguing just to argue. I thought you don’t have an opinion on this? Or at least that’s what you said. 

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1 minute ago, BilliesBy40 said:

Scold me as though I can’t know his confidence isn’t an issue but you are allowed to assume it is as if it is fact? What an absurd position. You are arguing just to argue. I thought you don’t have an opinion on this? Or at least that’s what you said. 

I developed an opinion. The universe isn’t static. Every USMNT soccer fan in America and most of their commentators have been questioning whether Sargent can finish enough for at least the past year, and for the past few years, he’s been playing for a club that has minimal interest in scoring goals. Yes, confidence should be a concern.

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