maximilian ping
Grrrrr
Hargreaves, Gerrard and Barry were great. but the team is still uninspiring. hopefully Capello can turn them all into a good team before they all get too old
England v USA
- Thread starter upsidedownwalrus
- Start date
Well basically what I expect to happen is that soccer will replace basketball as the sport of the ghetto. Why? Because you have to be a physical freak to play professional basketball, whereas men of almost any shape and size can be professional soccer players. So once the cultural influence of the unprecedentedly huge immigration from Latin America perculates to the blacks and Puerto Ricans they will all realize that soccer is the best way out of poverty, and they will learn to play it to a high level and win the world cup. Also the USA will start scouting in poor countries and offering promising 9 year-olds citizenship.
kained&able
Here for the football.
who is witter? and fuck brown at rb. Johnson or ryan taylor(in a couple of years) would be my choices.
dave
dave
imposs1904
Thread Killa'
Lord Camomile
Yipchaa!
I was not! I didn't say his position was down the middle, I said he scored down the middle, the point being that he should have been positioned there in the fitst place
Barry has done well for England though, and I'm really glad Hargreaves is getting the recognition and success he deserves, so, erm...
Can Barry play on the left, or would that just be the same problem with different personnell?
Would also be a bit hesitant to leave J.Cole out as he's often one of our most dangerous and troublesome players, and brings something to the team that few of the other 'starters' do.
Bloody hell this managing lark aint easy.
internetstalker
Get naked!
I totally agree. I couldn't believe we'd gone back to having Gerrard on the left to accomodate Lampard
What happend when he went off? Gerrard promptly scored down the middle, and his link up play with Rooney was much more effective than anything Lampard did.
Lampard can be a good player (though all too oftennot for England) but it's just bad luck that he happens to be playing at the same time as someone who plays in the same position who is more consistent, more versatile and, in my opinion, simply better.
Lampard should basically be used as (literally) a substitute for Gerrard, when Gerrard is either injured or under-performing. It's very unfortunate for him, but that's the situation as it is.
Other than that I thought the second half wasn't too bad. We started stringing some passes together and looking like we had some notion of how to play on the ground (until Crouch came one- though I suppose it might work as a 'Plan B' when we're losing/drawing with X minutes to go and just need to pile on the pressure).
The good thing is that capello HAS got the balls to drop top players if they aint performing!
we shalle see if he does it for us
Artie Fufkin
Polymer Records
yeah, rubbish for Man Utd this season. best defensive record in premiership, Premiership Champion, European Champions League....
internetstalker
Get naked!
kained&able
Here for the football.
I cant even work out what my team would be untill one of the strikers steps up and prooves thier worth.
dave
dave
Lord Camomile
Yipchaa!
That's what I'm hoping for - it's the reason I wanted Scolari way back when.
Ain't that truth. I'd swear a couple of years back we were spoilt for choice with strikers
Can't remember who I think they were though 
How about 4-3-3, with Hargreaves, Gerrad and Barry in midfield, A.Cole and Richards (if fit) bombing down the wings, and Rooney playing behind In-Form-Striker-A and In-Form-Striker-B?
That was an off the top of my head idea and I do not stand by it when it is pointed out to be tacically very stupid
Artie Fufkin
Polymer Records
he might want to think about dropping Rooney at some point and try two other strikers together.
actually, he'll have the chance against T&T as Rooney's not travelling..
kained&able
Here for the football.
Ashton will get rooneys place when not fit i would assume.
dave
dave
A good point, but I still strongly doubt it will happen as near in the future as 2022. Maybe 2050.
Well this definitely worked for France, and I don't know why we don't pull our finger out and start doing it too.
Bonfirelight
Crocodile
By 2050 there's a good chance the USA will be a 'poor' country
The potential's there, but i just can't ever see Americans embracing football above their own sports, and even if it does get popular with immigrants and ghetto societies, the mainstream establishment (NFL, NBA, MLB) will always ensure that it doesn't get the kind of foothold it needs to explode.
I think for the forseeable future the US could expect to have a side on par with Portugal or Sweden, that is decent sides who regularly qualify, and usually expect to get out of their group, with the occassional generation that can mount a challenge, but will probably lack that extra edge.
Yes, I think Sweden is a very good analogy. They always strike me as being a well organised side, and they've improved since the days of France 98 when they were like a league two side, but I really can't see them actually winning a world cup.
karrotcake
out mugging grannies
kained&able
Here for the football.
Definatly agree richards should be a centre back rather then an rb and it aint all about playing people out of position.
dave
dave
There's a bit of a difference between Portugal and Sweden though. I'd say the USA can aspire to Portugal status, though it doesn't necessarily take a great team to win a major tournament; organization and discipline and a bit of luck can be enough, e.g. Greece in Euro 2004.
Agreed. But I equally can't ever imagine England beating them.
Bonfirelight
Crocodile
Portugal are a decent side at the moment and Sweden are in decline, but ten years ago Portugal were pretty rubbish and Sweden were a side that regularly qualified and did pretty well (eg USA 94).
My guess is the USA will (if they're not already) become much like this, going from fairly poor sides to fairly good sides as and when they produce a few players to lift them up (eg Ronaldo, Figo, Henrik Larson etc)
