2011 Gold Cup

[Delhommey]

Sylvian, keep your pro-rape, anti-minority stance in the Tinderbox or I'll make you disappear like Tim Howard.

[Acewalker]

We were screwed as soon as Borstein got in there, but it would have been hard for us to win anyway. Chicharito and Dos Santos are just too much for our backs in regards to skill and pace. I feel bad for Tim Howard having to deal with our defense.

[hepcat]

Tim Howard had a terrible game...that one goal where the defender tried to head it away was all Howard's fault. He fell down chasing the Mexican player in the box. He gave up 3 soft goals that he could have made a play on, the second goal Mexico scored, Howard didn't even move. I don't think he's as good as he was during the World Cup. That game against Spain and this one...he allowed 8 goals. Not to say the defense played much better, they were getting sliced and diced by Mexico's very fast forwards. I was so pumped when they were up 2-0 then they just died.

And about the racism in this thread...it's people like that who are holding the world back. They aren't just closed-minded bigoted white Americans, they exist in every culture. Millions of people across the world have extremely negative things to say about Americans and they've never been here or even met an American. It comes from ignorance and not being exposed to the positive sides of different cultures during your formative years. Having parents that hold those views growing up doesn't help.

The reason the US soccer team wasn't well supported is because:

#1 - Soccer, while steadily gaining popularity, still isn't very popular in America. However, in almost every other country in the world (including Mexico), it is the #1 sport.

#2 - Our team isn't very good.

Just keep comments about drug pushing Mexicans to yourself. Nobody wants to hear that and what good are you doing by saying it? Maybe lay off the Fox news for awhile.

[SuperLego5]

Mo Johnston (coached/managed a few US teams) gave an interview for Scottish TV about the difference between soccer in the US and the rest of the world. In the US soccer is taught the same way as football is, in designated plays out of a playbook. In the rest of the world most people are just given a ball and told to kick it about. Basically what Johnston said was that US players lacked creativity and were to used to scripted plays. Soccer is to creative for scripted plays to work at a high level.

Some of you may disagree but that was the reason Johnston gave, I've never played soccer in the US so can't judge for myself.

[cbarrier90]

Mo Johnston (coached/managed a few US teams) gave an interview for Scottish TV about the difference between soccer in the US and the rest of the world. In the US soccer is taught the same way as football is, in designated plays out of a playbook. In the rest of the world most people are just given a ball and told to kick it about. Basically what Johnston said was that US players lacked creativity and were to used to scripted plays. Soccer is to creative for scripted plays to work at a high level.

Some of you may disagree but that was the reason Johnston gave, I've never played soccer in the US so can't judge for myself.

I can't stand these U.S. Soccer pundits like Alexi Lalas who constantly want to make up lame excuses for why USMNT can't succeed on the world stage.

The reality is, the greatest American athletes grow up with footballs and basketballs in their hands, not soccer balls. I know he's Canadian, but Tristan Thompson is the perfect example of the American idea of soccer: he grew up playing soccer, but after he hit a growth spurt he was encouraged to give up soccer and concentrate on basketball, which turned him into a star at Texas, and now a #4 pick in the NBA Draft.

Can you imagine if a guy like LeBron James, at 6'8, 260, dribbled a soccer ball down the sidelines? No team in the world would have an answer for him. Alas, he grew up on the playgrounds of Akron with a basketball, not a soccer ball, because at the end of the day, football, basketball, and baseball are the mainstays of sports in America and the sports we send our best athletes to play, while soccer is regarded only as a recreational sport and nothing more. That's the way it always has been here, that's the way it always will be here, and there's nothing wrong with that.

[Hawk]

success on the big stage will help to improve programs etc also. Just had this discussion with my buddy last night after going to watch an IBL game...curious why basketball isn't bigger in Canada if you figure the inventor was Canadian and it's an indoor sport. Guys like Tristan Thompson getting drafted 4th will help, but until Canadian basketball gets somewhere, you won't see the growth at the younger levels. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't thing.

[Panthers128]

Nice to see several immature moderators chime in.

In the real world though we have people who directly experienced what I described and they are speaking up:

"CONCACAF should be ashamed of themselves," Howard told the Sporting News after the match. "I think it was a fuging disgrace that the entire post-match ceremony was in Spanish. You can bet your ass if we were in Mexico City, it wouldn't all be in English."

http://www.nesn.com/2011/06/tim-howard-criticizes-concacaf-for-post-match-ceremony-after-gold-cup.html

There's no way to avoid an obvious discussion. This is directly related to the Gold Cup.

[cbarrier90]

Nice to see several immature moderators chime in.

In the real world though we have people who directly experienced what I described and they are speaking up:

http://www.nesn.com/2011/06/tim-howard-criticizes-concacaf-for-post-match-ceremony-after-gold-cup.html

There's no way to avoid an obvious discussion. This is directly related to the Gold Cup.

The game was hardly ever advertised on English speaking stations. I saw no commercials on ESPN, because the NBA Draft and MLB were in full swing.

I never watched a single minute of the Gold Cup because I could never find the game. Come to find out it's on Fox Soccer Channel, which is not on basic cable.

Sylvian, I understand you are upset that the U.S. didn't win, but the fact of the matter is, we just don't care. How much more evidence do you need?

[pstall]

go read Soccernomics. We don't play Western Europe football. We try to cram basketball skill sets into soccer. IT DOESN"T FREAKIN WORK.

How many times did I see an American go 1 on 2 in the corner?? Our soccer culture blows because we don't know what the helll we are doing from the youth up to college.

We just wing it.

[bredy087]

My bud and I always laugh at the predictability of US play. They have to get rid of that by the book mentality.

[Panthers128]

The American team looked too slow. Especially the defenders. They have to rebuild the team even if it means taking lesser soccer players on the team.

The Mexico attack reminded me of what happened against Ghana. Lazy, slow defense giving up easy goals. The team has strengths but has a long ways to go before being elite. Mexico really isn't that great and it showed by the two easy goals the US netted in the early parts of the game.

They're still quite ahead of the US though.

[pstall]

My bud and I always laugh at the predictability of US play. They have to get rid of that by the book mentality.

Every pass is a struggle. The touches are never crisp. We have moments but its painful to watch the US try to move the ball around. I cringe as a former soccer player at what we do.

Watch the US play and you will see elements of hoops mentality.

Give me Klinsmann today and we are infinitely better as a team.

[pstall]

The American team looked too slow. Especially the defenders. They have to rebuild the team even if it means taking lesser soccer players on the team.

The Mexico attack reminded me of what happened against Ghana. Lazy, slow defense giving up easy goals. The team has strengths but has a long ways to go before being elite. Mexico really isn't that great and it showed by the two easy goals the US netted in the early parts of the game.

They're still quite ahead of the US though.

Its that but its really this: The entire country of Mexico was dying to beat the US. The match was shown on Fox Soccer Channel.

Winning soccer in the US is somewhere between hybrid cars and stopping urban sprawl.

[Acewalker]

We need Rossi!