FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 THREAD

-Can Howard come back in four years and be our goalie again? Wow.

-From the Captain Obvious Dept.: Need to be able to possess the ball longer to set up the attack and become more offensive (pretty obvious...especially in those last two games - vs. Germany and today)

-Need a dynamic striker or two that can finish (maybe the youngster Green in four years? Dempsey was really our only reliable threat after Altidore went down - at least Jozy's only 24 years old)

-Bradley definitely has some very good moments in the midfield and can deliver quality passes to generate scoring chances - he also is all over the field throughout the game, pushing ahead and then also getting back on D...that said, he did have some tough moments in this World Cup but that happens...would be great to have another playmaker come through the ranks that could provide strong competition and maybe be better than what Bradley offers.

-Hopefully, we'll find better talent to solidify the D as they were exposed today (our inability to possess the ball didn't help) - Howard was peppered! I thought Besler overall was just average back there this World Cup as too many good scoring chances came through him.

-Overall, great showing I thought by our team throughout this Cup...they were a few seconds away from having a 2-0-2 record...and, just advancing from their "Group of Death" was an accomplishment in itself. Hoping the team can build and improve on this and be even better in four years from now.

-You know this is the slow time of the NFL year when some of us are commenting on soccer - what am I doing? Training camp can't get here soon enough...at least we got some decent news about Aldon today and overall, no news has been good news since minicamp wrapped up (can it just stay that way until training camp starts?)

Originally posted by H41L5ATAN:

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:

Originally posted by Rocket4989:

YANL. Dude was a monster.

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:
YANL. Dude was a monster.

+1

Originally posted by LottDMontanaO:
-Can Howard come back in four years and be our goalie again? Wow.

-From the Captain Obvious Dept.: Need to be able to possess the ball longer to set up the attack and become more offensive (pretty obvious...especially in those last two games - vs. Germany and today)

-Need a dynamic striker or two that can finish (maybe the youngster Green in four years? Dempsey was really our only reliable threat after Altidore went down - at least Jozy's only 24 years old)

-Bradley definitely has some very good moments in the midfield and can deliver quality passes to generate scoring chances - he also is all over the field throughout the game, pushing ahead and then also getting back on D...that said, he did have some tough moments in this World Cup but that happens...would be great to have another playmaker come through the ranks that could provide strong competition and maybe be better than what Bradley offers.

-Hopefully, we'll find better talent to solidify the D as they were exposed today (our inability to possess the ball didn't help) - Howard was peppered! I thought Besler overall was just average back there this World Cup as too many good scoring chances came through him.

-Overall, great showing I thought by our team throughout this Cup...they were a few seconds away from having a 2-0-2 record...and, just advancing from their "Group of Death" was an accomplishment in itself. Hoping the team can build and improve on this and be even better in four years from now.

-You know this is the slow time of the NFL year when some of us are commenting on soccer - what am I doing? Training camp can't get here soon enough...at least we got some decent news about Aldon today and overall, no news has been good news since minicamp wrapped up (can it just stay that way until training camp starts?)

All the USA Goal Keepers in the WC are over 32 .so i see why not.

They missed Altidore big time and also Stuart Holden a playmaker which the USA REALLY LACKED.

From all accounts FJ and Yedlin really stood out. and there still young

Hats off to team usa..the lose still stings.

Originally posted by lazy:
Hats off to team usa..the lose still stings.

Yup. What some people don't understand is for most of this players its there last WC. Demsey is gone so is D.Beasley also Jermaine Jones. You cant say "next year" we get them. Its every 4 years and a team is not Guarranted a spot in the WC let alone a player its sad really sad.

I'm still sad

Originally posted by sanjo49er:

Originally posted by lazy:
Hats off to team usa..the lose still stings.

Yup. What some people don't understand is for most of this players its there last WC. Demsey is gone so is D.Beasley also Jermaine Jones. You cant say "next year" we get them. Its every 4 years and a team is not Guarranted a spot in the WC let alone a player its sad really sad.

^ill be 28 when the world cup is back on again.

Such a bummer. The Wondo miss with 3 min left was brutal. Was very impressed with Yedlin. That guy is FAST and keeps that ball on a string.

Originally posted by blizzuntz:

Originally posted by Rocket4989:

world cup is now over, now its time for preseason! lets go NFL hurry up.

Looking forward to Fridays games. I should be sufficiently healed by then

Originally posted by StOnEy333:

Dempsey wasn't the same after he broke his nose. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been out there, but he certainly didn't do anything to help the team after that.

If he didn't score his goal against Portugal, there'd be no Belgium game.

Originally posted by judodono:

Originally posted by StOnEy333:

Dempsey wasn't the same after he broke his nose. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been out there, but he certainly didn't do anything to help the team after that.

If he didn't score his goal against Portugal, there'd be no Belgium game.

Plus Klinsmann needs to get a lot of the blame there for playing him out of position. By putting him at center forward he kept him away from the ball A LOT when he needed to be someone constantly in contact with it. Case in point yesterday, USA was getting their s**t pushed in till Wondo comes in, Dempsey is pulled back and BAM, USA started playing so much better.

Unfortunately I called the loss once I saw the lineup.

Originally posted by vrabbit:

Originally posted by judodono:

Originally posted by StOnEy333:
Dempsey wasn't the same after he broke his nose. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been out there, but he certainly didn't do anything to help the team after that.

If he didn't score his goal against Portugal, there'd be no Belgium game.

Plus Klinsmann needs to get a lot of the blame there for playing him out of position. By putting him at center forward he kept him away from the ball A LOT when he needed to be someone constantly in contact with it. Case in point yesterday, USA was getting their s**t pushed in till Wondo comes in, Dempsey is pulled back and BAM, USA started playing so much better.

Unfortunately I called the loss once I saw the lineup.

I don't think that position change was all of it, Belgium is a legit contender

Originally posted by judodono:

Originally posted by StOnEy333:

Dempsey wasn't the same after he broke his nose. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been out there, but he certainly didn't do anything to help the team after that.

If he didn't score his goal against Portugal, there'd be no Belgium game.

I'm not sure what that has to do with what I posted.

I wish we wouldn't have played so scared against teams like Belgium and Germany. It seemed the whole time we were too afraid of our opponents and we played their games. Take the last 15 for example. Why did we not do that against the bigger teams sooner? Why did we never really go on the offensive? Instead of us taking it to the other team, we constantly let them take it to us, and hoped to catch them out of position.

A lot of people want to say that this was a great cup for us, but did we really progress? We only won 1 out of 4, and lost 2. That's pretty meh imo. Point being, if we want to hang with these bigger countries, we can't be afraid of them. I understand situational football and all, but you can't do it every game and expect to win it all imo. Playing not to lose can only get you so far.