USA Soccer thread spring/summer 2023
- Thread starter Fk_Pitt
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That's kind of what I alluded to previously. Under Marsch Leeds was underperforming their underlying metrics by a good bit. Since they fired him their metrics have fallen off a cliff, and their performance has gotten even worse.
Huge mistake. And it's going to cost them their spot in the league.
The US next plays on Tuesday afternoon against one of the third place finishers. It is entirely possible that that team could be either Brazil or Italy. Could also be Nigeria or New Zealand.
Damn. Not going to pretend I know anything about Nigeria’s U20 team. But that’s a damn good soccer country.
You never really know about the age group teams, but Nigeria beat Italy 2-0. They play Brazil this afternoon. If we assume that Italy beats the Dominican Republic (seems likely), then a Nigeria win or draw makes Brazil the 3rd place team. A Brazil win would make a three way tie on 6 points and goal difference would decide it. Brazil would be ahead of Nigeria for sure, so it would depend on how bad Italy beats DR to determine which of those two finished 3rd. Nigeria is currently +3, Italy -1.
Brazil beat Nigeria and Italy beat the DR so a three way tie. Brazil ends up first on goal difference and Italy second by one goal.
However, perhaps luckily for the US, with the other 3rd place results the US next plays New Zealand rather than Nigeria. If the US wins that one they get either Uruguay or Gambia in the quarters. In the semis it would be one of Israel, Uzbekistan, Brazil or Tunisia.
However, perhaps luckily for the US, with the other 3rd place results the US next plays New Zealand rather than Nigeria. If the US wins that one they get either Uruguay or Gambia in the quarters. In the semis it would be one of Israel, Uzbekistan, Brazil or Tunisia.
The US has looked solid but not spectacular. I like some of their young players but the team has been workmanlike. Slonina hasnt had to do much as they were drawn into a weak group. Pretty unbelievable that they only need to beat NZ and then the Uruguay/Gambia winner just to make the semis, where they COULD face Uzbekistan, Israel, or Tunisia. They also get Kevin Paredes to join the club from Wolfsburg for the knockouts.
Thanks Joe for doing all this leg work. Seems like a deep run is potentially set up.
In other USMNT news, Westin McKennie looks like he might be taking a beating from Leeds supporters.
I’m not sure Twitter is a true indicator of things, as it might be an echo chamber for the dregs of humanity. We see it in all aspects of life. But Weston is getting a real beat down and some fans are blaming…wait for it…who could have guessed…the American McKennie. Someone has to be the scapegoat, right? They call him fat and lazy.
It’s too bad for Wes that they ran out Jesse Marsch right after Weston came on loan.
Here’s Weston’s Dad with a bizarre tweet farewell to Leeds. The replies can be seen.
I’m not sure Twitter is a true indicator of things, as it might be an echo chamber for the dregs of humanity. We see it in all aspects of life. But Weston is getting a real beat down and some fans are blaming…wait for it…who could have guessed…the American McKennie. Someone has to be the scapegoat, right? They call him fat and lazy.
It’s too bad for Wes that they ran out Jesse Marsch right after Weston came on loan.
Here’s Weston’s Dad with a bizarre tweet farewell to Leeds. The replies can be seen.
Given that they moved on from Bielsa pretty quickly after all he'd done for them, they weren't gonna give Marsch or anyone else a ton of time. That's the nature of teams that fear relegation
They got a lot worse after Marsch left, and they completely cratered after Adams got hurt. So obviously it's all the American's fault.
It's also the reason why they find themselves in that position. They fear relegation, so they panic and do something stupid, and their worst fears get realized.
I think sometimes, maybe often, you get a little initial bump with a managerial change. Win a couple games and those 6 points can make the difference between staying up and going down. I don’t think Leeds got that did they? Hard to know if it was Marsch’s departure or Adams’ injury that was the problem.
If Leeds had taken that mentality they would have kept Bielsa and Marsch never would have received a chance.
In other words, they went for the old "throw good money after bad" gambit, and amazingly it didn't work out.
Or it could work out like Villa where they hired an excellent coach after being relegation threatened and finished 7th.
It's always going to be hard for a team like Leeds to avoid the relegation battle, even after finishing in the top 10 their first year back. Keeping your coach isn't any more of a failproof plan than firing him. Most of the time the teams that go down are just flawed teams, either because of poor team construction or lack of resources.
Yeah, absolutely. Most of the time for these teams it's the old saying, they fired the coach because they can't fire all of the players, when the real problem is that the players aren't really good enough no matter who the coach is.
BTW, the US U20 women are currently playing in the CONCACAF championships. They are playing Canada today. At the half the US leads 3-0.
For some reason the games are being played in the Dominican Republic. I just happened to see that it was on television (FS2) and thought I would see what the score is. It is halftime, but they are showing a camera view from the top corner of the stadium. You can see pretty much all of the seats on the side opposite the benches, as well as the bottom half dozen or so rows behind the benches. I get that it is half time, but there is literally not one person in any of those seats.
For some reason the games are being played in the Dominican Republic. I just happened to see that it was on television (FS2) and thought I would see what the score is. It is halftime, but they are showing a camera view from the top corner of the stadium. You can see pretty much all of the seats on the side opposite the benches, as well as the bottom half dozen or so rows behind the benches. I get that it is half time, but there is literally not one person in any of those seats.
I don’t think there’s ever anyone at those matches regardless of where it’s played. Taylor Schram, who most think was the best WPIAL player ever, won a U20 World Cup in Japan 8 years ago. I watched all of those games and the stands were always empty. Pretty sure a lot of the men’s games don’t draw either?
I've watched the men's U20 USA games this week, attendance isn't horrible, last game was 8000. What do you all think of this Cade Cowell, he's like a man among boys. He's 19 years old and he's been in MLS 4 seasons already.
Is it really surprising that a USA vs Canada girls soccer match in the DR (where soccer is not a mainstream sport and way behind baseball, basketball, boxing, track, etc) would have an attendance of 0? OK, I would think the families would go. So maybe 100? Why would one single Dominican citizen pay money to go to that?
Cowell will be another in a long line of decent American MLS strikers who arent good enough internationally. Diego Luna has been the most impressive so far. I like this team but I dont see many of these guys replacing the senior team guys any time soon or ever and that's partly because the senior team players are only a few years older.
Diego Luna has been good, I think Cowell has been a little better. Luna is U20? He looks like a 37 year old hit man for the Sinaloa cartel,
He played for the big boy team I thinks earlier this year and while I still know zippo about the beautiful game he stood out to me. Which means little I’m sure but I asked the same question then.
Diego Luna has been good, I think Cowell has been a little better. Luna is U20? He looks like a 37 year old hit man for the Sinaloa cartel,
Juarez cartel. He is from El Paso. He does have that look though.
Hence, "for some reason the games are being played in the Dominican Republic."
Israel, in their first appearance, just beat Brazil and are into the semifinal of the U20 World Cup. If the US wins tomorrow I think we may play them. I haven’t done a lot of digging but it appears to be a unified team with Jews and Muslims…which is interesting.
Correct. The US would play Israel. Italy will play the winner of tomorrow's game between Nigeria and South Korea.
1-1 after 90, Brazil took the lead early in extra time, 2-1. Israel got it right back and scored in stoppage time of the first extra time period to win.
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