USMNT Olympic Team

[Sean Miller Fan]

Its a U23 tournament for those that dont know. You are allowed 3 overage players and they were announced today:

Walker Zimmerman of Nashville
Miles Robinson of Atlanta United
Djordje Mihailovic of Colorado

Mihailovic is sort of a surprise pick but he has 11 caps and 3 goals for the full national team (mostly in B team games) and is having a good season in MLS with 8 goals in 18 games.

Zimmerman and Robinson, if both are healthy may be the 2 best American center backs. Robinson looked to be have one of those positions locked up for the foreseeable future before tearing his ACL.

This team has a chance to do well. Cade Cowell is a good goal scorer and has recently moved to Chivas. They'll have 2 Serie A midfielders (Busio, Tessman), Bundesliga player Kevin Paredes, and one of my personal favorties, Benjamin Cremaschi of Inter Miami. I watched all the Messi Miami games last year and I was super impressed with Cremaschi.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

Caleb Wiley was just signed by Chelsea on a long deal into the 2030’s. No word if he will be part of their loan army the way Matt Miazga was for so many years. He will start out at Chelsea’s AAA team in League One.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Caleb Wiley was just signed by Chelsea on a long deal into the 2030’s. No word if he will be part of their loan army the way Matt Miazga was for so many years. He will start out at Chelsea’s AAA team in League One.

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One of the things I hate about club football are loans. That's one thing we do better in the US in not allowing that. For some of these clubs, its literally just a business segment they run. Wiley will never play for Chelsea but they will profit off of him by loaning him out. Some of these clubs have 80-100 players on the books with few ever having any chance to play for the big club.

 

[mike412]

Does Boehly have a rule that he won’t sign a player older than 22? I guess the theory is that they are cheaper at an early age and if you sign enough of them you will get 11 Cole Palmer’s. Unfortunately, so far he only has 1, although I think Gallagher has a lot of potential but they seem set on letting him go.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

Does Boehly have a rule that he won’t sign a player older than 22? I guess the theory is that they are cheaper at an early age and if you sign enough of them you will get 11 Cole Palmer’s. Unfortunately, so far he only has 1, although I think Gallagher has a lot of potential but they seem set on letting him go.

I’m a fan of Gallagher but they need to raise money and he’s the logical method to do so. Honestly nothing they do makes sense.

Oddly, while I’m a huge Enzo Fernandez fan, there may be something to the long winning streak chelsea went on after he got hurt. Caicedo was able to play freely and Gallagher covered all that ground higher up the field. So we shall see again whether Caicedo and Fernandez can play together.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

Another thing, two of the teenage Brazilian midfielder phenoms they have are said to be staying with the senior team this season. It’s such a crowded midfield already. I don’t get it.

 

[Pitt79]

Cade Cowell is a good goal scorer and has recently moved to Chivas.

I don't think he's on this roster, which is surprising to me?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I don't think he's on this roster, which is surprising to me?

Yea, I didn't understand that. Maybe he's hurt or Chivas wouldn't release him.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Yea, I didn't understand that. Maybe he's hurt or Chivas wouldn't release him.

Liga MX played their first games of the new season last Saturday. Cowell started and played 80 minutes for Chivas. My guess is that they think he's an important part of their team, and as such they had no interest in allowing him to play in a JV tournament that no one cares about.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Liga MX played their first games of the new season last Saturday. Cowell started and played 80 minutes for Chivas. My guess is that they think he's an important part of their team, and as such they had no interest in allowing him to play in a JV tournament that no one cares about.

Mexico is sabotaging our chance at Olympic gold.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Mexico is sabotaging our chance at Olympic gold.

Oh no! Whatever will we do?!?!?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Oh no! Whatever will we do?!?!?

What we always do. Blow every single chance of growing the game in this country. Im not saying Cade Cowell wins the Gold Medal but idiot Americans will tune in to watch a Gold Medal game because they have no idea its a U23 Tournament and if we were to somehow win it, that would help the game locally.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

What we always do. Blow every single chance of growing the game in this country. Im not saying Cade Cowell wins the Gold Medal but idiot Americans will tune in to watch a Gold Medal game because they have no idea its a U23 Tournament and if we were to somehow win it, that would help the game locally.

Yes, it would turn the dozens and dozens of non-soccer fans who will be watching the gold medal game that takes place on a Friday at noon eastern time into ravaging soccer fanatics.



In any event, who exactly is "blowing it" with Cade Cowell not playing? The most likely thing going on here is that his club team is not releasing him. There's nothing that US Soccer, or anyone else for that matter, can do about it. And the reason for that is that the men's Olympic tournament is a joke. And everyone knows that.

Except for you.

 

[Pitt79]

And the reason for that is that the men's Olympic tournament is a joke. And everyone knows that.

Not arguing with you, it's clearly not important, my only question is why? Most sports, like basketball or women's soccer for example, the Olympics is a big deal, wonder why men's soccer made it a minor thing?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Not arguing with you, it's clearly not important, my only question is why? Most sports, like basketball or women's soccer for example, the Olympics is a big deal, wonder why men's soccer made it a minor thing?

Historical prestige:

1. Olympic Basketball was more popular than the FIBA World Cup and it stayed that way. I dont even think the old FIBA World Championships were even televised in the US until the pros played.

2. Women's soccer - club soccer isnt very popular so the Olympics gives the world's best the 2nd biggest stage to play on

3. Men's soccer - The World Cup, continental tournaments, and club soccer suck up all the oxygen.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Historical prestige:

1. Olympic Basketball was more popular than the FIBA World Cup and it stayed that way. I dont even think the old FIBA World Championships were even televised in the US until the pros played.

2. Women's soccer - club soccer isnt very popular so the Olympics gives the world's best the 2nd biggest stage to play on

3. Men's soccer - The World Cup, continental tournaments, and club soccer suck up all the oxygen.

It's not just that those other events suck up all the oxygen, it's that those events were there and much, much bigger when no one was paying any attention to the Olympic soccer tournament. Add in the fact that FIFA is the group that is in charge of setting the rules for the Olympics but they aren't the ones making the money from it, and it's easy to see why they didn't kill their cash cow.

Women's soccer was different, because when they started playing women's soccer in the Olympics FIFA didn't give a rat's arse about women's soccer. So hey, you want to run a high level tournament with all the stars, have at it, we don't care. So for women the Olympics became just as big as the World Cup. And now FIFA couldn't make it a U23 tournament if they wanted to. Because too many players/countries would rebel.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

Wow. Ligue 1 for Wiley. Will be interesting. Chelsea sent Brazilian young phenom Audrey Santos to Strasbourg last year and now plan on keeping him at Chelsea with the first team this year. They are sending Wiley via the same path.