U.S. & International Soccer

Lalas is nailing it in the post game.

"There's no shame in losing to Argentina except when you lose like this to Argentina...The amount of unforced errors"

@dxmnkd316 wrote:

The more I see that goal by Messi, the more I get pissed at Guzan.

Because he looked slow to react or because he broke the wrong way just long enough to have no chance?

I've felt this all year but the US needs to get their Keeper situation figured out. If Guzan is our #1 at the WC that's a really bad sign

I was not wholly surprised to see them lose 4-0 - however I was wholly surprised for them to look like it could have easily been 8-0. Argentina was toying with them while the US seemed to have but 2 or 3 players that looked like they wanted to be on the pitch. And Michael Bradley?

I miss this crew. A lot.

I've not been a fan of FS1's coverage at all. ESPN's coverage of the World Cup was some f the best sports coverage I have ever seen.

Everyone that FS1 has put forth is just forcing everything.

@davescharf wrote:

@dxmnkd316 wrote:

The more I see that goal by Messi, the more I get pissed at Guzan.

Because he looked slow to react or because he broke the wrong way just long enough to have no chance?

I've felt this all year but the US needs to get their Keeper situation figured out. If Guzan is our #1 at the WC that's a really bad sign

I'll be honest, it was basically everything after the point he set his wall and moved into position.

He reacted slow, his reaction was poor (double jumped and actually jumped the wrong way indicating he was guessing), and I would have liked to have seen maybe a fifth player on that wall on the far side of the wall (though this is probably hindsight bias).

If you look at the shot, he's standing almost 75% of the way to the far post. That's perfect. You want to setup your wall to cover as much of that near post as possible. On a shot from this position, I'm trying to cover no less than half the goal and if I can find a spare guy, maybe 60%. When you look at where he is when the shot is in the air, he's back to around the center of the net.

[attachment=0:4ggiy35c]image.jpeg[/attachment:4ggiy35c]
[attachment=1:4ggiy35c]image.jpeg[/attachment:4ggiy35c]
(The second picture is after he's moved back towards center and is trying to recover before he dives. It's not shown but he moves to just in front of the person in red behind the goal when the ball is just crossing the wall.)

At the kick, Messi perfectly splits the wall and the Argentinian attacker and bends it in to where Guzan was standing. I've actually made a similar save in a set piece from about that location. A national team goalie needs to make this save every time. I know it's the greatest player on earth, but when the net is shortened by almost 12 feet, you don't need a great reaction. You should be able to read that arc fairly easily.

Two other points. The wall collapsed in on itself. God I hate that.

The second, which seems odd given the first point, is that you need to trust your wall. Set it up right and trust it. If (lol) Messi can bend it around a well-placed wall on the near side, make him earn that. That's a much more difficult shot in my opinion. You have less distance for the ball to arc back and you have to go over or around the wall. Guzan shouldn't have jumped back. Once he did that, the save was nearly impossible. If he trusts the wall, he doesn't and shouldn't make that cut back.

He wasn't screened and by the time he was making his final dive, the ball was just outside the goal area.

You went into it in a lot more detail. I played goalie part time up until high school and my first reaction was "why is he moving towards the side he setup his wall to protect?" It was a hell of a shot but if you're setting the wall to take away the near post, as you said, you have to make that save.

Yeah, definitely props to Messi for making the shot. It was nearly perfect.

Go on, Ireland! I apparently missed a good day of football because of travel, but fucking come on you boys in green.

USMNT just lacks ANY creativity in the final third. When they are pressing for a goal, they get into space, and then panic, looking for an obvious pass.

When you watch world class attacking players, it's like they're not even thinking, just naturally putting the ball into dangerous areas.

Germany looking rock solid against Slovakia. Nice to see Mario Gomez back in the German team.

Jeez, one side of the bracket in Euros is crazy. Assuming Germany hold on to beat the Slovaks here, you'll have a quarterfinal of Germany vs. Italy/Spain, a legitimate final-worthy matchup in the quarters.

What the fuck is this ref doing?

In what universe is that a straight red? The first sending off was harsh too, I thought.

@gopherguy13 wrote:

What the f*** is this ref doing?

In what universe is that a straight red? The first sending off was harsh too, I thought.

That kind of reminds me of this:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/22/swedish-footballer-sent-off-for-farting-during-matc h"> https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/22/swedish-footballer-sent-off-for-farting-during-match

I know it's a common complaint, but the amount of flopping/embellishment in this match is friggin' embarrassing.

What a save by Romero. I thought that was going in.

And another great save on the other end by Bravo

@Armadillo wrote:

I know it's a common complaint, but the amount of flopping/embellishment in this match is friggin' embarrassing.

The South Americans are hall of fame caliber..Robbie Earl looks like about Bantam A level compared to those guys.

Wow, Vidal and Messi both miss.

@davescharf wrote:

@Armadillo wrote:

I know it's a common complaint, but the amount of flopping/embellishment in this match is friggin' embarrassing.

The South Americans are hall of fame caliber..Robbie Earl looks like about Bantam A level compared to those guys.

Don't leave out Africa. Ghana is world class. I remember two world cups ago when they bounced us one of their players flopped around for minutes near the end of the game only to do backflips a couple minutes later when they scored to put the game away.

So about that Messi legacy.

He just needs to punch one in in 2018 and we're good...

Wow. Messi basically announced his retirement from the Argentina national team

Is he going to play baseball in the summer for a few years?

@GrandForksGopher wrote:

Wow. Messi basically announced his retirement from the Argentina national team

Seems a bit rash.

@Armadillo wrote:

@GrandForksGopher wrote:

Wow. Messi basically announced his retirement from the Argentina national team

Seems a bit rash.

Yeah I don't believe it. It was right after the game when emotions were flowing. It's like the reverse every year when a college player gets done with his season and declares postgame that he will definitely be back next year only to turn pro a few months later. Messi will calm down and common sense will prevail.

It sounds like there were a couple of other unexpected retirements.

@dxmnkd316 wrote:

It sounds like there were a couple of other unexpected retirements.

Like 7 or 8, I think I heard this morning? Sounds like this has been building for a while, the players are royally pissed at the national federation and how corrupt it is (right up there with FIFA and the IOC)

Yeah from the BBC article I read it sounded like the whole team was really broken up, and it might be a changing of the guard, as a lot of players indicated they may not be back.

I have to think some of that is emotion and that there won't be a huge mass exodus, but you never know.

There has been a lot of turmoil in the Argentine Football Association going back to the laughable decision to make Maradonna the national team coach. It wouldn't surprise me if there was a mass exodus, which is a shame given how talented that team is

There was speculation on the post game show last night that it is so bad in Argentina that they are even considering leaving FIFA? Did I hear that right?

I can't imagine they'd leave FIFA. I mean, what would they do, just play friendlies for eternity, with no competitive tournaments?

Yeah... It sounded strange. But it was said.

I've read that FIFA could revoke their status because of governmental interference.

Woah. England just lost in the round of 16. To Iceland.

ICELAND.

Bad week for England....

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Does anyone else want to see an Iceland-Wales final? That would be really cool

@Armadillo wrote:

Woah. England just lost in the round of 16. To Iceland.

ICELAND.

If you're mocking the land of waterfalls and smoking hot blondes , then we are going to have to pin you down and pour a glass of Brenivan down your gullet

@davescharf wrote:

Does anyone else want to see an Iceland-Wales final? That would be really cool

I was JUST telling my wife that earlier tonight!

After Italy won this afternoon, there were about 10 cars that rolled through our little town with horns honking like crazy with Italian flags fluttering proudly in the air. Their next opponent - Germany. The locals here were not amused

England. Really?

@davescharf wrote:

@Armadillo wrote:

Woah. England just lost in the round of 16. To Iceland.

ICELAND.

If you're mocking the land of waterfalls and smoking hot blondes , then we are going to have to pin you down and pour a glass of Brenivan down your gullet

I'm a redhead man, sir. Go Ireland.

They lost to France? Well, damn.

[twitter=uefaeuro:340dge6f]BREAKING: Roy Hodgson has announced his resignation as #ENG manager. #ENGISL #EURO2016[/twitter:340dge6f]

Man, England just loves shitting the bed in major tournaments. Iceland's second goal was eerily similar to the goal that Robert Green gave up to the US in the 2010 World Cup

No one in recent memory has figured out how to get the most out of that talent. In recent years I don't think they were really that good but now they should have a couple cycles where they should be pretty good

@davescharf wrote:

Does anyone else want to see an Iceland-Wales final? That would be really cool

I'll be wearing my Polish kit on Thursday in hopes that Iceland and Wales aren't the final 2 teams :biggrin2:

I'd love to see Ronaldo's face if Poland knocked out Portugal

@GrandForksGopher wrote:

@davescharf wrote:

Does anyone else want to see an Iceland-Wales final? That would be really cool

I'll be wearing my Polish kit on Thursday in hopes that Iceland and Wales aren't the final 2 teams :biggrin2:

I'd love to see Ronaldo's face if Poland knocked out Portugal

Speaking as an employee, if you're going to use polish, make sure it's meguiars

Teabags spend more time in a cup than England!

This stat put it in perspective for me since I don't know much about international soccer.
There are more amateur soccer players in the state of Rhode Island than in the entire country of Iceland.

@ex_goldy wrote:

This stat put it in perspective for me since I don't know much about international soccer.
There are more amateur soccer players in the state of Rhode Island than in the entire country of Iceland.

Iceland is a pretty amazing story.

Read this article from The Guardian recently on how they cultivated this meteoric rise up the soccer food chain. Pretty interesting

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jan/30/volcano-iceland-national-football-tea m"> https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jan/30/volcano-iceland-national-football-team

@ex_goldy wrote:

This stat put it in perspective for me since I don't know much about international soccer.
There are more amateur soccer players in the state of Rhode Island than in the entire country of Iceland.

Maybe we suck more than I thought.

How is "amateur" defined? Almost everyone plays soccer when they were <12, coached by someone on the team's dad. It's just not serious here. I think it is Germany where even the coaches at that level have to be pretty highly qualified/certified.