FIFA World Cup 2014 OT (Congrats to GERMANY & kdiddy1989)

After watching today's game it's obvious the US will have to just go all in on offense because I don't think the defense will be where it needs to be to stop Portugal and Germany. So I would like to see this lineup (doubt it would happen):

------------------------T. Howard----------------------

G. Cameron---J. Brooks----M. Besler---T. Chandler

-----------------------J. Jones-------------------------

C. Dempsey-------------------------------F. Johnson

----------------------M. Bradley-----------------------

-----------C. Dempsey--------J. Altidore-----------

 
You have Dempsey listed twice. Here's the lineup I would like to see against Nigeria.

------------------------T. Howard----------------------

D.Yedlin---G. Cameron----J. Brooks---F. Johnson

-----------------------J. Jones-------------------------

G.Zusi-------------------------------------------A.Davis

----------------------M. Bradley-----------------------

-----------C. Dempsey--------J. Altidore-----------

 
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The short on Julian Green was pretty interesting.  I'm looking foward to seeing how he's going to do these next few weeks

 
We can't go all offense when your striker is firing blanks. The counter is our best bet. I like kill3r's lineup, though I wouldn't feel bad about swapping out Jones for Beckerman. Jones is probably the better choice, but I have a soft spot for Beckerman. He makes the simple plays, is always calm under pressure and has no issue doing the dirty work. And given the firepower of Germany and Portugal, there will plenty of dirty work to be done.
 
So what does everyone think about Mexicos players getting injured? First JJ the goalie is wearing a neck brace, now Chapo broke his leg.
 
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I think klller's lineup would be good against Ghana, but against the other 2 need to go 4-2-3-1

whatever four klinnsman feels like on gameday in the back.

jones and beckerman in the 2 CDM roles, with bradley as the CM, with zusi and davis on the wings with demps up top.

or swap demps and davis for jozy up top, depending on if you plan to score or not (jozy up top = dont plan to score).

Yea we're fuuuucccckkkkeeeddd.

Damnit.

 
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Equistina said:
So what does everyone think about Mexicos players getting injured? First JJ the goalie is wearing a neck brace, now Chapo broke his leg.
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I felt terrible for Montes. You never want to see a player go down. Even being a rival, Jozy Altidore tweeted this: Triste ver a un jugador sufre una lesión así como Montes. Espero que tiene una bien y pronto recuperación.

In the end it may work out for Mexico because now they're calling Javier Aquino, who I thought should've made the roster to begin with. Great young talent who plays with Gio at Villarreal in Spain and has more caps for his country than Montes has. I was puzzled when his name wasn't on the initial roster. Sad the way it happened but glad (for my wife's sake lol) that he's on the roster.

kilik64 said:
I think klller's lineup would be good against Ghana, but against the other 2 need to go 4-2-3-1

whatever four klinnsman feels like on gameday in the back.

jones and beckerman in the 2 CDM roles, with bradley as the CM, with zusi and davis on the wings with demps up top.

or swap demps and davis for jozy up top, depending on if you plan to score or not (jozy up top = dont plan to score).

Yea we're fuuuucccckkkkeeeddd.

Damnit.
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I wouldn't say TOTALLY screwed but the team isn't near complete and prepared enough to have my confidence. Ghana is taking 16 World Cup first timers on their roster so they've got a squad just as inexperienced from top to bottom as ours. We'll keep hearing this over and over until the game starts, those 3 points are important.

I love your thinking about the 2 CDM though. I agree with that being our best option to keep up with those guys. Especially if we get the Ghana result we want because then draws may just be enough.

Looking at Turkey's attack had me worried. Our back 4 were struggling to keep up for most the game. Turkey's attack was in form. They've averaged over 3 goals a game in their last 3 matches (so to expect a total shutdown was not smart) but their attack is nothing compared to the attacks of our group opposition. Having 2 CDMs would be ideal in my opinion.

 
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Agreed a 4-2-3-1 would be ideal against Germany and Portugal. It all depends on what kind of result we get against Ghana. On a slight tangent, I wonder if Giussepe Rossi regrets his decision to play for Italy. I know I should be over it  by now but he could have been really good us.

 
kill3r7 said:
Agreed a 4-2-3-1 would be ideal against Germany and Portugal. It all depends on what kind of result we get against Ghana. On a slight tangent, I wonder if Giussepe Rossi regrets his decision to play for Italy. I know I should be over it by now but he could have been really good us.
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hahaha I think that every time his name is brought up.

Didnt make the 23 man roster for Italy, would prolly start for us.

Starting vs not playing at all, pretty sure he kicks himself over his choice daily.

Also, shit look at their club list. All from Serie A minus 3 from PSG and ligue 1

 
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My thoughts on the game... the attack looked good again, I don't think we will have problems getting goals... however the left side of the defense was dreadful!  They had what three very good chances on the left, and the pk came off a stupid turnover on the left side.  Bad news for us, Ronaldo will most likely be going against the left... Sorry but we don't have it on the left.

I liked what I saw from Guzan, definitely the goalie of the future after the world cup.

 
Portugal, for as long as I can remember, has always played down to their competition. That's why I still think we'll have a chance but it is all moot if we don't beat Ghana. 

 
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If we don't win vs Ghana, nearly all hope will be lost.

Portugal play better team ball without Ronaldo. So perhaps a hobbled, but playing Ronaldo is better than no Ronaldo. Anything is better than fit Ronaldo.
 
OK, didn't noticed I put Dempsey in there twice. Whoops. Here is my "F$%k defense" lineup.

------------------------T. Howard----------------------

G. Cameron---J. Brooks----M. Besler---T. Chandler

-----------------------J. Jones-------------------------

C. Dempsey-------------------------------F. Johnson

----------------------M. Bradley-----------------------

-----------A. Johansson--------J. Altidore-----------

A more conservative approach would be something like this. It mainly involves having players like F. Johnson and T. Chandler play in positions they are BOTH comfortable and effective in. Jermain Jones looks like a red card waiting to happen now that he is being asked to be more disciplined, using tackles to take out his frustration. Cannot have that happen at a world cup.

------------------------T. Howard----------------------

T. Chandler---G. Cameron----M. Besler---F. Johnson

-------------------K. Beckerman-------------------------

G. Zusi-----------------------------------C. Dempsey

----------------------M. Bradley-----------------------

-----------A. Johansson--------J. Altidore-----------

 
Mexico lost to Bosnia. 

So begs the question, who you got to finish last in the WC?

Im going with Algeria, with a 0-3 record, giving up 9 goals, scoring 0 for a -9 GD.

 
[quote name="kilik64" post="11812758" timestamp="1401853401"]Mexico lost to Bosnia.

So begs the question, who you got to finish last in the WC?

Im going with Algeria, with a 0-3 record, giving up 9 goals, scoring 0 for a -9 GD.[/quote]

Australia. They will lose all 3 games and all 3 teams will pile it on to improve goal differential.
 
saw the end of the Mexico game, man begovic won that at the end.  Can't believe he was a Canadian national player... big mistake Canada

 
I found out the other day from my hubby that Cuba has a soccer team, but all their players always run off as soon as they're out of Cuba. (It's sad, I'm Cuban and I didn't even know we had a team)
 
kill3r7 said:
So what does everyone think of Klinsmann stating that "We cannot win this World Cup"? To me this proves that Jurgen is looking forward to 2018 even if what he said is true.
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Let's be Honest, no matter what our group draw would have been, we were not going to win the world cup. As he said

We cannot win this World Cup, because we are not at that level yet," Klinsmann told the magazine in December. "For us, we have to play the game of our lives seven times to win the tournament.
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The key is that last part that was left out in your post, we are not at that level YET. No way could we have won this cup if we are being realistic. It is about experience and development. I mean he has been in charge for what 1-2 years. He hasn't had a chance to develop his team. That is why his contract is through the next world cup, he will have had 5-6 years to develop and find his team and bring them to that level. I honestly think his goal this world cup is to try and get out of the group, we could all say that if they were able to miraculously make it out of this group the team would be going somewhere.

 
bestkeeper14 said:
Let's be Honest, no matter what our group draw would have been, we were not going to win the world cup. As he said

The key is that last part that was left out in your post, we are not at that level YET. No way could we have won this cup if we are being realistic. It is about experience and development. I mean he has been in charge for what 1-2 years. He hasn't had a chance to develop his team. That is why his contract is through the next world cup, he will have had 5-6 years to develop and find his team and bring them to that level. I honestly think his goal this world cup is to try and get out of the group, we could all say that if they were able to miraculously make it out of this group the team would be going somewhere.
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Agreed. I believe Klinsmann is absolutely right in what he said but the statement itself, although true, is counter-intuitive to our sports culture.

 
kill3r7 said:
Agreed. I believe Klinsmann is absolutely right in what he said but the statement itself, although true, is counter-intuitive to our sports culture.
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But i think that is what he is going after. Americans get nostalgic and can't handle the truth... he's German, he is straight forward and only looks at what he had. I completely understand the part about leaving Landon off. if we do not have the team to win it all, then we might as well develop the team to really compete in the future.

 
Good stuff kill3r! I didn't notice the link to the ESPN group was sitting in the OP with all this stuff. The title change made me question where it was and sure enough, it's sitting there.

 
Here is a nice chart comparing MLS salaries to the other sports in the US.

avg.jpg


 
Thats a great chart.

NBA is also the hardest league to get into if you think about it. Only 60 guys a year a chosen to get into the league in the draft and only maybe half of those wind up with a NBA career (almost always the first round guys do, second round not so much, most wind up in D league or playing overseas)

 
Franck Ribery is now ruled out of the World Cup due to a back injury along with fellow countryman Clement Grenier. The list of players missing the World Cup with injury looks like this:

Franck Ribery - France

Falcao - Colombia

Silvio - Portugal

Victor Valdes - Spain

Kevin Strootman - Netherlands

Landon Donovan - United States (oh wait...he's not hurt?)

Ricardo Montolivo - Italy

Luis Montes - Mexico

Rafael Van Der Vaart - Netherlands

Theo Walcott - England

Christian Benteke - Belgium

Gregory van der Wiel – Netherlands

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - England

Then you have guys like Van Persie, Ronaldo, Suarez, Diego Costa, Arturo Vidal and Neuer all with question marks. Throw in the fact that Ibrahimovic and Bale didn't qualify. We're missing some big time star power this summer.

 
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kdiddy1989 said:
Franck Ribery is now ruled out of the World Cup due to a back injury along with fellow countryman Clement Grenier. The list of players missing the World Cup with injury looks like this:

Franck Ribery - France
Falcao - Colombia
Silvio - Portugal
Victor Valdes - Spain
Kevin Strootman - Netherlands
Landon Donovan - United States (oh wait...he's not hurt?)
Ricardo Montolivo - Italy
Luis Montes - Mexico
Rafael Van Der Vaart - Netherlands
Theo Walcott - England
Christian Benteke - Belgium
Gregory van der Wiel – Netherlands
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - England

Then you have guys like Van Persie, Ronaldo, Suarez, Diego Costa, Arturo Vidal and Neuer all with question marks. Throw in the fact that Ibrahimovic and Bale didn't qualify. We're missing some big time star power this summer.
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You can add Marco Reus to the list. Germany is certainly picking up a lot of injuries.
 
kill3r7 said:
You can add Marco Reus to the list. Germany is certainly picking up a lot of injuries.
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Russia's captain Roman Shirokov, Spain's Alcantara, and England's Kyle Walker are guys I missed too. There's just too many to keep up with. Alvaro Saborio, probably a lesser known player worldwide but is among the best strikers in MLS, is out for Costa Rica joining his countryman Bryan Oviedo, who broke his leg playing for Everton in the FA Cup. Unfortunately the list goes on...

 
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Anyone know backstory on why Bale plays for wales and not england? Pretty dumb of england to f that up if they did.

Only thing I can find on wiki was that england never contacted him directly about playing for them. 

 
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JOZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Ok I know, probably the biggest overreaction to a 4 foot tap in ever...but you'd do the same if your favorite footballer was in that bad a slump too. I jumped up like we just won the World Cup.

And that's a good question kilik, I've never been curious about it but now I am.

 
JOZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Great second goal. Take back everything I've said about him lately.

I believe that we will win...

 
I only caught the game a few minutes into the 2nd half, is Nigeria this bad? They look sloppy, but not sure if it's a case of tired/bad game or par for the course?
 
Red_Lizard2 said:
I only caught the game a few minutes into the 2nd half, is Nigeria this bad? They look sloppy, but not sure if it's a case of tired/bad game or par for the course?
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Ehh.

they are 54 in rankings for a reason.

They should beat Iran, but should lose to bosnia and argentina, dont see them getting out of group.

 
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kilik64 said:
Anyone know backstory on why Bale plays for wales and not england? Pretty dumb of england to f that up if they did.

Only thing I can find on wiki was that england never contacted him directly about playing for them.
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Welsh and Scottish players almost exclusively play for their respective countries. Giggs is the most recent example of this.

 
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And the injuries just keep coming, lukaku hurt his ankle.

Big blow to belgium if he cant go and be effective. I will really have to change my bracket if thats the case.

 
If Lukaku is out that's a huge blow for them but they should still win the group even without him. Belgium will most likely play Portgual/US in the round of 16 so that sets up nicely for them. 

 
kill3r7 said:
If Lukaku is out that's a huge blow for them but they should still win the group even without him. Belgium will most likely play Portgual/US in the round of 16 so that sets up nicely for them.
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Who would lead the line? Dries Mertens is the only other forward that they brought to the WC.

Could toss eden up there but not really his game, too good at starting outside and cutting in.

Yea really struggling with who else can be up top after Dries even though he is pretty solid, what if he gets hurt?

 
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kill3r7 said:
Divock Origi and Dries Mertens are it at striker but their group isn't exactly killer.
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Nah not talking about getting out of group, they could play false 9 and make it through with the goalscoring they have in midfield.

thinking past that as I had them winning the damn thing.

 
kilik64 said:
Nah not talking about getting out of group, they could play false 9 and make it through with the goalscoring they have in midfield.

thinking past that as I had them winning the damn thing.
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I think the quarterfinals game against Argentina will be an incredibly tough game for them regardless of health. Even if they get past Argentina they'll likely have to go up against Spain or Uruguay in the semis which is no cakewalk.

 
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kill3r7 said:
I think the quarterfinals game against Argentina will be an incredibly tough game for them regardless of health. Even if they get past Argentina they'll likely have to go up against Spain or Uruguay in the semis which is no cakewalk.
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Yes to all of that, but still like their chances. If lukaku plays.

Bah, gonna change my bracket tomorrow.

 
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