FIFA World Cup 2014 (Brazil) SPOILERS: Read at own risk

[Chimpy]

Donovan being on the team would have made them worse. He is and has always been a pretentious douche and this team was really all about making a change for the future. Donovan may be one of if not " the best" US player but his decision making in the World Cup since he was just a kid has always been self first.

[HaemishM]

Douche or not, motherfucker knows how to score goals more than anyone else on that team. Just because he hurt Klinsmann's fee-fee's is no good reason to hobble the team.

[WayAbvPar]

He also fucked off for a year, got fat, and never really regained his form. I am fine with leaving him home. They weren't going to win it, and getting experience for the guys who are going to be on the team going forward was worth it. Fuck Landon Donovan.

[Hoax]

Yeah I have zero doubts that no Donovan was the right decision. You have to credit Klinsman he adapted to a shit hand considering how much plan A relied on Altidore. Its also not his fault that Eddie Johnson and Donovan both made it clear they didn't deserve to be on the plane and that Johannsson just wasn't ready for this kind of stage when he was called upon.

Yedlin wasn't starting because Fabian Johnson is the best wing back the USA has ever had and honestly Yedlin is still quite young and raw if he's in there all game the other team will figure out his weaknesses and exploit them as we saw against Belgium by the end they had made adjustments both offensively and defensively to deal with him.

The Belgium game needed another marquee performance from Jones and hopefully one from Bradley as well. Instead Zusi and Jones had their worst games of the tourny. Calling Bedoya a statue and asking what he did all game seems very unfair to him. Without his work rate the Beckerman-less midfield would have been even more badly overrun. Is he great or do I have high hopes for his future? Nope. But in their most difficult and pressurized game he did play his best match of the four to my eyes.

In 2018 we will have lost the services of Dempsey, Beckerman (the surprise of the USMNT for me), the also surprisingly functional Beasley and probably most importantly a leader and midfield enforcer in Jones. If Howard is gone Guzan can take his place without too much drop in quality as things currently stand.

If the MLS can not collapse in quality with the addition of all these new teams and American players don't all follow in the footsteps of Donovan, Dempsey and Bradley and pussy out of playing in the strongest league they can make a roster in...  the future could be plenty bright. For a squad without a single champion's league starter we have performed admirably the past two cups.

[Chimpy]

MLS needs to import as much midfield talent from the European and South American countries as they can to raise the technical play level of the league. Even the worst substitute midfielder on any of the South American teams in the World Cup would be a fucking superstar on team USA. Getting enough people at that level to play in the league day in and day out will tighten up the play of the midfield in the league a lot. Watching any other team in the World Cup make tight passes all day long while the US flails around is saddening.

[HaemishM]

The only problem with adding more non-American talent to MLS is that a lot of players won't be playing at all, much less playing against better opposition. They'll run themselves into the same position England is at right now - England's international team's talent is overrated even though they are playing in one of the world's "top leagues." See Wayne Rooney's miserable time at this (and every other) World Cup, or the entire England back line. I'd be fine with importing more good managers and coaches to MLS to teach some of these fuckers how to pass.

As for Donovan, he may be a douche and his form may have dipped - but he would still have been a better option than every single person in the midfield that did play.

[Abagadro]

Was there ever any info on why Beckerman didn't play? That seemed weird to me.

[WayAbvPar]

MLS needs to import as much midfield talent from the European and South American countries as they can to raise the technical play level of the league. Even the worst substitute midfielder on any of the South American teams in the World Cup would be a fucking superstar on team USA. Getting enough people at that level to play in the league day in and day out will tighten up the play of the midfield in the league a lot. Watching any other team in the World Cup make tight passes all day long while the US flails around is saddening.

I don't know how many of the qualifiers and friendlies you watched in the past couple of years, but our midfield play was A LOT better then than it showed in the WC. Things that shouldn't be impacted by the level of opponents, like basic trapping and ball control. I saw so many 5 yard first touches in the WC that it drove me insane. Those weren't happening before. Not sure if it was just nerves, or what, but everyone in the midfield ( with the possible exception of Jermaine Jones) played significantly worse in Brazil then they did trying to win a spot there.

e- re Beckerman- He was pretty terrible against Germany, and JK has been a big 'what have you done for me lately' guy. He dicked around with the midfield way too much, but I think he was trying to find a solution to the no Altidore problem. Starting Brad Davis was a joke, for instance.

[Chimpy]

Was there ever any info on why Beckerman didn't play? That seemed weird to me.

They mentioned in the pregame that his being a lot shorter than the guy they used was part of the reason as they felt they needed another taller player for offensive set pieces.

[tazelbain]

Did US really do something outstanding or we just patting our own backs?

[Amarr HM]

MLS needs to import as much midfield talent from the European and South American countries as they can to raise the technical play level of the league. Even the worst substitute midfielder on any of the South American teams in the World Cup would be a fucking superstar on team USA. Getting enough people at that level to play in the league day in and day out will tighten up the play of the midfield in the league a lot. Watching any other team in the World Cup make tight passes all day long while the US flails around is saddening.

I would say midfield was your strength, Bradley, Cameron and Jones all had a decent tournament.

Did US really do something outstanding or we just patting our own backs?

You got further than Italy and England, and being a small (footballing) nation with only one player playing regularly at the highest level, it's a pretty respectable outcome, I would say.
You knocked out Portugal who happen to contain players of a much higher standing including this years Ballon D'or Winner, not to be scoffed at.

My home country didn't even make it to the tournament and if they did would have likely been eliminated after two games.

[Abagadro]

We must have been watching different games. Cameron's biff gave up the goal to Portugal in the first 5 minutes, he was ball watching on Ronaldo's tying goal and gave up an uncontested header, and then simply let the guy thread a pass right by him without even attempting to do anything on the Belgium winner.   Heck he didn't even play against Germany he sucked so bad in the Portugal game.

[Hoax]

Was there ever any info on why Beckerman didn't play? That seemed weird to me.

Cameron was probably taking his spot in order to neutralize the big fucker w/ the afro Fellaini a) his size b) Cameron has played against him before in England.

Was there ever any info on why Beckerman didn't play? That seemed weird to me.

They mentioned in the pregame that his being a lot shorter than the guy they used was part of the reason as they felt they needed another taller player for offensive set pieces.

Also this. You could see during the anthems that Belgium was quite a tall side.

Did US really do something outstanding or we just patting our own backs?

They played with more skill than last world cup, though still not nearly enough. We still don't have the confidence to play long diagonal balls for instance. They never embarassed themselves and besides the ghana game did decent jobs with possession and not being in desperation defending mode for more than 20 minutes per game. Which is def an improvement. Also half the teams and many of them good teams do not make it to the knock out rounds so yes, making it out of group is an accomplishment we should be proud of. Doubly so that they were in that Belgium game right to the end even if Belgium were clearly of higher quality and the better team won eventually we made them work hard and had some chances to steal it. Also the US accomplished all of that with a not nice at all group draw and no gifts from the refs and a really inopportune injury in the 20th minute of the very first game.

[lamaros]

You did Good considering. The quarters would have been very very good.

[Amarr HM]

We must have been watching different games. Cameron's biff gave up the goal to Portugal in the first 5 minutes, he was ball watching on Ronaldo's tying goal and gave up an uncontested header, and then simply let the guy thread a pass right by him without even attempting to do anything on the Belgium winner.   Heck he didn't even play against Germany he sucked so bad in the Portugal game.

I thought that was strange as he worked pretty hard the majority of the time. Possibly overawed by the occasion.

[WayAbvPar]

Beckerman is 6'2"*- not sure what the problem is.




*with the shitty hair 

[Hoax]

Cameron is 6'3 without nasty dreads and Fellaini is 6'4 per wikipedia at least.

[Abagadro]

Beckerman has lots of intangibles though. There was a deadspin article by a MSL player saying that he was the best fouler he ever played against (and he meant it as a compliment). Said he could sneakily disrupt buildups or breakaways with fouls that others would get yellows for and do it four or five times in a row without getting booked.  I think he should have played against Belgium.

[croaker69]

Beckerman has lots of intangibles though. There was a deadspin article by a MSL player saying that he was the best fouler he ever played against (and he meant it as a compliment). Said he could sneakily disrupt buildups or breakaways with fouls that others would get yellows for and do it four or five times in a row without getting booked.  I think he should have played against Belgium.

The broadcast I was watching showed a replay of him dragging some German down from behind by their jersey just behind the ball on a German counter. The ref had no idea.

[HaemishM]

Yeah, Beckerman is a good enforcer. He's a shit passer but on that team, who could tell the difference? He would have done well against Belgium because when De Bruyne and Hazard started dancing into the middle, whereas Cameron was fucking off in a corner somewhere in awe of Fellafro, Beckerman would have knocked the ever-living fuck out of those two tiny fuckers. He'd have been yellow carded for sure, but those motherfuckers would have known what was waiting for them the next time they tried that shit.

Despite my criticisms, I think Klinsmann did well to keep that team together once our only real goal scorer on the team went down. My main problems with him were his choices to not have any other goal scorers that he trusted to start on the team.

[rk47]

For a squad without a single champion's league starter we have performed admirably the past two cups.

USA nearly made Ronaldo cry.
And went further than England is a very hard group.
If the public still thinks the coach made a mistake then they should just commit sudoku.

[Khaldun]

Some of the best #thingstimhowardcouldsave images. A good meme, this one.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/news/tim-howard-goalie-meme-esqsyn

[WayAbvPar]

Yeah, Beckerman is a good enforcer. He's a shit passer but on that team, who could tell the difference? He would have done well against Belgium because when De Bruyne and Hazard started dancing into the middle, whereas Cameron was fucking off in a corner somewhere in awe of Fellafro, Beckerman would have knocked the ever-living fuck out of those two tiny fuckers. He'd have been yellow carded for sure, but those motherfuckers would have known what was waiting for them the next time they tried that shit.

Despite my criticisms, I think Klinsmann did well to keep that team together once our only real goal scorer on the team went down. My main problems with him were his choices to not have any other goal scorers that he trusted to start on the team.

IIRC Cameron picked up a yellow early which really cut down on the amount of egregious shit he could attempt. God, can you imagine if we had to play a man down for any significant period of time?

[HaemishM]

And Landon Donovan himself says almost exactly what I did.

Michael Bradley's struggles to keep possession were noticeable, but Donovan noted that the normally defensive Bradley was playing in an "unnatural position" in an attacking role normally filled by Donovan himself.

"Michael was put in the wrong position," he said. "He was put in a position that he's not used to playing. He does a better job, as you saw with Julian Green's goal, being in a deeper position. And having someone in a front of him, someone to help Clint also, makes him that much better because he's got more opportunity to pick out different passes, more attacking options ahead of him. I think that was clearly an error."

Yeah, I think his time in the national team is done. He pretty much just told the coach, "Yeah, you should have picked me, Herr Assgoblin."

[Jeff Kelly]

What the hell happened to France?

[Der Helm]

What the hell happened to France?

I am a nervous wreck after the second half, I really need a stiff drink now to calm my nerves.

[Abagadro]

That was a snoozer.

[Jeff Kelly]

Fun fact: it's now the fourth consecutive World Cup where the German team has reached at least the semi finals.

[edit: can't count]

[Der Helm]

That was a snoozer.

What can I say, I am easily excited.

[Hoax]

A vintage no fun allowed Germany performance. Sad for France to have everything good about their team thus far abandon them. Pogba vanished in the second half after proving in the first he could definitely run at the Germans. The midfield ran itself out then gave up before the 70 minute mark. Their final balls were awful, so many times Griezmann looked in behind but the ball was hit too long.

Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win

I hope that Germany doesn't intend to play such a cynical boring brand of football the rest of the way but I'm not sure how much choice they have if Ozil is going to be this forgettable and their defense this shakey.

Here's hoping Colombia can save us all by delivering fun inventive football and winning over an incredibly boring by their lofty standards Brasil team.

[Jeff Kelly]

The problem is that while Germany is rather fond of the German team's new style of play that style also has the reputation of 'Germany losing in beauty'.

Also the last time Germany won the cup it was boring 'efficient' style of play. When the reporter asked Mertesacker those stupid questions after the Algeria game that was basically Mertesackers answer. 'What do you want? Us to lose in beauty or to win games?' I suppose after that game it might be back to the boring kind of football.

[Abagadro]

Now this is some futbol.

[Tale]

I'll need to buy a JAMES shirt.

[Abagadro]

Can't believe Colombia blew that 4 on 2 break.

[Cyrrex]

Hulk is playing like a....monster.

Colombia is getting chances, but Brazil is really putting the pedal down.  Fun stuff.