Not One Comment on the USA vs Belgium game?!?!?!?

I know that it was a horrible display of soccer on the USA part but It's hard to believe not one comment.
- Yes, they were horrible
- Yes, they could only connect two passes
- Yes, major mistakes in the back.
- Yes, there was no movement upfront

Those are all the positives (Yes) I can think of.

The replay of the England v. Ireland game was more exciting even knowing the outcome. For me that says plenty about the USMNT match.

- Yes, it was a waste of 30 minutes I spent watching it.

The only sport I prefer to watch women play... well wait I forgot about sand volleyball

OK Its Me, that was more than ONE comment! (even if they were all true!)

Hard to believe in this great big country with millions of kids playing soccer that those are the best defenders we can find.

It should have been worse at 5-1. The PK the US was awarded was lame, and then we got a no call for a hack from behind on a 1v1 with our keeper. And Beasley still needs to retire.

Well, if it wasn't just a friendly they would have picked up some guests and shored up that back line. I know I am taking my BB out to their open tryout June 1st - although QT for the boys has already started - so odd.

JustaSport wrote:It should have been worse at 5-1. The PK the US was awarded was lame, and then we got a no call for a hack from behind on a 1v1 with our keeper. And Beasley still needs to retire.

When I saw him standing there I thought they were going to announce that this was his last game and he was retiring.

It's amazing with the Politics involved because they keep recycling the same old players over and over again for 10 years. I personally can pick a better team. It's sad that this is the product we place on the field. They should all be quit playing and start coaching.

Darn it all, I thought that was the senior citizen's game - I didn't know it was the real US Team! I was going to berate you yet again Its Me for picking on those old men!

retire beasley? Hell retire them all and everyone even partially connected to US soccer. The mear mention of the word USSF should be grounds for banishment from soccer or any sport with round objects. Getting walloped by Belgium? We are talking about Belgium not Germany. They are not a world soccer power, second tier at best. They are famous for waffles and chocolate not soccer.

Were Cobi and Alexi playing?

go99 wrote:retire beasley? Hell retire them all and everyone even partially connected to US soccer. The mear mention of the word USSF should be grounds for banishment from soccer or any sport with round objects. Getting walloped by Belgium? We are talking about Belgium not Germany. They are not a world soccer power, second tier at best. They are famous for waffles and chocolate not soccer.

Beligium is a solid team with their current crop of talent. Go look where their starters play club ball, that should tell you something. They are not second tier, we are.

no they are second tier. They have NO shot at a world cup. Qualifying for it would be a victory for them. We are 3rd tier on our best day. First tier teams are the ones going to compete for the cup not the ungly girl that was just happy to get invited to the dance. Nothing more than the ugly friend of the Netherlands

3-4-3 wrote:

go99 wrote:retire beasley? Hell retire them all and everyone even partially connected to US soccer. The mear mention of the word USSF should be grounds for banishment from soccer or any sport with round objects. Getting walloped by Belgium? We are talking about Belgium not Germany. They are not a world soccer power, second tier at best. They are famous for waffles and chocolate not soccer.

Beligium is a solid team with their current crop of talent. Go look where their starters play club ball, that should tell you something. They are not second tier, we are.

Internationally, Belgium would be considered 2nd tier, USA (and England for that matter) are closer to the 3rd tier. Grinding out results with athleticism and aggression seems to be a trademark of both teams. I can't honestly watch either team for longer than 20 minutes without questioning why they don't practice some rec passing drills to help a little.

Never go from the FIFA world rankings, those are about as accurate as the human polls on these forums.

the7wolf wrote:

3-4-3 wrote:

go99 wrote:retire beasley? Hell retire them all and everyone even partially connected to US soccer. The mear mention of the word USSF should be grounds for banishment from soccer or any sport with round objects. Getting walloped by Belgium? We are talking about Belgium not Germany. They are not a world soccer power, second tier at best. They are famous for waffles and chocolate not soccer.

Beligium is a solid team with their current crop of talent. Go look where their starters play club ball, that should tell you something. They are not second tier, we are.

Internationally, Belgium would be considered 2nd tier, USA (and England for that matter) are closer to the 3rd tier. Grinding out results with athleticism and aggression seems to be a trademark of both teams. I can't honestly watch either team for longer than 20 minutes without questioning why they don't practice some rec passing drills to help a little.

Never go from the FIFA world rankings, those are about as accurate as the human polls on these forums.

I agree that Belgium is a step below Spain, Germany, Argentina and maybe Brazil. When Eden Hazard plays though, they are definitely in the next tier. In other words, they aren't bad.

On the other hand, I've been really disappointed with the lack of skill, anticipation and general soccer IQ of the US players during the Klinsmann era. Hard to believe that with over 300 million people, we can't put ten skillful players with reasonable athleticism on the field. Heavy touches and errant passes are the rule, not the exception. Very disappointing!

twotouch wrote:

the7wolf wrote:

3-4-3 wrote:

go99 wrote:retire beasley? Hell retire them all and everyone even partially connected to US soccer. The mear mention of the word USSF should be grounds for banishment from soccer or any sport with round objects. Getting walloped by Belgium? We are talking about Belgium not Germany. They are not a world soccer power, second tier at best. They are famous for waffles and chocolate not soccer.

Beligium is a solid team with their current crop of talent. Go look where their starters play club ball, that should tell you something. They are not second tier, we are.

Internationally, Belgium would be considered 2nd tier, USA (and England for that matter) are closer to the 3rd tier. Grinding out results with athleticism and aggression seems to be a trademark of both teams. I can't honestly watch either team for longer than 20 minutes without questioning why they don't practice some rec passing drills to help a little.

Never go from the FIFA world rankings, those are about as accurate as the human polls on these forums.

I agree that Belgium is a step below Spain, Germany, Argentina and maybe Brazil. When Eden Hazard plays though, they are definitely in the next tier. In other words, they aren't bad.

On the other hand, I've been really disappointed with the lack of skill, anticipation and general soccer IQ of the US players during the Klinsmann era. Hard to believe that with over 300 million people, we can't put ten skillful players with reasonable athleticism on the field. Heavy touches and errant passes are the rule, not the exception. Very disappointing!

That's an accurate summary.

Belgium 2nd tier and the US 3rd...that must be one big drop between tiers. Belgium is a solid team and probably a 1A, easily on the same level as France right now. On the other hand the US is a solid 4th or 5th tier. Play belgium 100 times and they might win 1. You forget teams like Mexico, Russia, and teams from Africa would easily be in the tier above the US but not on Belgiums level yet.

db10 wrote:Belgium 2nd tier and the US 3rd...that must be one big drop between tiers. Belgium is a solid team and probably a 1A, easily on the same level as France right now. On the other hand the US is a solid 4th or 5th tier. Play belgium 100 times and they might win 1. You forget teams like Mexico, Russia, and teams from Africa would easily be in the tier above the US but not on Belgiums level yet.

Consistency wise, over the last 5 years, Belgium is a 11-20 team. Clinical against weaker opposition but one-dimensional against the big boys. The US are, I think, 25-30 in terms of what their results show but technically/tactically somewhere on par with The People's Democratic Republic of The Congo.

Forget training our boys on the pitch. Teach them to dance first, then teach them to play futbol.

twotouch wrote:

the7wolf wrote:

3-4-3 wrote:

go99 wrote:retire beasley? Hell retire them all and everyone even partially connected to US soccer. The mear mention of the word USSF should be grounds for banishment from soccer or any sport with round objects. Getting walloped by Belgium? We are talking about Belgium not Germany. They are not a world soccer power, second tier at best. They are famous for waffles and chocolate not soccer.

Beligium is a solid team with their current crop of talent. Go look where their starters play club ball, that should tell you something. They are not second tier, we are.

Internationally, Belgium would be considered 2nd tier, USA (and England for that matter) are closer to the 3rd tier. Grinding out results with athleticism and aggression seems to be a trademark of both teams. I can't honestly watch either team for longer than 20 minutes without questioning why they don't practice some rec passing drills to help a little.

Never go from the FIFA world rankings, those are about as accurate as the human polls on these forums.

I agree that Belgium is a step below Spain, Germany, Argentina and maybe Brazil. When Eden Hazard plays though, they are definitely in the next tier. In other words, they aren't bad.

On the other hand, I've been really disappointed with the lack of skill, anticipation and general soccer IQ of the US players during the Klinsmann era. Hard to believe that with over 300 million people, we can't put ten skillful players with reasonable athleticism on the field. Heavy touches and errant passes are the rule, not the exception. Very disappointing!

e
Don't forget that soccer is 4th or 5th in the pecking order in getting the best athletes behind football,baseball, basketball and sometimes hockey(depending on location of country) at least on the boys side of things. Where as in most of the rest of the world soccer is king and draws the best athletes the country has to offer.

I don't think soccer is losing better athletes to baseball!

It is rare 6'2"+ players make much of an impact in soccer outside of target forwards so the basketball demographic probably isn't a worry. Outside of a handful of positions in American Football, I don't see the majority of football players being much use as soccer players.

Our problem is at the grass roots level, the training is diluted at best. Whether this is putting foot on mouth or not, I see many soccer coaches able to coach U15+ but useless at teaching technique to academy kids. The two-headed snake spends too much time eating itself rather than chasing a common goal.

mcik17 wrote:
Don't forget that soccer is 4th or 5th in the pecking order in getting the best athletes behind football,baseball, basketball and sometimes hockey(depending on location of country) at least on the boys side of things. Where as in most of the rest of the world soccer is king and draws the best athletes the country has to offer.

You know, more boys play organized soccer in the US than in the vast majority of these other countries. Yeah, most of those boys eventually choose football, basketball and/or baseball but I don't think that's because of their professional dreams. I think they have professional dreams of these other sports because those are the sports they play with their friends everyday when the come home from school. How many kids do you know who get home from school, pick up a soccer ball and play in the street or the playground? In Belgium, England, Argentina and almost everyplace else, that's what they do. They play before they ever train and they play everyday.

mcik17 wrote:

twotouch wrote:

the7wolf wrote:

3-4-3 wrote:

go99 wrote:retire beasley? Hell retire them all and everyone even partially connected to US soccer. The mear mention of the word USSF should be grounds for banishment from soccer or any sport with round objects. Getting walloped by Belgium? We are talking about Belgium not Germany. They are not a world soccer power, second tier at best. They are famous for waffles and chocolate not soccer.

Beligium is a solid team with their current crop of talent. Go look where their starters play club ball, that should tell you something. They are not second tier, we are.

Internationally, Belgium would be considered 2nd tier, USA (and England for that matter) are closer to the 3rd tier. Grinding out results with athleticism and aggression seems to be a trademark of both teams. I can't honestly watch either team for longer than 20 minutes without questioning why they don't practice some rec passing drills to help a little.

Never go from the FIFA world rankings, those are about as accurate as the human polls on these forums.

I agree that Belgium is a step below Spain, Germany, Argentina and maybe Brazil. When Eden Hazard plays though, they are definitely in the next tier. In other words, they aren't bad.

On the other hand, I've been really disappointed with the lack of skill, anticipation and general soccer IQ of the US players during the Klinsmann era. Hard to believe that with over 300 million people, we can't put ten skillful players with reasonable athleticism on the field. Heavy touches and errant passes are the rule, not the exception. Very disappointing!

e
Don't forget that soccer is 4th or 5th in the pecking order in getting the best athletes behind football,baseball, basketball and sometimes hockey(depending on location of country) at least on the boys side of things. Where as in most of the rest of the world soccer is king and draws the best athletes the country has to offer.

Ugh the same old excuse. Doesn't matter if soccer is 20th in the US. We still put more A$$e$ in soccer shorts than Belgium and netherlands combined. We have more kids playing soccer than the entire population of the Netherlands. Average soccer player is 5'9" basketball DONE! Average soccer player is under 180 lbs. Football DONE! The soccer athlete is out there in the US he just can't play

Where are you getting those stats. Maybe japan or spain averages, but they don't look right to me.

it was a spanish study and the overall average of everyone was 5'11" but the regualar player was 5'9" with some being shorter and some others being taller. Think of rooney, neymar, chicharito being an average size player at 5'9" but add the heights of defenders (and peter crouch) and subtract the Messi's putting the mean at 5'11", So unless we would classify those players small soccer players or average sized players.