On June 25 2009 05:50 Telemako wrote: Yeah, it wasn't a red. Nor of the three they got were. How the fuck does a ref kick somebody out of a final with such a red card? It's retarded.
Spain wasn't able to find a way to score and USA had the luck needed to score with their chances, that's football.
I hope Brazil loses against SA, I want a Spain vs Brazil so badly =(
Spanish U21 that could or have been with the top team: Bojan (striker), Capel (winger), Jurado (Offensive Middlefielder), Raúl García (Middlefielder), Granero (Offensive Middlefielder/fake winger)
We're not, sorry to inform you :\ But I hope you guys play better against South Africa in the Semi-finals.
On June 25 2009 07:36 Slaughter)BiO wrote: I know nothing about soccer so that might explain why this Q is dumb but, why doesn't the US team play Freddy Adu more? Isn't he supposed to be a really good young player? I would think getting him as much experience vs good teams as possible would be good for his development. Not to mention what he can bring to the table.
I've never seen Adu play although I've heard extensively about him. All the info I have at the moment is that some spanish football blogger says he's a flop. It's a biased opinion in any case.
On June 25 2009 07:36 Slaughter)BiO wrote: I know nothing about soccer so that might explain why this Q is dumb but, why doesn't the US team play Freddy Adu more? Isn't he supposed to be a really good young player?
The reason most "knowledgeable" (I use this term loosely but not like I'm an expert either ) US Soccer fan give as reasons is that (1) he's a defensive liability and (2) he's out of form - he's had very little playing time, been riding bench for Monaco
Also, he's not some superstar the media has pumped him up to be. Still, Adu has probably the best touch, vision, and passing ability (followed by Torres and Feilhaber/Donovan) of all the US players but Bob Bradley hasn't been playing him.
I see a lot of applauding for Coach Bob Bradley but just before the win against Egypt and now Spain, many fans were calling for his firing. A lot of fans see him as being too conservative with his tactics.
Anyway, Adu and Torres will see action in the Gold Cup in July though.
On June 25 2009 07:44 Slaughter)BiO wrote: Some blogger on ESPN gave various things that the US needs to do to beat spain and one of em was to play him lol.
The reason he wrote that was because US played Spain in a friendly a year or two ago and Adu was boss in it. He brings creativity which the US sorely lacks.
On June 25 2009 05:48 Spike wrote: lol that is a weak argument Pape. Spain may be off a long season but the only players on the pitch today that is in MLS is Ricardo Clark and Donovan. The only real fresh face that played today was Bocanegra and he's coming off injury. Not to mention Altidore is out of form from surgery and Spector has been on and off injury for forever.
The USA is a physical team, there's no denying that. Conditioning is one of our real true strength (surprise surprise, US produces great athletes) but look at this stat: http://www.fifa.com/confederationscup/statistics/players/distanceandspeed.html 6 out of the top 7 most distance covered is by the USA. Even if you take away the 4th game, the top 3 spots still belongs to Bradley, Dempsey, and Donovan. Only Xavi cracked the top ten. The US chases every game they play so believe me when I say they're tired. Plus Spain got to rest 3 days and US only two lol.
Now it's true that the US cares much more about beating Spain then vice-versa.
Hate to burst your bubble, but playing in Sweden, Denmark, 2nd German league, Scotland, and bench or reserves league in bigger league smaller clubs is NOT the same as playing 50+ games for Barcelona, Real Madrid, Liverpool, etc.. you get the point I hope. I know because I can tell that players from my country who play in big clubs now or before like Man U, Inter, Real, AC Milan, etc... are alot more exhausted than players who play in smaller clubs in the EPL, Seria A, La Liga and especially more exhausted than players who play in the Swedish, Serbian, Belgian, Dutch whateve else league.
Also motivation factor is there as well as the maginitude of the tournament which I do not even care about this tournament as a football fanatic. Plus add into the equation that many USA players are playing for exposure and contracts on this stage as where NO spanish player is.
Edit: Not to take away from the fact that USA did play a great game of course, I'm just saying on the best day situation for the both teams this is impossible!
USA won because they scored 2 goals over 90 minutes and Spain didn't score any.
I like the Confederations Cup. Teams are fielding their best players, so why should it be less entertaining or important? It doesn't have the history and the prestige of the World Cup, but it's always nice to have an international tourny in the summer.
lol about the comment that players in better teams and better leauges would be more exhausted , thats just bullshit, the better the leauge and team the better the play(ball runns fluently through team) and they get less tired. The only chance teams from worse leauges have is that they can run for ever..
On June 25 2009 07:33 Itachii wrote: Its dammed football, not soccer.USA played defended really well, of course they were lucky too, but you need it in every sport.I've been following football for quite a few years now and i must say that I dont remember such high level team being so ineffective.Sure, they could've been tired after europan leagues and all, but if you shot almost 30 times in 1 match, with players like Villa and Torres, something just needs to land in the net.Worse team won but it's just how football sometimmes works Kinda sucky score for final tho,was pumped for Brasil vs Spain, but oh well.
i'm really surprised that the us team won the game against spain. i haven't seen it, but after their performance in the group stage i really wouldn't have expected them in the final. nice to see
On June 25 2009 07:33 Itachii wrote: Its dammed football, not soccer.USA played defended really well, of course they were lucky too, but you need it in every sport.I've been following football for quite a few years now and i must say that I dont remember such high level team being so ineffective.Sure, they could've been tired after europan leagues and all, but if you shot almost 30 times in 1 match, with players like Villa and Torres, something just needs to land in the net.Worse team won but it's just how football sometimmes works Kinda sucky score for final tho,was pumped for Brasil vs Spain, but oh well.
if you talk about inefficience, did you see the semi final at euro 2000: Italy - netherlands? I have never and will never ever see a team that misses more opportunities to score
On June 25 2009 23:00 SwedishHero wrote: lol about the comment that players in better teams and better leauges would be more exhausted , thats just bullshit, the better the leauge and team the better the play(ball runns fluently through team) and they get less tired. The only chance teams from worse leauges have is that they can run for ever..
I don't want to make any excuses, as I posted USA just did their work and got lucky with their chances, that's football, but I think you're wrong. A high level team lasts longer in elimination tourneys and therefore plays more matches a year than an average team. Barça players for example (I know it's a rigged example) played the whole CL and spanish Cup and won la Liga only 2 matches before its end. Thats two matches per week almost the whole season (adding national team matches and extra league fixtures). An average team is soon out of the national cup and probably didn't even qualify for international tournaments so, easily will only play 60/70% of the matches a top team does.
EPT
) US Soccer fan give as reasons is that (1) he's a defensive liability and (2) he's out of form - he's had very little playing time, been riding bench for Monaco 
