England 2-0 USA

24

Comments

  • elmer
    elmer Posts: 1,683
    hoopinman wrote:
    but the "real superstars" were playing International soccer back then also...Adu first played in the MLS in America...and now hes playing in Portugal.....so give him some time playing the european leages and then lets see how well he does...he might suprise some people
    Not necessarily, Zidane was 22yrs before his first cap for France, but he was an exception in human terms. Drogba's another who made it to the top-level at a later age, don't think he even had a pro contract in his teens. But, there's no chance of Adu ever matching even the latter, bereft of extreme pace and power he hasn't the technical brilliance to really surprise people that much, though he's still a good player who could win things and perhaps end up playing for one of the big clubs despite already being turned down by Man Utd. I remember West Ham fans back in the 90's were raving over Joe Cole as if he was sure to be the English Maradona, despite all the hyperbole you can't knock him as a player today and being very generous one could presume Adu's career would possibly follow a similar course(yeah, that's being very generous indeed).

    Too bad Guiseppe Rossi turned you down, he'd of made a good front pairing with McBride.
  • ledvedderman
    ledvedderman Posts: 7,762
    I think Adu has been mishandled by the US soccer system. I don't think he should have turned pro before he could physically mature, and I think he could have benefited by not being hyped up so much by the top brass of US soccer.

    I do think that he will be an impact player eventually. All the other posters are correct though---Brian McBride (St. Louis U grad) is the balls...
  • thunderDAN
    thunderDAN Posts: 2,094
    when I first read this thread I had no idea what you were talking about- isn't it crazy that I'm in the norm with most Americans on this board when I say that. It's pretty crazy how far down the sports totem pole soccer is here it really is.
  • Byrnzie
    Byrnzie Posts: 21,037
    Lesbelges wrote:
    England beating the US! SHOCKING!

    This is sarcasm, right? Coz the U.S will always get their asses kicked at the worlds no.1 sport. :)
  • thunderDAN
    thunderDAN Posts: 2,094
    Byrnzie wrote:
    This is sarcasm, right? Coz the U.S will always get their asses kicked at the worlds no.1 sport. :)

    In all fairness though Americans as a whole never cared or will care about soccer/football. I'm sure we could be good at it, but all our good athletes take up football or basketball as kids and never play soccer. I think the US has the athletes, it's just that nobody aside from a select few in suburban America care for soccer.
  • Byrnzie
    Byrnzie Posts: 21,037
    thunderDAN wrote:
    it's just that nobody aside from a select few in...America care for soccer.

    Or International law, or the Kyoto treaty. (Sorry, couldn't resist! ;) )
  • South of Seattle
    South of Seattle West Seattle Posts: 10,724
    thunderDAN wrote:
    In all fairness though Americans as a whole never cared or will care about soccer/football. I'm sure we could be good at it, but all our good athletes take up football or basketball as kids and never play soccer. I think the US has the athletes, it's just that nobody aside from a select few in suburban America care for soccer.

    It's all where you live I think. Almost every kid grew up playing soccer where I'm from. It's once you hit high school and parents realize that their kid won't have a chance at the "Real American Dream" playing in the NFL, NBA, or MLB. :rolleyes:
    NERDS!
  • gabers
    gabers Posts: 2,787
    Byrnzie wrote:
    This is sarcasm, right? Coz the U.S will always get their asses kicked at the worlds no.1 sport. :)

    Aha, but you've obviously not watched the U.S. play. No, they will probably never be in the top five in the world, but just look at their results from the 2002 World Cup. Went up 3-0 against Portugal and held on for the win. This was when Figo was at the top of his game (but before Ronaldo). We beat Mexico 2-0. We outplayed Germany but lost 1-0.

    The last World Cup was dismal, but we held our own against Italy and tied 1-1. Who, if you'll remember, won it all.

    More recently we beat Poland 3-0 in Krakow in March. This same Poland team qualified for Euro 2008. England did not. This U.S. team can play. They just played like crap against England.
  • pearljammin41
    pearljammin41 Posts: 465
    thunderDAN wrote:
    when I first read this thread I had no idea what you were talking about- isn't it crazy that I'm in the norm with most Americans on this board when I say that. It's pretty crazy how far down the sports totem pole soccer is here it really is.


    best...............post............................ever................
  • down_ski
    down_ski Posts: 328
    Soccer? Ick..
  • chime
    chime Posts: 7,839
    thunderDAN wrote:
    In all fairness though Americans as a whole never cared or will care about soccer/football. I'm sure we could be good at it, but all our good athletes take up football or basketball as kids and never play soccer. I think the US has the athletes, it's just that nobody aside from a select few in suburban America care for soccer.

    To be fair it was a friendly ... and a friendly with no real interest as it isn't in the build up to a competition ... so any one other than real followers of the game in England probably wouldn't have known was happening if it hadn't have been shown on the bbc ... it's not like it was a must watch game over here either
    So are we strangers now? Like rock and roll and the radio?
  • thunderDAN
    thunderDAN Posts: 2,094
    Chime wrote:
    To be fair it was a friendly ... and a friendly with no real interest as it isn't in the build up to a competition ... so any one other than real followers of the game in England probably wouldn't have known was happening if it hadn't have been shown on the bbc ... it's not like it was a must watch game over here either

    I watched a couple World Cup games, I thought that was the only reason they had a team for the USA. Why are they practicing together now? for the Olympics?
  • chime
    chime Posts: 7,839
    thunderDAN wrote:
    I watched a couple World Cup games, I thought that was the only reason they had a team for the USA. Why are they practicing together now? for the Olympics?

    Could be for the US :confused: For England it could have been lined up before England didn't qualify for Euro 2008 as a warm up game for that competition if we we got through.

    Obviously as we compete as Great Britain at the Olympics and our football teams are recognised by FIFA as seperate nations we don't enter a team in the Olympics.
    So are we strangers now? Like rock and roll and the radio?
  • gabers
    gabers Posts: 2,787
    thunderDAN wrote:
    I watched a couple World Cup games, I thought that was the only reason they had a team for the USA. Why are they practicing together now? for the Olympics?

    The Olympics are for U-23 players only, I believe. Actually, right now the U.S. is prepping for their first World Cup qualifier game in June against Barbados. We played England, we play Spain (currently ranked 4th in the world) on June 4, and against Argentina (currently ranked 1st in the world) on June 8. And we'll probably get our asses handed to us, but to be the best you've got to beat - or at least play - the best. But if we don't win by at least two goals against Barbados I'll be shocked.
  • porchdweller
    porchdweller Posts: 228
    thunderDAN wrote:
    I watched a couple World Cup games, I thought that was the only reason they had a team for the USA. Why are they practicing together now? for the Olympics?

    Some for the Olympics (u23 players, altidore, adu, edu) and the rest for CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying.

    And for everyone bashing the US side against England, who cares? It was a friendly, we played like shit, our biggest scoring threat (Donovan) didn't play, Beasley coming off an injury and Altidore (who is better than Ed Johnson was on the bench). BTW, England consistently underachieves.

    There is a very good generation of kids playing soccer right now. We will consistently be top 10 in the world within 10 years.

    BTW, wtf is Josh Wolff even doing still on the national team roster. He is terrible. So is Onyewu. Why can't Bradley see this. These guys are not very good.
    "That's part of the curse: If you're gonna play the song, you better play it. I've tried to phone in "Jeremy" a few times, and it's tough. It doesn't work."

    EV
  • chime
    chime Posts: 7,839
    Some for the Olympics (u23 players, altidore, adu, edu) and the rest for CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying.

    And for everyone bashing the US side against England, who cares? It was a friendly, we played like shit, our biggest scoring threat (Donovan) didn't play, Beasley coming off an injury and Altidore (who is better than Ed Johnson was on the bench). BTW, England consistently underachieves.

    There is a very good generation of kids playing soccer right now. We will consistently be top 10 in the world within 10 years.

    BTW, wtf is Josh Wolff even doing still on the national team roster. He is terrible. So is Onyewu. Why can't Bradley see this. These guys are not very good.

    We know we underachieve ... don't see anyone saying we played well :D

    Think we are just pleased when we beat a team we are expected to beat as you go into games like this always expecting that England will mess things up and somehow conspire to lose.
    So are we strangers now? Like rock and roll and the radio?
  • porchdweller
    porchdweller Posts: 228
    Chime wrote:
    We know we underachieve ... don't see anyone saying we played well :D

    Think we are just pleased when we beat a team we are expected to beat as you go into games like this always expecting that England will mess things up and somehow conspire to lose.

    All good man, I just get tired of folks running down US Futbol. We aren't great, but we have made leaps and bounds in the past 10 years. We can now "compete" with world class teams (england, argentina, spain, portugal, italy, france, etc.). Previously, we were blown before the game even started. A friend of mine I coach with played in Chelsea and West Ham's youth programs and we discuss this a lot on our road trips.
    "That's part of the curse: If you're gonna play the song, you better play it. I've tried to phone in "Jeremy" a few times, and it's tough. It doesn't work."

    EV
  • chime
    chime Posts: 7,839
    All good man, I just get tired of folks running down US Futbol. We aren't great, but we have made leaps and bounds in the past 10 years. We can now "compete" with world class teams (england, argentina, spain, portugal, italy, france, etc.). Previously, we were blown before the game even started. A friend of mine I coach with played in Chelsea and West Ham's youth programs and we discuss this a lot on our road trips.

    Not a man ;) ... I've lived in the US so know how the sport is looked down on over there. I've taken enough crap for wanting to watch games and being told no one cares about soccer over here. The sport is definately looking up on your side of the pond ... think it's a question of keeping kids involved once they reach high school and now you have an established professional league hopefully less kids will get pulled away from the game.
    So are we strangers now? Like rock and roll and the radio?
  • gabers
    gabers Posts: 2,787
    All good man, I just get tired of folks running down US Futbol. We aren't great, but we have made leaps and bounds in the past 10 years. We can now "compete" with world class teams (england, argentina, spain, portugal, italy, france, etc.). Previously, we were blown before the game even started. A friend of mine I coach with played in Chelsea and West Ham's youth programs and we discuss this a lot on our road trips.

    This is a bit off topic, but do you have any idea what happened to John O Brien? When he was healthy he was a top notch holding midfielder. I'm guessing he was kind of forced into medical retirement.
  • porchdweller
    porchdweller Posts: 228
    gabers wrote:
    This is a bit off topic, but do you have any idea what happened to John O Brien? When he was healthy he was a top notch holding midfielder. I'm guessing he was kind of forced into medical retirement.

    Not sure, it seems like he played in MLS last year or the year before and I haven't heard anything since. I know he made a couple of national team appearances the last couple of years, but he seemed pretty ineffective. But no doubt he was a talented mid. He was always nicked up it seems. I'm encouraged by Maurice Edu and Michael Bradley. I think those two are the guys that can take us to the next level. Edu is a beast and Bradley is a pretty crafty player.
    "That's part of the curse: If you're gonna play the song, you better play it. I've tried to phone in "Jeremy" a few times, and it's tough. It doesn't work."

    EV