**Official USMNT Soccer Thread**

[Ja's 2¢]

that's some bad photoshop

 

[rck3sactown]

speaking of photoshop, 

my friend challenged me to make this on MS Paint....

so I made this:

 

[Ja's 2¢]

that's actually pretty good considering you only used ms paint. you should be proud of that.

 

[DeadsetAce]

speaking of photoshop, 

my friend challenged me to make this on MS Paint....





so I made this:

dude...how in the world? that's impressive as hell IMO

 

[sonoftony]

Is it a longshot to say Klinsman is the best coach the USMNT has ever had?

I've heard a few people say no, that Arena was better since we made it farther in 2002. But results aside, I personally believe Klinsmann is our best coach due to the vision he has for making our team good for years to come. He doesn't seem like the typical manager that wants to keep relying on luck and upsets to win games, which seems to have been the mentality of our team for all these years

I personally think when it's all said and done, Klinsy will be the best we ever had. I'm no footy expert like most of you are but seeing how he ran things with Germany NT and BM, he wants the same for US and believes we can be world class. I don't think he will move on until he achieves that.

 

[Kimchi Papi]

It's funny how enough people didn't think much of Green. Once I read that Pep was high on him & having seen his stellar play in friendlies last campaign, I knew he'd be alright. Yes they were friendlies but the kid scored back to back hat tricks.

Munich's CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge did an interview with SI's Grant Wahl & said the club is so high on Green that they turned down loan requests from several Prem teams.

Bayern CEO Rummenigge: EPL teams made loan offers for Julian Green

Bayern Munich recently received loan offers from English Premier League teams for U.S. 19-year-old Julian Green, Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told SI.com in an interview this week, but Green “is looking like he will stay” with Bayern this season.

“He’s something special and very young,” said Rummenigge of Green ahead of Bayern’s arrival in New York City on Wednesday for friendlies against Chivas de Guadalajara (in Harrison, N.J., on Thursday) and the MLS All-Stars (in Portland, Ore., on Aug. 6). “On our team he’s the backup of players like [Arjen] Robben and [Franck] Ribéry, world-class players, so it’s not easy to take their place in the first 11 of our team.”

Rummenigge wouldn’t specify which Premier League teams made offers for Green (“not bad clubs, I can tell you”), but he sounded optimistic about Green’s future.

“He came up from our youth department, had a big opportunity in the World Cup and scored a fantastic goal vs. Belgium,” Rummenigge said. “With a bit of luck he can do well [at Bayern].”

Green may be the most obvious American link to Bayern Munich these days, but he isn’t the only reason the German SuperClub is embarking on its U.S. visit with high aspirations for what it can become in America. It’s one thing to play preseason exhibitions in the States, as top European clubs have done for years, but Bayern has just become the first to establish a full-time U.S.-based office (located in New York) to promote the team.

Whether that bricks-and-mortar investment will pay off remains to be seen—it’s not like Bayern can send its players over to the U.S. during the European season—and it doesn’t help that German Bundesliga games are hard to find on U.S. television. (The rights holder is the obscure GolTV for one more season until Fox Sports takes over in 2015-16.) But Bayern’s Champions League games are available on Fox, and the club believes it has assets that are rare in the sport.

“Our goal is to do something in favor of our brand image and German football,” said Rummenigge, who starred at forward for Bayern from 1974-84 and scored nine goals in three World Cups for West Germany. “We can offer something maybe others can’t offer. We’ve won eight titles in the last two years, everything in club football from the Bundesliga to the Champions League to the Club World Cup. And six of our players won the World Cup a few weeks ago.”

Bayern’s World Cup winners (Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Müller, Manuel Neuer, Jérôme Boateng, Philipp Lahm and Mario Götze) are set to arrive in the U.S. in time for the Portland game. The challenge for Bayern will be for those players to recover after a busy summer for the long club season ahead.

When asked what having six World Cup winners meant for his team, Rummenigge looked at both sides of the equation.

“It’s good and it’s not so good,” he said. “The good thing is we can go to Portland and offer to the U.S. soccer fans six fresh world champions. That’s not normal for one club. The bad thing is the fact there’s not enough regeneration. Our season starts soon on August 26, so the regeneration is probably not enough or the preparation time for the coach. But we have to handle it one way or another. I’m convinced we’ll do well.”

Of course, the standards are incredibly high at Bayern, where despite winning last season’s Bundesliga, German Cup and Club World Cup, fans were left disappointed when Pep Guardiola’s team was eliminated in the Champions League semifinals by eventual champion Real Madrid.

Rummenigge pointed out that Guardiola has been in a similar situation before with recent World Cup-winning players and did just fine: In 2010-11, after Spain had won the World Cup, his Barcelona team won both the Champions League and La Liga titles. Not for nothing did Rummenigge say that he would never fire Guardiola under any circumstances.

“I gave him that guarantee,” Rummenigge explained. “I’m 100 percent convinced about him and his philosophy and the way he works. He’s fantastic in every sense. We’d be stupid and crazy to fire him.”

While Bayern did lose Toni Kroos to Real Madrid, the team has added Robert Lewandowski at center forward after getting him on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund. When I asked Rummenigge what he thought about Champions League rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona each paying transfer fees of around $100 million for James Rodríguez and Luis Suárez, respectively, he said he felt good about spending a $0 fee on Lewandowski.

“I’m very happy with Lewandowski,” he said. “In our friendlies so far, you see the huge quality of this guy. He’s a fantastic player, maybe the No. 1 striker in his role in the world. He offers everything from a No. 9.”

Because Rummenigge is also the chairman of the powerful European Club Association, I asked him how he felt about a few other topics in world soccer:

On concerns about World Cup 2018 in Russia, given the uproar over Russia’s recent moves in Ukraine:

“I’m a big fan of responsibility, and it has been decided by FIFA’s executive committee in favor of Russia [in 2018] and Qatar [in ‘22]. So independently of my personal opinion, the World Cup will be played there.”

On what his personal opinion is:

“I hope we find a good solution, especially regarding Qatar. Because it’s looking like in the summer-time we can’t play there. This will be a big problem for the international football calendar and for the national one as well.”

On whether he thinks World Cup ’22 will happen in Qatar:

“It’s looking like that. It’s a decision that was very criticized, but however it’s done and we have to respect it.”

On whether November 2022 is the most likely start time for World Cup ’22:

“We have to find a good solution, because that is a problem for us. If the World Cup is played in November, that means probably three months of league football is away. And that is a problem for our football in the league. That has to be discussed with FIFA to find the best way possible. The leagues and the clubs have to pay the bills.”

http://www.si.com/soccer/planet-fut...bayern-munich-julian-green-robert-lewandowski

 

[rck3sactown]

Tottenham and Everton had to have been one of the clubs that put in a loan offer for Green 

 

[imasoleman18]

im like half way through a coca pebbles alex morgan edition box

 

[Kimchi Papi]

Yo rck3sactown , you asked about Pulisic in the footy thread, speak of the devil... He scored for the US U17's in a win against Mexico!

For those that don't know, Christian Pulisic is an attacking mid/winger from Hersey, PA. He hails from a club there called PA Classics which has also produced Andrew Wenger who plays for MLS' Philly Union. Pulisic is one of the main players on the US U17 squad.

At 15, Pulisic has just signed on to attend Borussia Dortmund's youth academy...

 

[Kimchi Papi]

Got damn, Pulisic scored in each of these recent friendlies also (both wins)... Homey had a brace against Colombia...

 

[denni5themenace]

landon donovan set to retire from soccer after this year

 

[Kimchi Papi]

landon donovan set to retire from soccer after this year

Letter from Landon to the fans & official vid from the LA Galaxy.

After careful deliberation and after many conversations with those closest to me, I have decided that this will be my last season as a professional soccer player.

I don’t write these words lightly and this day carries mixed emotions for me. I am sad to leave a profession that has brought me so much joy. I will miss all of the teammates who helped me create so many incredible memories on-the-field, and who I have shared many wonderful experiences with off-the-field. I will miss my coaches, at both the club and national team levels, who have helped me develop throughout my career and helped make me the player I am today. However, after spending half my life as a professional soccer player, I also am excited to begin a new chapter and pursue other opportunities that will challenge me and allow me to grow as a person.

There are so many people I want to thank who have inspired me, guided me and helped me on this incredible journey. I simply could not have accomplished what I did during my playing career without an overwhelming amount of support from my family, my friends and many others. I plan to express my gratitude to everyone in a more detailed manner at a later date; however, for now, I want to single out the fans. You are the lifeblood of this sport and, without you, none of us would be fortunate to call ourselves professional soccer players in MLS.

I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have played a role in the remarkable growth of MLS and US Soccer during my playing career. And while my career as a player will soon be over, rest assured I will stay connected on many levels to the beautiful game.

As we enter a transformative time for the sport, I will do everything I can to help the continued growth of soccer in the United States. I look forward to making a difference, pursuing my passions and meeting all of you along the way in this next phase of my life.

With gratitude,

Landon

 

[solemaven]

:/ and there he goes

 

[socluis90]

Sad about LD. Can only imagine how ima feel when Kobe retires. Literally grew up idolizing these guys. |I


I'll be at every galaxy game the rest of the season. Hope we go out as Champs.

 

[champcruthik]

Which major club would you guys like to see win the DeAndre Yedlin sweepstakes, Spurs or otherwise?

 

[rck3sactown]

Not Spurs.... I don't see much of an opportunity there for Yedlin behind Kyle Walker...

 

[degenerate423]

 

landon donovan set to retire from soccer after this year

Letter from Landon to the fans & official vid from the LA Galaxy.
 

After careful deliberation and after many conversations with those closest to me, I have decided that this will be my last season as a professional soccer player.

I don’t write these words lightly and this day carries mixed emotions for me. I am sad to leave a profession that has brought me so much joy. I will miss all of the teammates who helped me create so many incredible memories on-the-field, and who I have shared many wonderful experiences with off-the-field. I will miss my coaches, at both the club and national team levels, who have helped me develop throughout my career and helped make me the player I am today. However, after spending half my life as a professional soccer player, I also am excited to begin a new chapter and pursue other opportunities that will challenge me and allow me to grow as a person.

There are so many people I want to thank who have inspired me, guided me and helped me on this incredible journey. I simply could not have accomplished what I did during my playing career without an overwhelming amount of support from my family, my friends and many others. I plan to express my gratitude to everyone in a more detailed manner at a later date; however, for now, I want to single out the fans. You are the lifeblood of this sport and, without you, none of us would be fortunate to call ourselves professional soccer players in MLS.

I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have played a role in the remarkable growth of MLS and US Soccer during my playing career. And while my career as a player will soon be over, rest assured I will stay connected on many levels to the beautiful game.

As we enter a transformative time for the sport, I will do everything I can to help the continued growth of soccer in the United States. I look forward to making a difference, pursuing my passions and meeting all of you along the way in this next phase of my life.

With gratitude,

Landon

 

Sad to see him retire.  Wish he could've had one last run with the USMNT, but we all know someone wasn't having it

.  Either way, congrats to him on a great career.  Definitely my favorite soccer player and the reason why I even considered watching soccer

.

 

[champcruthik]

Not Spurs.... I don't see much of an opportunity there for Yedlin behind Kyle Walker...

I was thinking the same unless they implement Yedlin like Rose, who played a LM/LB role. When Assou-Ekotto needed a breather.

 

[Kimchi Papi]

MLS compiled a tribute vid of all 132 goals scored in Donovan's MLS career. Took almost 11 minutes to show them all...

 

[rck3sactown]

Yo @rck3sactown, you asked about Pulisic in the footy thread, speak of the devil... He scored for the US U17's in a win against Mexico!

For those that don't know, Christian Pulisic is an attacking mid/winger from Hersey, PA. He hails from a club there called PA Classics which has also produced Andrew Wenger who plays for MLS' Philly Union. Pulisic is one of the main players on the US U17 squad.

At 15, Pulisic has just signed on to attend Borussia Dortmund's youth academy...

My man, good stuff here.

I've been trying to read up on a lot of our youth guys but its hard to follow and try to predict where they will be 4-8 years from here.

 

[ice city fc]

18 year old CM Emerson Hyndman made his professional debut in Fulham's season opener. According to twitter he was one of if not Fulham's best player and really impressed. He had a great preseason but people kind of expected him to be integrated gradually, looks like he might be too good for that. 

 

[rck3sactown]

Emerson Hyndman vs. Ipswich by Chance612

 

[mastamind89]

18 year old CM Emerson Hyndman made his professional debut in Fulham's season opener. According to twitter he was one of if not Fulham's best player and really impressed. He had a great preseason but people kind of expected him to be integrated gradually, looks like he might be too good for that. 

Emerson Hyndman vs. Ipswich by Chance612

I was watching this earlier. The positive thing about Fulham getting relagated is that they have to rely on a lot of their youth players. Their academy has made strides, a lot of talented players coming through.

I'm excited about Hyndman, his potential is clear. If he gets this amount of playing time on a constant basis, he'll develop nicely

Joe Gyau scored two goals fro BVB U-23.

Also, Romain Gall has signed to Columbus Crew from FC Lorient

For those who follow the EPL, the season is about to start, join up for some fantasy leagues on http://premierleague.com the codes are 210521-57568 and 210521-57621

 

[mastamind89]

USA youth development progresses, but what system tweaks are needed?
PrintMore
Colorado Rapids homegrown player Dillon Serna dribbles during Monday night's inaugural MLS Homegrown Game as part of All-Star festivities in Portland.
Photo: Susan Regan/USA TODAY Sports
Colorado Rapids homegrown player Dillon Serna dribbles during Monday night's inaugural MLS Homegrown Game as part of All-Star festivities in Portland.

BY LIVIU BIRD
Twitter Email
Posted: Tue Aug. 5, 2014
PORTLAND, Ore. — The first Homegrown Game as part of Major League Soccer’s All-Star festivities celebrated how far the league’s development system has come in a short period of time. However, if the United States wants to use its academies as a springboard to a World Cup, the battle has just begun.

At the 2014 World Cup, the U.S. squad benefited for the first time from its Development Academy, established in 2007, as former players Aron Jóhannsson and DeAndre Yedlin wore the American shirt. Their time in the system was fleeting, though, as Jóhannsson played one season for the IMG Academy, and Yedlin played one year for the Seattle Sounders.

As more players filter through the academies from a younger age, the thinking is that the number of homegrown players on the USA’s World Cup squad will only increase. Without some serious changes to the framework of the system, that process could be much more arduous than necessary.

PLANET FUTBOL
MLS Homegrown Game
Game of the future: Three thoughts on inaugural MLS Homegrown Game
by Liviu Bird “It’s kind of difficult for some of those kids sometimes because if you step out of your university at 23, 22 or 24, like they do sometimes here — for example, a kid in Europe will be training every day since he’s 13 years old,” Thierry Henry said at the All-Star press conference on Monday. “That amount of time that you’re losing is huge in the end. Somehow, you guys get guys like I have on my left here [Clint Dempsey and Matt Besler] performing, but you’ve got to concentrate on your youth. That’s very important; that’s the future of the game.”
The college soccer system has become outdated, already in the process of being replaced with the strengthening academies at each MLS franchise. Still, many of the best coaches of younger players still coach at the collegiate level.

In response, a task force of coaches and administrators have put together a proposal to submit to the NCAA that would change the college calendar. As it stands, players train and play from August to December, with a six-week spring season that isn’t as heavy on training or matches.

The new system, presented by West Virginia University athletic director Oliver Luck to an MLS committee in Portland this week, is focused on “modernizing the collegiate paradigm from its current state, to better parallel the administration of the sport of soccer, both domestically, and internationally.”

MORE: USA youngster Julian Green eyes Bayern Munich breakthrough

It would split the college season into two halves, one in each fall and spring, with only three midweek games allowed per semester and a minimum of three nights between games. The proposal presentation states that it would allow for better periodization, less possibility of injury and would require student-athletes to miss less school.

MLS president Mark Abbott said the league is supportive of the idea, although it will change the league’s schedule with regard to its player combine and draft, both of which are usually held in January.

“We’re supportive because of a belief that it’s good for college soccer, and what’s good for college soccer and good for player development is ultimately good for us,” he said. “We haven’t decided yet how to deal with it from a draft perspective and a combine perspective. That’s something that we’re still thinking about and studying.”

Portland Timbers and MLS All-Stars head coach Caleb Porter, who coached at the University of Akron before joining MLS, said college soccer will always be viable. Two of the players who made the best impression in the Homegrown Game on Monday, Cristian Roldan and James Moberg, are teammates at the University of Washington.

PLANET FUTBOL
Fans in Portland watch as Bayern Munich – including U.S. international Julian Green, third from left – train ahead of Wednesday's MLS All-Star Game.
MLS All-Star Notes: Mark Abbott on expansion, Blatter; Training contrast
by Liviu Bird “The two biggest things, I think, that go into developing players are the environment and time. The sooner you can get kids into a high-level environment that’s as close to being professional as possible, the more time you get in that environment, the more you develop players. In saying that, there are going to be guys that for whatever reason, don’t go directly into the professional leagues,” Porter said. “I agree with Thierry: kids coming into the pros at 22, 23 years old, it’s tough. For a lot of guys, it’s the first time they haven’t played or started. For a lot of guys, it’s the first time they’ve been tested and suffered. So for me, I think we need to start earlier, and we need to develop better environments from top to bottom.”
Some players will inevitably fall through the cracks of talent identification, and the college system could become a good secondary recruiting tool for professional teams. At the same time, there has to be a way to marry the European academy model of development with the American cultural tradition of most young adults going to college.

ALL-STAR: Liam Ridgewell replaces injured Kyle Beckerman

MLS’s partnership with USL PRO franchises could be vital in this, as well as perhaps some well-placed tweaks to the roster rules that would encourage teams to use those avenues, much as they currently encourage signing Homegrown Players.

Despite that encouragement, teams are still not justly compensated for developing players if they move on to other teams. European and Mexican clubs are poaching players as young as 10 years old without paying for them because American clubs are not subject to FIFA’s regulations on training compensation.

“There are issues with respect to compensation with respect to players that are not in contract in the United States generally that are not just related to soccer, but generally,” Abbott said. “So it’s kind of a technical issue, but there are issues with respect to that, so it’s not something that we have here.”

Seattle Sounders fullback DeAndre Yedlin is a success story of the USA's complex, but improving, youth development system.
Photo: Ted S. Warren/AP
Seattle Sounders fullback DeAndre Yedlin is a success story of the USA's complex, but improving, youth development system.
The FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players states: “Training compensation shall be paid to a player’s training club(s): (1) when a player signs his first contract as a professional and (2) each time a professional is transferred until the end of the season of his 23rd birthday. The obligation to pay training compensation arises whether the transfer takes place during or at the end of the player’s contract.”

Every club that has a hand in the player’s development must be paid. In Yedlin’s case, that would mean Emerald City FC, Crossfire Premier and the Sounders would be paid in case of a transfer such as his rumored move to Europe after the World Cup. Child labor laws and other legal issues with the exploitation of children also plays a role in the U.S. not following the policy.

Another problematic policy is the pay-to-play model in the U.S. In other nations, including World Cup-winning Germany, players of all ages play youth soccer for free. The trade-off is that not as many coaches are full-time professional coaches as they are in the U.S., but it ultimately provides for the improvement of the talent pool.

Since 2002, the German federation built 52 national schools and 366 regional training centers and employed over 1,000 coaches to staff them full-time. In Belgium, teams are strongly urged by the federation to play the same system from top to bottom, instilling a style of play that everybody studies intensely from the time they start playing until they earn caps for the national team.

MORE: Promotion-relegation will never happen in MLS, says league president

The unique American challenges of vast geography and a large population base make free play an approach that isn’t quite cost-effective, but investors must understand that footballing development has to come first for the system to work. Monetary reward comes from developing players and selling them on, not gouging them and their parents for fees to play.

Even in the Development Academy, where a larger number of teams don’t charge players for their top teams, the costs fall on younger players’ parents, who still have to pay. MLS academies are in the process of filling out from under-12 to under-18, which would alleviate some of that stress for the best identified players, as those teams are all free.

The youth programs in Germany, now seen as the crown jewel of development after their 2014 triumph, have a common understanding that their investments are for the greater good: a push to win World Cups. Their willingness to cooperate with one another and plumb the darkest corners of the country for talent comes from the embarrassment of failing to make it out of the group in Euro 2000.

PLANET FUTBOL
More than 109,000 turned out to watch Real Madrid play Manchester United at Michigan's Big House on Saturday.
MLS All-Star Game caps USA's fun two-week summer spectacle
by Grant Wahl Since then, the vast undertaking has resulted in a staggering number of homegrown players in the Bundesliga and a lack of reliance on foreign imports that often run afoul of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations. That’s another boost to the investors’ pocketbooks: being able to pick players from the academies instead of spending millions on players from other leagues.
Perhaps the problem, paradoxically, is that the U.S. has been just successful enough on the world stage to avoid embarrassment. Performances at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups were good enough to insulate the status quo, but to make real progress, a disaster on the scale of Germany at Euro 2000 would be helpful.

Until then, the U.S. will struggle to improve as quickly as it could without widespread changes to its development system. As Germany showed, it only takes one generation of players coming through a reformed system to reap the biggest possible reward.

 

[rck3sactown]

Timmy taking a break...

Guzan

Johnson

Hamid

Cropper??