Official Game Thread: United States vs Ghana

[Prime Time]

I'm not sure I agree. I think you have to make some cultural changes in the way young talents thing, and how clubs and the soccer association. If you wanted to invest in 2010, Adu would have been sent abroad, with a handful of other talents. Unless players, clubs and the association says "ok, we can't bet on our on league, we have to export the talent", you're not going go further than you did this year.

You also need to find a new coach. Seriously Arena looked like the Mike Tice of soccer, outcoached, outsmarted and outplayed in every way. He's not going to take the team any further, and I'd bet coaches who have a track record with making average teams look better. A coach Guus Hiddink type of coach would be excellent.

But unless I start hearing American names on the pitch in Italy, the UK or Spain, I doubt you're going to evolve anywhere.

Half of the U.S. squad that went to the WC plays abroad...

 

[ckb2001]

I'm not sure I agree. I think you have to make some cultural changes in the way young talents thing, and how clubs and the soccer association. If you wanted to invest in 2010, Adu would have been sent abroad, with a handful of other talents. Unless players, clubs and the association says "ok, we can't bet on our on league, we have to export the talent", you're not going go further than you did this year.

You also need to find a new coach. Seriously Arena looked like the Mike Tice of soccer, outcoached, outsmarted and outplayed in every way. He's not going to take the team any further, and I'd bet coaches who have a track record with making average teams look better. A coach Guus Hiddink type of coach would be excellent.

But unless I start hearing American names on the pitch in Italy, the UK or Spain, I doubt you're going to evolve anywhere.

OK, first of all, as far as Arena is concerned, he's done more for US soccer than anyone else (arguably). We all (most of us including me) agree he's not good enough to take us to the next level. Hiddink is a great idea, but there is one even better: Klinsmann.

Now, to the first part of your post. I think you're underestimating two things:

1) The difficulty of taking a country with basically no standing in soccer and producing a world class team (especially creating a team that can win it today, not 50 years ago).

2) The impact MLS has had on the development of the National Team.

Think of what you would have done in the same situation in 1994. Everyone, including Carlos Queiroz - the Portuguese coach tasked with producing the blueprint for Project 2010 - said the development of a domestic league was BY FAR the most important thing the US could do to become a world soccer power.

In the US, you can't just have a youth system and then try to send the best players to Europe. Most of our best soccer players at the youth level are going to follow the College route (unlike Europeans) before contemplating whether to turn pro. So, given this fact, you CAN'T plan US ascendancy in soccer on sending as many players to Europe. You MUST first develop them here.

You might ask why go to College then? Why not encourage as many youth soccer players to skip it and do what Europeans do (go straight to a club)? The reason is because the great majority of these youth players won't make it in soccer and they need a backup plan. So, this is something you can't (and shouldn't) change; only a few players (like O'Brien or Spector) follow the Euro route.

Therefore, we need MLS. So, how successful has MLS been in developing home grown talent (remember we're starting from nothing)? For our current roster, I think 17 out of 23 began their careers in MLS. Some, like Dempsey, were only visible AFTER extensive MLS play (no one knew him before that). And others (Beasely, Convey, Bocanegra, Lewis, McBride) would have NEVER been scouted by EURO clubs unless they showed up in MLS first.

So, it's not good enough to say: go straight to EPL or Serie A and hope for the best there. Even if we tried that it wouldn't work out well. The laws against foreign internationals work to our GREAT disadvantage in most of those leagues - except of course the EPL - because we can't send our youth in NUMBERS. And remember, when the EURO clubs do see American talent, the Americans almost always do go there (Pope and Donovan are really the only big exceptions).

So, what could be improved with MLS in the future? Today, most observers of MLS say it is lacking in one major component - there aren't enough games, meaning there isn't this constant pressure to compete. This relative lack of competition (the number of games), not the lack of occasional top level competition (you only play a Chelsea or Man U occasionally in the EPL), is cited by many as the biggest problem remaining in US soccer (this has been said by Arena and Klinsmann among others).

So, what's the reason MLS hasn't yet produced lots of top class talent? It takes TIME more than anything else. Like I said, you think of a better way to do that from scratch in 12 years (since 1994)!!

 

[Boomer]

Just wanted to say much of the world's press seems to agree that PK was bogus. BBC defended the referee's decisions (the red cards) in the Italy match, saying they were deserved, but for the Ghana match, they say:

"But referee Merk added one more twist to the first half, with a controversial penalty award. He penalised Onyewu, who appeared to win a clean header as Pimpong collapsed dramatically, and then allowed Appiah to dispatch the spot-kick."

Also, on the Convey foul, they say:

"The American fans may well believe that they were victims of some debatable refereeing decisions and they were angry when Mensah was only shown a yellow card for a dreadful, cynical foul on substitute Bobby Convey."

Here's the link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/4853408.stm


The German press is even harsher (remember the referee was German - Merk): The FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - the NYTimes of Germany) says not only was the PK a wrong call, but they say a foul should have been called on Haminu Draman (the guy who took the ball away from Reyna, leading to the first Ghana goal). Here's the link (it's in German):

http://www.faz.net/s/RubC3501523C6F...3DADE81E9364636FD3~ATpl~Ecommon~Sspezial.html

Two subtitles summarize the views:
Merk übersah Foul an Reyna (Merk failed to see the foul on Reyna).
Unberechtigter Strafstoß für Ghana (Unjustified PK for Ghana).

The tone is generally sympathetic to the plight of the Americans.

The Ghanain penalty was one of the worst refereeing decisions I've seen in a long time. It was never a foul. I have no good idea what Markus Merk thought he saw that warranted a penalty.

Awful decision.

 

[Boomer]

Half of the U.S. squad that went to the WC plays abroad...

They need to play in the biggest 3 leagues. It'll help that Hanneman and Howard will be playing in the Premiership for Reading and Everton and that Bocanegra continues in the Premiership with Fulham and Convey with Reading, but you need guys playing at the top level if you're too kick on.

 

[Prime Time]

They need to play in the biggest 3 leagues. It'll help that Hanneman and Howard will be playing in the Premiership for Reading and Everton and that Bocanegra continues in the Premiership with Fulham and Convey with Reading, but you need guys playing at the top level if you're too kick on.

:yes: