LGP Futbol Thread - (CL, EPL, Serie A, Liga, 2014 World Cup)

[pfim]

June 12 US vs England
June 18 US vs Slovenia
June 22 US vs Algeria

[JoseCuervo]

You never know. It will be hard for the US to ever be a top contender until it gets to be more popular in the US. Those teams for the most part having been playing together for years and always play agaisnt top talent throughout the year. Heres hoping MLS can turn into a greater farm league to help bolster US Soccer more.

the MLS will never be a good farm league for US soccer. If you're a good soccer player from the US, you go to europe as soon as you can.

I don't agree with that at all. The MLS is a good farm league to get guys to Europe. Clint Dempsey never would have gone from Furman to Fulham. Having a decent professional league in the US has paid monumental dividends, and we haven't seen the full impact of it yet.

note the "as soon as you can." The MLS is crap.

[pfim]

You could say that about every league in the world but 4-5, though.

[Draftnik]

We got a very favorable draw overall. it is sickening to see Mexico and France get byes into the knockout round though.

It is very funny to watch the contrasting reaction on Sky Sports vs ESPN. Even the normally milquetoast Roy Hodgson is talking trash about how England beating USA is a fait accompli. I love Lalas' open hatred for nearly every other nation and his Beckham mocking.

[Draftnik]

Every league in the world is crap but EPL, La Liga, and Serie A.

[Rocco]

Maybe we can get Conor Casey to grow his hair like Fernando Torres in an attempt to confuse Ferdinand. It's worth a shot.

[wm0712]

im a very casual soccer fan, and only really know the big names.. so whats the deal with ronaldinho?

[pfim]

We got a very favorable draw overall. it is sickening to see Mexico and France get byes into the knockout round though.

It is very funny to watch the contrasting reaction on Sky Sports vs ESPN. Even the normally milquetoast Roy Hodgson is talking trash about how England beating USA is a fait accompli. I love Lalas' open hatred for nearly every other nation and his Beckham mocking.

Uruguay is better than Mexico I think...I'm sure they'll be battling for the second spot.

I'm pretty sure the US is 1-0 against England in the World Cup...

[slappybrown]

im a very casual soccer fan, and only really know the big names.. so whats the deal with ronaldinho?

Trending upwards again after two-three years in the wilderness, but his story will be partially one of wasted talent because he can't stay out of nightclubs. He plays or Milan in Italy now and as hes pushing 30, will never be as good as he once was.

[JoseCuervo]

agreed that uruguay can definitely battle mexico. south africa also isn't awful. Definitely a cupcake team of the top seeds, though.

[Draftnik]

Maybe we can get Conor Casey to grow his hair like Fernando Torres in an attempt to confuse Ferdinand. It's worth a shot.

Maybe we can stuff Fabio Capello with pastries so he expands to zeppelin proportions and weighs 300 pounds. Then he can pretend to be Rafa Benitez and lower his players and supporters expectations to the point they think a 4th place finish is a great result.

[pfim]

agreed that uruguay can definitely battle mexico. south africa also isn't awful. Definitely a cupcake team of the top seeds, though.

I think they're awful. I don't think they have much of a chance to advance.

[Draftnik]

SA was very bad from what I saw in the Confederations Cup. Maybe they will draft Benedict McCarthy into their WC squad, but I'm not sure who else they have on standby that could improve their squad.

Uruguay has Forlan and some other good players. I guess I forgot about them. I mentally wrote them off when they lost at home to Argentina and had to qualify via the playoff vs. Costa Rica.

[Draftnik]

Maybe we'll get really lucky and the top 10-15 English central defenders will get injured or miss their scheduled drug tests. Then the English will get desperate and recall Jamie Carragher into their squad. We would get 5-10 penalties in the match vs. England if Carragher played from all the fouls he would commit in the box because non-English refs would not look the other way when he continually fouls to make up for lack of quality, pace, skill, technique, etc.

[slappybrown]

Maybe we'll get really lucky and the top 10-15 English central defenders will get injured or miss their scheduled drug tests. Then the English will get desperate and recall Jamie Carragher into their squad. We would get 5-10 penalties in the match vs. England if Carragher played from all the fouls he would commit in the box because non-English refs would not look the other way when he continually fouls to make up for lack of quality, pace, skill, technique, etc.

Tell us what you really think about Carragher

[The Garbageman]

We get it. You hate Liverpool. Rafa is fat. Carra is rubbish. Yossi is a jew. Ok..I added that last one.

[pfim]

Maybe we'll get really lucky and the top 10-15 English central defenders will get injured or miss their scheduled drug tests. Then the English will get desperate and recall Jamie Carragher into their squad. We would get 5-10 penalties in the match vs. England if Carragher played from all the fouls he would commit in the box because non-English refs would not look the other way when he continually fouls to make up for lack of quality, pace, skill, technique, etc.

I doubt it will matter who is in the central of defense, I don't see the US getting past the England midfield very much.

[pfim]

We get it. You hate Liverpool. Rafa is fat. Carra is rubbish. Yossi is a jew. Ok..I added that last one.

Ngog is a cheat.

[Draftnik]

We get it. You hate Liverpool. Rafa is fat. Carra is rubbish. Yossi is a jew. Ok..I added that last one.

Seriously, adding an ethnic slur is totally uncalled for. It says far more about you than it does me. Liverpool obviously sucks with or without my barbs.

I just responded to the bait about Rio Ferdinand (and actually cracked a joke about him for those clever enough to know). I don't start fires, I add accelerants.

[GaryRissling]

There's going to be a lot of pressure on Mexico. Opening matches are highly unpredictable (Argentina/Cameroon, France/Senegal, etc), and Mexico are really are going to need a result. I would think the SA team will get quite a lift in that opening match, and even as bad as they are, I would not expect it to be easy for the Mexicans. If that result doesn't go their way, they may be home before the postcards.

That said, this group is a group that we should expect to progress from as well. For me, I think if we have a healthy DeMerit, Spector, Edu, our defense should be good enough to see us through. I also like that we play our toughest game first.
I don't think we will have an answer though for the likes of Lennon and Rooney, even if we can clog up the middle against the English.

[pfim]

SA could pose problems for Mexico the same way that the US does. But I just don't see it happening. France should be worrying about Mexico and Uruguay though.

Looking at it again, the US is probably in the easiest group from the Pot 2 perspective. No excuses, this team must advance.

[Draftnik]

The smugness of the latest Mexican manager annoys me, but I agree on the whole our draw looks easier than Mexico's. Is Gio Dos Santos playing? He was amazing in the last few Mexican qualifying matches IMO. Castillo also came back into the squad. Is he playing? Vela is glued to Arsenal's bench. It doesn't seem like Mexico's best young players will have very much match fitness heading into the WC while this is one time the MLS calendar should benefit our national team in terms of having some (guys playing in MLS) players with current match fitness but not totally exhausted by the grind of an AUG-MAY schedule.

Obviously I support Team USA, but my 2nd team is always ABM.

[Gaucho]

Damn FIFA, trying to make sure that all the "big nations" make it to the quarter finals. Boring.

[brianF31A]

The US got a pretty good draw this year. England is going to be tough, but what a great opportunity for the US as they haven't drawn England in the WC since 1950. I was a bit worried at first when I saw Ivory Coast's name drawn and thought for sure they were going into the US group. Not sure how they ended up in a different grouping, but I'll take it. Those 2 teams would have probably spelled disaster for the US team

[Rocco]

Maybe we can get Conor Casey to grow his hair like Fernando Torres in an attempt to confuse Ferdinand. It's worth a shot.

Maybe we can stuff Fabio Capello with pastries so he expands to zeppelin proportions and weighs 300 pounds. Then he can pretend to be Rafa Benitez and lower his players and supporters expectations to the point they think a 4th place finish is a great result.

Maybe they can find a good cocktail waitress and all-you-can-eat buffet to throw Rooney off his game. Although cocktail waitresses are a little classier than Shrek's standard fare, since Wayne likes the street walkers.