2024-2025 European Football Thread

[Purp]

Good read.

U.S. Soccer screwed up its last USMNT coach search. How should it be different this time?

The process that led to rehiring Gregg Berhalter as USMNT coach was a failure. How should U.S. Soccer hire differently this time around?

www.espn.com

I got this alert yesterday and finally read it this morning. The nebulous LinkedIn garbage that infects corporatism shouldn't be infecting the USSF. Just got win. Unfortunately, I think it's worse at the USSF than most corporations. Gross.

 

[Purp]

Yup. Southgate should have started Watkins. Foden plays behind Haaland, who constantly runs toward goal and creates space. Bellingham plays behind Vini Jr and Rodrygo, both of whom constantly make forward runs that create space. At this stage of his career and likely carrying an injury from the season, Kane could not make those runs. At Bayern, Kane had Musiala and Sane running in behind from the flanks to create pockets for him. England were unbalanced but in the end Spain were clearly the best team of the tournament and deserving winners. They, unlike England, had a system that every player had and knew his role. Rodri goes out injured at halftime? No prob; Zubimendi came on and assisted the goal within minutes. PedrI gets hurt? No prob. Here’s Dani Olmo. This Spain look lIke they’ll be good for a while.


Lulz what? Total joke list.

Yeah. Flashbacks to Spain 15 - 20 years ago.

 

[Chongo94]

I got this alert yesterday and finally read it this morning. The nebulous LinkedIn garbage that infects corporatism shouldn't be infecting the USSF. Just got win. Unfortunately, I think it's worse at the USSF than most corporations. Gross.

That’s a great way to put it.

 

[Limey Frog]

Yup. Southgate should have started Watkins. Foden plays behind Haaland, who constantly runs toward goal and creates space. Bellingham plays behind Vini Jr and Rodrygo, both of whom constantly make forward runs that create space. At this stage of his career and likely carrying an injury from the season, Kane could not make those runs. At Bayern, Kane had Musiala and Sane running in behind from the flanks to create pockets for him. England were unbalanced but in the end Spain were clearly the best team of the tournament and deserving winners. They, unlike England, had a system that every player had and knew his role. Rodri goes out injured at halftime? No prob; Zubimendi came on and assisted the goal within minutes. PedrI gets hurt? No prob. Here’s Dani Olmo. This Spain look lIke they’ll be good for a while.

This was obvious to anyone who spends any amount of time thinking about how to score goals. So, not Gareth Southgate. He's been a very good England manager and was the man we needed in 2016. Alas, he has only one style of play and it doesn't align with the strengths of the current generation of England's best players. Also, he picks players not a team. Will the next guy be better? Very likely not, but Southgate won't get better than this, which is no longer good enough. It's exactly where TCU football was under GP in the latter years.

 

[Purp]

This can't be real. We can't plan to have Tyler Adams available in 2026. Sad he can't stay healthy. He's so good when he's fit.

U.S.'s Adams has surgery, out for PL season start

USMNT midfielder Tyler Adams will miss the start of the Premier League season due to back surgery, Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola said on Friday.

www.espn.com

 

[EVOfrogMR]

This can't be real. We can't plan to have Tyler Adams available in 2026. Sad he can't stay healthy. He's so good when he's fit.

U.S.'s Adams has surgery, out for PL season start

USMNT midfielder Tyler Adams will miss the start of the Premier League season due to back surgery, Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola said on Friday.

www.espn.com

The only thing as reliable as Adams health is Gino’s club situation.

 

[Chongo94]

Glass, they’re just all glass. The word “golden” can no longer ever be associated with this soft group of dudes.

 

[dawg]

This can't be real. We can't plan to have Tyler Adams available in 2026. Sad he can't stay healthy. He's so good when he's fit.

U.S.'s Adams has surgery, out for PL season start

USMNT midfielder Tyler Adams will miss the start of the Premier League season due to back surgery, Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola said on Friday.

www.espn.com

The only thing as reliable as Adams health is Gino’s club situation.

Glass, they’re just all glass. The word “golden” can no longer ever be associated with this soft group of dudes.

 

[kaiser soze]

The young talented midfield of this golden generation (McKennie, Adams, Musah + Reyna, Puli and Weah) is proving out to be more MEH than vaunted.

Only Pulisic has come close to realizing potential and high expectations and that is judging pretty kindly after overlooking some long stints where he has not.

Are they just soft? Did they all peter principle themselves with their club contracts? Were the expectations unfairly high?

More importantly, is it recoverable? I'm losing/lost faith in McKennie, Adams and Reyna as long term answers and Musah cant seem to get off the bench. Weah is just ok.

 

[Purp]

The young talented midfield of this golden generation (McKennie, Adams, Musah + Reyna, Puli and Weah) is proving out to be more MEH than vaunted.

Only Pulisic has come close to realizing potential and high expectations and that is judging pretty kindly after overlooking some long stints where he has not.

Are they just soft? Did they all peter principle themselves with their club contracts? Were the expectations unfairly high?

More importantly, is it recoverable? I'm losing/lost faith in McKennie, Adams and Reyna as long term answers and Musah cant seem to get off the bench. Weah is just ok.

I'm not sour on McKennie. If Juve don't change managers I think they'd have already resigned him there. Puli was similarly a victim of a manager swap at Chelsea and quickly fell out of favor after injuries. I'm hoping he doesn't have the same issue with the new boss at Milan.

Tyler has a fickle body. If he could have played 85% of those matches instead of 58% he'd be even better than he is now when healthy.

Gio seems like attitude more than anything. If he has an attitude adjustment he's salvageable. If not he'll just be a good player for us with flashes of brilliance at times.

 

[Moose Stuff]

 

[Chongo94]

Ugh, when will these players learn that going to Chelsea will probably wither their careers. At least he’s going to Strasbourg on loan. Hoping that works out but I highly doubt he ever plays for Chelsea. Hopefully he makes an impression in France and can escape the loan dungeon of Chelsea in the future.

 

[Purp]

Ugh, when will these players learn that going to Chelsea will probably wither their careers. At least he’s going to Strasbourg on loan. Hoping that works out but I highly doubt he ever plays for Chelsea. Hopefully he makes an impression in France and can escape the loan dungeon of Chelsea in the future.

My thoughts exactly. Word for word. I think the money speaks loudly to these guys. I just wonder when Chelsea will stop doing stuff like this. It seems like they sell these players later for less than they signed them for after have zero direct involvement in their development withing Chelsea's program.

 

[Chongo94]

USA going off so far against New Zealand at the Olympics. 3-0 still in the first half.

 

[Purp]

USA going off so far against New Zealand at the Olympics. 3-0 still in the first half.

The women looked good yesterday against Germany too. That was a game Germany might have been the favorite in. Hopefully the U-23s can beat Guinea and make a run for a medal. Lord knows we could use some positivity on the men's side right now.

 

[EVOfrogMR]

Impressed by the WNT, but not super surprised. The world is catching up but the US still has a ton of talent and Hayes is a damn good coach.

The U23 men did what the full MNT should be doing, beating lessor sides comfortably looking at the score and not other metrics.

 

[Purp]

Good result for the U-23s. Hopefully they can keep this up against better competition. They've really only played poorly for half an hour of the first 4.5 hours of match play.

 

[Purp]

 

[Purp]

This is a great compliment for Puli. I have to admit, I'd love to see him as a #10 too; especially if Gio isn't going to get his head clear and fulfill his potential. We've got more talent on the wings than we do at a true #10.

Rafael Leao on Christian Pulisic: "I prefer him in the No. 10 role" - SBI Soccer

Christian Pulisic's transfer to AC Milan was met with a lot of speculation on how the American star would perform in a new league, but after an impactful

sbisoccer.com

 

[Chongo94]

CONCACAF’s U-20 championship game between the US and Mexico is airing right now on FS1 fyi.