Garrick
Awesome, lid.
I frankly don't give a rat's ass about 3rd place matches in international soccer. The lads play enough over the summer as it is. Who cares.
But, football's largest cash grab wouldn't be complete without one, now would it?
I'd rather take some time do to a little postmortem discussion than I would discuss the match, so here's the preview.
Former Evertonian Tim Howard will be between the sticks.
Colombia are better than us.
But it's a 3rd place match, so we'll see who's more arsed.
Enough of that, ONTO THE HOT TAKES!
Don't let the Argentina game sour things, it still was a good tournament. A loss tonight will tie our best ever Copa America result, a win means it's the best Copa in USMNT history. Making it to the semifinals in this field is nothing to sneeze at. It was a straight chalk affair, we beat the teams we should've beat, and got beat by the ones above us. Sure, one would hope that the side would be a little less shambolic than the Colombia or Argentina games, but at least we didn't get blown out 7-0.
What's the saying? You're never as good as your best performance or as bad as your worst?
...A good tournament that brings up more questions than it answers about the future of the team. The three best US players of the tournament were Dempsey, Jones, Brooks, and Guzan. Let's side aside Brooks for a moment because the rest all have something in common: They're on the wrong side of 30. Guzan will likely still be around for 2018, and perhaps just earned himself some top flight interest that may get him off the sinking Villa ship. Dempsey was our highest scorer and his pace ain't what it used to be. Jones was our best midfielder and in the twilight of his career.
The next generation just doesn't seem ready to fill the gaps Yedlin, Pulisic, Brooks, Morris, who else? No, I don't consider Zardes or Nagbe to be youth players, they're 24 and 25 respectively. Perhaps they'll improve incrementally still, but neither are likely to make any more major jumps in ability.
Bradley has seemingly fallen into the abyss of mediocrity. Altidore is MIA for the second summer in a row. The future's making me a bit nervous, except for that backline, which interesting thing about that...
Notice something about that stellar defense? They're all based in Europe. Yedlin and Cameron were developed in MLS, I'll give you that, but they're exceptions to the rule of the average MLS player's trajectory. The American soccer structure has reached a wall in development. It's good at turning out okay players (see: Wondo, or most of the squads of Central America and the Caribbean) but still can't make great ones with any sort of regularity. And with the designated player rule, MLS can woo marketable US talent, where they're then not given quality enough opposition to further improve. So...
Blame Klinsmann all you want. He got it mostly right this tournament. It's time for major changes in domestic soccer. And pay-to-play youth soccer is only one part of the problem.
Just think of all of the current Everton players that started with lower league clubs. Baines, Stones, Jags, McCarthy, Coleman, just to name a few. Because of the way US Soccer is set up, there just isn't the financial incentive for USL, NASL, and lower clubs to develop and sell like there is elsewhere, where it's M.O. to make a large chunk of your revenue off of player sales. Or, with the salary cap so low, is there any incentive for players who aren't high profile enough to earn a DP contract to come to MLS.
Raise the salary cap. Dump the league-owned player structure. I don't think we need pro/rel, but we do need to change something.
And one final note on the future of Jürgen Klinsmann. He's safe from the axe. Gulati has changed his tune from "results matter" to "we're making progress." It doesn't seem like we are, to be honest, but how much of that is actually Klinsmann's fault is debatable. After a rocky Gold Cup and WCQ opening, we're back to playing decent footie and beating the teams we're supposed to beat.
As for the Southampton opening? Doubt it. One, now doesn't seem like the greatest time to move to the United Kingdom. Two, $$$.
Klinsmann, as of last report, makes $3.2 million/year as USMNT coach and technical director. Koeman was set to make £2.5 million/year at Southampton, or roughly $3.4 million. Doesn't make sense to leave the guaranteed for 2 years gig for a tiny bit more cash where you'd have to worry about relegation and the future of a nation-state.
Anyway, one last time for the summer:
THE YANKS ARE COMING
But, football's largest cash grab wouldn't be complete without one, now would it?
I'd rather take some time do to a little postmortem discussion than I would discuss the match, so here's the preview.
Former Evertonian Tim Howard will be between the sticks.
Colombia are better than us.
But it's a 3rd place match, so we'll see who's more arsed.
Enough of that, ONTO THE HOT TAKES!
Don't let the Argentina game sour things, it still was a good tournament. A loss tonight will tie our best ever Copa America result, a win means it's the best Copa in USMNT history. Making it to the semifinals in this field is nothing to sneeze at. It was a straight chalk affair, we beat the teams we should've beat, and got beat by the ones above us. Sure, one would hope that the side would be a little less shambolic than the Colombia or Argentina games, but at least we didn't get blown out 7-0.
What's the saying? You're never as good as your best performance or as bad as your worst?
...A good tournament that brings up more questions than it answers about the future of the team. The three best US players of the tournament were Dempsey, Jones, Brooks, and Guzan. Let's side aside Brooks for a moment because the rest all have something in common: They're on the wrong side of 30. Guzan will likely still be around for 2018, and perhaps just earned himself some top flight interest that may get him off the sinking Villa ship. Dempsey was our highest scorer and his pace ain't what it used to be. Jones was our best midfielder and in the twilight of his career.
The next generation just doesn't seem ready to fill the gaps Yedlin, Pulisic, Brooks, Morris, who else? No, I don't consider Zardes or Nagbe to be youth players, they're 24 and 25 respectively. Perhaps they'll improve incrementally still, but neither are likely to make any more major jumps in ability.
Bradley has seemingly fallen into the abyss of mediocrity. Altidore is MIA for the second summer in a row. The future's making me a bit nervous, except for that backline, which interesting thing about that...
Notice something about that stellar defense? They're all based in Europe. Yedlin and Cameron were developed in MLS, I'll give you that, but they're exceptions to the rule of the average MLS player's trajectory. The American soccer structure has reached a wall in development. It's good at turning out okay players (see: Wondo, or most of the squads of Central America and the Caribbean) but still can't make great ones with any sort of regularity. And with the designated player rule, MLS can woo marketable US talent, where they're then not given quality enough opposition to further improve. So...
Blame Klinsmann all you want. He got it mostly right this tournament. It's time for major changes in domestic soccer. And pay-to-play youth soccer is only one part of the problem.
Just think of all of the current Everton players that started with lower league clubs. Baines, Stones, Jags, McCarthy, Coleman, just to name a few. Because of the way US Soccer is set up, there just isn't the financial incentive for USL, NASL, and lower clubs to develop and sell like there is elsewhere, where it's M.O. to make a large chunk of your revenue off of player sales. Or, with the salary cap so low, is there any incentive for players who aren't high profile enough to earn a DP contract to come to MLS.
Raise the salary cap. Dump the league-owned player structure. I don't think we need pro/rel, but we do need to change something.
And one final note on the future of Jürgen Klinsmann. He's safe from the axe. Gulati has changed his tune from "results matter" to "we're making progress." It doesn't seem like we are, to be honest, but how much of that is actually Klinsmann's fault is debatable. After a rocky Gold Cup and WCQ opening, we're back to playing decent footie and beating the teams we're supposed to beat.
As for the Southampton opening? Doubt it. One, now doesn't seem like the greatest time to move to the United Kingdom. Two, $$$.
Klinsmann, as of last report, makes $3.2 million/year as USMNT coach and technical director. Koeman was set to make £2.5 million/year at Southampton, or roughly $3.4 million. Doesn't make sense to leave the guaranteed for 2 years gig for a tiny bit more cash where you'd have to worry about relegation and the future of a nation-state.
Anyway, one last time for the summer:
THE YANKS ARE COMING
