FSU Ladies play for the National Championship tonight at 5:30PM ET on ESPN2
C'MON YOU SEMINOLES!!!!!!
C'MON YOU SEMINOLES!!!!!!
**** EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga 2020-21 Thread ****
- Thread starter JRHawk2003
- Start date
In addition to the Champions League winner (Pulisic or Steffan), we did see an American get a big 5 champions medal as Lille won Ligue 1. Tim Weah didn’t get called upon in today’s match but was typically a regular appearing 28 times in Ligue 1. With CL in his future, figure he’s surely a lead contender for the #9 for the USMNT this year, even though he played a much different role on the club this year.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe Steffan played in the number of league matches where he’d “officially” be recognized as PL champion.
While it’s hard to quite ever top Leicester’s title, Les Dogues all took a 20% pay cut to start the season. The teams salary budget, cumulatively, was far less than PSG paid Neymar this season.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe Steffan played in the number of league matches where he’d “officially” be recognized as PL champion.
While it’s hard to quite ever top Leicester’s title, Les Dogues all took a 20% pay cut to start the season. The teams salary budget, cumulatively, was far less than PSG paid Neymar this season.
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Overall I’d say a good year though perhaps not a great year for Americans overseas. I don’t think anyone really blew us away with a huge year. Some guys who we thought would be in the top 23 1 or 2 years ago though seem to have their stock pointed down and headed towards obscurity
Stock up:
Weston McKinnie
Brooks
Weah
Steffan, though somewhat incomplete, second unit for City doesn’t make anyone a scrub
Reyna, appears likely he has a bigger role next year
Tyler Adams
Dest
Up & down/mixed
Pulisic - hard to put him here with the UCL performances but he is judged on a different standard
Musah
Robinson
Stock down:
Hoppe & Sargent - maybe harsh to have them here being young and on bad teams. But I’m not sure either one of them would be poised to move to another top flight club. When you’re on a side that gets relegated and we’re trying to put together a top XI for the next 9 months, that’s a huge hit.
Miazga
Yedlin
Horvath
incomplete
Konrad
Easily the biggest concern going into this Gold Cup is the #9 and Brooks’ CB partner. It’s hard not to give Weah the benefit of the doubt but he hasn’t really played there this season. Nobody has shown us they’re anywhere near the McBride/Dempsey level. There’s a variety of options but none seem all that great, yet.
But when it comes to CB, the cupboard seems really bare right now. If, at any time, Brooks can’t go a full 90 for any reason, I can’t think of any pairing you can live with back there and how you can feel good about ANY WCQ road match. Mex, CRC and Honduras will always be a problem for us down there, but do we feel all that great about not falling behind in Toronto or Kingston on a defensive gaffe or two either?
Stock up:
Weston McKinnie
Brooks
Weah
Steffan, though somewhat incomplete, second unit for City doesn’t make anyone a scrub
Reyna, appears likely he has a bigger role next year
Tyler Adams
Dest
Up & down/mixed
Pulisic - hard to put him here with the UCL performances but he is judged on a different standard
Musah
Robinson
Stock down:
Hoppe & Sargent - maybe harsh to have them here being young and on bad teams. But I’m not sure either one of them would be poised to move to another top flight club. When you’re on a side that gets relegated and we’re trying to put together a top XI for the next 9 months, that’s a huge hit.
Miazga
Yedlin
Horvath
incomplete
Konrad
Easily the biggest concern going into this Gold Cup is the #9 and Brooks’ CB partner. It’s hard not to give Weah the benefit of the doubt but he hasn’t really played there this season. Nobody has shown us they’re anywhere near the McBride/Dempsey level. There’s a variety of options but none seem all that great, yet.
But when it comes to CB, the cupboard seems really bare right now. If, at any time, Brooks can’t go a full 90 for any reason, I can’t think of any pairing you can live with back there and how you can feel good about ANY WCQ road match. Mex, CRC and Honduras will always be a problem for us down there, but do we feel all that great about not falling behind in Toronto or Kingston on a defensive gaffe or two either?
Fairy tale ending for Manchester City and Sergio Aguero today. City put a stamp on their PL Championship with a 5-0 thrashing of Everton. And Aguero comes on in the 2nd half, for his final game at City, and promptly scores twice in 10 minutes to break the record for goals by a player for their PL club. 185.
Takes the record away from United and Rooney. Love it.
Takes the record away from United and Rooney. Love it.
Hoppe would not be down for me.
I listed to a lot of the US Soccer podcasts and I had no idea who Hoppe was at the beginning of the year. He had a few really good moments including a really good game last week against a pretty good team
Yedlin played really well for his Turkish club(do not know the name) however I have no idea what level the Turkish league is.
Brooks may be out for the Nations League he has been dealing with a toe injury at the end of the year so the Center Back group maybe a little dicey
I'm 100% in favor of playing this up as a significant honor. Kane would break it next year if he were somehow convinced to stay a year (not likely).
I didn't realize Brooksy was hurt since he started the dead rubber match on Saturday. But whenever he is healthy and eligible to be picked for a competitive match, he's going to go 90. Obviously the US winning a cup this summer is going to be important for building momentum. Everyone is in the same boat about having many open questions due to not playing a competitive match in two years. Two decisive losses to Mexico, or a loss to anyone else is really going to make everyone anxious.
Yedlin is on Galatasaray, which is one of the top clubs. They lost the championship by a single goal and would be unlikely to fully navigate qualifying for the UCL group stage, but they will land in one of the lower European competitions next season. He's not a total outsider either, and his cap number alone will likely keep him firmly in the mix with a young side, but I don't think his spot in the lineup is nearly as stable as it was 2 years ago.
I don't necessarily see Hoppe or Sargent as being busts. They're very young, and the best thing for them long term might be to see them stay with those relegated clubs to get regular minutes in 2.BL. It's tough to imagine them ending up on a top flight club where they can get game action next season. I just think them having an impact this cycle might be a bridge to far, though there's still fully 18 months for them to work their way back in.
No. Entertaining, but there are three examples I can think of better...
Kansas City vs Portland double-poster to end it...
Baggio over the bar...
Liverpool’s dramatically finishing off the comeback...
PS- Penalty kicks are a stupid way to find a winner.
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I agree with that. The problem is that I'm not sure that there is a better way. When you need to have a winner (can't accept draws) and the game goes through 30 minutes of extra time and still ends in a draw, I'm not sure what else you can do. Can't keep them out on the pitch forever.
That’s why my idea is a three-fold change:
1) Each half of overtime begins with each team being reduced a man, but allowed an extra sub.
2) Corner Kicks in overtime are tabulated, and will force the attack because...
3) If there is no winner after overtime, it goes to Golden Penalties. First one to score wins. Team with most corner kicks goes first.
*If corner kicks are tied after extra time, game goes in 5 minute periods until someone either scores or gets the advantage.
There is no PERFECT system for the reasons you rightly point out. But this is much better. Hell, even the NASL style shootout that MLS first used is vastly superior and more true to the game. No less than Johan Cruyff said so.
I don't like that at all. As OT progresses each team would just be aiming to get corner kicks and be less concerned about attacking the goal.
If we went with that, which I'm not sure I like I would adjust it to be "Saves are tabulated and the team with the most saves goes 2nd." And I'm not sure I even like that either but I think it would be better than having teams try to rack up corner kicks.
I thought of that, but what constitutes a save becomes too subjective. And sure they'll play for corner kicks, but corners lead to goals too. It also forces a bunkering team out of their shell and to get up field. And lastly, even at its worst, it would still be making the play on the field matter more. Penalty kicks (it has rightly been said) is like settling an NBA playoff game with a free throw contest.
You're going to have all sorts of problems sorting out if the shot was "on goal" from the angle, or whether it was a cross sometimes, also velocity of the ball, etc. Just trust me, its much more difficult to determine than you might first think.
The velocity of the ball is a drawback as it might encourage lame and weak shots just as long as they can be "on goal". But I see that as better than players trying to kick the ball at their opponents constantly to deflect them out for corners.
Former Hawkeye great getting props from a Canada and EPL legend (Ipswich, West Ham, Chelsea)...
Using a stat as a tiebreaker is even worse than the current penalty shootout. In my estimation, the rest of the Champions League KO stage does well with away goals and maximizes the drama above the way penalties do. 2019 was so special because it was only a win/lose situation, the final minutes left no possibility of a penalty shootout. How to best duplicate that for a single knockout match? Hold the penalty shootout at the beginning of the match, but have the lineup finalized. No one is going to want to take an attacking player off right away in the first minute to go with a more defensive formation. That guarantees two teams aren't kicking the ball around in the last 5 minutes and settling for that.
My solution doesn’t “decide” by the stat. It decides the first penalty. It’s still settled by a score or not a score.
Your penalties at the beginning idea is really interesting though. Still better than the current way. And speaking of the away goals rule...
I did not watch the match @Switzerland, it seemed like it was fairly even on the whole and could have gone either way, as all 3 goals were a tad fluky. The Swiss have at least had a couple WCQ matches under their belts and obviously we were out Pulisic, Adams, and Steffan (not sure Steffan would have made a difference in the match). I'm not terribly concerned about the result because obviously you're not going to sub out Brooks in any match of consequence right now.
I'm looking forward to a competitive match and a truly top XI pick here this week. I'm not too sure how much we'll get out of the Gold Cup considering Mexico will have at least some of their regulars in the Olympics, it seems to me like that will be a more MLS heavy group to try to figure out if we have someone else who can play CB with Brooksy and establish some depth for the inevitable injuries or changes that will be needed for the densely packed qualifiers.
Here's what I'd like to see on Thursday:
Reyna - Weah - Pulisic
McKennie - Adams - Lletget
Dest - Ream - Brooks - Yedlin
Steffan
Obviously Lletget is the only MLS player here, and Ream's position is the shakiest. I think we're probably more likely to see Sargent start. I'd kinda love to see Weah get some #9 time, he spent most of his time at Lille as a deep forward or wing because Yilmaz and David were so effective. They may choose to cash in on Ikone/David to add some depth, or simply because those are going to be targets of super-clubs/BPL. David would be a savvy move for Spurs IMO. Bottom line is, I think Weah has the most upside when we're looking at the next 18 months.
I'm looking forward to a competitive match and a truly top XI pick here this week. I'm not too sure how much we'll get out of the Gold Cup considering Mexico will have at least some of their regulars in the Olympics, it seems to me like that will be a more MLS heavy group to try to figure out if we have someone else who can play CB with Brooksy and establish some depth for the inevitable injuries or changes that will be needed for the densely packed qualifiers.
Here's what I'd like to see on Thursday:
Reyna - Weah - Pulisic
McKennie - Adams - Lletget
Dest - Ream - Brooks - Yedlin
Steffan
Obviously Lletget is the only MLS player here, and Ream's position is the shakiest. I think we're probably more likely to see Sargent start. I'd kinda love to see Weah get some #9 time, he spent most of his time at Lille as a deep forward or wing because Yilmaz and David were so effective. They may choose to cash in on Ikone/David to add some depth, or simply because those are going to be targets of super-clubs/BPL. David would be a savvy move for Spurs IMO. Bottom line is, I think Weah has the most upside when we're looking at the next 18 months.
I'm guessing that was an expensive ticket.Just got tix to see Arsenal play Inter in Orlando, in July!
I'll double check, I don't remember it being on there
Oh crap, I guess I do.
Thanks
Christian Fuchs, former Austria captain and key cog in Leicester City’s title winning year, is joining Charlotte FC after starting late in the year this season for the Foxes.
2 things working against us:
1) RB Leipzig have gotten pillaged this off season already. They’re selling players left and right. Probably hurts our chances.
2) We need a RB and he wants to be CDM (rightfully so). This is exactly the problem we ran into w/Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
That said - I hope we sign him! Would be a dream to have a USMNT player on my favorite club team! And if he wants to fight for minutes at CDM, more power to him!
Yeah, but I'm curious if he would start over Rodak. I thought Rodak would have been a decent GK last year if they didn't get Areola. I'd love it if Horvath started, but if he's going to be the backup, hopefully he goes somewhere else
