Other Sports **Official USA vs Portugal World Cup Game Thread** - Page 58

|Zach| · 12:15 AM

USA vs PORTUGAL | 5 PM KICK OFF | ESPN
Arena Amazonia | Manaus, Brazil

United States moves on to the knockout stage of the 2014 World Cup with a win. A tie or loss leaves a lot of other scenarios but lets just win this.

US faces a talented team that is having a bit of a crisis of confidence. They feature the best player (arguably) in the world in Cristiano Renaldo. If we can contain CR7 the rest of the team probably does not have what it takes to give us trouble.

Huge ****ing day for US Soccer.

|Zach| · 06-24-2014, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cochise

Rooney looks like a guy who you'd see pummeling someone in a dark alley if he weren't playing football.

For some reason I got on with Tottenham years ago, maybe between they and all my other teams there is a pathology of mediocrity and the inability to win any major honors that I subconsciously find alluring.

Haha. Yea they are one of those classic good enough to be good but not quite there clubs. I have a few Spurs friends.

|Zach| · 06-24-2014, 09:35 PM

Relevant to the discussion...Grant Wahl IMO makes a good point with his tweet along with this link to his article...

MLS would have been ripped if US had been poor, so time to give the league some credit for US's 4 points.

MLS players' World Cup showing worthy of praise amid much scrutiny

BY GRANT WAHL
Twitter Email
Posted: Tue Jun. 24, 2014

SÃO PAULO — The U.S.' second goal against Portugal on Sunday was a thing of beauty and a testament to team play. The scoring sequence involved a run down the right side by DeAndre Yedlin and smart passes from Yedlin, Michael Bradley and Graham Zusi before Clint Dempsey, barely staying onside, provided a classic scorer’s finish.

But there’s something else about the goal that stands out: All those players hail from Major League Soccer. The passing sequence wasn’t just a U.S. national team strike, it was Seattle Sounders to Toronto FC to Sporting Kansas City to Seattle Sounders.

PLANET FUTBOL
Landon Donovan United States Media Circus
Media Circus: Landon Donovan on his World Cup experience; record ratings
by Richard Deitsch Let’s be honest: MLS got a bad rap heading into the World Cup. When the U.S.’ two best players, Dempsey and Bradley, made surprise big-money moves back to MLS in the past year, coach Jürgen Klinsmann said he wished his players would challenge themselves at the highest level possible (meaning, in his eyes, Champions League). Klinsmann’s not-unreasonable view is if you’re playing against the best players in the world on a regular basis, you’ll be better prepared to do it at the World Cup.
Had the U.S. gotten blown away here, you can be certain MLS would have drawn heavy criticism for it. So with the Americans off to a four-points-in-two-games start, we’ll say here that the domestic league deserves a little credit.

Clearly, playing in MLS doesn’t prevent you from having a good World Cup. Landon Donovan showed that in 2010, and now several MLS players are enjoying terrific World Cups, none more so than Dempsey (who has two goals in two games). On Sunday, five of the U.S.’ starters were from MLS: Dempsey, Zusi, Bradley, Kyle Beckerman and Matt Besler. All three of the U.S. subs were also MLS’ers: Yedlin, Chris Wondolowski and Omar González.

MLS players aren’t just performing well; their numbers are also up at this year’s World Cup. At World Cup 2010, only four of the U.S.’ 23 players came from MLS. This year the U.S. has 10.

MLS commissioner Don Garber is, understandably, pleased with the output so far.

“The big payoff of the $100 million investment that we made in guys like Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Omar González, Matt Besler, Graham Zusi and others is that we want 21 players waving the flags of not just their country but also for our league while they’re playing in Brazil,” Garber told SI when reached by phone from New York on Tuesday. “And I believe we’ve been able to achieve that.”

As Zusi explained on Tuesday here, “You take some pride in [MLS], in seeing your local homegrown guys making an impact. The respect level for our league is growing internationally, and we’re proving ourselves now at an international level.”

USA rues missed World Cup opportunity after last-gasp Portugal draw
SI's Grant Wahl reports from Manaus, Brazil, where the USA was on the brink of qualifying for the knockout stage, only to concede a late goal and have its celebration put on hold.

Dempsey, the highest-paid player in MLS who is earning $6.7 million this season, remarked on how quickly Major League Soccer has exploded.

“The product on the field is better," Dempsey said. "You’re seeing bigger TV deals being done. You’re seeing more franchises pop up … I feel good for the games I’ve gotten to play and being able to get in a good run of form and get my confidence up [ahead of the World Cup].”

MLS’ World Cup contributions are not limited to the U.S. team. A league-record 21 MLS players — 22 if you include Spain's David Villa, who has already signed for New York City FC, and 23 if you include would-be Costa Rica and Real Salt Lake forward Alvaro Saborio, who was hurt right before the competition — are on World Cup squads in Brazil (see below), way up from the total of six at World Cup 2010. Tim Cahill (New York) scored two fantastic goals for Australia, Giancarlo González (Columbus) has started every game for surprising Costa Rica, and Júlio César (Toronto) is starting in goal for Brazil, the tournament favorite.

Klinsmann’s approach to MLS isn’t totally one-sided. After all, he picked more than twice as many MLS players for his World Cup team as Bob Bradley did four years ago. Klinsmann often says positive things about MLS and its growth, sometimes adding that the league has a ways to go to catch Europe. But when I gave Klinsmann the chance to praise MLS’ role at the U.S. press conference on Tuesday, he instead chose to focus on his entire team.

Garber has occasionally grown frustrated with Klinsmann saying he wants more U.S. players competing at the top levels of European club soccer.

PLANET FUTBOL
From left, Fabian Johnson, Jermaine Jones, Julian Green and Timmy Chandler are among five German-American players on the U.S. World Cup squad. Not pictured is the fifth of the bunch, John Brooks, who scored the dramatic winner vs. Ghana on Monday.
Imports of Importance: The German influence on the U.S. World Cup team
by Grant Wahl “At times, Jürgen does support our league by picking players like the 10 that he took to Brazil,” Garber said. “It just feels at times that he doesn’t believe the best career path to greatness for an American player is to be in Major League Soccer as opposed to being overseas. Now I get that if they’re going to be starting and playing regularly at big-time clubs. I don’t believe that being on a secondary team or sitting on the bench in Europe is developing that player’s capabilities more so than playing day in and day out in front of packed stadiums in MLS. I heavily disagree with that theory.
“I have great respect for Jürgen as a coach, I consider him a friend, and I look to Jürgen as a partner in this project of growing the game in our country,” Garber continued. “As a [U.S. Soccer] board member I support him not just as our coach but also as our technical director. I know [U.S. Soccer president] Sunil Gulati and [CEO] Dan Flynn believe MLS needs to continue growing and investing in the sport, and it can be frustrating that we seem to be at times fighting against our national team coach with this important plan.

“We made a focused strategy to go out and ensure that MLS would be part of the narrative of this World Cup. We had faith from the very beginning that the U.S. national team would do well in Brazil, and we wanted our league to deliver players that would be the spine of the team: Dempsey, Bradley, Beckerman, Besler. We must be a league of choice for top American players if we’re going to achieve our goal of being one of the top leagues in the world. And we’ll do that with or without the support of our national team coaches, whether it’s Jürgen or guys who will be coaching in the future. We’re here every day investing massive resources in growing the sport in our country and trying to turn this nation into a passionate soccer market.”

MLS PLAYERS AT THE WORLD CUP

Australia

Tim Cahill (New York)

Brazil

Júlio César (Toronto)

Costa Rica

Waylon Francis (Columbus)
Giancarlo González (Columbus)
Roy Miller (New York)

Ecuador

Oswaldo Minda (Chivas USA)

Honduras

Jerry Bengtson (New England)
Victor Bernárdez (San Jose)
Marvin Chávez (Chivas USA)
Boniek García (Houston)

Iran

Steven Beitashour (Vancouver)

USA

Kyle Beckerman (Salt Lake)
Matt Besler (Kansas City)
Michael Bradley (Toronto)
Brad Davis (Houston)
Clint Dempsey (Seattle)
Omar González (Los Angeles)
Nick Rimando (Salt Lake)
Chris Wondolowski (San Jose)
DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle)
Graham Zusi (Kansas City)

Eleazar · 06-24-2014, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reaper16

Tottenham is the only European club that I actively follow and root for. Maybe its because they are definitely the Kansas City Chiefs of the EPL.

When I first started seeing the EPL on TV over here, there was one season that Tottenham seemed to be on all the time, and they were horrendous at that time. Martin Jol was gone and they were off to something like the worst start of any club that ever avoided relegation. They brought in Harry Redknapp from Portsmouth and watching them the rest of the season battle just to stay up was a lot of fun, I have been following them since.

|Zach| · 06-24-2014, 09:40 PM

I don't really love EPL it can have its amazing moments but its generally feels a little sanitized like the modern NFL but when I do I find myself liking and pulling for Everton.

**Baby Lee** · 06-24-2014, 09:42 PM

I like watching Chelsea, just to listen to the commentators ponder when Torres is going to be Torres again.

**Reaper16** · 06-24-2014, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cochise

When I first started seeing the EPL on TV over here, there was one season that Tottenham seemed to be on all the time, and they were horrendous at that time. Martin Jol was gone and they were off to something like the worst start of any club that ever avoided relegation. They brought in Harry Redknapp from Portsmouth and watching them the rest of the season battle just to stay up was a lot of fun, I have been following them since.

Not that Redknapp was a great manager, but oh man that Spurs Champions League team under him... Modric & Bale & Sandro & etc. I loved watching those guys play together.

Eleazar · 06-24-2014, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

I like watching Chelsea, just to listen to the commentators ponder when Torres is going to be Torres again.

Another funny moment, there were rumors going around about John Terry hooking up with Wayne Bridge's wife back when Bridge was at Chelsea, and I saw some program where they were interviewing people on the street about it. There was some gnarled cab driver leaning out the window of his car and his comment about it was only "Has ye seen Bridgey's wife? Not bad, is she?"

**Reaper16** · 06-24-2014, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by |Zach|

I don't really love EPL it can have its amazing moments but its generally feels a little sanitized like the modern NFL but when I do I find myself liking and pulling for Everton.

My biggest soccer hipster tendency is to pay attention to the Jupiler Pro League (aka the top league in Belgian soccer). I don't have a dog in that fight, but I watch random Belgian league games when I get the chance and root for Belgian teams in the Champions League.

Eleazar · 06-24-2014, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reaper16

My biggest soccer hipster tendency is to pay attention to the Jupiler Pro League (aka the top league in Belgian soccer). I don't have a dog in that fight, but I watch random Belgian league games when I get the chance and root for Belgian teams in the Champions League.

I used to see the australian league on FSC late at night a few years ago. Basically all those matches seemed to be played in an australian rules football ground in front of a couple of dozen people, but they were pretty wide-open games that weren't bad to watch.

SPATCH · 06-24-2014, 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

i wonder why they have problems? Oh well.........I guess every pro league has its problem franchises. MLS is expanding soon right? Miami and another city too?

New York FC and Orlando City join next season.

Atlanta has been awarded a franchise that will play in the Falcons new stadium (maybe 2017?).

Beckham is leading the Miami franchise, but apparently some of the details on the location of the stadium have been hitting some snags. Might push back the time the franchise officially joins MLS (2017 or 2018).

Minnesota is also making a push get a franchise to play in the Vikings new stadium, sort of in the same vein as the Atlanta deal.

SPATCH · 06-24-2014, 10:36 PM

Oh, and when is the Chivas rebrand? Is that this offseason?

|Zach| · 06-24-2014, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPATCH

Oh, and when is the Chivas rebrand? Is that this offseason?

Hearing after the World Cup.

**Baby Lee** · 06-25-2014, 12:07 AM

Expand. Point anywhere in the crowd, check the expression under your finger.

|Zach| · 06-25-2014, 02:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Expand. Point anywhere in the crowd, check the expression under your finger.

Quite simply a devastating moment. Was in Power and Light but not the center...was at the bar in Johnny's Tavern.

There is no video from Johnny's during the Portugal goal though I would be really curious to see it but this was a fun video of the 2nd goal...I like it because you see the craziness of thinking Bradley will score then thinking it is Zusi then CD finally putting it into the net.

GloryDayz · 06-25-2014, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aturnis

As for the Ronaldo hate...

OK, I unhate him...

Rep top you Sir...

06-21-2014, 11:46 PM
\|Zach\| For The Glory Of The City Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Kansas City Casino cash: $5166768	Official USA vs Portugal World Cup Game Thread USA vs PORTUGAL \| 5 PM KICK OFF \| ESPN Arena Amazonia \| Manaus, Brazil United States moves on to the knockout stage of the 2014 World Cup with a win. A tie or loss leaves a lot of other scenarios but lets just win this. US faces a talented team that is having a bit of a crisis of confidence. They feature the best player (arguably) in the world in Cristiano Renaldo. If we can contain CR7 the rest of the team probably does not have what it takes to give us trouble. Huge ***ing day for US Soccer. Last edited by \|Zach\|; 06-22-2014 at 12:15 AM..*
Posts: 53,495

06-24-2014, 09:35 PM	#857
\|Zach\| For The Glory Of The City Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Kansas City Casino cash: $5166768	Relevant to the discussion...Grant Wahl IMO makes a good point with his tweet along with this link to his article... MLS would have been ripped if US had been poor, so time to give the league some credit for US's 4 points. MLS players' World Cup showing worthy of praise amid much scrutiny BY GRANT WAHL Twitter Email Posted: Tue Jun. 24, 2014 SÃO PAULO — The U.S.' second goal against Portugal on Sunday was a thing of beauty and a testament to team play. The scoring sequence involved a run down the right side by DeAndre Yedlin and smart passes from Yedlin, Michael Bradley and Graham Zusi before Clint Dempsey, barely staying onside, provided a classic scorer’s finish. But there’s something else about the goal that stands out: All those players hail from Major League Soccer. The passing sequence wasn’t just a U.S. national team strike, it was Seattle Sounders to Toronto FC to Sporting Kansas City to Seattle Sounders. PLANET FUTBOL Landon Donovan United States Media Circus Media Circus: Landon Donovan on his World Cup experience; record ratings by Richard Deitsch Let’s be honest: MLS got a bad rap heading into the World Cup. When the U.S.’ two best players, Dempsey and Bradley, made surprise big-money moves back to MLS in the past year, coach Jürgen Klinsmann said he wished his players would challenge themselves at the highest level possible (meaning, in his eyes, Champions League). Klinsmann’s not-unreasonable view is if you’re playing against the best players in the world on a regular basis, you’ll be better prepared to do it at the World Cup. Had the U.S. gotten blown away here, you can be certain MLS would have drawn heavy criticism for it. So with the Americans off to a four-points-in-two-games start, we’ll say here that the domestic league deserves a little credit. Clearly, playing in MLS doesn’t prevent you from having a good World Cup. Landon Donovan showed that in 2010, and now several MLS players are enjoying terrific World Cups, none more so than Dempsey (who has two goals in two games). On Sunday, five of the U.S.’ starters were from MLS: Dempsey, Zusi, Bradley, Kyle Beckerman and Matt Besler. All three of the U.S. subs were also MLS’ers: Yedlin, Chris Wondolowski and Omar González. MLS players aren’t just performing well; their numbers are also up at this year’s World Cup. At World Cup 2010, only four of the U.S.’ 23 players came from MLS. This year the U.S. has 10. MLS commissioner Don Garber is, understandably, pleased with the output so far. “The big payoff of the $100 million investment that we made in guys like Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Omar González, Matt Besler, Graham Zusi and others is that we want 21 players waving the flags of not just their country but also for our league while they’re playing in Brazil,” Garber told SI when reached by phone from New York on Tuesday. “And I believe we’ve been able to achieve that.” As Zusi explained on Tuesday here, “You take some pride in [MLS], in seeing your local homegrown guys making an impact. The respect level for our league is growing internationally, and we’re proving ourselves now at an international level.” USA rues missed World Cup opportunity after last-gasp Portugal draw SI's Grant Wahl reports from Manaus, Brazil, where the USA was on the brink of qualifying for the knockout stage, only to concede a late goal and have its celebration put on hold. Dempsey, the highest-paid player in MLS who is earning $6.7 million this season, remarked on how quickly Major League Soccer has exploded. “The product on the field is better," Dempsey said. "You’re seeing bigger TV deals being done. You’re seeing more franchises pop up … I feel good for the games I’ve gotten to play and being able to get in a good run of form and get my confidence up [ahead of the World Cup].” MLS’ World Cup contributions are not limited to the U.S. team. A league-record 21 MLS players — 22 if you include Spain's David Villa, who has already signed for New York City FC, and 23 if you include would-be Costa Rica and Real Salt Lake forward Alvaro Saborio, who was hurt right before the competition — are on World Cup squads in Brazil (see below), way up from the total of six at World Cup 2010. Tim Cahill (New York) scored two fantastic goals for Australia, Giancarlo González (Columbus) has started every game for surprising Costa Rica, and Júlio César (Toronto) is starting in goal for Brazil, the tournament favorite. Klinsmann’s approach to MLS isn’t totally one-sided. After all, he picked more than twice as many MLS players for his World Cup team as Bob Bradley did four years ago. Klinsmann often says positive things about MLS and its growth, sometimes adding that the league has a ways to go to catch Europe. But when I gave Klinsmann the chance to praise MLS’ role at the U.S. press conference on Tuesday, he instead chose to focus on his entire team. Garber has occasionally grown frustrated with Klinsmann saying he wants more U.S. players competing at the top levels of European club soccer. PLANET FUTBOL From left, Fabian Johnson, Jermaine Jones, Julian Green and Timmy Chandler are among five German-American players on the U.S. World Cup squad. Not pictured is the fifth of the bunch, John Brooks, who scored the dramatic winner vs. Ghana on Monday. Imports of Importance: The German influence on the U.S. World Cup team by Grant Wahl “At times, Jürgen does support our league by picking players like the 10 that he took to Brazil,” Garber said. “It just feels at times that he doesn’t believe the best career path to greatness for an American player is to be in Major League Soccer as opposed to being overseas. Now I get that if they’re going to be starting and playing regularly at big-time clubs. I don’t believe that being on a secondary team or sitting on the bench in Europe is developing that player’s capabilities more so than playing day in and day out in front of packed stadiums in MLS. I heavily disagree with that theory. “I have great respect for Jürgen as a coach, I consider him a friend, and I look to Jürgen as a partner in this project of growing the game in our country,” Garber continued. “As a [U.S. Soccer] board member I support him not just as our coach but also as our technical director. I know [U.S. Soccer president] Sunil Gulati and [CEO] Dan Flynn believe MLS needs to continue growing and investing in the sport, and it can be frustrating that we seem to be at times fighting against our national team coach with this important plan. “We made a focused strategy to go out and ensure that MLS would be part of the narrative of this World Cup. We had faith from the very beginning that the U.S. national team would do well in Brazil, and we wanted our league to deliver players that would be the spine of the team: Dempsey, Bradley, Beckerman, Besler. We must be a league of choice for top American players if we’re going to achieve our goal of being one of the top leagues in the world. And we’ll do that with or without the support of our national team coaches, whether it’s Jürgen or guys who will be coaching in the future. We’re here every day investing massive resources in growing the sport in our country and trying to turn this nation into a passionate soccer market.” MLS PLAYERS AT THE WORLD CUP Australia Tim Cahill (New York) Brazil Júlio César (Toronto) Costa Rica Waylon Francis (Columbus) Giancarlo González (Columbus) Roy Miller (New York) Ecuador Oswaldo Minda (Chivas USA) Honduras Jerry Bengtson (New England) Victor Bernárdez (San Jose) Marvin Chávez (Chivas USA) Boniek García (Houston) Iran Steven Beitashour (Vancouver) USA Kyle Beckerman (Salt Lake) Matt Besler (Kansas City) Michael Bradley (Toronto) Brad Davis (Houston) Clint Dempsey (Seattle) Omar González (Los Angeles) Nick Rimando (Salt Lake) Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle) Graham Zusi (Kansas City)
Posts: 53,495

06-24-2014, 09:40 PM	#859
\|Zach\| For The Glory Of The City Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Kansas City Casino cash: $5166768	I don't really love EPL it can have its amazing moments but its generally feels a little sanitized like the modern NFL but when I do I find myself liking and pulling for Everton.
Posts: 53,495

06-24-2014, 09:42 PM	#860
Baby Lee Supporter Join Date: Aug 2000 Casino cash: $6838598	I like watching Chelsea, just to listen to the commentators ponder when Torres is going to be Torres again. __________________ We need the kind of courage that can withstand the subtle corruption of the cynics - E.W.
Posts: 95,642

06-24-2014, 10:36 PM	#866
SPATCH birth of spatch Join Date: May 2008 Casino cash: $10006207	Oh, and when is the Chivas rebrand? Is that this offseason?
Posts: 4,569

06-25-2014, 12:07 AM	#868
Baby Lee Supporter Join Date: Aug 2000 Casino cash: $6838598	Expand. Point anywhere in the crowd, check the expression under your finger. __________________ We need the kind of courage that can withstand the subtle corruption of the cynics - E.W.
Posts: 95,642