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GoldAppleCorps

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Everything posted by GoldAppleCorps

  1. This gruntles me greatly. I've believed that the US has the problem of (a) working to get their players into European leagues to develop their skills at the highest level then (b) returning them to tournament competition in CONCACAF where games are played and officiated more like rec-league city park matches. A successful US manager will have to have a foot in both worlds. This is almost certainly the best name we could hope for.
  2. There's getting comfortable, and there's also strategery. If I'm playing an up-tempo, pass first team, I want one of my DBs to have the comm. The call gets to him first, and he sends it to the back end as quickly as possible. If I'm playing a power team, a LB should have it. Obviously getting the correct call to the DL and LB groups is paramount then. Likely, they'll change it up within the game depending on the situation.
  3. Understand that we're discussing a coach for a National Team here. That's different from a club team. For a club team, you have contracts and farm systems (academies) that mean you can go after players that fit "your system". You can have a preferred type of soccer tactic and get players that complement that system. Those players are together for most of the year, working out and practicing to do what you and your assistants tell them. As a manager, you're picking the starting 11 players each game, and making tactical substitutions based on how the game is going. For a national team, you only see your players at certain times throughout the year, and over the course of a four year World Cup cycle as it goes. The players that are available to you are ones that are in the national player registry - legally able to play for your country. During one of the windows of international play, you call in a certain segment of those players to participate in a camp. At the end of that camp, you pick your roster (usually limited to like 25 players) and go set up for a tournament, qualifier, or what-have-you. The kicker is how you select your players. Maybe this guy's usually a really good player, but he hasn't had any action with his club team. He's a substitute or little used. You're asking him to jump right in and attack the game with no pre-season or other type of form. Maybe another guy looks promising, but he's been playing for a weak team in a weak league in eastern Greece or something. Another guy is recovering from injury. Still others have no experience on the national stage, but could be useful later? Do you develop them? Of course, the ultimate prize is playing in the World Cup tournament every four years. To get there, you have to qualify by winning games against other teams in your region. The USA is in the CONCACAF region over here with Canada, Mexico, and the Central American nations. Mexico used to make some noise in the tournament, but really, no teams from CONCACAF really strike fear in the rest of the world. Getting a manager that can use the USA's European developed (we hope) players to quickly jell, form a tactically sound (there's zero time to teach or develop skills on the nation team), cohesive squad that can adapt to the defensively aggressive styles (read: they foul hard and often) played in our region will require a world view of soccer acumen.
  4. We're probably all more or less fans of the Texas Longhorns here. We're used to a stable, competent CEO that oversees a respected, credentialed organization that attracts top talent. It has a history of trophies. It sits on a mountain of moss - if it comes to that. The USSF has none of that. You're looking for a coach to be hired by a neophyte director. That coach will be asked to oversee a program that thinks it has the best average player talent pool (judged by positions and playing time at real, actual soccer clubs throughout the world) in its existence. All that coach has to do is combine largely European based players into a group that can win games in a Central American jungle where the pitch slopes off on the corners into the city park (do they throw batteries at players when Belgium plays France? I dunno). He doesn't have to necessarily win the World Cup. We'll be satisfied with playing in the Final. Funds are limited, so the ideal candidate will be hungry and coach for passion and exposure.
  5. The answer is, of course, FIVE TONS OF FLAX!
  6. Uruguay could still mathematically be eliminated. The US would have to win like 3-0 and have Panama beat Bolivia 5-0 or so, but it isn't a done deal by the numbers. Unrealistic, absolutely.
  7. It's kind of a dumb, small point, but the advice given to referees is that you can't call a handling foul if you play the ball onto your own hand/arm. If you believe that the video shows the ball striking the Ecuador player's face/head before it deflects to his arm, then by rule that can't be called a handling foul. I'm not saying I agree with either the rule or the video evidence. I'm saying that's how referees are instructed.
  8. Look. Game 5 was a clown show. Not defending that. This game has been a thoroughly contested effort where the best player in the world got 2 early. We gotta get another one by Skinner. The Oilers completely shut down their offense. Have to make them pay for that!
  9. Pull Otter if you have to. This has to score!
  10. It's not my old assed legs, but the Oilers are attempting a 30 minute PK. Only way to break that is by out skating them. Gonna be exhausting.
  11. The refs aren't going to call everything. When your power play is this weak, the other team is gonna play like bullies. They don't fear getting called.
  12. The last time the Stars won the Cup, we were tied at 2 games apiece in the Western Conference Finals with the Colorado Avalanche. We had the home game for Game 5, and we got boat raced 7-5. We won the next 2 games with 4-1 scores. I want to believe the last 10 minutes of Fridays game was us tearing the seal off the goal.
  13. We got a little bass in our voice there at the end. Gonna take some funky luck to change the outcome in the 3rd
  14. Cycle down low! Draw them out!
  15. We're not gonna put 3 shots on net for the rest of this game.
  16. That wasn't an "Edmonton player". That was Connor McDavid - the most perfect hockey player ever! If he got dinged, we'd have to stop the playoffs until he could return.
  17. Get the puck out of the zone! Again, we make a sideways pass that gets fumbled. The result is a frantic shooting gallery.
  18. We can score goals with anybody. We can grind and claw with the best of them. What we can't do is withstand our own good fortune. The cloud in my head says that Tanev will be "day to day" until he returns late September to (somebody's) training camp. Edmonton knows we spread out high and look to the middle on our PP. Stop throwing the puck into the center knot of bodies. They're standing there waiting for it. FFS, get low and press toward the net. Make them come get it.
  19. Gonna take a LOT of stones to leave Skinner in net.
  20. We're all sports fans here, and we've all seen it before. You gear up for a really tough game. Your game plan is to fight and scratch until the end. Then, the game starts, and you quickly put a knot on the other guys' head. Trouble is, you're not really sure how you did it, and you don't know what to do next. Do you keep pressing and risk losing your fortunate lead? Do you lay back and defend for basically the entire game? What to do with your 60 minute game plan that just became a 10 minute one? Of course, the other team can either give up and skate it out, or go into hyper-attack mode. This isn't game 30 of the regular season. This is the Western Conference Finals. The Stars saw it against the Avs in game 1. Re-finding your focus after good fortune is a tough task. I expect Edmonton to spend the next 48 hours putting their eggs back in the basket. They're a proud franchise with plenty of talent to win the Cup, but they have to answer the bell Wednesday night.
  21. The. Puck. Leaves. The. Zone. Every time! Maybe it's icing. Whatever. Don't miss a clear trying to make a pretty play.
  22. A lead - if t you can keep it
  23. EDM is playing like Vegas. Keeping everything to the outside and ensuring they're always shoulder to shoulder with their man. Dallas is going to have to play ugly. Trying to skate past Edmonton won't work. Slap the puck below the goal line, race to it, and draw the Oilers out from the middle. Skinner made the 5 saves this game where he didn't even know the puck was there. Luck had 5 to even out eventually. Better second period. We had the more dangerous scoring chances. Just gotta get one in before EDM accidentally junks one in on a drive by.
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