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USMNT 2019

Napoleon

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Napoleon

Napoleon 8682

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Starting the 2019 thread with Camp Cupcake news:

A 10-letter word to describe the competitive spirit of the USMNT camp? Crosswords

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Berhalter, right, is getting to grips with his first USMNT camp, though Trapp, left, has asserted himself as the crossword king. Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- For his first camp as manager of the U.S. men's national team, Gregg Berhalter instituted a rule: no cell phones in the dining area. The idea was that he wanted the 28 players in attendance to talk with one another and bond over meals rather than have their heads buried in their phones. Little did Berhalter know that the players would find a low-tech way to put their own twist on meal time: crossword puzzles.

"They've kind of blown up over the past two weeks here," midfielder Wil Trapp said. "But we're all competitors, right? It's something where you wouldn't think that crossword puzzles would get a bunch of professional athletes jazzed up. We're sitting, we're talking, and now it's something where it's a little bit of competition and fun tension you have at the meals. And the guys enjoy the fact that at first, it's a daunting task. It's easy to give up on it."

It's enough to leave Berhalter to joke, "we banned phones from the meal room, but now everyone is doing crossword puzzles, so now we might have to ban crossword puzzles to get guys talking to each other again."

Team administrator Jon Fleishman will provide the USA Today crossword at lunchtime and another one at dinner. Some players work in pairs. For others, it's a solo endeavor. While Trapp is widely viewed as the top dog when it comes to both speed and precision, the likes of Walker Zimmerman and Aaron Long are putting up a fight.

"I've picked up more crosswords here than I have in my entire life," said defender and first-time U.S. call-up Mark McKenzie. "It helps us, especially off the field, getting to know the guys, getting to know each other with some banter in between as well as working together."

McKenzie says he has made progress the past two weeks, gradually filling up more of the page and picking up some tricks along the way.

"Crosswords will make you feel smart sometimes, but a lot of times, you'll try to go with the complex answer, and it will just be the simple words that work," he said.

This echoes the approach the U.S. is taking on the field at camp. The January camp remains a rarity in international soccer. Because of the vagaries of the calendar at both international and club level, there just aren't many opportunities for national teams to get together, uninterrupted, for four weeks.

Looking back over the history of the January camp, the stakes are much the same as they've always been: It's an opportunity for players to be noticed. Coaches get to accumulate an immense amount of data. How does a player train? How does he take care of himself? How does he bounce back after a bad day?

While it's easy to dismiss the camp, given that many of the players will never be national team mainstays, it seems that every year, a player or two breaks through to become a more consistent contributor, whether it was Pablo Mastroeni back in the day or in more recent times a Geoff Cameron or a Graham Zusi. Last year, it was Trapp who emerged to take on a bigger role, though the circumstances this time around are a bit unique compared to the camps the past few years.

Two years ago, it was about getting ready for a pair of World Cup qualifiers in March. Last year, it was about moving on, in any way possible, from the World Cup qualifying failure. Now it's about Berhalter and the new staff representing a fresh beginning both on and off the field. Games the next two weekends against Panama and Costa Rica will comprise the initial tests. Everyone in camp, from coaches to players, stresses that the games will not be perfect. Progress will have to suffice.

"We're finally building something," Trapp said. "The new staff is here. The new model is being implemented. For all of us, it's adapting to that and then seeing how we shake out when the games come around."

http://www.espn.com/soccer/club/united-states/660/blog/post/3756784/a-10-letter-word-to-describe-competitive-spirit-of-the-usmnt-camp-crosswords

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ztejas

ztejas 43459

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9 hours ago, Napoleon said:

"Crosswords will make you feel smart sometimes, but a lot of times, you'll try to go with the complex answer, and it will just be the simple words that work," he said.

This echoes the approach the U.S. is taking on the field at camp.

Phenomenal. I'm dumber for having read this. 

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Napoleon

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3 hours ago, ztejas said:

Phenomenal. I'm dumber for having read this. 

I posted before I read it and then I read it and thought... “Wow! I can’t believe that was actually published.”

There’s an entire second section that I didn’t copy that basically let’s you know that the players are living on the campus where they are training... but this was done in several paragraphs and included quotes. It reminded me of the article(s) I wrote for my Middle School newspaper. 

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ztejas

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15 minutes ago, Napoleon said:

It reminded me of the article(s) I wrote for my Middle School newspaper. 

Yes. I almost commented "Did a 13 year old write this?"

When I play video games sometimes there are challenges such as a tough boss fight or sometimes another good player. This is kind of like the challenges in life that we go through like when we have had a bad day or something bad happens at school. It is important to - and so on....

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ztejas

ztejas 43459

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Oh I found it:

 1-Zack Steffen, 2-Nick Lima, 3-Aaron Long (capt.), 4-Michael Bradley, 5-Daniel Lovitz, 7-Corey Baird, 8-Djordje Mihailovic, 9-Gyasi Zardes, 10-Cristian Roldan, 11-Jeremy Ebobisse, 25-Walker Zimmerman

I guess I'll wait until the actual team is playing.

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Braff Zacklin

Braff Zacklin 13592

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Every one** of Baird's touches has been terrible. On that last possession, Panama gave him three-straight chances to do something dangerous and the best he could do was fumble it away.

 

 

** He might've assisted on that goal, so allow me to revise my statement to say, "every one of his touches since then ... "

Edited by Braff Zacklin
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Napoleon

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1 hour ago, TexasMan said:

 

58 minutes ago, TexasMan said:


If they had charged $10 for parking and admission was FREE GENERAL ADMISSION, they could have made more in concession sales and parking fees than they made selling tickets to this game. EASILY!

You would have had people who came and didn't spend a thing, but you would have had 30K to 50K just from the latino families within 50 miles of the stadium.

They could have even had some sections that required tickets, so that the suburban white folk from Glendale, Scottsdale, and other "dales" (like those in the first photo) could have an English-Speaking Only/Families Who Pay-to-Play section for themselves and then the rest of the stadium would have filled up with fun people who love the sport and don't usually get an opportunity to see the national team.

It is like some people at US Soccer just haven't been paying attention.

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LurkingHorn

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11 hours ago, TexasMan said:

 

It was so refreshing to see a cohesive strategy after a year of watching Sarachan. I know it was a game of C teams, but we had a plan, executed it, and clearly beat down a team we should beat. It's been awhile since we've seen that. Not even counting the score, I thought it was a very good first game for Berhalter. 

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ztejas

ztejas 43459

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Highlights.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/01/27/highlights-us-mens-national-team-vs-panama-january-27-2019

Thoughts:

First goal should have been a free kick just outside the box. Glad they gave us continuation. Didn't watch the game so not sure how tight they were calling it but that was an obvious foul on Zardes.

Steffen is a stud in the making. Textbook angle and save on the one they showed. Sounds like he may have had a couple others?

Second goal. What a fucking cross. Wow. Zimmerman has a perfect build for a defender that can play up like that. Might not start for us but would love to have him on the 22 deep.

 

Overall, as @Bottlecap said, these kids have some ball skills. We aren't just running out athletes anymore. Excited to see how a few of them mesh with the big dogs. 

Also lol at these takes from CBSSports:

Quote

These players having limited practice time together and with the big names such as Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie missing, expectations weren't super high but they delivered.

Pulisic, McKennie, and, you know, the rest of our starting XI, but who can name those guys?

Quote

Now, this was a game where you had maybe two or three likely Gold Cup starters in Zack Steffen, Michael Bradley and maybe Gyasi Zardes (because of Berhalter's familiarity with him)

I swear to God if we start Zardes at striker. Please Bernhalter, let's not set this program back any further. I've given up on trying to get Bradley out of the rotation but Zardes should not be starting for this country. I'd rather we trot Weah out there and see what the fuck happens. 

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ztejas

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22 minutes ago, Ted Lange said:

Zardes has to be way down the list, well behind Sargent, Wood, Altidore.  I’d think any of those 3 scored at least 1 goal vs Panama 

Yes. Maybe someone should tell that to the CBS numbnuts that thinks he should be starting. 6 goals in 41 national apps is atrocious. He shouldn't be on our 3 deep. 

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Braff Zacklin

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I give Zardes shit because of his historically terrible first touch, but at least he works hard and can run. Also, his hold-up play has steadily improved.

Doubt he'll be part of the roster in 2022, so the best thing I can say about him is, he's like a faster, more athletic Wondolowski, which isn't very good at all, but I'd still rather have him over Altidore's loafing ass.

Jozy's "work" ethic--on or off the field--and his ineffective diving would be terrible examples for the young bucks in camp.

imgur
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Napoleon

Napoleon 8682

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On 1/29/2019 at 9:56 AM, ztejas said:

Yes. Maybe someone should tell that to the CBS numbnuts that thinks he should be starting. 6 goals in 41 national apps is atrocious. He shouldn't be on our 3 deep. 

He was almost never playing the #9 in those 41 caps. 

He was usually out wide with more defensive responsibilities than offensive ones.

I'd take him over Jozy as a #9, which means that I'd put him #3 on the list for that position behind #1 Sargent and #2 Wood.

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