US Soccer

[Art Vandelay]

I don't follow soccer, but some of my childhood friends have been talking about it on Facebook. Seems really unfair to have Mexico play in Edmonton in November. There is a snow storm blowing through there right now and the game time temp is supposed to be around 17F.

That sounds dangerous. Just think how much damage those bags of urine can cause when they freeze, after their thrown.

[Omaha 680]

I don't follow soccer, but some of my childhood friends have been talking about it on Facebook. Seems really unfair to have Mexico play in Edmonton in November. There is a snow storm blowing through there right now and the game time temp is supposed to be around 17F.

Meh. That's what happens when your association literally stretches from the Arctic Circle to nearly the Equator. There are going to be some differences in climate that teams have to deal with. I'd say Mexico playing outdoors in Edmonton in November is no more an unfair disadvantage than everyone else in the region having to play at El Azteca in the summer at 7,200 feet in the Mexico City smog.

[Joe Public]

I don’t really watch soccer outside of the World Cup, but I gave the USMNT a chance tonight. What a steaming pile of a game.

[Omaha 680]

I don’t really watch soccer outside of the World Cup, but I gave the USMNT a chance tonight. What a steaming pile of a game.

That can at least partially be attributed to the steaming pile of a field combined with the weather.

[LiveCoug]

That was a brutal game to watch. Terrible goal keeping by Horvath on that goal

[Art Vandelay]

I'm not delusional to think I could have ever competed in any professional sport, even in my prime (which is long since passed). However, I'm pretty sure I could have done an equal job to the US goalkeeper last night. He literally didn't move his feet on the singe shot on goal. Every other stop had the velocity of a 3rd grader playing kickball.

[Omaha 680]

That was a brutal game to watch. Terrible goal keeping by Horvath on that goal

He had an ok game. Sometimes a shot just freezes you. Didn't help that he was standing in that swamp. I can tell you from experience that goalkeeping on that kind of field is nearly impossible. The area in front of the goal becomes a tar pit and you have no footing or lift when you are going after a ball.

[doubled1986]

seems like most reaction are extreme about that game. US have to play the worst team of any 'nations league' BS and probably have to deal with most corrupt refs on worst pitches. it is just pointless and they should play real teams for friendlies in real situations not jokes like el salvador in a mudpit. how much inspiration have you got for the WC when you are playing games like that? should never have been played.

[Joe Public]

So, we suck or what? Talk to me, soccer people.

[LiveCoug]

US looked absolutely pathetic out there. Japan was creative, tons of energy, good midfield play. USA had none of that. What they did have a lot of was poor defending and lots of giveaways

[Omaha 680]

Would have liked to have a better performance but that was by no means our best 11. This is the last camp where there is a chance to tweak strategy and test guys on the bubble before they select the final world cup roster. So guys will be playing that aren't necessarily even going to Qatar. That being said I assume Japan is doing the same (I don't have any knowledge of Japanese soccer) so we should have done better. Regardless I'm not panicking.

[Pelado]

Would have liked to have a better performance but that was by no means our best 11. This is the last camp where there is a chance to tweak strategy and test guys on the bubble before they select the final world cup roster. So guys will be playing that aren't necessarily even going to Qatar. That being said I assume Japan is doing the same (I don't have any knowledge of Japanese soccer) so we should have done better. Regardless I'm not panicking yet.

fify

[Omaha 680]

fify

Fair.

[Omaha 680]

Don't know if anyone is following the Gregg Berhalter scandal but it just got even weirder. Summary is (as told by Gregg) when he was 18 and in college he got in a fight with his wife (then girlfriend) at a bar and ended up kicking her in the legs. He came forward and gave his side of the story because someone was blackmailing him during the World Cup threatening to expose the incident in the press and ruin his career. They did end up reporting him to US Soccer after the team was eliminated from the tournament. He is now on leave during an independent investigation. Well now it's reported that the person who reported Berhalter to US Soccer: Gio Reyna's mom.

Gio Reyna's parents revealed Gregg Berhalter's past domestic violence incident to U.S. Soccer (yahoo.com)

Not clear if the Reynas were the ones who were threatening Berhalter with release of the info during the tournament, but it would make sense as they have the connections to know about the incident. I openly wondered in the WC thread why Gio wasn't being played and then read some cryptic comments from him after the tournament about how he behaved poorly after Berhalter decided to minimize his role but I obviously had no idea how bad it was or that his parents would retaliate like this.

My personal opinion: domestic violence is nearly unforgivable, BUT if the incident happened exactly as Berhalter described and it was indeed an isolated incident there is not reason to punish him now for something really terrible he did at 18. However I do realize that people rarely tell the whole truth when being forced to reveal something like this. What a mess.

[SteelBlue]

Don't know if anyone is following the Gregg Berhalter scandal but it just got even weirder. Summary is (as told by Gregg) when he was 18 and in college he got in a fight with his wife (then girlfriend) at a bar and ended up kicking her in the legs. He came forward and gave his side of the story because someone was blackmailing him during the World Cup threatening to expose the incident in the press and ruin his career. They did end up reporting him to US Soccer after the team was eliminated from the tournament. He is now on leave during an independent investigation. Well now it's reported that the person who reported Berhalter to US Soccer: Gio Reyna's mom.

Gio Reyna's parents revealed Gregg Berhalter's past domestic violence incident to U.S. Soccer (yahoo.com)

Not clear if the Reynas were the ones who were threatening Berhalter with release of the info during the tournament, but it would make sense as they have the connections to know about the incident. I openly wondered in the WC thread why Gio wasn't being played and then read some cryptic comments from him after the tournament about how he behaved poorly after Berhalter decided to minimize his role but I obviously had no idea how bad it was or that his parents would retaliate like this.

My personal opinion: domestic violence is nearly unforgivable, BUT if the incident happened exactly as Berhalter described and it was indeed an isolated incident there is not reason to punish him now for something really terrible he did at 18. However I do realize that people rarely tell the whole truth when being forced to reveal something like this. What a mess.

That's wild. I'll reserve judgment until the investigation is over. The situation with Reyna and his WC playing time is so weird, but I feel like multiple players cryptically backed the story that he wasn't pulling his weight and that they had to go off on him in Qatar.