World Cup

Guess I missed the news two weeks ago that Balogun is playing for the USMNT going forward. Just saw him as the starting Striker on the projected concacaf nations league squad. Good shit.

 

Now if only we could hire a manager!

 

Who is less important, a soccer coach or a baseball coach?

 

Managers are pretty important in soccer at the club level, but international managers are weird because you basically spend like a couple of days with the team at a time, you are almost just a Ted Lasso motivational figure that can put in a game plan and tactics on the fly. I think thats part of the difficulty in finding someone, the best managers want to work with club teams.

 

Now that both leagues have a DH, the most intriguing baseball decisions don't exist anymore. Down 1-0, 6th inning, pitcher's spot up, 2 men on, 1-man out, what do you do? In today's game, who cares, because the pitcher doesn't hit any more.

Soccer coaches are important for selecting the form and strategy. A good coach can succeed with the right players playing his style. A great coach can change his/her style and win even when the talent doesn't match the preferred strategy. A coach like Klinnsman who was more focused on fitness than playing style did OK against CONCACAF competition, and we often scored late when our talent was still playing at full speed and our opponents wore down. But against top competition, we struggled and often found ourselves playing down a goal of two.

And yes, international Managers are handcuffed by limited time with the team. But a good coach can imprint his style and it works. The Dutch are the perfect example. Same style for decades, and quite successful at it. Often punch above their weight class too, but just not quite enough talent to win the big one.

 

Huge deal.

btw… kudos to the U20’s who manhandled the Kiwis and heading to the quarters. Slonina with another clean sheet!

USA vs New Zealand score, highlights as US dominate and win big, advance to U20 World Cup quarterfinals

 

And he ended up with 20 goals in the French League at 21 years old.

 

Folarin so far so good

 

2-0 v Bolivia was not a great showing, but they looked better than that score , I think

 

I like that Pepi. Almost had a couple goals at the end.
Reyna also looked good for me.
Defense looked like a weakness…hope it gets fixed before next match.

 

Update: We just rehired the same guy expecting different results lol

 

Looking forward to the World Cup in two years considering the age of the players. They're young and they can only get better. Christian Pulisic is 25, Tim Weah is 24, Folarin Balogun is just under 23 and Gio Reyna and Ricardo Pepi are 21.

 

Just beat Russia, Iran, China, or N Korea, if we play them ...........

 

Pepi looked good. Plus his name is fun to say

 

As in all sports, random chance can play a big role in the outcome of a soccer match, so an early exit shouldn’t be judged too harshly, but this seems like the best chance of a US World Cup in my lifetime.