The Swamp

Sergino Dest signs a 2 year deal with Ajax (has been playing with their reserves)

HaulCitgo wrote: ↑Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:10 pm Not so sure usmnt manager is a gig the top coaches would be but so interested in.

Seems like the worst of all scenarios. Managing a national team with fucked up infrastructure, a horrible soccer culture for developing and spotting talent, no sense of tradition, mediocre talent, and expectations to advance to the knockout rounds, or always be remembered as an utter failure. Do they at least pay well?


While I'm here, I finally got around to listening to Roger Bennett's "American Fiasco" pod series about the 1998 World Cup failure. I have one more episode left (no spoilers!), but I'm blown away by how good the series is. From the interviews, to the storytelling, even the music is great! Just a touch of Rog's trademark humor, but he kept it 95% professional and serious. Fascinating stuff, so much I didn't know about the internal dynamics. Not sure what to make of Steve Sampson, was he a woefully under-qualified sad sap thrown into the shark pool not only without support from USSF, but constantly threatened with being fired, a horrible man-manager so caught up in himself that he was oblivious to his moves to destroy team unity and morale, or a man who choked and over thought his tactics and personnel on the cusp of the WC? Probably a bit of all of the above, but it was fascinating hearing players talking about how they had no understanding of the 3-6-1 formation and lacking the personnel to play the formation, and Sampson saying not one player expressed their dislike of the system, followed by Wynalda(?) saying he constantly complained to Sampson that he hated the system and it couldn't work with the players they had.

Oh, thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely get into that.

Going on close to 20 year old memory at this point, pretty sure Sampson was in WAAAAY over his head. The 3-6-1 was roundly criticized by fans and the relatively few pundits covering the team.

I'm curious how much the podcast gets into the Harkes-Wynalda stuff. That shit got bonkers and those two guys were seen as team leaders (if not by everyone, they respectively sure thought they were.)

Horvath with 3 clean sheet efforts in CL. Nice svae yesterday against Griezmann yesterday.

Steffen headed to Man City, apparently, summer of 2019:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46530855

tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 8:28 am Steffen headed to Man City, apparently, summer of 2019:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46530855

Guess this is a better deal than him going to France or similar on loan because he was not going to qualify for a Work Permit. What this does mean is he will have to get most of the USMNT starts this winter/spring. With Horvath playing well that could be a problem.

I didn't know about permit timing and stuff, so knowing he's not going as coverage with Bravo out makes this one a bit weird. Isn't he too old to be a prospect they loan and monitor but too young to settle in as a backup behind Ederson?

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Dec 11, 2018 12:36 pm Oh, thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely get into that.

Going on close to 20 year old memory at this point, pretty sure Sampson was in WAAAAY over his head. The 3-6-1 was roundly criticized by fans and the relatively few pundits covering the team.

I'm curious how much the podcast gets into the Harkes-Wynalda stuff. That shit got bonkers and those two guys were seen as team leaders (if not by everyone, they respectively sure thought they were.)

And it's really fun to listen and then go hit YouTube to see the highlights of the games they cover on the pod.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:56 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Dec 11, 2018 12:36 pm Oh, thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely get into that.

Going on close to 20 year old memory at this point, pretty sure Sampson was in WAAAAY over his head. The 3-6-1 was roundly criticized by fans and the relatively few pundits covering the team.

I'm curious how much the podcast gets into the Harkes-Wynalda stuff. That shit got bonkers and those two guys were seen as team leaders (if not by everyone, they respectively sure thought they were.)

And it's really fun to listen and then go hit YouTube to see the highlights of the games they cover on the pod.

Heh, I listened to most of it wishing I could grab video clips. Harkes-Wynalda was addressed, but Sampson downplayed it. What was fascinating was the clips they played of Wynalda just going into it on his own show in discussing John Terry banging Wayne Bridge's girlfriend. Harkes refused to comment, and Wynalda talked, but said he asked Sampson to keep Harkes. Sampson claims he dumped Harkes for additional reasons.

After finishing the series, I'm left wondering if Sampson is spinning his story to look less inept, if he really was clueless about the players' perspectives, or if he deluded himself into believing what he said. Regardless, I give him credit for openly discussing everything, same with Harkes and Wynalda. As much as I think Lalas was/is a prick, I give him a ton of credit for calling himself out on it. Numerous times, Lalas called himself out on his behavior, making himself sound worse than Bennett would have, and saying, "yeah, I was an arrogant prick for saying that." Lalas called his own behavior childish, called himself out for being selfish and a bad teammate... While I agree with Lalas' take there, it's refreshing to hear someone own mistakes and admit to bad behavior.

I'm 2 eps from finishing, so I only read your first paragraph. (I'm very disciplined. :D)

I'm up to the lead up to the Iran match, having just lost 2-0 to Germany. One of the things that's striking is that Hejduk seems like the ONLY person that was keeping his shit together. I loved the line about "We just lost to Germany.. A lot of teams lose to Germany. Get over it. On to the next game." Which, yeah, I don't really understand why they put such an emphasis on getting points off of that game. The game you HAD to win was Iran, of course, then you have a game against Yugoslavia where you know exactly what result you need.

Sampson's perspective on the Harkes - Wynalda stuff was pretty fascinating. I also found the fact that everyone else interviewed agreed it was stupid of Sampson to send Harkes home. I know it's how it's being put together, but it sure made it seem like Harkes was a leader and cut-up and Sampson didn't like him (despite all the Captain for Life public stuff.)

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 4:27 pm I'm 2 eps from finishing, so I only read your first paragraph. (I'm very disciplined. :D)

I'm up to the lead up to the Iran match, having just lost 2-0 to Germany. One of the things that's striking is that Hejduk seems like the ONLY person that was keeping his shit together. I loved the line about "We just lost to Germany.. A lot of teams lose to Germany. Get over it. On to the next game." Which, yeah, I don't really understand why they put such an emphasis on getting points off of that game. The game you HAD to win was Iran, of course, then you have a game against Yugoslavia where you know exactly what result you need.

Sampson's perspective on the Harkes - Wynalda stuff was pretty fascinating. I also found the fact that everyone else interviewed agreed it was stupid of Sampson to send Harkes home. I know it's how it's being put together, but it sure made it seem like Harkes was a leader and cut-up and Sampson didn't like him (despite all the Captain for Life public stuff.)

So true about Hejduk. I always assumed my image of him was a caricature, since announcers always had to bring up the surfer dude aspect, but man, he really is a cartoon character. Did you hear the story of him missing the plane for his first call up? It sounded like he barely cared. He is like "The Dude," but with endless energy and super speed. His take on the 3-6-1 was funny, too. All the players bitching, and Frankie is all, "yeah man, I loved it! What were they all complaining about?" I get the impression he was an island on that squad. And based on his story about being stuck in the Chateau, the island was Jamaica.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:47 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 4:27 pm I'm 2 eps from finishing, so I only read your first paragraph. (I'm very disciplined. :D)

I'm up to the lead up to the Iran match, having just lost 2-0 to Germany. One of the things that's striking is that Hejduk seems like the ONLY person that was keeping his shit together. I loved the line about "We just lost to Germany.. A lot of teams lose to Germany. Get over it. On to the next game." Which, yeah, I don't really understand why they put such an emphasis on getting points off of that game. The game you HAD to win was Iran, of course, then you have a game against Yugoslavia where you know exactly what result you need.

Sampson's perspective on the Harkes - Wynalda stuff was pretty fascinating. I also found the fact that everyone else interviewed agreed it was stupid of Sampson to send Harkes home. I know it's how it's being put together, but it sure made it seem like Harkes was a leader and cut-up and Sampson didn't like him (despite all the Captain for Life public stuff.)

So true about Hejduk. I always assumed my image of him was a caricature, since announcers always had to bring up the surfer dude aspect, but man, he really is a cartoon character. Did you hear the story of him missing the plane for his first call up? It sounded like he barely cared. He is like "The Dude," but with endless energy and super speed. His take on the 3-6-1 was funny, too. All the players bitching, and Frankie is all, "yeah man, I loved it! What were they all complaining about?" I get the impression he was an island on that squad. And based on his story about being stuck in the Chateau, the island was Jamaica.

I'm all the way through the series, so yeah the China story was pretty amazing. I was late getting on the team bus once as a freshman and even though I made it by seconds, the fear of coming so close freaked me out so much I still have a recurring dream about it. Missing a plan for a national team gig is unfathomable to me.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 1:35 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:56 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Dec 11, 2018 12:36 pm Oh, thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely get into that.

Going on close to 20 year old memory at this point, pretty sure Sampson was in WAAAAY over his head. The 3-6-1 was roundly criticized by fans and the relatively few pundits covering the team.

I'm curious how much the podcast gets into the Harkes-Wynalda stuff. That shit got bonkers and those two guys were seen as team leaders (if not by everyone, they respectively sure thought they were.)

And it's really fun to listen and then go hit YouTube to see the highlights of the games they cover on the pod.

Heh, I listened to most of it wishing I could grab video clips. Harkes-Wynalda was addressed, but Sampson downplayed it. What was fascinating was the clips they played of Wynalda just going into it on his own show in discussing John Terry banging Wayne Bridge's girlfriend. Harkes refused to comment, and Wynalda talked, but said he asked Sampson to keep Harkes. Sampson claims he dumped Harkes for additional reasons.

After finishing the series, I'm left wondering if Sampson is spinning his story to look less inept, if he really was clueless about the players' perspectives, or if he deluded himself into believing what he said. Regardless, I give him credit for openly discussing everything, same with Harkes and Wynalda. As much as I think Lalas was/is a prick, I give him a ton of credit for calling himself out on it. Numerous times, Lalas called himself out on his behavior, making himself sound worse than Bennett would have, and saying, "yeah, I was an arrogant prick for saying that." Lalas called his own behavior childish, called himself out for being selfish and a bad teammate... While I agree with Lalas' take there, it's refreshing to hear someone own mistakes and admit to bad behavior.

So, I don't know if others on this thread are tuning out this sidebar, but I hope not.

This is one of the most honest pieces of sports journalism I've experienced in a long time. Even though Harkes declined to comment on the affair, he was pretty open about most of the rest.

No one really comes across great in this accounting. Sampson tinkered with a team that 2 years prior had gone down to Uruguay and pulled off arguably the most impressive win/performance in the Feds history (Arg 3-0). Sampson turned just about the entire defensive squad over, dumping Agoos, Lalas and Balboa for Regis, Pope and Dooley (Burns was in the mix on both rosters... Famously letting in the first German goal on that corner... Still mystified watching the replay as to how he missed that ball.)

But sending home Harkes really cut the heart out of the team and turned an already grumpy "old guard" into a coup-in-waiting atmosphere. Lalas is the only guy honest enough to straight up call that group out for being immature in their response to it all, but the entire situation just wasn't handled well.

Really, it comes down to this: Sampson had no business being in that position. The 95 run was all about letting the stars go out and play, even if it was in the most vanilla formation on the planet (442), it allowed guys to go forward and pressure and take the game to other teams. As the interim tag gets lifted, and the reality of the pressure of qualifying set in, you saw him dicking around with lineups and formations that made qualifying a lot harder than it should've been. The fact that his bosses thought this atmosphere of high pressure would get results, I hope in hindsight they realize that's not always the best approach. Samspon didn't have the pedigree to be comfortable with being shuffled out of this gig, so he got fucking weird in response and did some stupid shit.

So, he conjures up the 3-6-1 ridiculousness AND now you've had a national team coach in position for 3 years, which is fine if he is confident and the team is solidified, but obviously he was worried about his job (constantly) and he wasn't doing a very good job of transitioning the older guys into new roles. (I mean, the fact that Tab Ramos was still around... He should've been happy to be there, as he was never the same player after the 94 elbowing incident.) And then you bring in Regis, who was really spotty in his play, and surely caused a ton of ire because Agoos was seen as a victim of circumstance in 94 and then you do this to him again?

It was just a debacle from beginning to end. I know Roger likes to dive into moments of failure, but it would be nice if he did the same treatment of the 2002 cycle. What an amazing turn around story that would be to tell.

Weah going on loan from PSG. Seems like Celtic may be his destination.

Nice way to open up your pro debut
http://www.espn.com/soccer/united-state ... in-england

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:35 am Weah going on loan from PSG. Seems like Celtic may be his destination.

Nice start for Weah

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 19, 2019 10:45 pm

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:35 am Weah going on loan from PSG. Seems like Celtic may be his destination.

Nice start for Weah

2 in 2 games

Excited for Bradley and the kids!

We certainly have the better hair.

Lewis getting more run for the national team than for NYCFC.

I was about ready to decide I didn’t like Lima.

mister d wrote: ↑Sun Jan 27, 2019 9:48 pm I was about ready to decide I didn’t like Lima.

That was a hell of a sequence by Lima. Great tackle and then an inch-perfect cross for the goal.

Zardes’ first touch is non-existent. I really hope he isn’t an attacker who will get serious consideration for future USMNT games.

mister d wrote: ↑Sun Jan 27, 2019 9:35 pm Lewis getting more run for the national team than for NYCFC.

After that assist, he’ll get more play (for the USMNT).

So a guy with 2 previous caps was captain. How did that happen? Did he win a lottery? Player vote? Won the fitness test?

Weirder part is that there's almost zero chance he's starting in matches that matter, right? Behind Brooks, Miazga, Zimmerman atleast?

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 28, 2019 9:21 am So a guy with 2 previous caps was captain. How did that happen? Did he win a lottery? Player vote? Won the fitness test?

According to Avi Creditor, it was a reward to Long for his competitiveness in camp:

THERE'S NO CAPTAIN CONTROVERSY
The meaning and matchday influence of the captain's armband is debatable. Sometimes, it's a nominal honor. Other times it's symbolic or used as a tribute. Other times it's a true reflection of the leader of the unit. Being officially dubbed captain by the manager for the long haul is ultimately the biggest statement that can be made, but in terms of it being a game-to-game call while the new national team comes together, there's not a ton that should be read into it.

So in a vacuum, Aaron Long wearing the captain's armband for a January camp friendly vs. a Panama B team isn't that huge of a deal when it comes to the national team power structure (from a personal standpoint for Long, however, it's another notch on his belt on his rise from afterthought to quality defender). But him doing so on a night when Michael Bradley, the former captain, was also in the starting lineup was cause to raise more than one eyebrow.

If anything, it's a sign from Berhalter that past status means little. He left his former captain in Columbus, Wil Trapp, on the bench until the 84th minute, for instance. As it relates to the big picture, Long donning the armband instead of Bradley is not going to be a takeaway that resonates throughout the national team for months to come, nor was it anything more than a footnote on the night, but it is another reminder that Berhalter is out to truly start from scratch by doing things his way. Berhalter, in his comments after the match, said that he discussed the decision with Bradley and didn't "look at it as a knock against anyone else" who did not wear the armband. Instead, he saw it as a reward for the competitiveness he witnessed from Long throughout camp.

Oh, and as for Bradley, he was pretty strong in his 83 minutes on the night, even without an extra piece of cloth around his bicep. He was 72 for 75 passing (96%), played in a pair of incisive balls to Roldan that put the U.S. in scoring positions and looked quite comfortable doing what Berhalter asked of him.

Yeah he was composed as you would expect. They need that. Didn't see a whole lot of that elsewhere around the field. Joked with my kid that one of the goal scorers (mid/winger that did not much while I was watching) basically just jogged from shy of midfield onto a clean first time shot in the box. Not sure the other side told us much.

So Taylor Booth (US U-19er) signs with Munich. RSL's academy is producing really top notch talent.

and Scotland is picking up lots of young Americans. NCAAers and youth national teamer Andrew Gutman and Manny Perez sign with Celtic (will get loaned back to USL sides). I think that is 5 or 6 Americans to sign in/loan to Scotland this window.

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:35 pm

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 19, 2019 10:45 pm

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:35 am Weah going on loan from PSG. Seems like Celtic may be his destination.

Nice start for Weah

2 in 2 games

16 minute appearance, goal and assist. 2-0 win for Celtic.

So the USMNT has a coach..but the trickle down in getting a GM and coach is clearly causing problems. Reyna is the U-20 but that is the only coach on staff. U-15’s up to the U-23’s don't have a head coach and the U-17s start CONCACAF championship in 2 months...with a very good team (including son of Reyna). Apparently the negotiations for Dave van den Bergh's role as coach of U-17 died on his counter proposal.

Ives w/ some guessing about what the starting 11 might look like in March:

https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/project ... 4lecvkode3

So Zach Steffen strains a muscle and the US bring in Jesse Gonzales. Bill Hamid's head is going to explode. He has 3 shutouts in 3 games this MLS season with some big saves. Looking forward to finding out what he did to not get a sniff.

Talked junk about Guzan's terrible play? He's looking washed up ish.

HaulCitgo wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2019 7:45 am Talked junk about Guzan's terrible play? He's looking washed up ish.

Yesterday's goal against Guzan looked bad but it was a deflection right? Nope just between his defender's leg and ridiculous look on Guzan's face.
https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/match ... deo/185208

It nicked the defender's outstretched leg. Last iteration of the highlight shows it. That said, it didn't dramatically alter the direction of the shot. I think Guzan was surprised it got through, but that's a pretty weak goal.

But the goal from about a week ago. Ugly.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/03/ ... brad-guzan

So Adams at Right back and Yedlin at right wing....interesting
https://sbisoccer.com/2019/03/adams-to- ... friendlies

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2019 8:20 am So Adams at Right back and Yedlin at right wing....interesting
https://sbisoccer.com/2019/03/adams-to- ... friendlies

Surprising, but maybe Berhalter knows what he is doing. He said they aren't asking Adams to do anything he isn't comfortable with, so maybe he has experience or the tools, but I wouldn't have expected it.

I know there is only so much you can do for an international break but going head to head with NCAA hoops is tough for the TV ratings