General Football Discussion

[DanK]

The games might actually be nice to watch if FIFA would ban those annoying horns...

How the USA got through to the semi's is beyond me. Normally 2 defeats, let alone 2 big defeats would mean the end of your tournament. Shows you should never give up.

Good luck to the USA guys though (against Spain...hmmm), and of course always happy to the Italy get knocked out early and totally outplayed :-)

[aveslacker]

Rossi's turnover led to the goal that gave the U.S. the tie breaker.

Poetic justice.

[Orange14]

Those of us on this side of the ocean are going to celebrate tonight!!!! USA 2 Espana 0 What a gutty performance. Down to 10 men for the last five minutes on a dodgy red card but the defense held together. I think we had four shots on goal and converted 2. I can't even count that high to figure out how many shots Spain had but it's what goes in the net.

[aveslacker]

Those of us on this side of the ocean are going to celebrate tonight!!!! USA 2 Espana 0 What a gutty performance. Down to 10 men for the last five minutes on a dodgy red card but the defense held together. I think we had four shots on goal and converted 2. I can't even count that high to figure out how many shots Spain had but it's what goes in the net.

Unbelievable effort from the lads today.

Spain had tons of possession but were comprehensively shut down in the box and had no answers for Onyewu and Demerit. Onyewu was unfuckingbelievable out there.

Nice work by Jozy to get the first goal, and nice grit and determination by Clint for the second.

Unreal.

[martinkohout]

Those of us on this side of the ocean are going to celebrate tonight!!!! USA 2 Espana 0 What a gutty performance. Down to 10 men for the last five minutes on a dodgy red card but the defense held together. I think we had four shots on goal and converted 2. I can't even count that high to figure out how many shots Spain had but it's what goes in the net.

Unbelievable effort from the lads today.

Spain had tons of possession but were comprehensively shut down in the box and had no answers for Onyewu and Demerit. Onyewu was unfuckingbelievable out there.

Nice work by Jozy to get the first goal, and nice grit and determination by Clint for the second.

Unreal.

Amen. When I first saw the result, despite the amazing result v. Italy, I thought it had to be a typo. Well done, guys!

Hmmm... Altidore and Onyewu, eh?

[Blind3]

I've been on cloud ten since approximately 4:25 this afternoon . What a gutty performance by the US. Spain had twenty - nine total shots, but we held on !! Hate the red card for Jr. , but Torres or Feilhaber will step up. Not saying the US will finish the miracle , Brazil ( probably) will be a huge mountain , but , if the US plays with the kind of pride and resolve shown today , anything is possible.


Let the we want Jozy and sign Guch threads rev up again.

[aveslacker]

I've been on cloud ten since approximately 4:25 this afternoon . What a gutty performance by the US. Spain had twenty - nine total shots, but we held on !! Hate the red card for Jr. , but Torres or Feilhaber will step up. Not saying the US will finish the miracle , Brazil ( probably) will be a huge mountain , but , if the US plays with the kind of pride and resolve shown today , anything is possible.


Let the we want Jozy and sign Guch threads rev up again.

If Ajax played with that kind of heart each time they took the pitch they might win the Eredivisie by 30 points. Still can't believe this happened. What a day!

[DanK]

Congrats to the US. They might have scrapped though to the semi's, but they deserved the win with that performance.

I just hope it's not like when Australia made the final against Brazil in '97 and we lost 6-0

What I always find interesting in these situations is how surprised a lot of people are with the result. The US aren't a bad side, and it shows what determination can do to achieve a result. Playing as a team makes all the difference.

[Blind3]

I haven't seen that many blocked shots since the last 20 minutes of Ajax v. PSV in 2004. Jonathan Spector , Jay De Merit, OgUchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, and Ricardo Clark were immense.

[aveslacker]

I haven't seen that many blocked shots since the last 20 minutes of Ajax v. PSV in 2004. Jonathan Spector , Jay De Merit, OgUchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, and Ricardo Clark were immense.

By any chance are you coming down to DC for the US - Honduras Gold Cup match?

[Blind3]

Yes. Definitely going. I'm also definitely going to the 1/4 final on 7/18/09 in Philly. Haven't seen any Philly bus trip on the 8th yet. Figure I'll just take a train down.

[Blind3]

Gold Cup call ups. Looks like US B side.

GOALKEEPERS (3): Jon Busch (Chicago Fire), Troy Perkins (IK Start), Luis Robles (FC Kaiserslautern)
DEFENDERS (7):Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Jay Heaps (New England Revolution), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaellands), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)
MIDFIELDERS (8):Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Colin Clark (Colorado Rapids), Sam Cronin (Toronto FC), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Logan Pause (Chicago Fire), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)
FORWARDS (5): Freddy Adu(AS Monaco), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Santino Quaranta (D.C. United)

[aveslacker]

Yes. Definitely going. I'm also definitely going to the 1/4 final on 7/18/09 in Philly. Haven't seen any Philly bus trip on the 8th yet. Figure I'll just take a train down.

I'll be in the stands too. We should meet up.

[Blind3]

Sounds like a plan .

[ajaxusa]

The games might actually be nice to watch if FIFA would ban those annoying horns...

Allow me to introduce my latest Web venture...

BanTheHorns.org

It looks like crap and won't make a bit of difference, but it makes me feel like I'm doing "something."

[Ajaxfanuk]

Shock Horror, An England team win a penalty shootout...christ
In other news Berg was fantastic and we should consider buying him ASAP

[Kowalczyk]

In other news Berg was fantastic and we should consider buying him ASAP

Yeah, for every goal he scores over there you can add two million euros to the transfer fee... Probably around 15 right now.

K.

[jamie]

Is it just me or does it seem that some of the transfer fees in Holland are just insane. Elia 14 million, Berg 15 million, Arnautovich 10 million, Vermaelen 12 million.

Saviola just got a transfer to Portugal from Barcelona for only 5 million!

[ZoefdeHaas]

Is it just me or does it seem that some of the transfer fees in Holland are just insane. Elia 14 million, Berg 15 million, Arnautovich 10 million, Vermaelen 12 million.

Saviola just got a transfer to Portugal from Barcelona for only 5 million!

Dude transfer nowadays are all ridiculous. Period.

And Saviola came from RMadrid, didn't know he cost money now though seeing as he went to Madrid for free from barca.

[jamie]

Sorry for that error, of course he came from Real. But Barca did pay around 36 million Euro when they purchased him from River Plate. So that was a big loss for Barca.

[DanK]

The games might actually be nice to watch if FIFA would ban those annoying horns...

Allow me to introduce my latest Web venture...

BanTheHorns.org

It looks like crap and won't make a bit of difference, but it makes me feel like I'm doing "something."

Thanks for the link mate. I turned the games off so often. The sound was just horrible. When you cant hear the actual fans, the game loses something. Ban the f*cking things FIFA.

[Orange14]

Is it just me or does it seem that some of the transfer fees in Holland are just insane. Elia 14 million, Berg 15 million, Arnautovich 10 million, Vermaelen 12 million.

Saviola just got a transfer to Portugal from Barcelona for only 5 million!

More often than not these young players wash out and the transfer money is wasted. Saviola is a classic example. i think he is only 26 years old and can't get first team football any longer. At the last WC he was rated higher than Messi by the Argentine manager!! Ryan Donk who moved to the EPL last year has now moved to Belgium after not proving himself at West Brom who were relegated. He was looked at as a next central defender for the Oranje. I don't know if Berg or Elia will be "big time" players but I do think Ajax need to get back to their roots and make sure the youth program is working and generating good players. We cannot afford to go out and spend big every year as that will force us to sell players who have already established themselves (Vermaelen, Huntelaar, etc.). We will be constantly treading water.

[jamie]

Obviously our youth program is very important but you can only get that much out of it. What I do think needs a lot of improvement is our scouting. Why is it that teams like Heerenveen and Groningen can get good players at affordable prices from Scandinavia and South America and we frequently purchase the wrong players or at too expensive prices.

[ZoefdeHaas]

Also we need to give our youth a chance. We see many make the grade at other clubs but not ours

[Kowalczyk]

Obviously our youth program is very important but you can only get that much out of it. What I do think needs a lot of improvement is our scouting. Why is it that teams like Heerenveen and Groningen can get good players at affordable prices from Scandinavia and South America and we frequently purchase the wrong players or at too expensive prices.

100% true.

In the past we bought Trabelsi and Chivu and Maxwell and so on. We either contracted them as youth players or bought them from their first professional clubs, for not that much money.

Nowadays, those players join Groningen, Heerenveen, Twente or AZ - and then we buy them for 9 million euros. That's, indeed, a matter of doing your field work properly (scouting). Scouting is not simply watching the Eredivisie highlights and then thinking "bloody hell, he looks good - let's have him".

K.