World Cup 2014 (I figure we can at least look forward to something)

[El Kabong]

Well fellas the US and England are well out of the World Cup, the US did just a smidge better than they were supposed to (finishing #1 in their group) and England....well hell if you ask some people they did lousy and some apparently think English football is over until their youth system starts to focus on strategy and technique instead of just skill....I just think those guys just don't play well as a team.

Anyway, this thread is about the pros and cons of this World Cup and what each squad can do to help their team do better next go round. Also this will give our more soccer focused members a chance to enlighten us about the younger players we may see in 2014.


The US has a lot of momentum going for it, the most since our Quarterfinals appearance in 2002 (which saddly is the last time one of our strikers scored a goal).

2010 WC
Pros -
1:Our attitude has changed, we won't quit and we EXPECT to win and our guys said "Fuck the refs we'll still win"...that's a HUGE change for our team
2: Michael Bradley is a lynchpin in the midfield...he really lived up to the hype in this WC, he's gutsy and all heart
3: Landon Donovan didn't disappear (though he didn't assert himself vs Ghana)
4: Bornstein didn't fuck up...I am elated that the guy made basically 0 poor plays
5: Steve Cherundolo was doing awesome (until the Ghana game)

Cons -
1: Early goals we give them up too easy
2: Our back line isn't what it once was
3: 0 goals from strikers for the entire World Cup
4: Too many blown chances, we should have scored a bunch more goals than we did
5: Our main players still disappeared during the Ghana game

2014 WC
Looking forward to -
1: Experience (IN THE WORLD CUP), damn near EVERYONE is coming back for us (hopefully)
2: Luck, there's NO WAY we have worse luck next time than we did this time what with injuries and discounted goals.
3: Experience (WITH CLUB TEAMS) you have to figure that guys like Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Howard, Edu, Altidore will get more playing time and learn more in the next 4 years

We'll be missing -
1: Maybe Bob Bradley? He hasn't made up his mind whether he'll return or not and although we COULD get a better coach we also COULD have worse results or end up with a shit coach
2: Our injured players, there's no certainty that Charlie Davies or Oguchi Onyewu will ever be 100% again after their injuries
3: Maybe Tim Howard, but I'm really not too worried about it as Freidel and Hannehman are old dogs but they are still top notch and Timmy won't be older than they are right now by 2014
4: The Draw, there's NO WAY we get a better draw than this or what we had going forward into the quarterfinals
5: Teams won't sleep on us anymore...I think that was safe to say after we beat Spain and took Brazil to the brink in the Confed. Cup, but it'll be even more the case now.

Future Players
These guys are going to break out in the near future for us and you'll have to be on the look out for them and some are guys we know of and haven't reached their potential yet and some are guys you've never heard of.

NAME - Position, age: description
Alejandro Bedoya - Midfielder, 23: This guy is quality, he's quick, smart, and very athletic...he may switch to striker or make it easier for us to switch Dempsey or Donovan to Striker

Dax McCarty - Midfielder, 23: One of the many talents from the U-20 2007 World Cup

Sal Zizzo - Midfielder/Striker, 23: Supposed to have been the "Next Donovan" but he has had injury issues and hasn't progressed well in Germany (sound familiar?)

Omar Gonzales - CB, 22: He's 6'5 210, so I'm hoping like hell he's our next quality CB

Marvel Wynn - RB, 23: He's fast as hell but needs to develop his skill ON THE BALL and passing to be effective

Freddy Adu - LM, 21: He's been hyped as one person can be and it's time for him to get playing time, man up, and show what he can do. I think a permenant switch from CAM to the wing would be great for him. He's got to get it together and perform or he's going to be the biggest bust of all time. He's only 21, but it's time to step it up his road to make the National Team is probably the longest and hardest due to his disappointments int he past.

Edgar Castillo - LB, 23: This guy is TOP NOTCH, he's a great distributor of the ball, he lacks a little bit in defending but he's not as poor as Bornstein can be and I believe he'll hammer out those weaknesses, he BARELY missed out on making the team this year....Bob Bradley wanted to use him as a LM instead of a LB

Ike Opara - Defender, 21: He's big (6'2) and he's an athletic freak, currently he plays for San Jose.

Gale Agbossoumonde - Defender, 19: Another big boy (6'2) and he is also athletically gifted.

Sebastian Lletget - Midfielder, 18: He is with West Ham right now and he's apparently debating on whether or not to play for the US or Italy. This guy is supposed to be the next big thing and hopefully he picks the US.

[OumaFan]

Well fellas the US and England are well out of the World Cup, the US did just a smidge better than they were supposed to (finishing #1 in their group) and England....well hell if you ask some people they did lousy and some apparently think English football is over until their youth system starts to focus on strategy and technique instead of just skill....I just think those guys just don't play well as a team.

Anyway, this thread is about the pros and cons of this World Cup and what each squad can do to help their team do better next go round. Also this will give our more soccer focused members a chance to enlighten us about the younger players we may see in 2014.


The US has a lot of momentum going for it, the most since our Quarterfinals appearance in 2002 (which saddly is the last time one of our strikers scored a goal).

2010 WC
Pros -
1:Our attitude has changed, we won't quit and we EXPECT to win and our guys said "Fuck the refs we'll still win"...that's a HUGE change for our team
2: Michael Bradley is a lynchpin in the midfield...he really lived up to the hype in this WC, he's gutsy and all heart
3: Landon Donovan didn't disappear (though he didn't assert himself vs Ghana)
4: Bornstein didn't fuck up...I am elated that the guy made basically 0 poor plays
5: Steve Cherundolo was doing awesome (until the Ghana game)

Cons -
1: Early goals we give them up too easy
2: Our back line isn't what it once was
3: 0 goals from strikers for the entire World Cup
4: Too many blown chances, we should have scored a bunch more goals than we did
5: Our main players still disappeared during the Ghana game

2014 WC
Looking forward to -
1: Experience (IN THE WORLD CUP), damn near EVERYONE is coming back for us (hopefully)
2: Luck, there's NO WAY we have worse luck next time than we did this time what with injuries and discounted goals.
3: Experience (WITH CLUB TEAMS) you have to figure that guys like Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Howard, Edu, Altidore will get more playing time and learn more in the next 4 years

We'll be missing -
1: Maybe Bob Bradley? He hasn't made up his mind whether he'll return or not and although we COULD get a better coach we also COULD have worse results or end up with a shit coach
2: Our injured players, there's no certainty that Charlie Davies or Oguchi Onyewu will ever be 100% again after their injuries
3: Maybe Tim Howard, but I'm really not too worried about it as Freidel and Hannehman are old dogs but they are still top notch and Timmy won't be older than they are right now by 2014
4: The Draw, there's NO WAY we get a better draw than this or what we had going forward into the quarterfinals
5: Teams won't sleep on us anymore...I think that was safe to say after we beat Spain and took Brazil to the brink in the Confed. Cup, but it'll be even more the case now.

Future Players
These guys are going to break out in the near future for us and you'll have to be on the look out for them and some are guys we know of and haven't reached their potential yet and some are guys you've never heard of.

NAME - Position, age: description
Alejandro Bedoya - Midfielder, 23: This guy is quality, he's quick, smart, and very athletic...he may switch to striker or make it easier for us to switch Dempsey or Donovan to Striker

Dax McCarty - Midfielder, 23: One of the many talents from the U-20 2007 World Cup

Sal Zizzo - Midfielder/Striker, 23: Supposed to have been the "Next Donovan" but he has had injury issues and hasn't progressed well in Germany (sound familiar?)

Omar Gonzales - CB, 22: He's 6'5 210, so I'm hoping like hell he's our next quality CB

Marvel Wynn - RB, 23: He's fast as hell but needs to develop his skill ON THE BALL and passing to be effective

Freddy Adu - LM, 21: He's been hyped as one person can be and it's time for him to get playing time, man up, and show what he can do. I think a permenant switch from CAM to the wing would be great for him. He's got to get it together and perform or he's going to be the biggest bust of all time. He's only 21, but it's time to step it up his road to make the National Team is probably the longest and hardest due to his disappointments int he past.

Edgar Castillo - LB, 23: This guy is TOP NOTCH, he's a great distributor of the ball, he lacks a little bit in defending but he's not as poor as Bornstein can be and I believe he'll hammer out those weaknesses, he BARELY missed out on making the team this year....Bob Bradley wanted to use him as a LM instead of a LB

Ike Opara - Defender, 21: He's big (6'2) and he's an athletic freak, currently he plays for San Jose.

Gale Agbossoumonde - Defender, 19: Another big boy (6'2) and he is also athletically gifted.

Sebastian Lletget - Midfielder, 18: He is with West Ham right now and he's apparently debating on whether or not to play for the US or Italy. This guy is supposed to be the next big thing and hopefully he picks the US.

I thought Dempsey had one of his better games for the national team ever against Ghana. But yeah other than that I agree with most everything.

The obvious thing is developing strikers. I think its been since 2002 that we've had a striker score at the World Cup which is atrocious. Jozy has to be much much improved in four years. And we have to develop some other guys and its just not looking good right now (granted Jozy came out of nowhere and other guys certainly will do so also). For one we don't know if Charlie Davies will ever be the same.

We have to develop somebody to pair with Gooch in the middle and hope that he's healthy as that was a problem that we just couldn't overcome this year. Even with our strikers playing so poorly we still scored five goals, we weren't that bad there (Chile who play an all out attacking style scored 3), it was just we gave up too many.

I have some mixed feelings on Bob. I think if you look at the Confederations Cup and this World Cup we made some progress under him. But starting Findley and Clark against Ghana left a bad taste in my mouth, and more importantly I think four years is enough for a national team manager.

[El Kabong]

I'm wondering if #1 Jurgen Klinnsman is still interested in the job and #2 If Klinnsman is the answer for our team.

I think we will be a lot better on the ball no matter who the coach is. We just need another striker, I still think Altidore will wind up being a top level striker.

[El Kabong]

There's also the 2012 Summer Olympics...the US U23 team should be one of the better squads out there.

[El Kabong]

What does England have coming down the road? Any good young players?

[skel1983]

What does England have coming down the road? Any good young players?

Not really, future looks bleak.

[El Kabong]

What does England have coming down the road? Any good young players?

Not really, future looks bleak.

Oh really? I thought Walcott and SWP
Were young? I heard tell of this kid Jonjo Shelvey, #1 Is he British? #2 Is he any good?

[OumaFan]

SWP's not that young and not that good.

Not British but off the top of my head

Adam Johnson
Milner
Tom Huddlestone
Michael Dawson (not sure how young he is though really)
Walcott
Ashley Young
Abonglahor
Shawcross? Is he considered good?
That CB at Bolton

And then there's Rooney who won't be that old next time

[skel1983]

SWP?? he is 29 mate. The best youngsters are these but have proved nothing:

Jack Rodwell
Jack Wilshere
Theo Walcott
Phil Jones
Chris Smalling
Jordan Henderson
Adam Johnston
Kieran Gibbs

Now none of them jump out and say wow we have a gem on our hands probably Wilshere is our best bet but overall not looking good

[skel1983]

SWP's not that young and not that good.

Not British but off the top of my head

Adam Johnson
Milner
Tom Huddlestone
Michael Dawson (not sure how young he is though really)
Walcott
Ashley Young
Abonglahor
Shawcross? Is he considered good?
That CB at Bolton

And then there's Rooney who won't be that old next time

Most of them are shite mate:

Dawson is 27 in a few months he is not young and not good enough, Ashely Young is not young wither he is 25, Agbonlahor is shite still young but not good enough, Shawcross chances still young enough, Cahill again not really a youngster will be 28 next world cup but still young enough I suppose.

[OumaFan]

I knew Dawson might be getting up there a bit but for some reason I thought Ashley Young was a lot younger than that.

I forgot about Rodwell and Wilshere. Adam Johnson is an obvious one, he should have been at this World Cup. I don't really think Walcott is that good actually but I guess he has to be considered.

Now that I look at it Lennon's a few years younger than I thought he was.

[El Kabong]

So from here on out the US should expect to beat you Brits senseless right?

[El Kabong]

Looks like help may be on the way for Altidore in the form of Mike Grella (who plays at Leeds). He's young, scores in bunches (a hat trick in his first reserve game) and he's a first teamer since the 08-09 season.

[OumaFan]

He's young and has some ability but he needs to start playing regularly for Leeds if he's going to get some national team run. If he can't start regularly in the championship.....

I don't mind what he did though. Instead of being a high draft pick in the MLS just go over to a team that's in the lower leagues but has some potential to move back up like Leeds does.