The Ultimate Football Thread 2013-2014 Vol. 4 EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A etc

B Fresco said:
IMO, Lloris is NOT better than Howard...

Howard is better than 3-4 names on that list EASY...

LMAO at "real world soccer"... cuz the world cup is fake soccer? Only club football is REAL soccer? OK ::insert Jennifer Lawrence gif::
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Come at me Bro. 
 
beans718 said:
though i would have worded it differently.. plenty of **** players have been tournament players so i get OP's point. Arguing someone's class is always to subjective.. me personally i like Howard but i think its easy for him to shine on the USMNT as oppose to Everton. Ive seen him play out of this world and I've seen him have mare's. Surprised no one mentioned Diego lopez.. feel like he's entirely too underrated. Glad to see ppl mentioning DDG :smokin I like Lloris but he comes out of his box entirely too much for my liking.
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Funny, I was going to mention Diego when I mentioned DdG but I hit the submit button too soon & didn't feel like editing my comment to add.

While I'm at it, I'll add some keepers that impressed me last campaign; Wilfredo Caballero (Malaga), Samir Handanovic (Inter), & Vincent Enyeama (Lille). Not saying these guys are among the best but I watched a lot of their games last campaign & came away very impressed.

Can't wait to see what ter Stegen does at Camp Nou. Can't believe Zubi signed Bravo too. He was a very good keeper at Real Sociedad...
 
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It's hard to create top 10 lists for GKs unless you count entire careers or you're just talking about this exact moment cause they go through patches just like most players do. For example, 2012-13 Valdes was average but 2013-2014 Valdes was damn good and one of the best in Europe.
 
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SFC415 said:
Real Salt Lake is probably the worst club name of all time

And your last sentence...Barcelona last played attractive soccer in 2011, and Argentina? Can't even remember a time in recent years unless it was against a complete crap team
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Lol
Dude if teams stopped playing scared and parking the bus then maybe Barca and Argentina would be able to showcase their brilliance.
 
psk2310 said:
Funny, I was going to mention Diego when I mentioned DdG but I hit the submit button too soon & didn't feel like editing my comment to add.

While I'm at it, I'll add some keepers that impressed me last campaign; Wilfredo Caballero (Malaga), Samir Handanovic (Inter), & Vincent Enyeama (Lille). Not saying these guys are among the best but I watched a lot of their games last campaign & came away very impressed.

Can't wait to see what ter Stegen does at Camp Nou. Can't believe Zubi signed Bravo too. He was a very good keeper at Real Sociedad...
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I got a feeling Bravo starts for Barca next season...
 
Even though I love the fact that this World Cup got many fans interested in soccer, I find it funny when my FB are liking random soccer pages on my feed all of a sudden. It literally was infested with so and so liking Clint Dempsey, MLS, Nike Soccer, Real Madrid, etc.
 
it's a no win situation for soccer in this country. on one hand, people want the sport to grow. on the other, new fans get judged for being new and asking dumb questions. having "posers" is good for the sport even if 1 out of 10 actually sticks with it and becomes a legit follower of the sport. everyone was part of that group at some point.

EDIT: it's one thing for new fans to come in and start spewing bowls full of ignorance. but people on your Facebook feed posting about soccer or liking soccer related items...no harm there
 
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Meyer Lansky said:
TomDiginson said:
I agree 100%. Hell, he could still be playing in Europe right now.I personally think he should of been on Brazils squad.
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What's the backstory behind Kaka and Mou? I only started really getting into soccer last year.
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Injuries and being on the bench when fit just killed his mojo. He was coming from AC as top 3 players in the world. Just never go on track at real madrid and been downhill ever since.

I def agree that he should have been on the WC squad and starting at that.
 
Meyer Lansky said:
What's the backstory behind Kaka and Mou? I only started really getting into soccer last year.
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It's a list of reasons. Injuries, bad form. Also once RM got Ozil that was it for Kaka.Whats funny is, both left the club at the same time too.
 
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World Cup 2014: Jurgen Klinsmann's next task should be to smash the American system
United States are unlikely to punch their full weight on the world stage as long as the domestic structure of the game is so flawed, unequal and anti-competitive
Jurgen Klinsmann and Omar Gonzalez applaud the supporters after their defeat by Belgium
Thank you and good night: Jurgen Klinsmann and Omar Gonzalez applaud the supporters after their defeat by Belgium Photo: AFP
Liviu Bird By Liviu Bird, World Cup nation: USA5:52PM BST 02 Jul 2014Comments53 Comments
Until the player development system in the United States receives a major overhaul, the nation of seemingly endless resources and population will continue to fall short of its immense potential at the World Cup. That system, not a lack of talent or one coach at the senior national team level, is what holds the USA back from winning.
Before taking over as United States manager, working as a television analyst for ESPN during the 2010 tournament, Jürgen Klinsmann spoke about the development problems.
“You are the only country in the world that has the pyramid upside-down,” he said in his post mortem on the US’s World Cup exit against Ghana. “You pay for having your kid play soccer because your goal is not that your kid becomes a professional soccer player – because your goal is that your kid gets a scholarship in a high school or in a college, which is completely opposite from the rest of the world.”
The pay-to-play system still persistent at all levels of the American youth game is immensely crippling. Without money to pay for club fees, coaches, uniform costs and travel, players from lower-class backgrounds and immigrant families are often left behind. Equal opportunity still does not exist for anybody who wants to play.
In the US Soccer Development Academy, which was instituted in 2007 to encompass the nation in a higher level of competition at the oldest youth age groups, pay-to-play is slowly being eliminated, particularly among Major League Soccer clubs.

Still, youth clubs have no incentive for developing players for those clubs because they do not receive fees, in line with Fifa’s statutes on the transfer of youth players; the trickle-down effect from clubs that have money is nonexistent. The structure does nothing to reward excellence or punish failure.
At the highest levels, the pyramid is not only upside-down but also closed to all but a select few. MLS is a single-entity structure that allows no true free agency and places emphasis on carry-overs, in particular a reliance on the university system, from other American sports not subject to global forces, such as basketball and American football.
The discussion of instituting a system of promotion and relegation has become taboo to the point that suggesting it is a quick way to be labelled as an unrealistic radical. Instead of promoting competition and the arms race of player development that would follow, the league’s successes (and failures) are shared among all clubs, watering down the essence of a true football pyramid and never allowing ambition to flourish beyond the lowest common denominator.
Ironically, in a nation founded on ideals of free-market capitalism, the current system requires as little financial commitment as possible and discourages teams in the same league from competing for resources. American players at the World Cup are handicapped because they grow up in an environment not subject to the same forces of competition that forges players for their opponents.
Blaming the coach is shallow scapegoating that ignores the larger problem: by the time Klinsmann got his hands on the 23 players who wore the crest in Brazil, the majority had already been ruined.
Just before the World Cup, Klinsmann was handed a four-year contract extension that added the label of technical director to his duties. To this point, he has been outspoken about the changes that need to be made. Now that he holds the steering wheel, people in positions of support must let him make changes to the broken system whose product he is responsible for coaching.
Look no further than the team who knocked the US out on Tuesday for an example of the possibilities. With the profits from hosting Euro 2000, Belgium overhauled their development system to spawn the golden generation still kicking in Brazil. It can be done – and it can be done quickly.
The first step is for those in charge to buy into the real reason for change: footballing improvement, not economic windfall. Profits come as a result of the product on the field, but trying to circumvent the order will not win the US a World Cup.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...k-should-be-to-smash-the-American-system.html
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FIFA to consider allowing 4th sub in extra time
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Substitutes have made a big impact at the World Cup, and there could be more of them in four years' time.

FIFA's coaching advisers will propose before the 2018 World Cup kicks off that teams can use a fourth substitute in extra time.

"I think that's an idea that we will put" to football's rules-making panel, Gerard Houllier, a member of the FIFA technical study group, said at a briefing on Wednesday.

Up to three replacements are currently allowed, even when knockout matches go to 30 extra minutes after scores are level in regulation time.

Houllier said changing the rules could see fewer players struggle with muscle problems in high-intensity matches.

"It's a good idea. Only in extra time. Maybe if someone is injured, why not?" the former France coach said.

So far, substitutes have scored 29 goals after coming off the bench in Brazil, already a World Cup record with eight matches left to play. The previous mark was 23 at the 2006 tournament in Germany, FIFA said.

"Substitutes play such an important part because they come with a freshness and attitude," Houllier said. "Nearly a quarter of (all) the goals have been scored in the final 15 minutes of the game."

Those goals by subs have often been game-changing, rather than additional scores in blowout victories.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar came on late when the Netherlands were losing 1-0 to Mexico in the round of 16 on Sunday. Huntelaar teed up Wesley Sneijders for an 88th-minute leveler and then scored the decisive stoppage-time penalty.

On Monday, Belgium could not beat inspired United States goalkeeper Tim Howard until substitute Romelu Lukaku was sent on in extra time, and quickly set up Kevin De Bruyne for the equalizing goal, then scored the second in a 2-1 win.

The Americans also got a decisive late goal in its opening group match from defensive replacement John Brooks.

FIFA has asked Houllier's group to propose ideas to football's rules panel, which is known as IFAB.

The panel was denied the chance to approve a fourth sub at its annual meeting in March 2012, when FIFA withdrew the proposal.

Houllier suggested it should now be revisited.

"At this World Cup everything is going so quick, so fast, the tempo has been so high," he said. "As a technician we would like to have in extra time the possibility to have another substitution."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ider-allowing-4th-sub-in-extra-time/12045005/
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LrgWSra.jpg
 
How do you guys think the MLS would be affected if they got rid of Adidas as the sponsor for all the kits. I'd like to see multiple companies battle it out for different teams, but that's just me.
 
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