AmericanRam Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 US is hosting it and it starts tonight when we take on Colombia.They are a very good team so will be quite happy with a point tbh. I plan on going to Philly next Saturday to see us take on Paraguay if can sort some work stuff out; haven't been to a US game in awhile so hopefully can work it out.. My personal goal for us is to get out of the group stage while playing some good stuff while also progressing our young players further (Zardes,Wood,etc). My personal pick to win it is Argentina. Who does everyone else think will win it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shuff264 Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Not really following this at all, but looks like US are going to struggle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Didn't they have one last year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanRam Posted June 3, 2016 Author Share Posted June 3, 2016 17 minutes ago, Shuff264 said: Not really following this at all, but looks like US are going to struggle. We have played pretty well in our last two friendlies against Ecuador and Bolivia but still have some stuff to work on for sure.As I said my goal for us is to get out of the group stage while playing good stuff; we shall see. 14 minutes ago, reveldevil said: Didn't they have one last year? Yeah mate Chile won it.They are having it again this year to celebrate 100th anniversary of CONMEBOL.Special one is why US and some other North American teams are in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posh Ram Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Do you think USA/Mexico etc. will be invited back in future tournaments? Because imo that will help progress the USMNT massively, getting a chance to compete against world class sides in knockout scenarios. Lots of good teams, realistically Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Colombia all have a good chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bris Vegas Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Mexico almost always take part in the Copa America, yet they usually only take the U23s or Mexican-based players as the federation makes the Gold Cup priority as winning that allows them to compete in the Confederations Cup. I, personally, think the US, Costa Rica and Mexico especially should play in the Copa America everytime and play their best teams too. The Gold Cup is such a pointless trophy when only three teams have a realistic chance of winning it. As for Mexico. They're undefeated in their last 19 games and their most recent friendles against Chile and Paraguay ended in 1-0 wins. They've got Uruguay, Venezuela and Jamaica in their group so they should progress. Mexico, should they progress, will play either the winner or runner-up of Group D do looks like either Argentina or Chile in the quarter-finals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEL Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 2 hours ago, AmericanRam said: US is hosting it and it starts tonight when we take on Colombia.They are a very good team so will be quite happy with a point tbh. I plan on going to Philly next Saturday to see us take on Paraguay if can sort some work stuff out; haven't been to a US game in awhile so hopefully can work it out.. My personal goal for us is to get out of the group stage while playing some good stuff while also progressing our young players further (Zardes,Wood,etc). My personal pick to win it is Argentina. Who does everyone else think will win it? No one only joking (Brazil) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhysbeck Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 4 hours ago, AmericanRam said: US is hosting it and it starts tonight when we take on Colombia.They are a very good team so will be quite happy with a point tbh. I plan on going to Philly next Saturday to see us take on Paraguay if can sort some work stuff out; haven't been to a US game in awhile so hopefully can work it out.. My personal goal for us is to get out of the group stage while playing some good stuff while also progressing our young players further (Zardes,Wood,etc). My personal pick to win it is Argentina. Who does everyone else think will win it? These days, I tend to tune in to every US match purely based on the hope of getting to watch Pulisic play, even if he only gets thrown on in the last 10-15 minutes of a game! When he steps onto the field, everything changes. I feel ridiculous saying that because he's only 17 (17!!!) but it's true. I feel like it's a privilege getting to watch him play. As a very rough comparison, it's a bit like when we have all been watching our team (Derby) for 80 minutes, and let's say Hughes is subbed on for the last 10 minutes- everyone in the stadium can immediately recognize a shift in momentum, a change of movement, etc. in all of our players. The passes look different, players make runs they weren't doing before and find channels that didn't seem to be there before. Even if the end result isn't a win, the change in quality and movement is noticeable. Pulisic aside, I am keeping expectations reasonably low for the US since this will most likely be a transition period between the old and the new, and I think that while the performance will be good, they might let in too many goals at the back. I'm still very uneasy about the defenders but that, too, only improves with time- a quality centerback pairing who understand each other and read the game together is one of the hardest things to achieve in any team. I don't think we've found a pair who work well together yet but we'll see. However, what helps the US is that many other teams at this Copa have the same problem too- whether by age or injury, almost everyone at the moment looks a bit weak/inconsistent at the back despite quality going forward. I think any of the South American teams are potential winners of course but Mexico could and should put up a good fight. I would love to attend a game in person but in my line of work I am constantly traveling and would never find the time. So Fox Sports (shudder) will unfortunately be my best friend when it comes to watching Copa games. Also Euro matches just want to say ESPN is the real hero. Their coverage is superb. Every Euro game available to stream / replay online in HD = heaven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shuff264 Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 2 hours ago, Bris Vegas said: Mexico almost always take part in the Copa America, yet they usually only take the U23s or Mexican-based players as the federation makes the Gold Cup priority as winning that allows them to compete in the Confederations Cup. I, personally, think the US, Costa Rica and Mexico especially should play in the Copa America everytime and play their best teams too. The Gold Cup is such a pointless trophy when only three teams have a realistic chance of winning it. As for Mexico. They're undefeated in their last 19 games and their most recent friendles against Chile and Paraguay ended in 1-0 wins. They've got Uruguay, Venezuela and Jamaica in their group so they should progress. Mexico, should they progress, will play either the winner or runner-up of Group D do looks like either Argentina or Chile in the quarter-finals. Aren't Mexico and America better off playing in gold cup for world cup qualification? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bris Vegas Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 13 minutes ago, Shuff264 said: Aren't Mexico and America better off playing in gold cup for world cup qualification? That's obviously the downside. I mean, logically, you'd just pit the two continents together and you'd still end up with pretty much the same teams qualifying. I just don't see how the Gold Cup is of any benefit to anybody. The US, Mexco and Costa Rica arguably need to face better opposition on a more regular basis in order to improve. And on the flip side, teams like Guatamala, Haiti and Panama learn very little from being thoroughly outclassed by much better opposition. There is a Carribbean Cup which I find quite good. They should combine that with the Gold Cup, and have Mexico, US, Costa Rica and perhaps the winners of a combined Gold/Carribbean Cup play in the Copa America. Honduras are probably the only side who fall on the line in terms of being too good for the Gold Cup and being good enough to regularly feature in the Copa America. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bris Vegas Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 13 minutes ago, Shuff264 said: Aren't Mexico and America better off playing in gold cup for world cup qualification? That's obviously the downside. I mean, logically, you'd just pit the two continents together and you'd still end up with pretty much the same teams qualifying. I just don't see how the Gold Cup is of any benefit to anybody. The US, Mexco and Costa Rica arguably need to face better opposition on a more regular basis in order to improve. And on the flip side, teams like Guatamala, Haiti and Panama learn very little from being thoroughly outclassed by much better opposition. There is a Carribbean Cup which I find quite good. They should combine that with the Gold Cup, and have Mexico, US, Costa Rica and perhaps the winners of a combined Gold/Carribbean Cup play in the Copa America. Honduras are probably the only side who fall on the line in terms of being too good for the Gold Cup and being good enough to regularly feature in the Copa America. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broderick Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 7 hours ago, AmericanRam said: US is hosting it and it starts tonight when we take on Colombia.They are a very good team so will be quite happy with a point tbh. I plan on going to Philly next Saturday to see us take on Paraguay if can sort some work stuff out; haven't been to a US game in awhile so hopefully can work it out.. My personal goal for us is to get out of the group stage while playing some good stuff while also progressing our young players further (Zardes,Wood,etc). My personal pick to win it is Argentina. Who does everyone else think will win it? Colombia is going to be tough . Think we'll need something from the costa rica and paraguay games if we're gonna advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broderick Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 2 hours ago, Bris Vegas said: Honduras are probably the only side who fall on the line in terms of being too good for the Gold Cup and being good enough to regularly feature in the Copa America. Too good for the gold cup? The finished bottom of their group with 1 point last time around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bris Vegas Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 15 hours ago, Broderick said: Too good for the gold cup? The finished bottom of their group with 1 point last time around. One poor tournament doesn't hide that they're far more likely to qualify for the World Cup than any of the other North American nations. They should have quaified from that group, they hammered Haiti in that last game. Honduras are by no means a fierce nation, but they're much better than some of the other rabble around North America. Must admit I've been impressed with Jamaica's rise over the past 12 months. They're not blessed with particularly good players, but tactically they've been spot on. They beat Chile recently 2-1 in Santiago. Not really sure how as Chile had about 30 attempts on goal, but it was still a remarkable achievement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broderick Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 1 hour ago, Bris Vegas said: One poor tournament doesn't hide that they're far more likely to qualify for the World Cup than any of the other North American nations. They should have quaified from that group, they hammered Haiti in that last game. Honduras are by no means a fierce nation, but they're much better than some of the other rabble around North America. Must admit I've been impressed with Jamaica's rise over the past 12 months. They're not blessed with particularly good players, but tactically they've been spot on. They beat Chile recently 2-1 in Santiago. Not really sure how as Chile had about 30 attempts on goal, but it was still a remarkable achievement. I was actually at that Haiti vs Honduras game in KC. Honduras lost 1-0 and didn't look that great from what I recall. I have bad memory so who knows :P. I don't think Honduras is what it use to be though. They have the same points as Canada right now in qualifying. Ya I've been impressed with Jamaica too. Just wonder how long they'll keep it with the aging players they have. Are there still Jamaican immigrants coming over to England? Hard to see them being much without their English players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhysbeck Posted June 5, 2016 Share Posted June 5, 2016 Verdict so far: never has a tournament felt in such dire need of goals. USA v Ecuador was alright (hopefully James' shoulder injury isn't too serious though) Costa Rica v Paraguay... meh... (the temperature was probably a factor for this one) Peru v Haiti.. oh hey look... a goal Brazil v Ecuador... somebody please do something, anything, help yourself to a shot on target, do a backflip, fetch Neymar from the stands and get him on the pitch! Easily my favourite part of the Copa so far: Fernando Fiori Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bris Vegas Posted June 5, 2016 Share Posted June 5, 2016 11 hours ago, rhysbeck said: Verdict so far: never has a tournament felt in such dire need of goals. USA v Ecuador was alright (hopefully James' shoulder injury isn't too serious though) Costa Rica v Paraguay... meh... (the temperature was probably a factor for this one) Peru v Haiti.. oh hey look... a goal Brazil v Ecuador... somebody please do something, anything, help yourself to a shot on target, do a backflip, fetch Neymar from the stands and get him on the pitch! Easily my favourite part of the Copa so far: Fernando Fiori I generally find football over this way is far more tactical, much less intensity and rarely a goal feast. I really don't like the US stadiums and the artificial pitches either. For some reason, it makes the game look slower. Brazil were dreadful against Ecuador. There was no intensity whatsoever, no desire to run at them and look for spaces. It was all far too slow and in-front of an Ecuador side happy to sit and counter. To see Brazil play like that... I mean, I've always thought of Brazil as a powerhouse in football but they were so laboured and boring to watch. No zip, little movement, nobody running off the ball. What made it worse though was their decision not to shoot when in promising areas. They found themselves in and around the box a few times and tried pointless little flicks. Just shoot man! European football is a million miles away in terms of entertainment. Brazil and Argentina in particular are blessed with quality players, but they don't half play dire football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bris Vegas Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 Well that's Mexico in a nutshell. When they apply intensity they're among the best teams in the world. When they labour, they'd struggle to get into the top 30. They showed both traits against Uruguay. First 30 mins they were very good and deservedly led 1-0. But the moment Uruguay went down to ten men, Mexico simply stopped applying any intensity and they were so sloppy. It took Guardado to get sent off and Uruguay to immediately equalise for them to wake up. Last 15 minutes was just pure brilliance, Uruguay couldn't live with Mexico and they punished them. Marquez and Herrera were outstanding and deserved their goals... 3-1, should have been 4-1 at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhysbeck Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal is a Ram Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Picture inaccurate, Uruguay should be biting Mexico. Also can't think of Uruguay without https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNIYob8nC7o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.