General Soccer Thread

[CardsofSTL]

[BottenFieldofDreams]

Happy independence, Berhalter.

Does it matter who the next coach is? Feels like the USMNT will just forever be in a show a little promise, just wait for the future, disappoint dramatically cycle. Gorsh, I really do hope that’s untrue.

I was a pretty reluctant fan. The last thing I need is another Trailblazers in my life.

[BottenFieldofDreams]

Girma is so goddam good. In her own league.

I like the way Hayes has them getting after it.

@thrill if you would, tell me what hiring Papapachinco for the men means.

[thrill]

@thrill if you would, tell me what hiring Papapachinco for the men means.

After a still small, but reasonable sample size under Poch, here is what I think it means in order of importance (imo).

1) a supremely confident manager: he has already shown more boldness and creativity in deploying our players in his system than Berhalter ever did. An evergreen problem for the MNT has been the effect that playing most of our games against less talented teams in our region and then playing more talented teams when it matters in crucial World Cup games. In region, we have the ball and teams bunker. Against better teams, we bunker and they have the ball traditionally. We really struggled to adapt to that swing in game style. In the last window, we saw Poch switch to three in the back with Jedi Robinson move into the midfield to create an overload in transition and attack similar to what Pep did at Bayern with Philip Lahm. It worked really, really well in those games. Dest is injured but will be even better in that role than Robinson. That will move Robinson to the back line and Robinson’s speed and athleticism will be way better than Scally in a back 3. This gives us a system to go toe to toe with more talented teams and still be able to get our excellent attacking players involved. He’s not intimidated by big teams, players, or managers. He’s going to do what he thinks we have to do to win.

2) an objective, expert assessment of our player pool: American managers have been less ruthless and more indulgent to the mainstays. If Poch makes a change, he does it because he thinks it will improve the team. No other reasons. Nobody’s dad is calling to harass Poch. No player is going to sulk in training because Poch benched him. This world class credibility is something we’ve never had in a manager.

3) club relationships/pressure on the players to play: I’m very interested to see what the next transfer windows brings. If you’re not playing at your club, Poch expects you to move, not settle, and he has the connections to facilitate that.


Ultimately, I’m not sure how much further he can take us in the World Cup because that’s still largely dependent on talent and luck but he removes a lot of factors from the control group that and gives us a clearer picture and assessment than ever of how talented our players are and what we can do. We should come much closer to maximizing the potential of our players than ever.


Issues: not enough games/time to really get the full benefit ofwhat he can build.

[thrill]

Desperately wanted him to win this so there would be a trophy named for Landon Donovan somewhere (way in the back) of the greatest individual trophy room in the history of the sport. That is very funny to me, and probably LD, as well.

[Tambourine Man]

Desperately wanted him to win this so there would be a trophy named for Landon Donovan somewhere (way in the back) of the greatest individual trophy room in the history of the sport. That is very funny to me, and probably LD, as well.

For reasons unknown, this prompted me to see if Landon Donovan bobbleheads were a thing. They are and you can buy them. So now I'm shopping for a Landon Donovan Bobblehead. <-----Great band name.

[mikechamp]

To get a sense of the money there is in (non-American) football, here is some insight:

How did Celtic let Champions League dream slip?

Qualification for the top-level competition brings around 18m euros (£15.5m) for each club. On top of that, you can add ticket sales, merchandise, additional sponsorship and a whack of corporate cash.

In comparison, dropping into the Europa League takes that 18m euros (£15.5m) to just above 4m euros (£3.46m). A win is worth 450,000 euros (£388,000) instead of 2m euros (£1.73m).

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/arti ... 8zermdnglo

[mikechamp]

This is a @ManEatingTarp alert!

Vince Coleman isn't the only one to fall victim to turf-related equipment:

Townsend run over by pitch roller in Thailand

Former England winger Andros Townsend was warming up before a match at Pattani on Saturday when a member of staff appeared to lose control of a heavy pitch roller. Townsend's left leg briefly got stuck under the vehicle, but he was unhurt. He came off the bench late on in a 3-0 win.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/arti ... 3e70xv21ko

[mikechamp]

This is very foreboding:

Majority of clubs on edge of 'financial disaster' - regulator

English football's finances are "dangerously exposed, with the majority of clubs living on the edge of financial disaster", according to a landmark report by the independent football regulator.

Research by the watchdog found 94% of clubs are loss-making, and more than 60% of EFL and National League clubs are technically insolvent.

The regulator (IFR) warns of "a dangerous cocktail of rising debt and an over-reliance on owner funding, leaving clubs and their fans at risk". The 'State of the Game' report also suggests that despite the economic success of the Premier League, the financial 'cliff-edges' between and within leagues have grown significantly.

The report says:

• 94% of clubs in the top five English leagues made losses in 2025-26
  
  17 clubs across the EFL and National League would be loss-making even if their players played for free
  
  66% of clubs could not survive for more than 90 days without new owner funding
  
  29% of clubs reported they could not survive more than 30 days without such funding
  
  68% of clubs have no contingency plan if their owner walks away

The IFR claims "the underlying foundations of the pyramid are under intense strain and require urgent reform", and its report "should serve as a wake-up call" for English football.

"Seventeen clubs are now trading in such a way that if their players played for free, their non-playing costs would mean they would go bust," IFR chair David Kogan told BBC Sport. "Thirty-two clubs are operating on only 30 days' cash. If the owner chooses not to pay cash at the end of the month, those clubs go bust.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/arti ... gx70pzq1jo

[mtcefc]

Football (soccer) here I am sure is full of shady money and dirty deals.

I don't think it will all ever come out, but as with everything, the money just keeps going up.

I've loved the sport most of my life but it seems there is very much a boom or bust element come into it in the last 15 or so years.

The coverage is down to the second, stats are becoming more and more relevant.

A manager is under pressure after 2 months of a season (Hello Michael Carrick) and fans demand instant success or re-load.

Some teams can afford to do this, some can't.

Leicester were premier league champions ten years ago. Now they are in free fall down the league.

The premier league isn't even that good a product to watch anymore. Yet you can't get tickets.

Crazy.