U17B National Team

Admittedly before you read this, realize that I am not a soccer-buff, but I do appreciate and respect the ability of soccer players to practice their craft.

Although I didn't watch all the games played, I did get to watch the game against Brazil and the one against Turkey. For both games the US was not able to score goals. While not an amazing statistic in soccer, the US team played 1-2 men up during the game against Brazil for 15 minutes and 1 man up in the game against Turkey for almost 30 minutes. What is more, is during that time,when the US had more players, Brazil almost scored 3 or 4 times, and Turkey not only scored, but dominated the final 5-10 minutes of play. Perhaps I am missing a bigger picture, but the US team did not, on the international scene, appear to be anything special.
On a side, the amount of whining and complaining, and number of dives that took place on the Brazilian and Turkish teams was nothing less than excessive and clearly took many minutes away from the clock!!!!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Admittedly before you read this, realize that I am not a soccer-buff, but I do appreciate and respect the ability of soccer players to practice their craft.

Although I didn't watch all the games played, I did get to watch the game against Brazil and the one against Turkey. For both games the US was not able to score goals. While not an amazing statistic in soccer, the US team played 1-2 men up during the game against Brazil for 15 minutes and 1 man up in the game against Turkey for almost 30 minutes. What is more, is during that time,when the US had more players, Brazil almost scored 3 or 4 times, and Turkey not only scored, but dominated the final 5-10 minutes of play. Perhaps I am missing a bigger picture, but the US team did not, on the international scene, appear to be anything special.
On a side, the amount of whining and complaining, and number of dives that took place on the Brazilian and Turkish teams was nothing less than excessive and clearly took many minutes away from the clock!!!!

I didn't see the US/Brazil game, but I watched US/Turkey last night. I thought Turkey did a good job of interrupting the flow of play, which was likely one of the team's goals. I actually had to laugh at the number of hamstring "injuries" which appeared to be happening on Turkey's end. For a group of obviously well-conditioned athletes to spend so much time on the ground in "agony" was embarrassing. Hopefully the coach will get feedback on his team's timewasting from enough countries that he'll change strategy.

As to the US, I thought the boys played well. Yes, things got a little chippy at the end. Yes, they obviously need to keep playing against top competition in order to keep improving.Yes, they don't appear to enjoy being knocked around on the field. But I still thought they kept their composure, and played the game as cleanly as they could.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I didn't see the US/Brazil game, but I watched US/Turkey last night. I thought Turkey did a good job of interrupting the flow of play, which was likely one of the team's goals. I actually had to laugh at the number of hamstring "injuries" which appeared to be happening on Turkey's end. For a group of obviously well-conditioned athletes to spend so much time on the ground in "agony" was embarrassing. Hopefully the coach will get feedback on his team's timewasting from enough countries that he'll change strategy.

As to the US, I thought the boys played well. Yes, things got a little chippy at the end. Yes, they obviously need to keep playing against top competition in order to keep improving.Yes, they don't appear to enjoy being knocked around on the field. But I still thought they kept their composure, and played the game as cleanly as they could.

the US just does not have the goods

I have to laugh at all those that thing the US played well. I know we're not suppose to judge by wins and losses, but these kids are suppose to be the best of the best and they were 1-1-1 for the tournament and only scored 2 goals in the entire tournament, all in their 2-1 win over Korea. They could not take advantage of both Brazil and Turkey being down players. We're suppose to think this is good?

Just as an FYI Landon Donovan won the Golden Ball as best player in the 1999 U17 World Cup. We haven't produced any player like him in over a decade of trying. I certainly haven't seen anyone playing in this tournament that suggest that has changed.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I have to laugh at all those that thing the US played well. I know we're not suppose to judge by wins and losses, but these kids are suppose to be the best of the best and they were 1-1-1 for the tournament and only scored 2 goals in the entire tournament, all in their 2-1 win over Korea. They could not take advantage of both Brazil and Turkey being down players. We're suppose to think this is good?

Just as an FYI Landon Donovan won the Golden Ball as best player in the 1999 U17 World Cup. We haven't produced any player like him in over a decade of trying. I certainly haven't seen anyone playing in this tournament that suggest that has changed.

So what? Stop it with the "American exceptionalism" thing. The US is trying to improve its product, not saying it's the best. Sure the team will lose games. So what? Professional teams often don't end up taking advantage of having opponents down a player or two - what makes a group of 15/16/17 boys any different? I'm not saying I thought the soccer was amazing. It wasn't. I just don't see what you get out of smacking your lips happily at the thought that the US team is a bunch of losers, sorry.

Found the 4-3-2-1 formation a bit odd. Anyone else?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

So what? Stop it with the "American exceptionalism" thing. The US is trying to improve its product, not saying it's the best. Sure the team will lose games. So what? Professional teams often don't end up taking advantage of having opponents down a player or two - what makes a group of 15/16/17 boys any different? I'm not saying I thought the soccer was amazing. It wasn't. I just don't see what you get out of smacking your lips happily at the thought that the US team is a bunch of losers, sorry.

Your problem is that you just don't get it. No one is suggesting that the kids are a bunch of losers. The people overseeing youth soccer in this country, well that's another story. We did better producing talent of both genders before soccer became so popular.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I have to laugh at all those that thing the US played well. I know we're not suppose to judge by wins and losses, but these kids are suppose to be the best of the best and they were 1-1-1 for the tournament and only scored 2 goals in the entire tournament, all in their 2-1 win over Korea. They could not take advantage of both Brazil and Turkey being down players. We're suppose to think this is good?

Just as an FYI Landon Donovan won the Golden Ball as best player in the 1999 U17 World Cup. We haven't produced any player like him in over a decade of trying. I certainly haven't seen anyone playing in this tournament that suggest that has changed.

So we should be better simply because we're Americans?

Those players from Turkey are all in Academies of professional clubs, and have been since they were 8 or 9 years old, in a professional training environment teaching them the technique and skills they exhibit now. Many of those clubs compete in the Champions League. Their parents were never concerned in the least whether they won a state cup, what division they played in, or how many rankings points their teams received.

How many USA U17 players did you see on the field that were as comfortable on the ball or running at defenders with the ball as their Turkish counterparts?

Until the culture of training our best players gets closer to the way our international competition does it, we will always lag behind.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

So we should be better simply because we're Americans?

Those players from Turkey are all in Academies of professional clubs, and have been since they were 8 or 9 years old, in a professional training environment teaching them the technique and skills they exhibit now. Many of those clubs compete in the Champions League. Their parents were never concerned in the least whether they won a state cup, what division they played in, or how many rankings points their teams received.

How many USA U17 players did you see on the field that were as comfortable on the ball or running at defenders with the ball as their Turkish counterparts?

Until the culture of training our best players gets closer to the way our international competition does it, we will always lag behind.

EXCELLENT POST. I watched both the Brazil and Turkey games. I did not see one player on the US that stood out. Very good athletes but not very good soccer players. No creativity at all. And from what the commentators were saying this group has trained together for a while and will be the group that goes to the U17 world cup in Mexico next summer.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Until the culture of training our best players gets closer to the way our international competition does it, we will always lag behind.

Wasn't the DAP suppose to do this?