World Football Thread XVII : Champions League Final and beyond..

[Cort Haus]

Imran, what do you think of Obafemi Martins?

[Maquiladora]

Mexico beat Brazil 0-2 in the Copa America Lets see how the US get on against Argentina tonight.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Maquiladora
Mexico beat Brazil 0-2

[LordShiva]

Also, whyTF did Madrid fire Capello?

If only Juve had held off on appointing a new coach

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by LordShiva
Also, whyTF did Madrid fire Capello?

Cos he sold Beckham - was one explaination I heard. Hard to believe, but still ...

At least Wenger won't want to go there given their intolerance of Liga-winning managers.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Imran, what do you think of Obafemi Martins?

He's a good young, quick player who can score goals. He's still maturing, but I think he'll be a very nice striker. He's got some attitude issues, but it could be a factor of his youth.

Possibly the best signing NUFC have had... well, for a while.

[Maquiladora]

Argentina 4-1 USA

The US went out to defend for a draw and got a penalty early against the run of play. Then Argentina equalised and dominated the rest of the game. The US seriously lack technical ability even more than England.

[Imran Siddiqui]

About what was expected... especially considering the US brought the U23 team to Copa America.

[Maquiladora]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copa_Am%C3%A9rica_2007_squads#United_States

I see a few experienced heads there.

[Imran Siddiqui]

"Few" is the proper word .

I mean look at the caps of the US Copa America team. Aside from Keller (who's 37 now and without a club team) and Olsen, you have no one over 26 caps.

Compare that to the Gold Cup winning squad:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_CONCACAF_Gold_Cup_squads#United_States

Feilhaber (8 caps), Johnson (26), Keller (100), Twellman (24), Mapp (5), Clark (6), Bornstein (7), and Guzan (1) are the only ones from the Gold Cup squad in Copa America. No Donovan, Beasley, Bocanegra, Dempsey, etc.

Of the 22 American players in Copa America, only 6 are over 25 years of age.

[Maquiladora]

That doesn't change the fact the US lacked technique and chased the ball all night. There was plenty of effort but a lack of quality.

Compare that with the 22yo Mexican Castillo playing in only his 3rd cap scored a great individual goal last night. A 21yo GK with only 6 caps made several great saves aswell. They also started 3 other players with NO previous caps... all against Brazil. The difference is each Mexican player was comfortable to keep the ball, even their inexperienced/young players.

I think England have a similar problem, but we have (IMO) world class match winners to pull us out of the **** occasionally, the US don't from what I've seen.

[Imran Siddiqui]

[q=Maquiladora]The difference is each Mexican player was comfortable to keep the ball, even their inexperienced/young players.[/q]

Perhaps so, but the US still has Mexico's number . It may be a result of a different soccer culture, where the young players have been playing high quality soccer for a longer time period than US youth, who are likely playing college soccer and maybe were in the U23s.

[Maquiladora]

Don't be fooled by the result Imran, you were lucky Mexico didn't take their chances when they were winning.

It reminds me of England v Portugal in Euro 2004 except we lost on penalties. We gave all the running and effort but never put 4 or 5 forward passes together. While Portugal kept possession and I can't remember how many times they passed it right up to our penalty area, (and luckily for us) waited there for an easy chance instead of shooting outside the box. That happens to us in a lot of games against good teams, unless we really press them for 90mins like we did against Brazil at Wembley, but thats very tiring and doesn't create much our way.

There was an article on the BBC about our sporting director (or whatever he is) basically saying the same thing, we don't pass and keep the ball enough because our players aren't taught the technique at an early enough age (5-10yo). I can attest to that having gone through the system until I was 16.

[Imran Siddiqui]

If Mexico did win it'd be like their 2nd win in the last 10 meetings between the two sides . Technique doesn't usually matter for our A team against the Mexicans. They may have the technique, but usually can't beat the US unless they play at Azteca in Mexico City.

[Maquiladora]

If the US is the best team in the CONCACAF region then that's bad news for that region, as Mexico were clearly the better team the other night. Even though they played terrible in all their gold cup games, which were all played in the US. Away from home and on some awful pitches for passing football. The one in Houston was basically a layer of uneven hard mud covered in grass cuttings and dust. Something you're more likely to see in Africa. Not exactly ideal for their style.

If they played at home more I'm sure the last 10 games would look much more even, but I guess they get more money for playing in the US. Despite having many Mx fans there, I doubt it hardly has the same effect on the US players mentality when they play in Chicago rather than the Azteca either.