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Mauricio Pochettino
- Thread starter Dorothy
- Start date
K.D.D.D.D.Soc
Luka Modric
Interesting to here someone voice this issue, there are still many sports in Britain where location and socioeconomic status limits opportunity for youngsters.
Bishop
Paul Walsh
Belgium would have had to have an off day (and yes they are very capable of that) for the US to win. Their squads and starting 11s are not comparable at all. The only reason we think poorly of Belgium is because their performance levels rarely match the ability we all know them to have. That doesn't actually mean that the US have a good side. Btw Senegal are a very good side, getting outplayed by them is nothing to be ashamed of, the US would as well.
AJLB92113
Phil Ifil
As a US fan, I was wanting to play Senegal just because they are as inexperienced as we are in those pressure games.
Belgiums early games made people doubt them just like USA's early games made people get overly excited about us. That first game against Paraguay was one of the best attacking games USA ever played. A mix of the energy, a poor opponent and our star players all being on that day.
My fear with Belgium was exactly what we saw. They have experience, do not cave under pressure and have players that are World Class on their day. We needed a lot of luck to beat them.
In the end, we finished 16th and are ranked 16th in the world. About fair and expected for USA.
The problem is, 75% of our country will forget about football now and look forward to the NFL and college sports until the next World Cup.
SissokoWasGood (BoL)
Nick Barmby
I’ll say again, a US side locked in, motivated, playing free, playing with the confidence they had from the group stage, could have beaten Belgium. I’m not saying they definitely would have, and I’m not saying Belgium don’t edge it in terms of talent, I’m just saying the US could have won. And it’s my belief that Trump’s intervention significantly reduced those chances by undoing the motivational theme that Poch had been emphasising through the tournament.
Bishop
Paul Walsh
Belgium don't edge it in terms of talent, they are levels above them, multiple levels. Please actually look at the two staring 11s and their squads, that is not a serious take.
The US could be as dialed in and filled with as much confidence as they want. It would have taken Belgium to perform poorly (very possible) for the US to beat them. Period.
Mosquito_Coasting
Mauricio Taricco
I think this generation of Belgian players in underrated because it comes after the golden generation. They still have some decent players.
MartyFunkhouser
Vic Buckingham
Having lived in Canada I would say the issue with "Soccer" is there is not the same trend as there is elsewhere in that "all you need is a ball" and create your own game. Like many of us did in summer holidays, 6 weeks of pure football, all daylight hours, jumpers for goalposts, called in for dinner, clean the d0gsh1t of your trainers and start again tomorrow. Canada like the US as far as I can tell doesn't have the same culture of that, there is no hunger for those formative years of taking an elbow to the face, getting up and going again with your mates over the park, unless its ultra competitive and organises sports they are not anywhere near as interested in it. And with that comes the expense of organised sport.
Football is likely one of the least expensive sports out there, you need a space and a round thing and thats where nearly every professional footballer in British (and others) history started. Thats the important part en masse that other countries trying to catch up miss, that organic nature of it.
If I was to run a marketing campaign to follow up the WC in the US it would be a montage of clips of kids playing in parts and the favellas followed by the text "all you need is a ball"...........and work in collaboration with a sports brand to flood schools especially in deprived areas with free footballs
robp135
Terry Fenwick
100%.
Even if you factor that in to training. Because of the fee, the coaches have to make it look like they are doing more to the parents. That means complex drills. And even…
For 7 year olds ffs.
Do some headers and volleys. Shooting practice. Then a 5 a side match. Simple.
K.D.D.D.D.Soc
Luka Modric
Under 12 s are not allowed to head ball, I played with a lot of over 18s who would do anything to avoid heading the ball.
Lost Mango
Didier Zokora
totally ridiculous for 7 year olds but I would say that having coached school teams for the last 15 years there is a massive drop off in terms of game awareness now (I appreciate that this is a sample size limited to the kids who have passed through the school). Kids seem to watch highlights rather than full matches and don't actually have that positional or match awareness that they/we used to. I wasn't the most technically gifted CB or goalkeeper but I made up for some of that by understanding what was likely to happen.
Even worse in rugby, tennis and cricket.
SissokoWasGood (BoL)
Nick Barmby
I’m not sure I agree that the gap is that massive, and I simply think the US could have beaten them. A lot of the US talking heads that don’t usually follow football were throwing out comments like ‘Wow! Are Belgium one of the best teams in the world!?’ and it’s just not the case. The US didn’t get beaten because of inferior quality, they weren’t even mentally in the game. Stupid, schoolboy errors.
Robinson, Dest, Mckennie, Adams, Pulisic, Balogun, Reyna. They are good players. And Poch has made a career of building a *team* that helps every player play beyond their station.