US Mens Team

[golfinguy]

We have enough yanks on there so I thought we could have our thread

And to start with a 1-0 over Italy!

Sure Italy had more chances, but we took ours and held on. Typical of US teams - no real strikers to speak of and the defense has lapses. But I was rather impressed with our ability to move the ball and hold onto possesion. We had Italian fans whistling at theirs a few times

Thankfully our chance fell to Dempsey - we don't have anyone else that can finish. For all our athleticism we sure have a hard time developing strikers. Altidore was MIA most of the match, as usual.

[elkanofan]

Italy are worse than England

[Yorkyblue]

I told a lot of people that USA to win at 6/1 was a great price!

[ChVint22]

We're a good CM and a good striker away from being relevant.

[elkanofan]

Will Altidore become a top player one day?

I like that guy Agudelo i think he may become very good!

[mg86]

Dempsey, Altidore, Donovan and Howard are the only players we have that I feel make us up for games like Italy. The rest are either average/pretty good or a weakness in the side frankly. I do rate Spector, Bradley and Bocanegra but we desperately need a new defender to emerge and a stronger midfielder.

[ChVint22]

Will Altidore become a top player one day?

I like that guy Agudelo i think he may become very good!

I doubt it. I don't rate him much, he's just all power, little pace. Not very good touch, vision, or anything else really. He has a heck of a shot, but you never know where its going.

I think Agudelo has a better chance. He's learning from Henry at Red Bulls.

[elkanofan]

Will Altidore become a top player one day?

I like that guy Agudelo i think he may become very good!

I doubt it. I don't rate him much, he's just all power, little pace. Not very good touch, vision, or anything else really. He has a heck of a shot, but you never know where its going.

I think Agudelo has a better chance. He's learning from Henry at Red Bulls.

I mean that's what i took from him. He's just another Lukaku sort of overrated youngster. I mean he's been about a lot of clubs and has only really done 'ok'.

Agudelo has a bit of technique about him. Very pacey. I dunno, bit early to tell but i think he can become good with some luck.

[golfinguy]

Ya, we're a bit like England in that respect - find someone with a little bit of talent and exalt them to superstar status. We do that because we've had so few options at striker that we get hopeful with every youngster.

My fear is that Agudelo won't be allowed to develop before he's given too much pressure. Because we know Altidore isn't working out at this level. How long before all those hopes are placed on Agudelo's shoulders? Probably too soon.

[mg86]

We did well against a close to full strength Italy team, given they were missing Balotelli, Chiellini and Di Natali. I'm not sure what that means yet, that Italy are worse than people think, or that we are better than people think and have some better players than we rate them to be.

[elkanofan]

We did well against a close to full strength Italy team, given they were missing Balotelli, Chiellini and Di Natali. I'm not sure what that means yet, that Italy are worse than people think, or that we are better than people think and have some better players than we rate them to be.

30 % Your better than people give you credit

70% Italy are worse than people think. Look the Milan side today, how many of their key payers where Italian? It's a similar story with Napoli, Juve and Inter!

Ogbonna plays in the secound division for f**k sake! I remember how England where mocked for picking Nugent, thing is when is the last time Spain had to pick a striker from the secound division for their squad? Same with Germany? France? Russia? Holland?

Chellini, good defender but I'm sorry this guy just hasn't done f**k all at the highest level! Guy's played like 2 games int he champions league knockouts, Playing in Italys disastrous World cup campaign and has only been impressive in serie A, not sure how he's still rated as one of the worlds elite defenders!

Italy are in a more dire state than England, their best player Balotelli, he's mad but they treat him like shit. The team should be f***ing built around him. he's the only top youngster they have really.

[Leody]

We did well against a close to full strength Italy team, given they were missing Balotelli, Chiellini and Di Natali. I'm not sure what that means yet, that Italy are worse than people think, or that we are better than people think and have some better players than we rate them to be.

30 % Your better than people give you credit

70% Italy are worse than people think. Look the Milan side today, how many of their key payers where Italian? It's a similar story with Napoli, Juve and Inter!

Ogbonna plays int he secound division for f**k sake!

So?

Most of our players play in the MLS, which is surely no better than Italy's 2nd division... besides, he's really not that bad at all.

[mg86]

Juventus has already leapfrogged Inter, and only is second to Milan. If they sign a few players they will be back to being a scary foe. Napoli and Inter I agree about though, both have poor back lines and rely too heavily on the attacking players. Inter is probably in a better position to recover as well, so Napoli will not stay at this level after Lavezzi and Cavani leave.

[gzagee]

Italy are worse than England

In your dreams pal. If the two were to meet in the knockout stages of a major competition I wouldn't fancy England's much.