Scholarship table
Colombia deserved the result. US couldn't keep possession. Love that klinsman is basically telling any potential players that you have a much better chance at call ups if you play in Europe.
Jozy Altidore and Mix Diskerud both headed to MLS. Jozy in particular is starting to feel like that next great American striker, following in the footsteps of Eddie Johnson, Freddy Adu, Taylor Twellman, Kenny Cooper, and everyone else who is more never was than ever will be.I feel like the future of Gyasi Zardes is already written in the flop.
The MLS execs and owners run the organization like a cartel. Moving players where and when they see fit, especially when it comes to high profile players. Jermaine Jones' mysterious "coin flip"? Examples abound.
Congrats to Axel, who was drafted 14th overall in the MLS.
Had great seats behind the goal as my son is the goalie for his team, felt it would be useful for him to watch them warmup, how they setup, etc.We were not disappointed. Rick Rimando, our starting keeper, a great save early on. I must say, however, he is way too casual with the ball....passing in front of his own line was alarming. He's a bit too cavalier IMO. Panama outplayed us the first 20 to 25 minutes I thought. Then the US got the Bradley goal.....one of the craziest goals I have ever seen in my life. It was truly amazing. I was on Bradley a ton at the WC, hopefully with play like today he can put things under better control. He was solid.Zardes, who is a local kid, played fantastic.Dempsey, his 40th goal in international play.
My issue with Rimando was more about the decisionmaking and casualness with the ball. He's obviously very talented, but didn't like what I saw at times with his approach.Shea....he's interesting. Big dude. People in my section were killing the guy. He looks a little clumsy out there at times, but he also made some nice plays with the body that disrupted several key attempts by the Panamanians.
Noticed that neither the ref nor the AR's were wearing headsets for comms. Also thought that Dempsey was off on his goal. Always good to win and hopefully Klinsy got a look at some players. Also, noticed that they played 4-4-2 this time instead of the experimental 3-5-2 vs. Chile.
Oh and MLS will ruin the growth of USMNT...just had to get that off my chest.
poppycock. The evolution of MLS in its current format is fine for the USMNT. Going further, for the USMNT to truly succeed, it must be as part of the growth of MLS.Klinsmann isn't wrong that the best US players need to test themselves and grow in the best leagues. The problem is that most US players aren't good enough to do that.
This is where you and I will have to violently disagree. MLS needs the USMNT to grow, but USMNT does not need MLS to grow. Additionally, as long as MLS continues to play games with where players go and not support free agency, MLS will never grow out of a novelty.
I don't necessarily disagree with you. But your points seem at odds. So the US team won't succeed without growth of the MLS, but the best US players should go overseas? Wouldn't all the best US players playing in the MLS be important, if not required, to grow the MLS?
This is where you and I will have to violently disagree. MLS needs the USMNT to grow, but USMNT does not need MLS to grow. Additionally, as long as MLS continues to play games with where players go and not support free agency, MLS will never grow out of a novelty.Want to grow MLS? Show players there is money to be made there. If MLS grows, than USMNT players can play there against top flight competition. Until that happens, playing in MLS holds back players. I like the MLS, I watch it relatively consistently, but it's not a great product right now.Why does USMNT need MLS to grow? It would be nice, but I don't see why it is required.
As I just posted, I'll backtrack a bit on that. There are plenty of US players internationally on foreign teams. In fact, according to people that follow these things, most of the top young players are outside of MLS.Also, I firmly agree that the MLS lack of free agency, and lack of transparency on player allocation in particular, will hold back the league. No argument there. MLS has to become a more desirable location to play, which is partially starting to happen.However, a lot of talent being funneled into the U17/U20 teams is a product of MLS academies. USLPro and those affiliations are starting development of players sooner. Needing MLS to improve the USMNT is simply a numbers game. There are maybe 6-7 quality players internationally. Are we going to pin all our hopes on those players? Or do we improve the talent base with hundreds of potential young players through MLS, USL Pro, and the MLS academies? As that system improves, the USMNT will be much stronger.