Euro 2012

#726
#726
tvolsfan said:
The biggest question I have about Germany going forward is who will be up top. Klose seem ageless, but he's going to be 36 in 2014.
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I think it could well be by committee. ozil, schweini, reus, etc are all totally capable and imo lahm is arguably the best offensive defender in the world
 
#734
#734
tvolsfan said:
By greatest tourney team ever, you're referring to this group of players, correct?
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Well, I could have said national team but we all know that these teams are quite different for big tourneys versus just fielding a team for a friendly.
 
#735
#735
Yankee_Vol said:
28. I'd like to see us succeed, just don't know that it can be done
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We have the potential. Player development has a long way to go, though. Development needs huge restructuring; there's a problem when high schools and colleges are regularly out-doing even the highest level developments leagues.
 
#736
#736
slh1089 said:
MAYBE one but I cannot see more than that
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I don't think it's a one and done deal. Looking at the field in the European championships, we are most definitely more on par with Poland and Ireland.

We have the population that if we ever do get to the point where we can put together a team that can go deep in the world cup (or the Copa Americas idea!) then it will be because we put together the development programs to get it done, meaning we will be cemented as a world power.

The times when you see countries like Denmark or Sweden have brief periods of excellence is a result of them having quality development but insufficient population to produce quality football.

We have the opposite problem, but a look at the consistent world powers -- Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Brazil -- show both quality development and large populations.
 
#737
#737
milohimself said:
Probably ten spots or thereabouts. Plus it would be politically advantageous to conmebol. They have clearly superior talent but concacaf has more sway because we have more votes with all the caribbean nations.
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I'd be in favor of it just to end the miserable organization that is CONCACAF.
 
#738
#738
milohimself said:
I don't think it's a one and done deal.
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I think it's much more likely to be multiple than zero.

Looking at the field in the European championships, we are most definitely more on par with Poland and Ireland.
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We're better than that. Neither of those teams would have any shot at topping a World Cup group, making the quarterfinals of a World Cup, or reaching the final of a Confederations Cup, all of which we've done in the last 10 years.
 
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#739
#739
milohimself said:
I don't think it's a one and done deal. Looking at the field in the European championships, we are most definitely more on par with Poland and Ireland.

We have the population that if we ever do get to the point where we can put together a team that can go deep in the world cup (or the Copa Americas idea!) then it will be because we put together the development programs to get it done, meaning we will be cemented as a world power.

The times when you see countries like Denmark or Sweden have brief periods of excellence is a result of them having quality development but insufficient population to produce quality football.

We have the opposite problem, but a look at the consistent world powers -- Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Brazil -- show both quality development and large populations.
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Well said. You see any change in US development forthcoming?
 
#740
#740
milohimself said:
We have the opposite problem, but a look at the consistent world powers -- Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Brazil -- show both quality development and large populations.
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The population of the America is bigger than that of Italy, Germany, France, and Spain combined. It's also considerably larger the population of Brazil, who I would say is closest to matching our large population and athleticism. If we revamped our development system, we would be legitimate title contenders in less than 20 years.
 
#741
#741
slh1089 said:
Well said. You see any change in US development forthcoming?
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It's really just a matter of time, IMO. We have enough guys who have played overseas who know how it needs to work, and I have to think Klinsmann is going to make an effort to speed things up.
 
#742
#742
tvolsfan said:
The biggest question I have about Germany going forward is who will be up top. Klose seem ageless, but he's going to be 36 in 2014.
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Yeah, it would be asking a lot for Klose to be in a starting role in 2014, especially with the motor that he has.

That's been the biggest question for the future, along with a fullback counterpart to Lahm on the other side.

I think Reus will take over the striker role, as Gomez has been exposed for what he is. Beyond that, there's not really any great prospects.
 
#743
#743
tvolsfan said:
The population of the America is bigger than that of Italy, Germany, France, and Spain combined. It's also considerably larger the population of Brazil, who I would say is closest to matching our large population and athleticism. If we revamped our development system, we would be legitimate title contenders in less than 20 years.
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I really hope that day is coming. It will likely have to be done without the enthusiasm of inner city youths though, unless those youths are Hispanic. I don't want to use stereotypes, but I can't see inner city black kids going for soccer when basketball and football are so prominent.
 
#744
#744
milohimself said:
We have the potential. Player development has a long way to go, though. Development needs huge restructuring; there's a problem when high schools and colleges are regularly out-doing even the highest level developments leagues.
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The potential has almost always been there. I just don't know if the interest in the sport is there to force a change
 
#745
#745
Yankee_Vol said:
The potential has almost always been there. I just don't know if the interest in the sport is there to force a change
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Keep in mind that we didn't even have a league until very recently.

US soccer has come a long way. About 25 years ago, the US was in danger of missing their 10th world Cup in a row.
 
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#746
#746
Yankee_Vol said:
The potential has almost always been there. I just don't know if the interest in the sport is there to force a change
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I think it can happen with improved development programs. There are a handful of colleges with superior soccer development (university of portland happens to be one of them) that turn out good quality players. Problem is that it happens late, but if it can be replicated with clubs, and it slowly but surely is, then improvement will happen. The mls is only starting to come into its own, and that process will be slow because of salary caps, but thats needed. Nasl 1.0 collapsed because it didn't have any sort of policies in place to ensure competitive advantage, and could be years before it's even time to think about weaning off of that, but the model is proving to be sound so far and is encouraging better development. The organization there needs massive overhaul though. I look at bruce arena as a guy to pull that off when he's ready to leave galaxy. He was incredibly successful at uva and has shown interest in making that his pet project when he's done coaching
 
#747
#747
milohimself said:
I think it can happen with improved development programs. There are a handful of colleges with superior soccer development (university of portland happens to be one of them) that turn out good quality players. Problem is that it happens late, but if it can be replicated with clubs, and it slowly but surely is, then improvement will happen. The mls is only starting to come into its own, and that process will be slow because of salary caps, but thats needed. Nasl 1.0 collapsed because it didn't have any sort of policies in place to ensure competitive advantage, and could be years before it's even time to think about weaning off of that, but the model is proving to be sound so far and is encouraging better development. The organization there needs massive overhaul though. I look at bruce arena as a guy to pull that off when he's ready to leave galaxy. He was incredibly successful at uva and has shown interest in making that his pet project when he's done coaching
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I think this may be one area where we would want to have a foreigner come in and help us out. Johann Cryuff helped at Barcelona. Maybe we could get some Dutch guy?
 
#748
#748
tvolsfan said:
I think this may be one area where we would want to have a foreigner come in and help us out. Johann Cryuff helped at Barcelona. Maybe we could get some Dutch guy?
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I think Cruyff is the greatest player of all time but even he couldn't replicate anything similar here.

The biggest hurdle I see is the American mindset of amateur athletics in general. I linked a NY Times article in the US/best athletes thread but the jist was for the first time academies are steering kids to year round club and ODP teams and telling them not to play for their high school teams.

I think the next step is to try and replicate something similar to the youth hockey approach in Canada but I think it's going to take a long time to break the romanticized notion of high school sports.
 
#749
#749
I don't see that being as big an issue. It's not like high school soccer is a big deal, and it's going to be very clear which is the better route.
 
#750
#750
tvolsfan said:
I don't see that being as big an issue. It's not like high school soccer is a big deal, and it's going to be very clear which is the better route.
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Especially when kids see they can start getting paid at fifteen or sixteen years old if they're good enough.
 
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