The Soccer Thread (V)

[Piotr Rasputin]

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6707994/hard-lessons

I understand his frustration.

But he is also a trifle optimistic.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6707994/hard-lessons

I understand his frustration.

But he is also a trifle optimistic.

Yeah, I'm not sure I buy much of his argument there. This alone:

This roster instability ultimately ended up tanking the team's chances in South Africa.

seems preposterous to me. It wasn't instability, it was a dearth of talented players -- something that has always been the number one problem for the US, and will be for years to come.

And do you really want to treat the years between World Cups like the Cactus or Grapefruit Leagues, with every game utterly meaningless and just designed to get the squad ready for opening day, three years away? Seems to me that at some point you should see how good you really are, and the Gold Cup is as good a place as any. (Turns out, the USMNT isn't very good right now.)