USMNT Thread Part VIII

[bleedblue1223]

I didn't say smaller meant better market. I meant the opposite. Phoenix should not have had an issue drawing this game. Period. There is no excuse for a bad turn out. Small market Cary, North Carolina out drew this game, also with no Pulisic, and that was on a Tuesday, with a B/C team. With much less buzz. USMNT was able to get better attendance to these types of games in the past. NFL fans may or may not be soccer fans, but my point is that there wasn't a major sporting event that blocked the attendance here. Frankly its indicative that soccer fans are caring less

Sorry, I wrote that incorrectly. Meant that Smaller doesn't mean worse market. Arizona is like Florida, it's a retirement destination and they are very fair-weather sports fans.

I just don't know what you expect from a casual fan base in a game without stars in a game with no impact. It would be one thing if it was a debut with a coach that casuals knew about, like Klinsmann. It's just such a nothing game, I don't know why you expected more.

 

[John Price]

 

[bleedblue1223]

Just looked up the numbers, they literally have multiple games like this every year, so I really don't understand why you guys are making a big deal about it.

 

[Savant]

Sorry, I wrote that incorrectly. Meant that Smaller doesn't mean worse market. Arizona is like Florida, it's a retirement destination and they are very fair-weather sports fans.

I just don't know what you expect from a casual fan base in a game without stars in a game with no impact. It would be one thing if it was a debut with a coach that casuals knew about, like Klinsmann. It's just such a nothing game, I don't know why you expected more.

More hogwash. Very few metros have more big 4 teams than the Phoenix. This is re-writing the narrative.

This should have an impactful game as game 1 of a new manager. This is not a nothing game. It was on a weekend. There are no excuses. Games of this nature in the past would have been more heavily attended.

 

[bleedblue1223]

More hogwash. Very few metros have more big 4 teams than the Phoenix. This is re-writing the narrative.

This should have an impactful game as game 1 of a new manager. This is not a nothing game. It was on a weekend. There are no excuses. Games of this nature in the past would have been more heavily attended.

Arizona is always in the bottom-half and closer to the bottom of each league in attendance. It's simply not a great sports market, it's very fair-weather.

Look at the past, every year there are games that are around this number. No casual fans care about the debut of Berhalter, most casual fans don't even know who he is, at least with Klinsmann they knew he was a big name from Europe.

No excuses for who, the fans or USMNT? What is even your point here?

 

[Savant]

Arizona is always in the bottom-half and closer to the bottom of each league in attendance. It's simply not a great sports market, it's very fair-weather.

Look at the past, every year there are games that are around this number. No casual fans care about the debut of Berhalter, most casual fans don't even know who he is, at least with Klinsmann they knew he was a big name from Europe.

No excuses for who, the fans or USMNT? What is even your point here?

It doesn't matter if Phoenix is at the bottom, my point is that they have the infrastructure to have supported this.

This casual thing you keep mentioning is the excuse. As I said I was at a Tuesday night Dave Sarachen friendly that had more attendance than this. Casual here means that people care less, if they still care at all. This is bad.

My point is interest in USMNT may have cratered after the interest in it was at its highest. Whether that is because of performance or apathy at the administration it's happening.

 

[bleedblue1223]

It doesn't matter if Phoenix is at the bottom, my point is that they have the infrastructure to have supported this.

This casual thing you keep mentioning is the excuse. As I said I was at a Tuesday night Dave Sarachen friendly that had more attendance than this. Casual here means that people care less, if they still care at all. This is bad.

My point is interest in USMNT may have cratered after the interest in it was at its highest. Whether that is because of performance or apathy at the administration it's happening.

My point is, this isn't the first game that attendance has been like this, this has always been a thing. The reasons you keep referencing for why this game mattered are only reasons for the die-hard, not for the casuals. That's why I don't see your point. Casuals aren't going to go unless there is a star player to see on either side or if it's a match that has an impact on some sort of a Cup. There was 0 reasons for casual fans to be there.

Royal Rumble was in Phoenix last night as well.

 

[kingsboy11]

And I think Twellman mentioned it last night, with all these soccer specific stadiums being built for MLS there shouldn't be any reason to put these meaningless january camp games in a 65k football stadium and charging a minimum 32$ tickets. Especially for a team that was not going to have any star players competing in it.

 

[bleedblue1223]

And I think Twellman mentioned it last night, with all these soccer specific stadiums being built for MLS there shouldn't be any reason to put these meaningless january camp games in a 65k football stadium and charging a minimum 32$ tickets. Especially for a team that was not going to have any star players competing in it.

Yeah, it would be more impactful to have a smaller stadium filled than a huge stadium with the same amount of people look empty. Be creative with pricing to get higher attendance. They should know that not many people care about these games, and you aren't going to get many travelers, if any.

 

[John Price]

Breakdown

Episode 53: USA 3, Panama 0, and a positive start to the Gregg Berhalter era | The Scuffed Podcast | USMNT, Yanks Abroad, MLS, soccer in America

 

[kingsboy11]

2-0 win over the Ticos. A much tougher test against this time around. Sloppy first half by everyone involved, but a tremendous 2nd half. As soon as Llegett comes on he changes the game and was all over the pitch. Think the best performers over the 2 games was Llegett, Lewis, Lima and Zimmerman. Looking forward to seeing what it'll be like when Berhalter has access to the full squad in March.

 

[John Price]

Pulisic, McKennie called up for March friendlies

 

[Gecklund]

Pulisic, McKennie called up for March friendlies

The roster is way too MLS dependent. I hate most things about it.

 

[kingsboy11]

Couple of things I don't like about the roster.
1st: No Sargent or Weah. I understand the idea that neither of them haven't been playing of late and wanting them with the u-23s, but I still like them better than almost all of those forwards. Plus these are the guys that are going to leading the charge up front for the next decade. We should start having them playing together right now to develop the chemistry prior to qualifying.
2nd: The way the Berhalter talks about Adams makes it seem like he wants him in that RB/CM that he had Lima play in Jan camp. Wholeheartedly disagree. He's been fantastic as a midfielder for Leipzig.
3rd: Do we really need Ream and Gonzalez on defense?
4th: I personally don't mind including MLS players, but this is almost too much emphasis when you have all your international players at your disposal.

Disappointing to say the least.

 

[Gecklund]

I think making these switches would make the team much better

Sargent for Zardes
Weah for Lewis
Robinson for Lovitz
Palmer-Brown for Ream
Zimmerman for Gonzalez

I also don't like that Trapp is on the roster but I expected it.

 

[ecemleafs]

Weah plays enough to get called up. Plays a lot more now than he did when he was getting USA call ups.

 

[East Coast Bias]

Any time you can put Adams at RB to let Yedlin lead the attack, you gotta do it.

(I hate this team)

 

[Live in the Now]

Lol we're never going to win anything with shit like that. I guarantee he forces some American steel (read: talentless white guy) into the midfield.

 

[Gecklund]

Lol we're never going to win anything with **** like that. I guarantee he forces some American steel (read: talentless white guy) into the midfield.

I think Adams would be great in Berhalters RB role that Lima played last break. Yedlin as wing though is dumb. Ideally our lineup would look like (with this roster)

Arriola-Zardes-Morris
Pulisic-McKennie
Bradley
Lovitz-Brooks-Miazga-Adams
Steffen

Pulisic and McKennie playing as 10s and then Bradley and Adams doing most of the DM duties.

 

[bluesfan94]

I think Adams would be great in Berhalters RB role that Lima played last break. Yedlin as wing though is dumb. Ideally our lineup would look like (with this roster)

Arriola-Zardes-Morris
Pulisic-McKennie
Bradley
Lovitz-Brooks-Miazga-Adams
Steffen

Pulisic and McKennie playing as 10s and then Bradley and Adams doing most of the DM duties.

I mean, he's not saying that Yedlin will be starting at the wing.

 

[kingsboy11]

I think Adams can play that role and do it well. The issue that I have with that idea is that I feel like its not utilizing Adams to the best of his abilities being an engine in the midfield getting up and down the pitch. But it seems like that Berhalter is not married to this idea and just wants to experiment with it and see how it goes.

I like Berhalter as a coach, but there are quips that I have with him that I'm not thrilled about. Not calling in Sargent and Weah, not utilizing Adams in the best way, calling in Trapp and Gyasi. But if there's one thing that is an absolute breath of fresh air is that we are finally discussing tactics again. That never happened under Klinnsman and he was too stubborn to realize that he was not that good of a coach, Arena was just brought in to save qualification no questions asked, and Saracan was coaching for his next gig because he was never going to be considered to be the full time head coach. I just wished that he could've been hired earlier so we could've gotten a head start in all of this.

Greg's got a lot of time between now and the start of qualification to get things sorted out.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Lol we're never going to win anything with **** like that. I guarantee he forces some American steel (read: talentless white guy) into the midfield.

What do we consider winning something? We are never winning World Cup or Copa America, regardless of how the roster is constructed until we can build a roster full of Pulisic level players and some better than Pulisic. Do we even care about winning the Gold Cup?

 

[John Price]

 

[kingsboy11]

Minimum ticket price on ticketmaster for the game on Thursday is $32 for a meaningless friendly against Ecuador with interest in the team at its lowest point in like 30 years.

 

[SSF]

Robinson just came back from an ankle injury which kept him out for months; he was likely not fit enough to be called in.