US National Team (Soccer) and Olympics Questions

B

BadgerinATX

250+ Posts
What are the expectations for the Men's National Team this year in the Olympics?

I've seen Freddy Adu play a few times now and I understand he's coming off the bench for a European club team. I think that's a good plan, at least while the MLS is as far behind the other leagues as it currently is. I'm impressed with his ball handling and ability to create opportunities where other US strikers would cough it up. My question is, what can we expect from Freddy at the international level 1) in Beijing 2) in the 2010 World Cup 3) beyond the 2010 W.C.?

Would I be wrong in thinking Europeans rank the following soccer events, in terms of importance, this way:
1) World Cup
2) UEFA European Football Championship (National Teams)
3) UEFA Champions League (Club Teams)
4) Olympics
 
As Freddy is one of my favorite players AND I've followed his career from the beginning, I'll take a stab.

Honestly, it's sometimes hard to determine his potential matched against his hype and his accomplishments. It's also hard to determine if he really is this "all-world" type player OR just lucky enough to be a whimsical foreign-born player with the advantage of beginning his career in a soccer talent poor country like the USA.

I think he may be the best - or second best - American player ever by the time he's done. Compared to the rest of the world, that may not be saying much. I mean, goalies aside, our current best player is Landon Donovan and the rest of the world thinks he's rubbish at the most.

One thing that I've noticed that he can do is actually put decent shots on goal. I wish I had a penny for every time and American forward blasted a shot 40 yards over the goal. He always seems to put his shots on goal or close.

One thing I wish Freddy had was a little more size. I worry that - once his potential is reached- he will begin to get hacked ala Demarcus Beasley. Beasley is but a shell of his former self because every time he touches the ball, someone cleats or elbows him.

Nevertheless, when I saw Adu play in the Olympic Qualifyers, he did look like a man among boys talent-wise. (Plus he signed my Texas
texasflag.gif
flag after the game.)

As per the Olympics. We will field a pretty darned good team. There are two problems, though:

1) We are coached by Peter Novak. He managed to take a team with Adu, Altidore, etc.. and completely de-ball them to the point at which I was actually screaming for Bob Bradley's "empty bucket" formation which is a defensive strategy.
2) The other teams in the tourney are absolutely stacked. Especially Argentina and Brazil.

We may make it out of the 1st round but we ain't going too far after that.
 
i'm new to soccer too. but from waht i see i'd rank it like this..


1) World Cup
2) UEFA Champions League (Club Teams)
3) UEFA European Football Championship (National Teams)
4) Olympics
 
Well the British are pretty good at pretending Olympic soccer doesn't exist so that's a chuck of the continent that could care less right there.

Of all soccer tourneys the Olympics seem to be the most unpredictable. So we have that going for us.

The most impressive thing I've seen out of Adu were those free kick goals in that recent tournament. They were great.
 
After Freddy hit the first free kick in the Olympic qualifying clincher, he ran over to where my two friends and I were sitting and gave us "five." You can see it here in about the 20th second. I'm on the far right. Note the Texas flag that Adu will end up signing after the game.
The Link

By the way, does Champions League actually surpass Euro? I'm not arguing; I'm truly curious. I would always think that, overall, national team games would trump club games. Not to mention that 95% of club teams in Europe really have no chance financially to compete at this level.
 
I would rank the regular european league seasons above the olympics too. Especially the big ones. EPL, La Liga,Serie A, Bundesliga..if not others. I think club teams having to release their older players to play in the olympics points directly to this.
 
The Olympics has always been less than an afterthought, and FIFA wants to keep it that way. They don't want it to upstage their tournaments. It is not an "official" tournament, so teams are not required to release players. Barcelona is having a cow about Messi and Ronaldinho being selected, stay tuned.
 
Liverpool is getting raped:

Mascherano - Argentina over 23 exception
Lucas - Brazil
Babel (likely if he recovers from injury) - Netherlands

Let's limit the question to biggest tournaments in the world.

1. WC
2. Euro
3. Copa América
4. ACofN



789. Olympics
 
Each Copa America (now every 4 years), CONMEBOL (South America's soccer federation) invites two teams to play with the 10 teams that make up the federation.

Last year Mexico and the USA were invited.

The USA sent their B-team. The USA got manhandled.
 
Thanks for the info. Makes perfect sense to me. I mean, with the many major championships we have won in the sport, why go to the trouble of sending our A team to Copa America?

Seriously though, that's just sad. I mean, look how the European countries treated Euro 2008. You could definitely make the argument that Copa America is as big as EuroCup. You probably wouldn't win the argument, on account of the fact (I think) that Brazil and Argentina do not send their best squads. But the mere fact that Brazil and Argentina compete in that event makes it possible to make the argument.

In any case, it's a major accomplishment to win Copa America. Too bad the people who run our soccer program didn't give a crap. Thanks again for the info.
 
The (official) reason we sent our B team was that we played our own Regional Cup (the Gold Cup) AND the Copa America in the same summer.

The winner of the Gold Cup got to go to the Confederations Cup in South Africa to play against the winners of all of the other regions, plus South Africa and Italy (the 2006 WC winners). That was much more important to the US Soccer Federation than doing well in Copa America.

Well we won the Gold Cup and now we'll be in South Africa next summer. That's the reason for that.

What most American soccer fans hope for is that the Gold Cup gets moved to a different summer. Like hopefully the same summers as the Euro Cups (only it wouldn't be played at the same time). That way our first teams could hopefully play in the WC, the next year the Copa America, the next year the Gold Cup, and if we win, the next year the Confederations Cup.

That's a better plan.

hookem.gif
 
Don't bet on it. CONCACAF has done and will do whatever it takes to make life miserable for both Mexico and the US. Jack Warner would rather see the island nations do well than his flagships. I wouldn't put it past him to schedule the gold cup at the same time as the next copa america.

One thing I would love to see, though, is the gold cup hosted in countries other than the US, or Mexico.
 
Great info. Appreciate it. I follow soccer to an extent. But I confess I was unfamilar with the Confederations Cup.

Your post inspired me to do a little research. I like the idea of the Confederations Cup, mainly because I like international soccer. To me, international matches are the most exciting matches.

How do you judge which is the "bigger" tournament? I just don't know. I'm thinking that Copa America ranks as a more important tournament than the Confederations Cup, because it involves more teams and has more tradition. But maybe I'm mistaken in that assumption. From what I understand, the Confederations Cup is not widely televised in Europe. Then again, I doubt the Copa America is widely televised in Europe, either. Of course, the Copa America IS widely televised in South America. In fact, I believe most or all of the matches are broadcast in the United States.

What's your take? Which is the bigger tournament, Copa America or the Confederations Cup?
 
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