The Swamp

The lads in red, white and blue square off against the evil Belgian hordes in a friendly on May 29 in Cleveland. In fucking Cleveland! Holy shit!

Anyway, needless to say this, but I'll be there. And if any Swamper wants to make the trek to America's most scenic rust belt city to watch the game, please let me know so we can make tailgating plans.

Tickets go on sale next Tuesday. I don't know the ticket cost.

ETA missing word.

There will also be a WC Qualifier against Honduras in June in SLC.

My cat's breath smells like cat food.

Steve of phpBB wrote:There will also be a WC Qualifier against Honduras in June in SLC.

I was going to drive up for that one, but it's the week I have to go to St. Louis.

quarterback style giveth to belgium, quarterback style taketh away.

good on you, geoff.

cerrano wrote:quarterback style giveth to belgium, quarterback style taketh away.

good on you, geoff.

Shit, forgot about this game! Belgium is the most interesting team in the world IMO. I really wanted to see this. How'd the first half look for both teams?

in the first half, belgium was the better side, of course. but the us had some chances and and took some of the initiative as the half wore on. got the goal off the set piece and had some other decent chances. altidore still looks a little lost, and the us defense had some hiccups.

the second half? yeesh.

cerrano wrote:in the first half, belgium was the better side, of course. but the us had some chances and and took some of the initiative as the half wore on. got the goal off the set piece and had some other decent chances. altidore still looks a little lost, and the us defense had some hiccups.

the second half? yeesh.

I watched the second half, and all I can say is that Belgium is as good as I think they are. They are stacked with EPL players I love. Benteke, Fellaini, Mirallas, Vermaellan, Vertongan and of course the wonderboy Lukakukokuku. I think they are going to be major force in Europe for the next decade.

The Sybian wrote:

cerrano wrote:in the first half, belgium was the better side, of course. but the us had some chances and and took some of the initiative as the half wore on. got the goal off the set piece and had some other decent chances. altidore still looks a little lost, and the us defense had some hiccups.

the second half? yeesh.

I watched the second half, and all I can say is that Belgium is as good as I think they are. They are stacked with EPL players I love. Benteke, Fellaini, Mirallas, Vermaellan, Vertongan and of course the wonderboy Lukakukokuku. I think they are going to be major force in Europe for the next decade.

Romelu Lukaku is a specimen. He looks like he should be playing outside linebacker for an NFL team.

Sabo wrote:

The Sybian wrote:

cerrano wrote:in the first half, belgium was the better side, of course. but the us had some chances and and took some of the initiative as the half wore on. got the goal off the set piece and had some other decent chances. altidore still looks a little lost, and the us defense had some hiccups.

the second half? yeesh.

I watched the second half, and all I can say is that Belgium is as good as I think they are. They are stacked with EPL players I love. Benteke, Fellaini, Mirallas, Vermaellan, Vertongan and of course the wonderboy Lukakukokuku. I think they are going to be major force in Europe for the next decade.

Romelu Lukaku is a specimen. He looks like he should be playing outside linebacker for an NFL team.

and I think he is still a teenager. He is going to be a great player for a long time to come. Too bad Chelsea own him.

And ah, oh yeah, they're this good even without Hazard.

Here are my over-the-night thoughts after attending the game last night:

1. During the first half, when the American attack actually looked decent at times, you could see the forwards calling for the ball in space, but the pass never came on time. If the pass was made, it was a second or two too late, and the space was closed. Both Altidore and Dempsey were getting frustrated that the passes never came at the right time.

2. The back line looked slow to respond to anything. Granted, Belgium has a lot of pace, but Goodson and Cameron were late on covers. Cameron should never play right back again. Belgium seemingly at will against the right flank during the first half, and they created a lot of chances in doing so.

3. I really wanted to see Herculez Gomez get some playing time, mostly so people can see his awesome mustache. It was great to see Stuart Holden get on the field, too. When I was at the open practice Tuesday night, he looked great. I like watching him run, as it looks almost effortless.

4. Graham Zusi should start every game just for his corner kicks. Great delivery.

5. I thought Jermaine Jones played decent. He was all over the field and had a few interceptions.

How did the crowd come across on TV? I have it on DVR but haven't watched it yet. They sold tickets for the lower bowl and the club seats facing the cameras, but that was it. I think attendance was something like 27,720. The Indians were playing at the same time, and they only drew 18,000.

Isn't that a pretty decent sized crowd for the Indians these days?

brian wrote:Isn't that a pretty decent sized crowd for the Indians these days?

It is, but it's bad because the Reds are considered a premium game. MLB schedulers aren't doing the Indians any favors by putting the Cincy series in the middle of the week. If it's a summer weekend game vs. the Reds, the Indians would draw more than 30k.

I need to figure out a way to go to Saturday's Tribe game, as it's the Albert Belle bobblehead day. The bobblehead's pose is of Belle pointing at his bicep.

Sabo wrote:Here are my over-the-night thoughts after attending the game last night:

4. Graham Zusi should start every game just for his corner kicks. Great delivery.

5. I thought Jermaine Jones played decent. He was all over the field and had a few interceptions.

How did the crowd come across on TV? I have it on DVR but haven't watched it yet. They sold tickets for the lower bowl and the club seats facing the cameras, but that was it. I think attendance was something like 27,720. The Indians were playing at the same time, and they only drew 18,000.

Zusi's in game touch is not consistent. He botched several balls to him in the run of play

Stupid tackle by Jones late in the game. I would take the bets that if he is on the Roster In Brazil he will not be eligible for all of the games due to suspension.

They sure missed Michael Bradley. Really not-great center mid play start to finish.

tennbengal wrote:They sure missed Michael Bradley. Really not-great center mid play start to finish.

Is he available for the Panama game? Have they announced the roster yet?

He'll be back on Sunday. I assume he will be there for the three qualifiers as well, unless he's on a suspension. He wasn't there last night because of the Coppa d'Italia final on Sunday.

Oh, and Kljestan is fuckawful. That is all.

wlu_lax6 wrote:

Sabo wrote:Here are my over-the-night thoughts after attending the game last night:

4. Graham Zusi should start every game just for his corner kicks. Great delivery.

5. I thought Jermaine Jones played decent. He was all over the field and had a few interceptions.

How did the crowd come across on TV? I have it on DVR but haven't watched it yet. They sold tickets for the lower bowl and the club seats facing the cameras, but that was it. I think attendance was something like 27,720. The Indians were playing at the same time, and they only drew 18,000.

Zusi's in game touch is not consistent. He botched several balls to him in the run of play

Stupid tackle by Jones late in the game. I would take the bets that if he is on the Roster In Brazil he will not be eligible for all of the games due to suspension.

Zus is getting better, but yes, it can be frustrating at times.

I'm being a homer, but would like to see Gonzalez and Besler together for an extended period of time. I want to see if they can keep up what they had going in the Azteca.

So, I know we have a larger thread on Klinsmann (or had one). I've been generally supportive of the bigger picture stuff he is trying to accomplish, but I'm becoming a little annoyed with a few on field and roster things.

The biggest issue I have is that he can't seem to figure out Altidore is not a lone target kind of player. A buddy and I were talking about this and he nailed it. The reason he is tearing it up for AZ is that they are not expecting him to run sideline to sideline and play primarily with his back to the goal. He is very good when he plays combination passing with highly skilled guys.

This is where we REALLY miss Landon, but maybe Holden can step in... Even having a calming influence with Bradley who can get it to Dempsey will see a major upgrade in their play.

But the fact that Klinsmann is frustrated with Jozy, but is doing nothing to adjust tactics says a lot (to me) about some of the problems this squad is having.

We DO NOT HAVE THE TALENT to play a Spain-style possession game. Klinsmann can insist the backs play that style, but if we don't have the talent/skill we are constantly going to be flirting with disaster.

I don't feel like going on and on about it. I'm not really worried about qualifying, our region is ass and we can stumble around and still finish second or third pretty easily. But the bigger picture is very fuzzy right now.

It is great our expectations are up (as they should be) and just hard to realize that 2002 was a bit of a fluke run of luck that had a single hand-ball away from maybe a top 4 finish in the World Cup, but we are not the only emerging soccer nation. But it will stink when Bradley takes Egypt farther than the US goes in Brazil.