[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Yeah it was a surprise. I hadn't really followed their qualifiers but I just sort of assumed they'd get through. That article does read like one disaster after another. Klinsmann probably did have some good ideas but by the time he was sacked I do think his time was up. Whether Arena was the right replacement, I dunno. But I assume he was just a short term appointment so a logical choice in lots of ways. Is there enough quality in the squad itself, compared with previous WCs?

me too—this was a suprise

last i heard they were in the hexagonal and from there it would be smooth sailing

but i haven’t really been following or watching

i’ll be frank—it’s hard for me to take u.s. soccer seriously. it starts with the absurd league that tries to imitate american football with its byzantine “conferences” and playoffs and weird hiring rules— i don’t have the time or energy to make sense of it. but i’ll say this much— if i ever move back to a town that has an mls team, i might start catching games at the stadium. i just like stadium games. don’t need to follow a league to see a game.

anyway i couldn’t tell you about the quality of the latter squad i have no idea who was in it or who is who anymore. but i know pulisic from dortmund. the kid is fantastic, and now it will be another 5 years till he gets a chance to see a world cup. a pity for him really. he’ll be about 24 in 2022. pelé missed some world cups too. o well.

eta: looking at wikipedia it looks like the same squad from 2-4-8 years ago, just older (except for pulisic... and a couple of others)


# Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 GK Tim Howard March 6, 1979 (age 38) 121 0 United States Colorado Rapids
12 GK Brad Guzan September 9, 1984 (age 33) 58 0 United States Atlanta United
22 GK Nick Rimando June 17, 1979 (age 38) 22 0 United States Real Salt Lake
2 DF DeAndre Yedlin July 9, 1993 (age 24) 48 0 England Newcastle United
3 DF Omar Gonzalez October 11, 1988 (age 29) 48 3 Mexico Pachuca
5 DF Matt Besler February 11, 1987 (age 30) 47 1 United States Sporting Kansas City
7 DF DaMarcus Beasley May 24, 1982 (age 35) 126 17 United States Houston Dynamo
14 DF Tim Ream October 5, 1987 (age 30) 26 1 England Fulham
15 DF Jorge Villafaña September 16, 1989 (age 28) 14 0 Mexico Santos Laguna
19 DF Graham Zusi August 18, 1986 (age 31) 55 5 United States Sporting Kansas City
20 DF Geoff Cameron July 11, 1985 (age 32) 55 4 England Stoke City
4 MF Michael Bradley (Captain) July 31, 1987 (age 30) 140 17 Canada Toronto FC
6 MF Darlington Nagbe July 19, 1990 (age 27) 24 1 United States Portland Timbers
10 MF Christian Pulisic September 18, 1998 (age 19) 20 9 Germany Borussia Dortmund
11 MF Alejandro Bedoya April 29, 1987 (age 30) 65 2 United States Philadelphia Union
13 MF Dax McCarty April 20, 1987 (age 30) 13 0 United States Chicago Fire
16 MF Benny Feilhaber January 19, 1985 (age 32) 44 2 United States Sporting Kansas City
21 MF Paul Arriola February 5, 1995 (age 22) 15 2 United States D.C. United
23 MF Kellyn Acosta July 24, 1995 (age 22) 16 1 United States FC Dallas
8 FW Clint Dempsey March 9, 1983 (age 34) 141 57 United States Seattle Sounders FC
9 FW Bobby Wood November 15, 1992 (age 24) 36 10 Germany Hamburger SV
17 FW Jozy Altidore November 6, 1989 (age 27) 110 41 Canada Toronto FC
18 FW Chris Wondolowski January 28, 1983 (age 34) 35 11 United States San Jose Earthquakes

ps i cannot say i noticed bobby wood at hamburg when i was still watching last season