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Soccer Sunday: Your running commentary

Good morning folks. The action in Europe is already underway so if you are watching Juventus-Fiorentina or Liverpool-Bolton (or any other match) feel free to share your thoughts and views on the match below.

Comments

  1. I know we have had field players on top flight teams, but none that were able to break through into the first team. I think Altidore has a potential to become a player like Drogba, Torres, or Abedayor. He has the size and speed and technical ability to succeed at that level.

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  2. Thanks for the answers, JB and dano.

    CL experience would be huge for Howard and nice to see for the USMNT unquestioned number one.

    When MLS has 16 teams it should go to a single table.

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  3. And Inter goes down for the first time in Serie A. Man, how interesting would the scudetto race be right now if Roma had held on midweek? I still think they have the quality to pull it out.

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  4. “He means “Top Flight” as in teams like Chelsea or Man U, not Top Flight as in Highest Division. Jozy does look like he has a bright future ahead of him, but I’m being careful to not get ahead of myself. All of us just need to let things happen as they hapen and not put too much pressure on this kid.”

    Then it’s still not true. Frank Simek was at Arsenal, Jonathan Spector and Jovan Kirovski at Man U. So on, so forth. Jozy would be in the same position they were at: a youngster getting significant reserve minutes and trying to break into the first team.

    Also keep in mind that our concept of big clubs means nothing. Ten years ago Chelsea wasn’t what it is today. Sheffield Wednesday used to be a huge club. Man U wasn’t even huge until the 80s/90s.

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  5. Things may not be going very well for American field players in the Premier or Championship Leagues right now, but Tim Howard has a chance to be the top goalkeeper in the EPL again. Actually, Friedel has a chance to be top GK in the EPL as well. They are currently ranked number 2 and 4 respectively. Interesting to note Man Utd.’s goalkeeper isn’t even in the top 5.

    At one point McBride, Dempsey, and Bocanegra have all been ranked in the top 100 EPL players, but no American field players are in the top 100 now. I believe Convey was in there at one point too. Dempsey has recently dropped out because of his poor form recently. This has not been a good year for American field players in England, period.

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  6. Napoli v Inter

    Napoli w/ the 1-0 lead early in the first half after blunder by Julio Cesaer leads to a Zalayeta goal.

    Forza Napoli!

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  7. He means “Top Flight” as in teams like Chelsea or Man U, not Top Flight as in Highest Division. Jozy does look like he has a bright future ahead of him, but I’m being careful to not get ahead of myself. All of us just need to let things happen as they hapen and not put too much pressure on this kid.

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  8. To John’s question, the figures I have seen quoted are the CCC average is 195k pounds per year and 67k pounds for League one, so roughly USD 380-390k and USD 125K-134K depending on the exchange rate….

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  9. “Jozy will be the first American to play for a top flight club in the field. We have goalies playing top flight but not field positions.”

    You do know that American’s have been playing for top flight European clubs for years right? Even in the field?

    As far as Everton goes, Liverpool has a game in hand and superior goal differential (The Red’s injured to hell defense still has only let in 20 goals, good for 3rd in the league). Don’t call it a race yet.

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  10. While this is purely hypothetical, most people seem to agree that the best MLS teams like DC and Houston would be somewhere between the middle of the table to possibly around 3rd or 4th in the CCC. However, as I believe Ives has said in the past, no MLS team has the depth to compete in as many games as are played abroad. The first 11 might be good enough to compete well, but after that, there is a large dropoff.

    As far as salary, I don’t know, but I would guess it would be more in line with a large market AAA team, with salaries ranging from 150k a year to maybe more than 1mil per for the better players. The average is probably about 300k-500k. Which is much better than the average in MLS. If someone knows more than I, don’t hesitate to correct me.

    And back on topic, Everton look to be sure of the 3 points. Gotta admit, I’d like to see them get into the CL, if nothing else just for a change.

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  11. Thats interesting about Chelsea targeting Altidore in the summer, but it doesn’t suprise me. Jozy will be the first American to play for a top flight club in the field. We have goalies playing top flight but not field positions.

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  12. I have a couple of quick somewhat off-topic questions; how good are MLS teams when compared to English teams? I’m guessing that most MLS teams would find their level in a range from the middle of the Championship to the middle of League One.

    Also, what are some of largest salaries in League One? How do they compare with the largest non-DP salaries in MLS?

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  13. Excellent match by la Viola!!!! Juve seemed to loose direction after the vets got subbed out and youngsters were put in. Sissoko still seemed to play well, but most of the rest of Juve’s players seemed to play more as individuals than as a team. The result makes things interesting in SerieA. Effectively Juve, Fiorentina and Milan are all 3 now fighting for the last 2 CL spots (before it was looking like it was just Fiorentina and Milan fighting for the last spot).

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  14. From BBC Sport’s Sunday Gossip Column:
    Whoever is in charge at Chelsea in the summer will be given money to spend, and the club are set to battle it out with Manchester United to land American whizzkid Jozy Altidore. (News of the World)
    Not that I trust the News of the World, but interesting nonetheless.

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  15. I just tuned into Juve/Fiorentina.
    1-1 in the 53rd. Gobbi in 19th for Fiorentina and Sissoko for Juve in the 29th.

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