Good afternoon everybody. It's an exciting day in the world of soccer with Barcelona vs. Inter Milan up on tap later this afternoon.
Before we get to that great match, it's time for the latest SBI Live Q&A, where you send in your soccer-related (or pop culture themed) questions and I try to answer as many of them as I can. Want to discuss the MLS season? The World Cup? The last season of Lost? The recent John Carver interview? Feel free to submit your questions.
Let's get started (the live Q&A is after the jump):
I’d love to hear some news about Yura. He’s been in great form and the results at Randers have been phenomenal. Are we going to get him citizenship?
Ives,
Thankyou for putting emphasis on the fact that Brad Friedel is retired from international play. Thats the one question/comment I cant stand to see because it shows such little knowledge of the team.
Haha…I think it was before the Honduras game — during the political unrest — when I asked in the comments section if you were communicating by way of a backpack with an antenna, and you dropped the “Knife, this is Variable” line. Cracked me up.
What? No ‘Clear and Present Danger’ love??
(SBI-That actually is on my top movies list. How’d you know?)
I think it is a bigger issue than just Torres. It is an issue of integration.
What makes Brazil such a great Footballing nation has been their ability to maximize the diversity of talent and races. They have strong, fast and technical players mixed together. They have totally integrated their teams.
Even Morgan Wootten took time to visit Brazil and adopted some of their coaching techniques to learn how to integrate his teams to success.
The US is pretty one dimensional right now. We are strong and fast, but lack the technical ability or tactical acumen to outsmart the great teams. We can sometimes catch them with our athleticism, but we miss out on totally dominating.
There was very little diversity of talent on the 2009 Gold Cup Roster.
There is some diverse talent in this country. Bob Bradley is old school. For the US Soccer soccer program to grow, we need to learn from the Brazilians – not the Europeans. Everyone thinks the Brazilian way is about dribbling. It’s not, it’s about efficiency. Their methods are actually quit simple to teach kids.
The problem with Torres is he is too good for the current style of play.
[Comment From Damian Damian: ]
How do you explain the USA national team’s inconsistency since 1994 ? Can 2010 be another 2006 ? What are your realistic chances for the national team at this World Cup (to what stage of the WC) ? Wednesday April 28, 2010 2:36 Damian
2:37 You need to realize that each World Cup is its own event and you can’t assume trends. A good 2002 World Cup doesn’t mean a better 2006 World Cup. Cycles change, teams change. The sooner people realize that it’s not always an upward arch in World Cup results the sooner we’ll accept each tournament’s results for what they are.
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Thank you, Ives. Great point.
EJ scored 2 goals for Aris against Olympiakos today. Adu with an assist.
I’m tired of the Bradley doesn’t know how to use Torres debate. Torres isn’t ready for international soccer yet, not as a full-time starter. He holds onto to the ball too long and still is light in the tackle. He chases play alot. He’s close, and I think will be a good Nat, but not yet.
nice job der
HAHAHAH! IVES SAID THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID!!!!!
If Charlie doesn’t play for Sochaux, will Bob take him? Should Bob take him?