re: USA 1 vs. Italy 3, FINAL

I think Spector is a HUGE upgrade over Hejduk. And I'm the biggest Frankie fan in the world. It's plain to see that Gooch, Bocanegra, and Spector are heads and tails above the rest of our defenders. It's been so long since I've seen Cherundolo, I'm not sure where to rate him. I wonder if Spector can be pushed in when Cherundolo comes back, so Bocanegra can play left.

I've also been a big Freddy supporter, but there is something that MUST be obvious to everyone else that isn't to Joe US Fan.

From what I've seen from Freddy in full internationals, he's crafty with the ball, and has great vision with his passes. He can strike a ball pretty well also. On the downside, he is VERY small, and doesn't seem to have a lot of speed. I don't know that I've ever seen defense of any sort or even track back. THOSE negatives will wipe those positives right away.

I'll say this. I had the opportunity to see Freddy, in person for 90 minutes. The US U-20s had a friendly against the full Haitian team before a US/Guatemaula game in Frisco. All of the "stars" from that age group were there. I saw nothing from Freddy that impressed so much that I was wowed. In fact, the three players that really stood out were Jozy, Gabe Ferrari and Anthony Wallace.

I like Freddy, but I'm just not sure he's good enough right now.

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Aren't we always pretty good in the U-20's World Cups? I know we went to the semis during the last one...but how come that can't translate? I know it's early, and the guys who were in the last world cup might eventually step in and be big time players here (a couple already have...jozy/feilhaber)

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because for some reason European teams will give other country's young stars the benefit of the doubt.

I thought Jozy and Freddy outperformed Pato 2 years ago, but Pato is the one who lands at A.C. Milan.

Hopefully Altidore can make a splash in Spain. He went there in the fall. He signed with a huge club in La Liga and is on loan to Spain's second division to get more playing time. I fully expect him to make a difference in 2010.

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a friend of mine has played some U-17 teams and seen some U-20's of almost all the countries in CONCACAF. he says they are pretty scrub squads fwiw.

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Well CONCACAF's different. For the most part we own the CONCACAF teams in the full men's national teams.

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"I dedicate the goals to my family, who are watching the game on TV in America," Rossi said. "This is a dream, I'm playing for the world champions, and I also hope to become a world champion next year."

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-Rossi


God I hate this guy, what a cock douche. This is me just ranting, but I've seen many players refrain from celebrating against a team the came from. Podolski scored twice against his home country Poland and did not celebrate on either. Show some class you tool. Sorry if I sound like a homer, but we're all American here.

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a friend of mine has played some U-17 teams and seen some U-20's of almost all the countries in CONCACAF

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I'm mostly talking about the last U-20 WC and when we played Brazil and some of our guys (especially Adu), ran circles around almost their entire team.

Well, his team just got promoted to La Liga, so they aren't just a run of the mill second division team. Still, I have no idea why Villareal sent him there, when they had no interest in giving him playing time.

It seems like they have no problem wasting a 7.5 million Euro transfer, which is odd considering they aren't a big market team.

No, I don't think he played at all

If I was Jozy I'd demand a transfer to another squad, if Villareal called me back up. I would hate to play on the bench and watch Harry Potter score. Hell I'd pull an Adebayor and punch his Nick Bendtner arse on the field.

But Rossi may get transferred to Juve, which could open up a spot for Jozy.