What happened with cruizn is actually really a shame.

Before in the USMNT thread he seemed genuine, just unintelligent and really passionate. I think though, overall, he was an asset to the thread.

Now he's obviously so far over the top that it's completely obvious he can't actually believe what he's saying and just trolling for replies. I've fallen for it too and actually responded seriously a couple times to something he's said, because he got me with the gradual shift from genuine-but-stupid to obvious troll.

It is a shame for the thread not to have a Mexican foil, but sadly I think it's time that we all stop biting and responding to his silliness no matter how many times he posts "Mexico obv top 5 team in the world!" "USA scumbags for choosing good players for a national team roster" or "This XYZ kid that no one wants outside the Mexican league is the greatest ever and should play for Bayern or Barcelona" etc.

The level of MAD cruizn is generating right noe just increases the legend of CRUIZN

The words legend and cruizn should never be put into the same sentence. Unless trollolololol is also used.

the fact that he is doing it when mexico is playing like absolute dog**** multiplies his troll score

you're right and lol me for even bothering, going to try to avoid serious replies to him from now on

As I said, I've fallen for it in the past too so it's not your fault. I agree now that serious posters should probably just stop replying.

Cruizn is a classic example of a poster becoming a parody of himself. Just textbook really.

agree

I knew that one of these days i was going to get heat like this, but i find it hilarious that it has come on the day that i didn't say anything bad. All i said was that its pathetic what USA did by bringing in 4 players to strengthen the squad. but of course with all of you not wanting to accept it, i get ganged up on from all of you and you all just begin to talk about how boring and fake i am. srsly well done. im done posting in this thread.

Why should we not support trying to win the tourney?

it's not so bad being on the same team as nutshot

AMERICA

.

I will say this. If cruizn leaves, that means the only mexico poster left is an angry militant who couldn't be more opposite in posting style from cruizn. The tenor of this thread would get nasty quickly, and I don't know if we want that.

:thumbup: good to see you growing up a little bit

Please, the first game usa drops that they were favored to win he'll be back in here, as is his right as an american.

Anyone change their mind on Klinsmann yet? Say what you want about him but this dude is getting results. Not to be too results oriented but this past year has been pretty phenomenal for the USMNT.

Hard to judge because of sample size effects. We really don't get that many meaningful matches per 4-year cycle. I'm not unhappy with him at this point, but I'm not particularly well-informed.

maybe i was wrong about him. he seems happy changing formations, trying different things. i like his subs largely and the results are obviously amazing.

he does have a few player love affairs (like beckerman) and i like/will always like bradley, but jurgen is woeing me over

Results have been good and bringing along Jones and Chandler while making Landon work for his spot were great moves. It is the best team in USA history imo. If we can get the defense solid before WC I will be thrilled.

My opinion on the whole hasn't changed, but, I have generally been in favor of him.

The fact is, the US needed a change from the old guard of American coaches in Sampson, Arena, and Bradley. It was time to move in a different direction and those previous coaches had done a good job getting the US forward, but it felt like things had been taken as far as they could in using coaches that rely heavily on a 442 base and having the US players being busy bees. The defensive shape was generally strong, but not as much would be offered up going forward and it felt like the team was spinning its wheels.

Klinsmann isn't the final answer for the US, but more of a guy to bring in tactical diversity and a fresh set of eyes. He still has his deficiencies that won't go away, but for the US to go onto higher heights, I think he is/was a necessary in providing that jolt to get things going again. There's a lot of work that still needs to be done if the US is to become a team that can be a threat to reach the quarters in every World Cup, but that will happen down the road. Hopefully there is someone around to be the American Low to do that (though the youth set up is far from where it was in Germany when Klinsmann took over for Germany).

this may be tough due to a lack of talent. Klinsmann also hasn't been known as a defensive guru in his past.

Our A squad has definitely looked as good over the summer as it has in a while. That said, I think the current GC run is more of a nice bonus than anything truly meaningful as regards Klinsmann. Our GC roster just has more talent and depth than any of the teams we've faced. You could argue that Klinsmann has freed our players to play, our you could argue that we just have good players playing, in general, pretty well. (Landon is clearly the best player at the Gold Cup.)

Let's look at the five-match summer WCQ run. We were outclassed by Belgium (2-4). We squeaked out a pretty lucky win against a German B-squad (who were still very good, but, honestly, both teams looked visibly disinterested) owing partial thanks to one of the most lol own goals in recent memory. We picked up a nice away win in Jamaica where we played well for about half the game and almost gave it away, we beat Panama 2-0 at home, and we beat Honduras 1-0 at home.

Overall, we are (were) clearly playing a level above anything we have in the past couple years. Klinsmann's found a solid shape: (back four), Bradley-Cameron/Jones, Johnson-Dempsey-Zusi, Altidore which has allowed us to control CONCACAF matches and produce quality pieces of attacking play. Again, the question is "How much do we attribute to him?" Altidore, Bradley, and Dempsey all played incredibly well over the five-match run, but all three of them are playing well on the club level too, Altidore and Bradley in particular coming off breakout seasons. And it would have been fairly easy to see different outcomes in the Honduras and Jamaica game (though we controlled the Honduras game very impressively for most of it.) Finally, our back four -- to be blunt -- is not anything resembling international quality at the moment.

So what to draw from this? Well: a) I think Klinsmann has finally found an XI he feels comfortable selecting with consistency, which has been a huge asset. b) Our best players are playing very well, which is awesome to see, and the type of thing you could argue is linked to Klinsmann's footballing ideology or is completely independent of Klinsmann. c) The main criticisms of Klinsmann are "lack of tactical acumen and preparation", on which it's going to be difficult for him to "prove" much at all solely playing competitive matches against CONCACAF opposition.

One thing I do wonder with MB90 going forward is, how will his role change at Roma with Strootman now involved? Will they both be switching off on being a DLP and B2B, or will they seal one role for the team and then the question is, who takes which role?