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Posted

that's me laughing at all of you people who have doubted my boy, Freddy Adu. yes, he was way overhyped. yes, he still hasn't had a legendary impact in the MLS. and yes, he played "average" against S. Korea. (i'm talking to you, lucas, scott, et al)

but - bam! - how about a hat trick against Poland's U20 squad, who had already defeated Brazil? and keading us to a 6-1 defeat of the Poles? watch ths clip -- Adu's first goal comes at about 1:30, and it is one of the finest goals you will ever see.

and how about quarterbacking his club to a 2-1 victory over mighty Brazil? i watched the whole 90 minutes and trust me, that was no fluke. the US controlled possession well, played organized team defense, and withstood some fantastic individual talent, matching it with rugged, team-oriented attacks.

check out this short clip...notice Freddy here, there, everywhere. that's him with a brilliant and forceful open-field slide tackle on a Brazilian, sliding the ball right to Altitodre for the first goal. and that's him late in the match with an absolutely BRILLIANT play (which is not featured in the clip...bro played keepy-uppy around two Brazilians in the corner, looping it over their heads) leading to an advance on goal, a strike on target, rebounded right to our striker for the winning goal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsBEIxvLAMU

give the lad a break -- he's only 18, and it is the rare English footballer who has reached his potential at such a young age. if he is a complete flop 5 years from now, when he'll still only be 23, then we can talk.



Posted

he's played well so far, but i would never look too much into the U20 world cup, it is a decent competition but things change as we have seen... even Saudi Arabia have won it before haha

Posted

Fair enough Manny, that's the best I've seen Freddie play since the U-17 Championship. He didn't do as much against Brazil as Poland but still had a good game. I'm a big Adu fan I just don't like all the hype that's thrown as us about him..

Argies 1 our Pizza's peru 0.

Guest Brian M
Posted

Dodgy Polish defending aside, there's nothing wrong with Adu's finishing that's for sure.



Posted

Nice stuff from Adu but I kinda like that Zizzou guy (or whatever he's called). He seems to be Drenthe of the U20 World Cup (does that make sense?) icon_wink.gif

Posted

hehe- i saw a goal on yotube from the mls where the comentator said the ball went into "the upper 90!" icon_eek.gif



Posted

I'll tell you all a story,

My flatmate worked in the US for a couple of months, Washington to be specific, and joined a footy team while he was there.

One day, during a game, Dan bamboozled two of the opposing defenders, before launching a soaring cross-field pass to the striker, who slotted the ball in the net. Understandably chuffed, Dan turned to his team mates for praise, and was told 'Gee, you created a really neat play.' He didn't know whether to thank him or punch him in the face.

Posted
I'll tell you all a story,

My flatmate worked in the US for a couple of months, Washington to be specific, and joined a footy team while he was there.

One day, during a game, Dan bamboozled two of the opposing defenders, before launching a soaring cross-field pass to the striker, who slotted the ball in the net. Understandably chuffed, Dan turned to his team mates for praise, and was told 'Gee, you created a really neat play.' He didn't know whether to thank him or punch him in the face.

icon_lol.gificon_lol.gificon_lol.gif



Posted

you know it's funny...

i read a really prescient (you do understand that word, don't you, Elliott?) humor column written by a British journalist a few weeks ago in a Brit newspaper, and it spent a great deal of time mocking the way that Americans view and talk about sawwker. you know, using sporting terms from other sports ("quarterbacking") and the bad sports commentary, etc. but in the end, the journo concluded that the reason that the main reason that the English mocked the Americans is because as a country, England are scared that the Americans will one day (soon) be playing on par with them. something along the lines of how football is the last thing left in the world that the English do better than the Americans, and can you imagine how annoying the Americans would be to deal with if they felt somehow superior to the English in what English feel is the sport they invented (or at least perfected)? and i can see his point. because about 15-20 years ago, when the Americans were true minnows and we had about 10 players who played oversees, it wasn't really fun to pick on America and their soccer prowess. it was like picking on someone playing in the Special Olympics. but now, we have dozens and dozens of young and established players across Europe, and the numbers are growing each day, and our national team is starting to make some noise, and our U20 team is kicking @ss, and our domestic league is gaining a bit of respectability, and...well, you get my point.

btw, Adu quarterbacked the U20 team to a come from behind win against Uruguay last night, one of the dirtier teams i have ever seen. their goal was to hurt our star striker, Jozy Altidore (which they accomplished) and then once they lost, the purposefully invaded our celebratory players with the sole intent of getting someone red carded to miss our quarterfinal match later in the week. Adu had no wonder goals, but he had some dazzling plays nonetheless.

Posted

No offense meant by my story, but I don't buy that arguement one bit. I laugh at it because it is funny, just like most Americans would laugh if we tried to commentate accurately on American football. The whole 'psychoanalysis' interpretation of 'deep-rooted fear' is a 'touch' over the top if you ask me....

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Posted
No offense meant by my story, but I don't buy that arguement one bit. I laugh at it because it is funny, just like most Americans would laugh if we tried to commentate accurately on American football. The whole 'psychoanalysis' interpretation of 'deep-rooted fear' is a 'touch' over the top if you ask me....

exactly.

it's... just... funny.

Posted
something along the lines of how football is the last thing left in the world that the English do better than the Americans,

Clearly not true though:

We do the following better than Americans

Humour

Bangers and Mash

Binge drinking

Maintain a reasonable ratio of churches to population

Brewing beer

Whisky

Welfare State

Yorskhire Pudding

Marmite

Getting on with Canada

Managing elections (well we are marginally better, although we are still worse than most of the Western World...apart from the italians)

Having our language bar stewardised (there is a a 'u' in colour and there is nothing French about what my chippy serves up!

Posted

you got us there, loz. i might put up a fight about the beer brewing thing, but just a small fight. everything else -- spot on.

as for those who disagreed with the premise about why the English make fun of the way American perceive football, answer me this -- is it really funny that Americans and British do things differently? i mean, when i was 12 and started watching Monty Python, I thought it was comedic gold that you used the word knickers instead of panties, and the loo instead of the bathroom, and oh my god they say bloody all the time how funny! but then i got to be an adult and it really wasn't that funny (except when i'm really drunk, then it's funny still). so ask yourself this: why do you still laugh when you hear an American announcer use hockey expressions to describe a football goal, or when an American message board dolt uses the word quarterback, or when an American sports columnist says "E.P.L." instead of Premiership? is it really just because you haven't matured (or are drunk, which is acceptable)? or is there something more there?



Posted

hehe- the answer is yes (it's still funny) and no, it's not a case of maturity. icon_wink.gif

more worrying is this:

I thought it was comedic gold that you used the word knickers instead of panties, and the loo instead of the bathroom, and oh my god they say bloody all the time how funny! but then i got to be an adult and it really wasn't that funny (except when i'm really drunk, then it's funny still).

you know that's not the reason monty python is funny, right?

Posted

i misspoke, gullit. i meant when i was a kid, i found the "knickers" usage funny along with the skits themselves. then, i stopped laughing at the things that were said differently and just appreciated the content. hell, i was a 16 year old nerd who had each episode taped on my VCR and went around singing the Lumberjack Song. let's just say i didn't get laid all that often. [funny aside -- a few years ago, a local theater was showing a restored version of the Holy Grail, and as we approached the theater, i saw the line of morons and dorks lining up to get it. "good God," i groaned to my wife. "look at this pack of losers...that's what you get at a Monty Python movie." to which she responded, "you realize you're one of them, don't you?"]

Posted

Finding British terms amusing is not limited to kids Mannyjello!

I worked in a student hotel in Toronto in the summers of 1994 and 1996 and all the staff had walkie talkies to stay in contact. I was working one day and got on my walkie to ask housekeeping to get more bog roll delivered to the 16th floor, it must have been at least 5 minutes before the walkies stopped reverbarating with the sound of people giggling about the use of the word 'bog'. ON my last day I chanced my arm and used 'sh*t tickets' instead - needlesss to say everyone but management found it funny.

I also sang the Monty Python 'Sit on my Face' song down the walkie on my last day. Amazing that they gave me the job back in 96!



Posted
you got us there, loz. i might put up a fight about the beer brewing thing, but just a small fight. everything else -- spot on.

as for those who disagreed with the premise about why the English make fun of the way American perceive football, answer me this -- is it really funny that Americans and British do things differently? i mean, when i was 12 and started watching Monty Python, I thought it was comedic gold that you used the word knickers instead of panties, and the loo instead of the bathroom, and oh my god they say bloody all the time how funny! but then i got to be an adult and it really wasn't that funny (except when i'm really drunk, then it's funny still). so ask yourself this: why do you still laugh when you hear an American announcer use hockey expressions to describe a football goal, or when an American message board dolt uses the word quarterback, or when an American sports columnist says "E.P.L." instead of Premiership? is it really just because you haven't matured (or are drunk, which is acceptable)? or is there something more there?

Manny,

There was no offence meant mate, as G4 says, it's just funny. There is no other reasoning behind it.

By the way, is that Monty PyTHON, or Monty Pythen like everyone else pronounces it?

Posted
No offense meant by my story, but I don't buy that arguement one bit. I laugh at it because it is funny, just like most Americans would laugh if we tried to commentate accurately on American football. The whole 'psychoanalysis' interpretation of 'deep-rooted fear' is a 'touch' over the top if you ask me....

exactly.

it's... just... funny.

Agreed.


Posted

I remember saying a while back, while living in the states the 1st time around, that if they wanted to, if the government or sporting authorities gave them the backing then the USA could dominate world soccer. The reason being, the infrastructure of college and sports working hand in hand, and the training facilities available to each college athlete could produce a seriously strong athletic team

Now, I know being an athlete doesn't mean you will be a great footballer, but it is merely making a point. If the States can constantly churn out athletes again and again who can comepte at major levels in any sporting activity the chose, means that if they chose Soccer, they would go "all guns blazing" into dominating world soccer. Just look at the Olympics, and the number of top athletes whom represent the USA.

However, due to teh relative unpopularity of Soccer out in the states, it will take a HUGE turning of the tide of public opinnion on soccer before this happens. Soccer is mainly seen as a girls sport out here, as Title 9 (a law that states every dollar spent on male's scholarships must be spent on females) will forever see Soccer as a way of offering more Scholarship money to the men. A whole team of 20 girls on full scholarships pays for more than enough of the mens' Basketball team, and a good few of the Football teams. It is often that a University out here will have a Female soccer team, and no mens. This to me, is why US women's soccer has been so strong for the last few years. The men could be that way too. Lord knows they have enough population and athletes to do so if they wished.

However, back to the USA and Britain. British comedy mainly consists of talking about the toilet, and stupid walks. American humour is mimicking shagging, and farting. British beer for mass consumption is better than the mass produced sh*te out here, but there are some great smaller "micro" breweries that could give a good few of our top breweries a run for their money, and simultainiously urinate on Carling etc from a great height.

Scott, forever the international diplomat, until I get a fw beers in me, MacLean



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