US Soccer! Gold Cup Tonight

[UKCowboysFan]

Interesting debate about Lukaku & Rooney.

The press in recent weeks in England have been full of Rooney to Chelsea stories, & now are full of stories about Gareth Bale to Madrid.

Lukaku isn't even the most talked about Belgian striker in England, that honour falls to Benteke who was an absolute revelation at Aston Villa last season.

There is no doubt that Belgium is one of the most talented teams in the world right now, but as others have said I'm not sure that talent alone is enough to win the World Cup, you need an extra something and I'm not sure that Belgium have it.

As for the US, they have as much chance of winning the World Cup as England.............. None.

Although they have a better chance of getting to Brazil than England do

 

[daschoo]

Not really. If you follow the recent news including a number of articles from England over the past week to 10 days Lukaku is all they are talking about.
He tore it up fpr Belgium in their national team work then came back to CFC and tore it up on the Asian tour. More importantly, physically he's simply bigger, faster and stronger than Rooney. Lukaku is 6'3" and over 220 pounds ripped pounds. He is basically Dez Bryant.
He's just turned 20 and has everything in front of him.

Rooney is rich beyond belief and hasn't been in form for a couple years now. He's not old but he has been sliding since he was 24/25.
His sale price is apparently 40m. Chelsea wouldn't sell Lukaku for 60m.

I believe Lukaku will be the best striker in the world over the next 3-4 years and will be the golden ball winner at the WC.

can't help feeling this, like most of your posts, is heavily influenced by your love of "your chels"

 

[joseephuss]

Rooney is rich beyond belief and hasn't been in form for a couple years now. He's not old but he has been sliding since he was 24/25.
His sale price is apparently 40m. Chelsea wouldn't sell Lukaku for 60m.

That is easy to say because there is no team that would offer 60m for Lukaku. Probably no team that would offer half of that.

I listen to Sirius 94 every day, which is their soccer station. I have not heard all that much about Lukaku over the past several weeks. He definitely has the potential to be great, but he is unproven. He had a great pre-season last summer and still ended up being put on loan. I'm rooting for the guy, but he has to have a great season first before I can start considering him one of the current greats.

 

[jterrell]

If thin at striker is Klose, Gomez, and Podolski then I would like to be thin at striker.

The US with Donovan, Johnson, Wondo isn't bad at all there.
EJ has world class size/speed and is a perfect fit as a 70th minute sub.
Wondo is exquisitely skilled but lacks pace.
And well Donovan is Donovan which is as good as any German striker.

There is a reason the best German club team is lead up front by a Polish kid.

This of course assumes Dempsey plays attacking ** and Donovan up front. Klinsman has lots of options.

 

[jterrell]

can't help feeling this, like most of your posts, is heavily influenced by your love of "your chels"

lol i can't deny that.
very probably biased in that way.
but it also doesnt mean i am wrong.
6 months ago no one knew belgium had a team.
let's see what happens in a year.

keep the blue flag flying high.

 

[jterrell]

That is easy to say because there is no team that would offer 60m for Lukaku. Probably no team that would offer half of that.

I listen to Sirius 94 every day, which is their soccer station. I have not heard all that much about Lukaku over the past several weeks. He definitely has the potential to be great, but he is unproven. He had a great pre-season last summer and still ended up being put on loan. I'm rooting for the guy, but he has to have a great season first before I can start considering him one of the current greats.

sigh... not so my man, not so.

Chelsea bought him for just under 20m as a 17 year old who'd never stepped foot on the national team or our of the Belgium league. (actually might be just over ---euros to dollars math)
Real Madrid with Mourinho at the helm was the 2nd team in bidding.

Last year Borussia was the team most linked to him.

If you've heard Mourinho speak about him they like him better than Torres for the coming season.
He's 20 so of course he is unproven. Except of course that 17 goals in 20 games in the EPL for West Brom at age 19.

A top team NOT willing to pay 60m for him would be the oddity now.

 

[jterrell]

Interesting debate about Lukaku & Rooney.

The press in recent weeks in England have been full of Rooney to Chelsea stories, & now are full of stories about Gareth Bale to Madrid.

Lukaku isn't even the most talked about Belgian striker in England, that honour falls to Benteke who was an absolute revelation at Aston Villa last season.

There is no doubt that Belgium is one of the most talented teams in the world right now, but as others have said I'm not sure that talent alone is enough to win the World Cup, you need an extra something and I'm not sure that Belgium have it.

As for the US, they have as much chance of winning the World Cup as England.............. None.

Although they have a better chance of getting to Brazil than England do

All fair points from across the pond.
Dembele is well-proven and Belgium will be wise to use both guys liberally. So tough to defend that with Hazard and Fellaini setting serve.
Belgium hasn't lost since 2011 away to Germany. They've won the last 5 matches outright including over Serbia. SO only way they are going to show something special is playing in the WC.

The US is at 99.5% odds to qualify now. No concacaf team has ever failed after having this many points at this stage.
England isn't as good as the US right now imho. I watch A LOT of EPL/English National Soccer and England has a black hole in midfield.

 

[joseephuss]

The US with Donovan, Johnson, Wondo isn't bad at all there.
EJ has world class size/speed and is a perfect fit as a 70th minute sub.
Wondo is exquisitely skilled but lacks pace.
And well Donovan is Donovan which is as good as any German striker.

There is a reason the best German club team is lead up front by a Polish kid.

This of course assumes Dempsey plays attacking ** and Donovan up front. Klinsman has lots of options.

At age 35 Klose is on the downside of his illustrious career, but I would still take him over Donovan, Johnson or Wondo.

 

[joseephuss]

sigh... not so my man, not so.

Chelsea bought him for just under 20m as a 17 year old who'd never stepped foot on the national team or our of the Belgium league. (actually might be just over ---euros to dollars math)
Real Madrid with Mourinho at the helm was the 2nd team in bidding.

Last year Borussia was the team most linked to him.

If you've heard Mourinho speak about him they like him better than Torres for the coming season.
He's 20 so of course he is unproven. Except of course that 17 goals in 20 games in the EPL for West Brom at age 19.

A top team NOT willing to pay 60m for him would be the oddity now.

And yet no top team is stepping up to try and sign him away from Chelsea at that rate. There aren't even rumors of a team willing to offer 60m for him right now.

I like the young man. I have watched a lot of Chelsea and EPL games over the last several seasons. I've seen him play. The potential is there, but he just has to prove it. Until he does, no team is going to be offering up 60m.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

At age 35 Klose is on the downside of his illustrious career, but I would still take him over Donovan, Johnson or Wondo.

Will Klose even be on their WC team? That guy is a goal scoring machine in international competition though.

 

[daschoo]

The US with Donovan, Johnson, Wondo isn't bad at all there.
EJ has world class size/speed and is a perfect fit as a 70th minute sub.
Wondo is exquisitely skilled but lacks pace.
And well Donovan is Donovan which is as good as any German striker.

There is a reason the best German club team is lead up front by a Polish kid.

This of course assumes Dempsey plays attacking ** and Donovan up front. Klinsman has lots of options.

Dortmund are not the best club team in Germany. Landon Donovan or Marco Reus? I think you'd struggle to find many picking Donovan

Also 6 months ago the vast majority of football fans were more than aware of the quality Belgium had. As for your claim that England aren't as good as the U.S. it is, as a Scot it pains me to say, laughable. As over-rated as the English are - particularly by themselves - I don't see anyone from the U.S. that would be in their starting 11.

 

[jterrell]

And yet no top team is stepping up to try and sign him away from Chelsea at that rate. There aren't even rumors of a team willing to offer 60m for him right now.

I like the young man. I have watched a lot of Chelsea and EPL games over the last several seasons. I've seen him play. The potential is there, but he just has to prove it. Until he does, no team is going to be offering up 60m.

Chelsea isn't offering him for sale.
He was going to be loaned out to BVB last year but stayed.
Dude is best friends with Hazard and wants to be at Chelsea.

Dortmund are not the best club team in Germany. Landon Donovan or Marco Reus? I think you'd struggle to find many picking Donovan

Also 6 months ago the vast majority of football fans were more than aware of the quality Belgium had. As for your claim that England aren't as good as the U.S. it is, as a Scot it pains me to say, laughable. As over-rated as the English are - particularly by themselves - I don't see anyone from the U.S. that would be in their starting 11.

Bradley, Dempsey and Donovan start easily for England.
Howard is every bit as good as Hart.

England is better in the back 4 but weaker in midfield.
Similar at striker.

 

[jterrell]

Dortmund are not the best club team in Germany. Landon Donovan or Marco Reus? I think you'd struggle to find many picking Donovan

Also 6 months ago the vast majority of football fans were more than aware of the quality Belgium had. As for your claim that England aren't as good as the U.S. it is, as a Scot it pains me to say, laughable. As over-rated as the English are - particularly by themselves - I don't see anyone from the U.S. that would be in their starting 11.

Reus is interesting. Very much like a young Donovan. Pace and technical offensive player. ** type with less than stellar air skills.
At 23 with a banner run for BVB that lead t CL Final, I'd say most would prefer him to Donovan who just spent a year in retirement.
But Donovan is very likely heading to Europe in December. So we'll see how he fares there this time around.

And you are probably correct on Belgium if you mean the strong football fan base and not casual followers.
They are obviously loaded. But many of those guys have been added to the NT in the past 18 months and Belgium was fairly terrible not long ago.

 

[RastaRocket]

Did I just read.... LUKAKU WILL BE THE BEST STRIKER IN THE WORLD in the world????

No way that happens.

For starters, he is never even going to sniff Messi's level. He wont even be the best striker in the Premier League.

 

[jterrell]

Did I just read.... LUKAKU WILL BE THE BEST STRIKER IN THE WORLD in the world????

No way that happens.

For starters, he is never even going to sniff Messi's level. He wont even be the best striker in the Premier League.

Messi is 7 years older than Lukaku.
Lukaku is the most coveted striker in the world for his age. So he certainly COULD become the best striker in the world at some point.
Always long odds to say someone will be the best at anything but Lukaku is every bit as good as Dez Bryant in year 2 right now and essentially they are the same athlete.

As to the EPL specifically the top striker seems to be a moving target month by month.
But Lukaku kicked teeth in playing for West Brom with 17 goals in 2012/3 playing right at 2000 minutes. That's absolutely ridiculous for a 19 year old kid. It was the 6th best total in the league.
And the guys above him average 2800 minutes.

There are some legit Soccer minds in this forum but a few guys who play Fifa 12 and think that is the authority.

It's like people who thought Austin was better than Dez in Dez' rookie year....

Lukaku's ceiling is open for debate.
But his performance thus far at this age is outstanding by fact and track record.
Anyone disputing that is simply not very bright.

Lukaku's 5 or 6 years younger than the other strikers in his class.
The only guy his age considered better is Neymar.
And Neymar is a totally different player with far less pure size and strength but insane technical skill.

 

[jterrell]

And yet no top team is stepping up to try and sign him away from Chelsea at that rate. There aren't even rumors of a team willing to offer 60m for him right now.

I like the young man. I have watched a lot of Chelsea and EPL games over the last several seasons. I've seen him play. The potential is there, but he just has to prove it. Until he does, no team is going to be offering up 60m.

with every post you are making it clear you do not understand european soccer AT ALL.
lukaku played about 200 minutes total at Chelsea.
so they loaned him out to go get some playing time and he lit it up.
and he was good enough that by season's end BVB was trying to grab him for their CL title run to play with Lewy(who Bayern is desperate for BTW).

chelsea doesnt sell guys it wants. they do not need the money.
lukaku gets loaned out so they can keep his rights much like they do with others such as the young Belgian goalkeeper who is the most desired young keeper in the game.
but they keep those players rights because they have long chelsea careers ahead of them.

neymar is the guy most similar in value to lukaku. you heard more about neymar because he is a bit flashier and he was playing for a side that was always going to sell him to the highest bidder and soon. (Santos which happens to be the youth program I played for as a kid)
chelsea's russian owner doesn't care at all about a piddly 100m or even 200m. Neymar's transfer cost Barca 74m.

 

[RastaRocket]

Messi is 26 years old. Messi will be in his prime and dominating for 4 years or longer.

I would say Lukaku is overrated by Chelsea fans... He's a good player but most coveted in the world? Ehhhhhhhh......

 

[daschoo]

and he was good enough that by season's end BVB was trying to grab him for their CL title run to play with Lewy(who Bayern is desperate for BTW).

Firstly where did you hear anything about Dortmund wanting him?
Secondly you do know that the scenario you painted is not actually possible? They couldn't have gotten him towards the end of the season as the transfer window is closed between 1st February and 30th June. Even if he'd been a free agent it would have been after the registration deadlines for the latter stages of the Champions League so if they had been able to sign him they still wouldn't have been able to play him in their Champions League run. If we give the story a bit of benefit of the doubt, forget you said season end and say that they wanted him in January then he was out on loan at West Brom at the time already so would still have been out of their reach unless they agreed compensation with both West Brom and Chelsea.
Thirdly and slightly off topic no-one other than you has ever referred to Chelsea as my chels.

We'll need to agree to disagree regarding those 3 walking into the England team because none of them in my opinion are near good enough, albeit I've not seen a great deal of Bradley since his move to Roma so he may have improved massively since then.

 

[joseephuss]

Chelsea isn't offering him for sale.
.

What does that matter? ManU isn't offering Rooney for sale, but Chelsea is still making offers. If Lukaku was the most coveted striker as you say he is, then teams would still be making offers even if Chelsea chose to reject them. No team is making offers and certainly not for $60 million.

with every post you are making it clear you do not understand european soccer AT ALL.
lukaku played about 200 minutes total at Chelsea.
so they loaned him out to go get some playing time and he lit it up.
and he was good enough that by season's end BVB was trying to grab him for their CL title run to play with Lewy(who Bayern is desperate for BTW).

I understand European soccer just fine. I know why Chelsea put Lukaku on loan. They wanted him to get playing time because he wasn't going to get it at Chelsea last season. If they truly thought more of him, then they could have easily kept him last year and given him plenty of playing time. They only had one true center forward(Torres) for the first half of the season.

 

[erickb]

Ok Euro Soccer is fun and I watch it but what about Clint to the Sounders! My favorite player on my favorite soccer team!!!!