Barca or Real signing these kids IS good for them. Messi literally wouldn’t be who he is today with Barca paying for his growth treatments.

I think the problem is that most teams don’t work like the Red Bulls. Most MLS teams would never trade a captain to make way for a teen, no matter how good he is.

The USA’s problem is not athleticism, it’s basic fundamental skills. More players involved in inadequate training doesn’t solve the problem.

Pulisic and McKennie were training at US based academies before moving to the Bundesliga. McKennie made the move as an 18 year old, and was entirely molded by FC Dallas.

I’m named after my maternal grandfather and happen to share my full name with a famous person (mostly among older people). The guy is dead now so it’s noticed less and less but I still wonder what the hell my parents were thinking sometimes.

What kind of asshole has a playbook for a soccer team? I’ve coached for years and that’s the last thing I’d do.

So many thoughts on this. I hate Lavar Ball’s persona, but he makes decisions that have a good kernel of sense being lost in the nonsense. Yes, his kids should go play pro ball instead of amateur ball. They should make money while they can. Yes, making your own shoe is probably a better idea than signing a shoe deal…

This sounds like why I love Mount & Blade: Warband. Janky as hell, crashes a lot, absurdly difficult at times.. but more fun than just about anything out there.

Seeing how his TFC teammates have performed in qualifying, I can understand the Italian FA being a little uncertain about calling up Giovinco.

I loved those games so much! I had run throughs with every character. I would run and re run the troll boss level to get the best items and exp. I was always sad I couldn’t play as Gimli.

Nespresso is so much better than Keurig. The only downside that I can see is that the pods are more expensive and definitely more difficult to find.

The Aeropress is lovely except for the limited amount of coffee it produces. I went from Aeropress every day to living with my wife and now I make coffee in a pot like a barbarian. I have resisted the pressure to get a Keurig, though!

There’s a million little gripes I have but this might be my biggest: when there’s a line of cars passing a slow moving vehicle on the right, don’t blaze down the right side and squeeze in front of me as I leave a safe following distance between cars. A special fuck you if you were directly behind me before and you put…

It’s a long ass season. Of course these guys don’t go 100% all the time. For a lot of rookies their first couple years are spent figuring out how to pace themselves so they’re not burned out by the post season. For certain games, though, the gloves come off, and I’m sure LaVar is ensuring that Lakers vs. Anyone are…

I bought a 91 Civic sedan with 120K on it in 2010 for $850 in cash. It was a fun car with the manual transmission. Without it, it would have been too much of a pain in the ass. I can’t see paying 5500 for a car that’s less fun and a lot more weird.

Just hashing this out, but many of these players are upgrades at this very moment over what we played against Trinidad:

If you’re looking for a replacement for Bradley, you’re better off shaving Jonathan Gonzalez’s head. 18 y/o old starting for the best team in Liga MX.

You realize that FIFA determines the number of teams a confederation gets, right? 5/11 is better than 4/16 any way you look at it. There’s a lot of talent in Africa except their qualifying is weird, often corrupt, and their teams can’t pull their heads out of their asses (see Ghana’s 2014 WC campaign). Having a…

Klinsmann lost to Mexico at home and Costa Rica away, #2 and #3 on the most difficult fixtures list. Arena lost to T&T in a crucial game. Yeah, this one’s on Arena.

If you look at World Cup performance, CONCACAF is way, way better than Asia. Since 2006, 12 teams have qualified from Asia but only 2 have advanced past the group stages. CONCACAF has put 5 of 11 past in the same time frame. You’re insane if you think Asia is better.