Michael Drew

Michael Drew is a Wisconsinite currently residing in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He enjoys thinking and writing about politics, history, and philosophy, listening to music and podcasts of all kinds, watching and occasionally playing sports, and playing the cello.

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9 Responses

  1. Michael Drew says:

    …I take it back. Hat tricks are cool. I thought Jozy had all four.

    Still!

    (!)Report

    • I can’t wait to get home and watch this on DVR. Usually I try to avoid reading about games that happen when I’m not home, but for whatever reason I made an exception today and checked in on the game every once in awhile. I’m kind of kicking myself right now for that.

      Still, watching Jozy reach his potential over the last year, and especially the last few months, has been nothing short of amazing.

      What is this, 12 straight wins now? And this one was probably the toughest – on the road against a top 15 team that’s playing at full strength (or close enough) without two of our top 3 attackers, and without our top central defender and top left back.

      Meanwhile, MLS is thriving and has an absurd number of millionaires lining up for expansion franchises.

      I think this game might finally stick in the US.

      Also, too: this is now officially the most regrettable post of my blogging career:
      https://ordinary-times.com/blog/2011/07/29/the-good-german

      Crow tastes good.Report

      • Chris in reply to Mark Thompson says:

        Yeah, this is a good time to be a soccer fan in the U.S. (plus, soccer-playing robots!).

        Here’s hoping for a good WC group draw.Report

      • Sorry if I spoiled it for you!

        Pretty crazy what they’re doing. I was ready to say, ‘Eh, they haven’t really played anyone’ when they went down 0-2. They weren’t going to be satisfied with that, though, apparently.

        I was totally a Klinsmann spetic myself – he didn’t seem to have a sense of what he was getting into to me, in terms of creating and sustaining interest in the U.S. and in terms of keeping a team motivated who have to face being not one of the great powers in the game despite the status of the country they represent in the world. But that was based purely on judging his affect. (And probably stereotype – ‘clinical German’ style not meshing with all-effort U.S.’ native style.) Turns out he knew exactly what his task was. & how to do it (and turns out he had some talent to supplement the effort with, too).Report

      • Don’t worry- as I said, I had been checking in on the score periodically.

        On Klinsi, I couldn’t agree more. For me at least, one of the things I underestimated- and shouldn’t have- was that he is by no means a coach that fits the German stereotype, and that in many ways his style actually fits the American individualist psyche quite well even as it is almost antithetical to the philosophy that has dominated the way the game has historically been coached in the US.Report

  2. Chris says:

    That must have been a fun game, with the USMNT down 2 at halftime and winning 4-3, with B-H scoring their 3rd in the 90th minute.Report

  3. Damn – I just took a look at the stats for the game. The shots on goal and shots attempted were the same for each side – a fairly high 12(6). I can’t think of a game where the US had stats like that against a quality non-Concacaf opponent, much less one where those stats actually matched the opponent’s. But even more impressive are the possession stats: 60/40 in the US’ favor. Possession stats can be overrated obviously, but playing against an attack-minded team like Bosnia, to dominate possession like that just shows how much the team’s mentality has changed now that they’ve bought into Klinsmann’s style.Report

    • I’ve not seen the game yet, either, but it’s a super-exciting result. It’s easy to get excited about the possibilities next year for the USMNT.Report

    • Funny thing about that is, Klinsmann announced that his team would not have majority of possession in the match: “‘We won’t have majority of possession. We will have to show everything we have to compete eye to eye. We want to challenge them. We want to come in and say: “Hey, we want to give you a game and, possibly, we want to beat you,”‘ he said with a quick chuckle.”

      A little misdirection, perhaps? [/Dr. Evil pinky-at-corner-of-mouth]Report