valentine >> wednesday june 26 - 03:20

World Cup Update: Unfortunately, the USA was defeated by Turkmenistan in the round of 16. We managed to outperform our opponent in terms of shots, with a ratio of 13:7. It's important to note that we did not use a high-risk shooting strategy. Our defensive performance in this World Cup did not meet my expectations. In today's game, a strong goalkeeper can be everything.

Looking ahead, we have a reason to be hopeful - we'll have a rising super-talented goalkeeper for the next World Cup. Moreover, it's expected that some of the grandpa goalkeepers with 10+ blocking like those from Turkmenistan will retire by then.

Lastly, I would like to extend my best wishes to Ulysses for your forthcoming run!

Ulysses >> thursday june 27 - 02:22

Thank you!

Good job getting to the round of 16!  It was a long road, with very limited opportunities to get there from North America, and you still had to fend off a lot of the grandpa keepers.  Turkmenistan was a pretty tough matchup.

I'm glad that the team still has some strong depth to carry the team going forward.

Ulysses >> monday july 1 - 00:13

Thank you for the opportunity to run the team!

We are in a strong position in our group.  The United States has 3 of the 4 best keepers in the group (Antigua and Barbuda has the other one), and half the group does not have a keeper with more than 8 blocking.  The other teams have a few strong players, but nothing substantially better than what the United Staes has, and the United States has the more consistent depth across the roster.  We're lucky enough to have a handful of teams that have been able to produce youth 15 talents for the team.

Keeper is the strongest position.  We have 3 strong keepers who are relatively one.  I added a third as insurance for injuries.  It also allows the luxury of making substitutions to deal with endurance issues without sacrificing ability, if necessary.  Arzamendi is pretty close to establishing himself as the #1 for the next decade.

At forward we have a lot of strong players including three with 7+ talent.  With that said, Flower and Blakey are over 30 and Rollands and Harrow ended up on teams with a level 1 football academies.

At midfield we are in good condition for this tournemnt, but we do not have the crazy ~9+ passing midfielders that some of the other top teams have.  I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but it's nice to have one or two players like Caddow who can jump in with Long Shots and effectively add an extra elite forward.

Defense is pretty strong.  We have a handful of defenders that can jump into the offense with versatile if necessary as well as some strong players defensively for every role.  There's no 7 talent supertalent, but we have Covey (25) who came from a level 5 youth academy, currently has a level 5 football academy, and is hardworking.

Ulysses >> thursday july 4 - 17:54, Edited thursday july 4 - 17:58

So far the United States has gone 2-0 in the North American Qualifications, granted that the first two games were against two of the weaker teams in the group.  With that in mind, my goal for these two games was to build up the goal differential.  The next game will be against the Turks and Caicos islands who have a few really talented players (but nothing significantly above the level of the players on the U.S. roster) but a lack of depth.  Next will be a game against Antigua and Barbuda which is carried by their elite goaltender (who is roughly the same level of our goaltending at the moment).  Finally, we will play probably the deepest rival in this group, Mexico, before proceeding with the second leg of this round.

In the first game against El Salvador, we wond 4-1.  I honestly would have liked to score a few more goals or avoid the fluke goal scored on one of their two shots.  Great game by the defense in any case.  It was nice to see four different players contribute goals and three different players contribute assists (Caddow had one of each).  We seem to have some great offensive depth.

Against Curacao in our first interland match, we ended up winning 6-0.  My primary goal for these matches is to get key starters and promising younger players their experience for this season.  We had wide contributions once again on offense (with three goals from Flower) and another solid defensive effort.

Against Dominica, we won 5-1, outshooting them 23-2.  We had goals from 4 forwards once again and assists from every midfielder (both of them).  Injuries decimated our midfield depth for this game.  We had three injuries at midfield leaving 3 players including a prospect I mostly added to get some experience in interland matches.

We have another interland match later today against Guatemala.

Joe Maley's been injured for every game so far, but I'd like to work him into the starting rotation when possible due to his patriotic attribute.  I feel like he's a bit underrated by the star value, at least for national team purposes.

Ulysses >> thursday september 26 - 21:31

I would like to continue and take a shot at the World Cup.

The final round of the North American Championships should be coming up soon.  We should be a top contender, at least on paper - still have to play the games.

Ulysses >> friday october 4 - 21:52

The North American Championships finally started today.  We are in a group with Honduras, Mexico, and Costa Rica.

We played Honduras today.  They have some solid forwards but are weak in goal and have no manager.  We ended up winning 6-0, outshooting them 20-0.  Rollands, Bamford, Caddow, and Flower (3) scored for the U.S.  Caddow, Maley, Dumire, Pruett, Twinn, and Griffit contributed assists.  Arzamendi came out of the game with a clean sheet not facing a single shot.

Tomorrow we will play Mexico who we faced previously in our qualification round group.  Mexico does not have any especially dangerous players, but they have solid depth across their roster and players on defense and the midfield that can contribute offensively.

Ulysses >> friday october 4 - 22:17, Edited friday october 4 - 22:21

Regarding the roster:

1) In goal I'm going to stick with Arzamendi, but we have Cotton who is also one of the top keepers in the tournament on top of having the tournament player attribute.  Sands is another strong keeper who could start on many teams.

2) At forward we are led by Rollands and Bamford (both of whom are still pretty young with room to grow).  Bratcher and Flower will provide some strong depth.  I opted for Blakey with his tournament player attribute to round out the depth for the tournament.  Conaway should be back with the team to continue gaining experience for the future as one of the top prospects after the tournament.

3) At midfield, we've had some of our better players starting to get old and removed from the shortlist.  Caddow remains a top midfielder.  I like midfielders with long shots to add some more players who can contribute offensively in case the fowards are blocked by strong defenders and to add more players that can score if the forwards start to build up a penalty due to scoring goals.  Caddow is the only top midfielder with long shots at the moment (long shots is preferable to versatile), though I also have Ec.  Dumire has matured into a very strong midfielder.  I was honestly a bit nervous about his dirty attribute before, but he is too strong not to use at this point and seems to have learned correct to remove the dirty attribute anyway.  Pruett and Maley are both stronger than they seem due to the patriotic attribute, and Froud rounds out the depth.  Colley and Mills are considerations for prospects to add to the roster after the tournament.

4) On defense, I like wings that can contribute assists, though I also like to have some alternatives that are strong defensively.  I opted for Griffitt over Kimberlin since Kimberlin is getting older and Griffitt has stronger facilities for a versatile left wing.  If I want a more defensive left wing, we have a strong one in Isherwood.  At the right wing, we're a bit lacking in options outside of Twinn who is a versatile winger unless I want to bring Mullan or Covey over.  Mullan is a solid defender with tournament player who can fit in various roles, and Covey is a promising young defender who has grown into a top defender on the team.  Rounding out the defense, we have Innis who is a promising young prospect, Cammamile who is a strong DM option, and finally Allison who I mostly added in case I need an extra defender with strong tactics (I would probably drop Allison for an extra midfielder after the tournament).

Feel free to weigh in on the roster here or send me a private message.  Let me know if anyone has any questions about anything or any suggestions.  Hopefully we will have another strong match against Mexico tomorrow!

Ulysses >> sunday october 6 - 07:28

We beat Mexico 1-0 today, outshooting them 13-6.  The winning goal was scored by Caddow and assisted by Maley.  It was a bit closer than I'd like, but a win is a win, and Arzamendi is the only keeper not to have given up a goal yet in this tournament.  With this win, we have clinched the quarterfinals.

Tomorrow we play Costa Rica, the second strongest team in the group who has also clinched the quarterfinals.  In the event of a tie, we hold the tiebreaker with a slightly better goal difference.  Costa Rica has solid depth, a pretty strong keeper (though not on the same level as the U.S. keepers), and a strong midfielder that can put the ball in the net.  I like our chances, but it will be a competitive match.  I'd like to clinch first to get a better matchup, at least for the next round.