Success from the Odd Couple!!

Together Forever!

Fair is fair and the IMOTGP blog has to eat it after successfully predicting that the United States would advance at Copa America. The reality now is that the Odd Couple pictured above will get all the credit and continue their reign as the geniuses in charge of our programs.

As you know, that is still regrettable and the Paraguay coach chose to make fun of the U.S. team moments before he was fired. Regardless of that, the United States emerged as group winners after Colombia's B-team stumbled against Costa Rica, and now Klinsmann and Gulati can say they masterminded capturing the 'Group of Death.'

We believe it's up to the U.S. fan to decide how acceptable the team's performance is.  The results, of course, are 100 percent acceptable. And in that sense, it's not important how you play - and clearly a counter-attacking style is what the U.S. team has done in the past and will always excel at.  It is our opinion that it should be 4-4-2 and counter attack.

One thing that is clear is that the success is making Klinsmann spout his motivational bullshit yet again about 'going for it' and how we should 'take the game to those big teams and not just playing counter-break football.'  Just ask yourself if that is really what you are seeing or whether you are watching the tried and true U.S. style that we have employed for some time. We don't have a problem with the latter, just don't call it the former. And we'll see you in Seattle for the quarters - probably not against Brazil now.

WILL HERTHA BSC BECOME THE NEXT CHELSEA?

One positive that came out of the U.S. performance is the level-headed play of John Brooks. MLS analyst Matthew Doyle believes that Brooks can help Hertha BSC develop into the next Chelsea.

Doyle writes: "That inflection point for Brooks came this year with Hertha Berlin. He came into the year as a starter with potential, suffered an early-season muscle strain, then returned and locked down the starting role with a vice-like grip. During the winter break Bayern Munich were reportedly interested in his services, and a half-dozen other big-name clubs were all linked with a possible move at one point or another (personally I hope he stays with Hertha – they finished 7th, and have the same type of potential to grow into a great club that Chelsea did 15 years ago)."

If Doyle is correct, maybe Hertha can entice a coaching genius like Jose Mourinho or Pep Guardiola to join forces and lead us to the glory we so richly deserve as the team based in the capital city of the reigning world champions!

You're Welcome Chicago!

The football world was amazed last night as Argentina substitute Lionel Messi scored an insane hat trick against 10-man Panama in Chicago. But as with anything in football, the story goes so much deeper than that as to why this happened.

As many of you know, there is only one person known worldwide as the 'Messi Stopper' and that is your humble blogger. The IMOTGP blogger has seen the great Messi play three times - on three different continents - and he has failed to produce a goal each time.

That is why with a huge crowd on tap Friday we here at the IMOTGP blog opted against attending the match against powerful Panama. Before this fabulous blog was created, we saw Messi in a scoreless draw against Bob Bradley's competent United States team in 2008 when he was subbed off at the half. We watched him turn in a limp display in a 2-0 derby win over Espanyol in 2011 at Barcelona just weeks before he and La Blaugrana thrashed Man United to win the Champions League. The next year, we saw him held in check by a ferocious Peru team in a World Cup qualifier in a 1-1 draw in Lima.

That last match made apparent that Messi can't handle the pressure of playing in front of the Phantom. So we can enthusiastically report that Messi did not start Friday not because he was coming off injury but because he was frightened by the possibility of failing in front of your esteemed blogger yet again. Luckily, we got in touch with Argentina at half-time and told them we were not attending. Thus liberated, Messi produced a magical 30 minutes of football. Plus, we had a superior Copa Centenario experience for $125 plus service fees last weekend anyway.

From all of us at the IMOTGP blog, we say 'You're welcome, Chicago!' It was the least we could do for the football world.

IMOTGP at Copa Centenario 2016 - Photos!

$125 was well worth it!

Here at IMOTGP we strive to experience the best the football world has to offer and bring it to you and we spare no expense.  That's why your faithful blogger paid the $125 full price plus service fees for the ticket you see above to see Copa Centenario, one of the world's most important football tournaments - and it better be at those prices! It's an event that features stars such as Lionel Messi of Argentina, James Rodriguez of Colombia and Brazilian sensation Neymar.

Most importantly, Copa Centenario is about national pride, about the chills you get when you hear your national anthem being played. And we experienced a match that legions of fans were in attendance to see, a Group C clash between football powerhouses Jamaica and Venezuela.

It turned out to be a quite a spectacle, as you will see below with what was a thoroughly entertaining afternoon. We want all of you who were not there to experience all the thrilling action that Copa Centenario has to offer and we caught all the proceedings with these exciting photos showcasing what football is all about.

Enjoy!

Did You Expect Anything Else?

Well the Copa America opened in predictable fashion with the United States losing 2-0 to Colombia. And maybe, just maybe, we moved closer to the reign of terror.

It's said that Jurgen is moving closer to the end, but this is not clear.  As you know,  this blog predicted four points and that Klinsi will stay. That can still happen and you have to figure he will stay on because what kind of national team can throw players under the bus left and right unless he has pretty good job security.

Because, in truth, Jose Pekerman exposed this fraudulent coach Friday night. The Colombia boss told his side to give the U.S. possession, maybe hassle one or two players and sit back and see what we could do with the ball. The answer was not much.  You saw wasted, laborious possession in which it took forever to get the football anywhere near the opponent's box - if the ball ever got anywhere close to there at all. It was a friendly masquerading as a competitive match since Colombia did little, showed little ambition and didn't need to against such feeble opposition.

But ah yes, the players. Well it's true they are not all in the Champions League as Klinsi would want them. But is the career trajectory of these players really his job or is his job to give the 11 on the field some cohesive game plan?  If you gave him better players would he win something? His tenure with Germany and Bayern Munich suggests otherwise.

And furthermore, this may be the most talented player pool we have ever seen. Every starter save one from Friday has major European experience. He has a 17-year-old wunderkind - a word he should understand - playing for one of the top teams in the world. There is so much talent he has omitted the best playmaker in MLS and a guy who has Champions League experience.

Ask yourself this. Do players like Fabian Johnson, DeAndre Yedlin, John Brooks and Geoff Cameron - all established in Europe - do they play better for their club teams or in a U.S. shirt?  It's an interesting question. Your faithful blogger remembers U.S. players like Charlie Davies, Oguchi Onyewu and Jay DeMerit making names for themselves in the U.S. jersey and allowing them to move overseas. Does this happen anymore?  Would you want any of these players based on what they give you in a U.S. jersey?

This blogger was disgusted - yet not surprised - by what he saw Friday and he wasn't alone. In fact, the IMOTGP blog was planning to go see the U.S. team play Costa Rica but has had a change of heart since paying money to watch this rubbish in person doesn't seem so prudent at this current time.

The blog will instead focus on tomorrow's Jamaica-Venezuela match. And we offer that any of you that run into The Phantom and are wearing a handmade IMOTGP t-shirt will get in free with your humble blogger. It's the least we can offer if you watch the United States!

Copa America 2016: Is Klinsmann's reign of terror finally over?

It's time for the football fiesta known as Copa Centenario, billed as the biggest tournament in the United States since the 1994 World Cup. Except it's not. A quick look at StubHub shows tickets available as low as $6 for some matchups. Neymar isn't going to play, Luis Suarez may or may not play and Lionel Messi may have other things on his mind. Even CONCACAF star Keylor Navas, last seen lifting the Champions League trophy, won't play either.

But there's still a tournament to play and our United States is in it. And the pre-tournament stories surrounding Jurgen Klinsmann haven't been pretty. The Guardian ripped his strategic incompetence. Klinsmann himself has made his usual bizarre statements. There's more and more question marks surrounding Klinsmann everywhere you read.

The problem is that the United States has a doable task to get out of Group A - dubbed by Klinsmann as the 'Group of Death' as he always claims every group he is in is. After facing Colombia tonight and Costa Rica in Chicago, there's a final match against Paraguay. Four points could be enough to advance and keep Klinsmann's reign of terror going all the way to Russia 2018. IMOTGP humbly believes that the best-case scenario for the U.S. fan is nine points in the group or zero. Nine points means we would actually be good while zero means Klinsi is finally toast. Don't expect either to happen.
 
Predictions:

Group A - Expect Colombia to win the group since who else really will? 
Colombia      7 points
United States 4 points
Costa Rica    2 points
Paraguay      1 point

Group B - Ecuador could take the group but they won't be motivated so a second-rate Brazil squad will with Dunga boring us to death.
Brazil    7 points
Ecuador 6 points
Peru      4 points
Haiti     0 points

Group C - Mexico should beat Uruguay without Suarez and ride its advantage as the team with the most popularity in the host country.
Mexico    7 points
Uruguay   4 points
Jamaica    3 points
Venezuela 1 point

Group D - Even a kindergartner could figure out this awful group.
Argentina 9 points
Chile        6 points
Panama    1 point
Bolivia     1 point

Knockout round
Colombia beats Ecuador 1-1 on penalties
Brazil beats USA 4-1
Chile beats Mexico 2-1
Argentina beats Uruguay 3-1

Argentina over Colombia,  2-1
Chile over Brazil, 2-0

Chile defeats Argentina 1-0

TBT: A look back at the first blog that spawned IMOTGP!

Well folks, it's throwback Thursday on the IMOTGP blog and time to look back at our first venture into the blogging community - the ill-fated blog called The Beautiful Game.

You can look through the archives for some riveting stuff. There's a post on a hilarious Mario Baoltelli moment, a blurb on a Celtic FC fan who played in the NFL's Super Bowl,  and one note on a baseball superstar who met Bayer Leverkusen! There's also a report on the 2011 Asian Cup clash between India and Australia!

A favorite was some Jurgen Klinsmann criticism from 2011. That link proves that The Phantom was right from the beginning on the world's most foolish football coach. 

Long-time followers of the Phantom may remember our defunct feature when we introduced a future star to the public.  We did a Meet Wilfried Bony feature when he plied his trade at Sparta Prague and introduced Shinji Kagawa to the world before he led Borussia Dortmund to glory.

It's all there at the archives of the old TBG blog. Now why did that venture fail? Well you may notice another blogger also posted with less frequency named 'B' and he brought little to the table. What the Phantom also learned was that there were too many posts about the Bundesliga and too few with pictures of women so our crack staff has tried to rectify those matters.

Still the Phantom would like to thank the TBG for being the fore-runner for all the quality content you get for FREE here at IMOTGP. Thank you for your support!

Now the Brits are Claiming the Credit for Pulisic!

Last weekend, Christian Pulisic became the youngest United States player to score in the modern era, with this nicely taken goal.

It's clear that Pulisic is a star on the rise and he has been spotlighted by numerous media outlets, including a nice write-up here at IMOTGP.  His exploits at Borussia Dortmund have been much anticipated in the United States and credit goes to Thomas Tuchel for allowing the youngster to develop in the competitive environs of the Bundesliga - a league in which teenagers have been known to shine.

So it comes as no surprise that who is taking credit for Pulisic's success?  It's actually not Jurgen Klinsmann, who takes credit for everything that goes right for the U.S.  No, it's the British, who claim that he learned the game in England according to the Guardian.

The story goes that "it was in the English countryside that Christian Pulisic caught the football bug for good." Kindly father Mark Pulisic played along with this reporter's idea that because Christian began playing in England, he became good.

“Christian went and played for a nearby club team called Brackley Town (whose senior team play in England’s sixth tier)" Mark remembers. "The coach, Robin Walker, was a real influence, and we’re still friends to this day. Christian went to play in tournaments and really fell in love, became obsessed with the sport."

We know England have sunk low but to take credit for our teenage success story is a bit much. To have the Brits tell it, the fact that Kobe Bryant grew up in Italy and not England is why he is such a football flop. 

If the dimwits in England were so smart, wouldn't one of their teams have signed the kid?  But no. Leave it to Germany - the home of the World Cup champions - to recognize talent and how to nurture it. Pulisic is a success story for Germany and the United States!

The official verdict from IMOTGP is that the Brits can suck it for trying to pretend they had anything to do with the kid from Pennsylvania. So suck it Brits!