The 2015 United States Men’s Soccer Season

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The United States Men’s Soccer team will look forward to bigger and better things when the year 2016 comes around as 2015 was considered to be an up and down year for the Americans. The men’s national team did not play to the expectations as many people thought they would. They lost the Confederation Cup playoff against Mexico and finished in fourth place in the Gold Cup.

The Men’s national team had some great moments during a few friendly matches. In June,  the U.S was able to defeat the Netherlands with a game winning goal scored by forward Bobby Wood. It was a great moment for both the young star and the men’s national team. Gedion Zelalem, another rising star, decided to commit to the the U.S national team instead of Germany and Ethiopia. This was a huge win for the U.S. They now have a rising star who will be key part for this team for years to come.  Another key moment the U.S national team had this past year was when they took a total of four points from their two World Cup qualifying matches. The U.S won half of it’s games going 10-6-4 on the season.

There were some moments that U.S men’s national team would like to forget in 2015. For the U.S, winning the Gold Cup was a true goal for them coming into 2015 because this would secure a CONCACAF’s berth in the 2017 FIFA Federations Cup. However, things did not go as planned for the U.S as they lost to Jamaica in the semifinals of the Gold Cup.  Many people are starting to doubt head coach, Klinsmann because of some of his coaching decisions and how the U.S has played of late, but U.S Soccer president, Sunil Gulati feels otherwise.  Gulati stood behind his head coach and believes things will eventually turn into the right direction for Klinsmann and U.S national team.

For more information, please check out:
http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2015/12/24/usmnt-2015-year-review-klinsmann-dempsey-bradley

#USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard the New Secretary of Defense?

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World Cup fever has officially ended here in the the states, as the US Men’s National Soccer team was defeated yesterday afternoon by a score of 2-1 during their elimination match with Belgium. The #USMNT goalkeeper turned in what will most likely go down as the greatest goal keeping effort in World Cup history when he recorded a record high 16 saves during the US match in Brazil. The performance has taken the internet by storm. But before we get into that lets go over Tim Howard’s tale of how he arrived at his 15 minutes of internet fame. Timothy Matthew Howard was born on March 6, 1979. Howard started his long journey to the top when he first started playing for the now defunct North Jersey Imperials, of the United Soccer League, at the age of 18. For the next five years Howard was the goalkeeper for the MetroStars of the MLS and because of this he started to gain attraction from one of the most storied football clubs in the world, the famed Manchester United. He enjoyed get success while in Manchester and even won the FA Cup in 2003 and the League Cup in ’05 and ’06. But the honeymoon in Manchester was over as Howard was put on loan to Everton after ManU signed goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. Howard first started to represent his country in 2002 when he first made the men’s national team and was an unused substitute for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. But then it all changed for Howard, and the National team, in 2010. Howard earned the starting position on the field and helped lead the US back to the Round of 16 and again in 2014, saving his greatest performance for what could be his last World Cup game. This years group truly inspired the entire nation. And with inspiration comes crazy memes based off of Howard’s legendary performance. American soccer fans took to twitter with the trending topic of #ThingsTimHowardCanSave. One super fan decided to change the position of US Secretary of Defense to Tim Howard. Not a bad promotion after his 16 save performance, and it’s nice to see such American pride before the Fourth of July on Friday. #ibelievethatwewillwin