Iran look distracted. Can't blame them with the turmoil at home. Wales have a lot to play for after a over half century absence. Will be an easy advance for England. US just made their path much harder.
He almost makes former coach Bob Bradley look and sound lifelike.
Eight years waiting for this impotent performance. The instant Zimmerman went through Bale to force the penalty, I said "It's day two and this is the moment that will knock us out of the World Cup. A first half of dominance, completely wasted mainly due to everyone pulling up, looking around and waiting for someone else to make a play."
Total dominance in the first half . . . one shot on goal. Finished the game with one shot on goal. That's ***** pathetic. And his squad selection is a joke. NO ONE picked Jordan Morris or Haji Wright to make the squad, not even their own family members, and both of them played in the 2nd half. His 2nd half subs were too late and had almost no impact on the game. Aaronson should be called Charmin he is so soft.
Biggest fear.
England wins by 3 or 4 on Friday against the US while Wales beats Iran.
England 6
Wales 4
USA 1
Iran 0
This gives England the group and they can play all of their bench players in the game against Wales and either draws or barely wins.
Iran is already knocked out facing their most hated foe and gives the performance of their lives with the joy of knocking the USA out of the World Cup again just like in 1998 in France.
They may surprise against England but they looked beaten down and exhausted like they were finishing a marathon.
Nice thread. Rooting for the Stars and Stripes like Bfine said and don't expect much and we just tied Wales so
not the best start either. France looks great Arturo with Mbappe or however you spell it. Just saw a little bit of
Canada today against Belgium and don't even know who won but I liked what I saw of Canada.
They are my fall back. Spain looks great as always. Crazy that Saudi Arabia beat Argentina.
(11-23-2022, 11:16 PM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: The FIFA rankings average for each group
1) Group B
#5 England
#16 USA
#19 Wales
#20 Iran
average #15
Easily the Group Of Death
No offense to the US team, but they just are not really the 16th best team in the world. And Iran is not the 20th best team either. These rankings are pretty tainted.
(11-24-2022, 01:23 AM)hollodero Wrote: No offense to the US team, but they just are not really the 16th best team in the world. And Iran is not the 20th best team either. These rankings are pretty tainted.
Ah, the European bias. It never fails.
I love the World Cups outside of Europe or South America. When they are outside of their comfort zones, many "amazing squads" get upset or challenged by lesser foes because it balances the field.
Japorea 2002 is easily my favorite that I've watched so far. LOTS of huge upsets including the USA and South Korea both advancing while beating Portugal. Plus, the USA beat Mexico 2-0 in the opening knockout round. That is HUGE bragging rights in this part of the world. They also pushed Germany in the quarterfinals and if not for an uncalled Thorsten Frings handball preventing a goal on a corner kick, the USA would have taken them to extra time or maybe even penalties 1-1. Turkey and South Korea both made it to the semi-finals even if it took a thorough dry humping of the Italians by the refs to do it.
South Africa 2010 . . . those ****ing vuvezelas . . . The mighty USA totally kicks England's ass 1-1 and wins the group! Japan and South Korea both recover from 2006's weak performance and advance along with Paraguay to the knockout round. Two time champ Uruguay reminds the world of their former greatness and goes on a hell of a run with two superstars playing well off of each other. Spain loses it's opening match to Switzerland and then rolls 2-0, 2-1, 1-0, 1-0, 1-0, 1-0 *yawn*
Qatar 2022 Argentina and Germany already feel the sting from two Asian squads. Get these big boys away from their regular stomping grounds and anything can happen.
(11-24-2022, 01:23 AM)hollodero Wrote: No offense to the US team, but they just are not really the 16th best team in the world. And Iran is not the 20th best team either. These rankings are pretty tainted.
Yeah take away the numbers and 10 out of 10 people can see Group E is the most stacked.
(11-24-2022, 06:20 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Ah, the European bias. It never fails.
I love the World Cups outside of Europe or South America. When they are outside of their comfort zones, many "amazing squads" get upset or challenged by lesser foes because it balances the field.
That's one way to look at it, sure.
I will say this, a loss to an outsider does not mean the outsider is in fact the more advanced team. It happens, sure. But I guess hardly anyone would seriously claim that Saudi Arabia is the better team than Argentina.
(11-24-2022, 06:20 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Japorea 2002 is easily my favorite that I've watched so far.
Interesting. I consider it the worst world cup I've ever seen by far.
Good tournament for the US, sure. That was actually a talented squad, largely due to a certain Mr. Donovan. It's fair to brag about it, it would be an exaggeration to claim the US objectively was among the 8 best teams of the world at this time. They were not, just as Turkey was not the third best squad in the world.
And one thing is also true, neither was Germany at that time. How this awful team made it to the finals... ok. The US should have beaten them in the quarterfinals. The luckier team won, not the better one. As it happens.
(11-24-2022, 06:20 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: LOTS of huge upsets including the USA and South Korea both advancing while beating Portugal.
True. Though I would say that South Korea was more of a scandal than anything. Especially them advancing to the semis. They played Spain and Italy and were blatantly favored by the referee in both games.
(11-24-2022, 06:20 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Qatar 2022 Argentina and Germany already feel the sting from two Asian squads. Get these big boys away from their regular stomping grounds and anything can happen.
I never claimed the opposite, yeah anything can happen.
Disclaimer, I do not actually watch the Qatar games, for I feel insulted as a fan by this tournament. Can't swallow everything they serve.
(11-24-2022, 06:20 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Qatar 2022 Argentina and Germany already feel the sting from two Asian squads. Get these big boys away from their regular stomping grounds and anything can happen.
That's just the World Cup format. It favors the "anything can happen" result. I say this as a naturalized Brazilian, but you play back Arg v KSA 100 times and Argentina are winning that 90 times, drawing 9 and losing one. The stars just aligned for Saudi Arabia. I'm still happy as shit they lost.
If the World Cup followed a double round robin/two-legged tie format in the group/knockout stages like many FIFA leagues the results would be far more predictable and there would be a lot less intrigue.
(11-24-2022, 12:47 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: Gotta give him some time to grow into his body...
He’s 22 and is blowing out of his arse after 60 minutes, but he’s a very good little player. Adams though has become a fan favourite after replacing Phillips who was one of our own and can’t say he’s been missed at all.
What I would say about the standard of football/soccer in America is us in Europe still see it as a retirement home for older players, until you lift the salary cap in MLS to bring good players from all over Europe to compete instead of paying ageing stars you’ll never get the credit you could as a league.
Plus if Marsch is anything to go by the standard of coaching is ***** awful.
(11-24-2022, 08:27 PM)BengalsLUFC Wrote: He’s 22 and is blowing out of his arse after 60 minutes, but he’s a very good little player. Adams though has become a fan favourite after replacing Phillips who was one of our own and can’t say he’s been missed at all.
What I would say about the standard of football/soccer in America is us in Europe still see it as a retirement home for older players, until you lift the salary cap in MLS to bring good players from all over Europe to compete instead of paying ageing stars you’ll never get the credit you could as a league.
Plus if Marsch is anything to go by the standard of coaching is ***** awful.
Still kind of in the infancy of it's popularity and participation over here too. The good kids who will grow up to be really good players that 'did it since they've been able to walk' are still a little bit away. It's only been about 15-20 years since the sport has become more than just a secondary thing to do.
Well, infancy might be a stretch. More like teen years.
"The measure of a man's intelligence can be seen in the length of his argument."
(11-24-2022, 09:36 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: Still kind of in the infancy of it's popularity and participation over here too. The good kids who will grow up to be really good players that 'did it since they've been able to walk' are still a little bit away. It's only been about 15-20 years since the sport has become more than just a secondary thing to do.
Well, infancy might be a stretch. More like teen years.
MLS will never be a very serious league because of the lack of homegrown talent. The best athletes in the US gravitate towards football, baseball and basketball. You can't support a league with imported talent. Until there is some change to that, MLS will be seen as a bottom-teir league where big names come to get one last big paycheck a la Beckham, Zlatan and now, apparently, Messi.
US need to play smart today. Knock round begins next Tuesday and while it would be cool to pick up three today, it's highly unlikely. No injuries, no unnecessary yellow cards so the team goes vs Iran at full strength.
It would be nice to not be embarrassed by the English today.
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