soccer soccer soccer

[wolf stansson]

[Transmogrified Tiger]

That could be a pretty good point of progression for Adams as long as his existing skills are enough to keep him getting consistent playing time. One thing I noticed a handful of times on Friday is his hesitation to use his left foot for more than simple short passes slowed down the attack. Not even necessarily line splitting balls but hitting an open window to move things out to the wings, he'd either stay safe and recycle or take an extra touch or two to put it on his right foot and lose some of the advantage. If he was able to make those passes more consistently, between his defensive prowess and his touch on those short chips to break lines he could really make the leap.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

On Friday:

- Italy hosts Switzerland, they are tied on points(Italy ahead on GD) with both teams having one more game(Swiss v. Bulgaria, Italy @ N Ireland) on Monday to decide who qualifies and who goes to the playoff

 

On Saturday:

- Norway(w/o Haaland) and the Netherlands play Latvia and Montenegro respectively. If they hold serve they play each other on Tuesday in Rotterdam where a Norway win gives them qualification and sends the Dutch to the playoff.

 

On Sunday:

- Portugal hosts Serbia, if Serbia wins they qualify and send Portugal to the playoff

- Spain hosts Sweden, if Sweden wins they qualify and send Spain to the playoff

 

Pretty good result for team chaos so far, Spain won but Portugal and Italy are both headed to the playoff, and Norway still can punt the Dutch to the playoffs tomorrow by beating them.

 

EDIT: And if Wales beats Belgium(who have zero to play for) tomorrow, then Italy(and the Dutch if they lose) won't even be in Pot 1 for the playoff draw. So you could in theory have a 4 team single elimination bracket for one world cup spot with Portugal, Italy/Netherlands, and (I think) Austria as 3 of the 4 teams.

[soccer10k]

If Netherlands loses tomorrow there’s a decent chance they’re not even in the playoff. Turkey plays Montenegro and if Turkey/Norway both win, they’re each at 21 with Netherlands at 20.

[TruffleShuffle]

lol italy, scoreless draw with northern ireland.

 

russia gave up an own goal in the 80th minute to croatia so they got leapfrogged by croatia for top spot, and russia is into the playoff.

[wvcbxl]

... if Wales beats Belgium(who have zero to play for) tomorrow...

 

Could easily happen - looks like we'll be playing an experimental lineup this evening. Hazard and Courtois have gone back to Madrid, and three other regulars haven't traveled to Cardiff either (they even called up an emergency extra goalkeeper for the trip). Hopefully we'll see some of the youngsters in action, especially in defense (Faes and Theate - too bad Vanheusden is injured or they could have played an U23 backline)

[wolf stansson]

Oh yes, please. Give us the chaos, Belgium! That would be delightful.

[wolf stansson]

Meanwhile, in north America’s northernmost 1M+ metro area:

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/uncledall/status/1460624027681124361?s=21

[UMFan83]

Meanwhile, in north America’s northernmost 1M+ metro area:

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/uncledall/status/1460624027681124361?s=21

 

And you thought Costa Rica had it bad? Temp at kickoff is expected to be 17 degrees lol

 

Also, any particular reason why the US-Jamaica game is at 4 while the other fixtures are primetime? Do they just figure no one is going to watch Paramount+ so who cares when it's scheduled?

[wolf stansson]

Busio in. Thank you, Gregg. Let’s take it to em

[wvcbxl]

Oh yes, please. Give us the chaos, Belgium! That would be delightful.

 

Sorry to disappoint you. 8-)

They haven't lost a qualifyer since 2011, so a draw was acceptable (and Wales simply wasn't good enough)

[wolf stansson]

Tim Weah. What a player

[wolf stansson]

I had no idea something that pretty could happen on a pitch that awful

[UMFan83]

Not that you'd go into a shell in the 15th minute, but the US is not sitting on a 1-0 road lead. They look like they want 3-4 goals tonight.

[squally1313]

Pretty incredible goal there to equalize.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

everyone knows that Michail Antonio is not a soccer playing robot sent from the future to torment us, what this goal presupposes is...maybe he is?

[imb]

Damn I love Yunus Musah

[Rex Buckingham]

Jamaica doing its best Wondo impression in front of goal

[UMFan83]

Really rough performance after the first 25 minutes. Extremely fortunate to get a point. Not idea after how this window started, but 4 points is what we needed.

[soccer10k]

Blah result but at least we got a point. Now go get 7 or 9 in the January window.

[UMFan83]

Blah result but at least we got a point. Now go get 7 or 9 in the January window.

 

Get at least 7 and that final window will be a lot more relaxing. Will hopefully have Gio, Pulisic, McKennie, etc back in January

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Panama has really overperformed thus far(and still have 3 of the 4 most difficult road games to go) and are only on pace for 22. Even getting 7 from the 3 home games(especially if 3 of those points come v. Panama) is probably about enough on its own. If you get 7 or 9 from the next window then you basically only need to care about beating Panama at home in the final window.

 

One minor plus, the US now have 5 straight games in North America before the last game in Costa Rica, so crappy field conditions and similar CONCACAFery shouldn't hold them back.

[wolf stansson]

Canada blew the vibe by not doing an acapella crowd anthem.

[UMFan83]

If the scores hold the US will be just 1 point ahead of a playoff spot at the end of the night. Huge [expletive] at the top of the table potentially.

 

US 15

Mex 15

Can 14

—————

Pan 14

—————

Jam 7

CR 7

 

We are still in good shape but still have our 2 toughest road matches left (along our 2 easiest matches)

[Transmogrified Tiger]

As much as I would enjoy Mexico momentarily dropping to the playoff if they lose, these second half capitulations to Panama are getting old. We’d be functionally qualified if teams would stop blowing second half leads to them.