soccer soccer soccer

[UMFan83]

Dos cero a cero

[Transmogrified Tiger]

why do multiple center backs look like they're coming on

[wolf stansson]

I would die for gio

[Mark Priors Calves]

Reyna is electric!

[wolf stansson]

why do multiple center backs look like they're coming on

Adams to RB, EPB to CM? Yedlin is gassed.

[wolf stansson]

thank goodness Chucky never saw a shot he didn't love

Kobe!

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Canada has had some legit chances for being down a man, need to convert one

[wolf stansson]

 

Just absurd

[Mark Priors Calves]

This is going to be a long 10 minutes.

[wolf stansson]

Gio put HH on his ass holy s

[wolf stansson]

I just want one (1) single, solitary striker. Honestly

[Transmogrified Tiger]

legit 5 yellow card worthy fouls from Alvarez now, come on

[stitchface]

meh. dos a zero.

[UMFan83]

Obviously will take the draw but obviously feel a little disappointed given the chances the US had. They looked really gassed at the end, glad they could hold on. 2 shots that are converted 90% of the time. If either is converted we’re talking about a historic win.

 

Reyna is so electric even a casual fan can see the difference between him and other players.

[UMFan83]

meh. dos a zero.

 

Soccer gods are saying “we tried to give you dos a cero, what the heck happened?”

[soccer10k]

Well a draw isn't awful for either team, especially with Panama tying.

 

If the US beats or ties Panama, they're guaranteed 4th. If they beat Panama, Costa Rica has to make up at least a +8 GD in their last two games, so realistically, we'd just have to keep it close there.

 

Mexico is essentially in the same boat knowing they have Honduras and El Salvador left, who are both eliminated. One win and they get 4th at least. Win and a draw and they get 3rd at least.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Adams avoiding the yellow is the most important card result, don't really care about Yedlin's suspension and while I love Weah, we can do just fine without him with the current squad. A little worried about the midfield since Acosta and Musah went 90, but Panama at home is a solid fit for LDLT.

 

Win against Panama and you're in unless Costa Rica houses us in the last game.

[UMFan83]

Well a draw isn't awful for either team, especially with Panama tying.

 

If the US beats or ties Panama, they're guaranteed 4th. If they beat Panama, Costa Rica has to make up at least a +8 GD in their last two games, so realistically, we'd just have to keep it close there.

 

Mexico is essentially in the same boat knowing they have Honduras and El Salvador left, who are both eliminated. One win and they get 4th at least. Win and a draw and they get 3rd at least.

 

I’m pretty confident at this point. We don’t want it to come down to the Costa Rica match but if we play like we did today we can get a result down there. Obviously that confidence can collapse quickly against a desperate Panama team but I don’t think it will

[wolf stansson]

I would die for gio

I’ve watched his run over fifty times at this point. What a beautiful player.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

One wrinkle on Sunday that will be a little different than last night for us fans is that the US plays after the Canada and Costa Rica games are done. The Panama draw means Canada can only drop to the playoff and only in a truly insane combination of blowouts from 3 different teams, but CR going to El Salvador first creates some different interests/goals by kickoff:

 

CR wins: Nothing changes for the US, a win functionally qualifies, a draw guarantees top 4, and a loss makes for a white knuckle trip to San Jose. Mexico needs to be careful going to Honduras without Alvarez and maybe Tata, since a loss puts them in a position for randomness to send them to the playoff or maybe worse.

 

CR draws: US is now guaranteed in with a win and functionally qualified with a draw, and a loss is still pretty dicey. Mexico breathes easier knowing the likely US/Panama result

 

CR loses: The US is guaranteed in with a draw, and Mexico breathes that much more easily

 

On that note, CR has been decent on the road so far, 1-2-3 W-L-D so far. El Salvador is also 1-2-3 at home, but the losses were to Canada and Mexico. El Salvador didn't bring their strongest squad(at the very least Alex Roldan stayed in Seattle with a playable knock) so we'll have to see how representative that past and their road draw from last night ends up being now that they're formally eliminated.

[imb]

 

it wasnt until this video that i realized he got herrera twice

[UMFan83]

The qualification path is pretty clear at this point but figured i'd share anyways

 

[soccer10k]

One wrinkle on Sunday that will be a little different than last night for us fans is that the US plays after the Canada and Costa Rica games are done. The Panama draw means Canada can only drop to the playoff and only in a truly insane combination of blowouts from 3 different teams, but CR going to El Salvador first creates some different interests/goals by kickoff:

 

CR wins: Nothing changes for the US, a win functionally qualifies, a draw guarantees top 4, and a loss makes for a white knuckle trip to San Jose. Mexico needs to be careful going to Honduras without Alvarez and maybe Tata, since a loss puts them in a position for randomness to send them to the playoff or maybe worse.

 

The later game time is good for us from a GD perspective also in this scenario. I know we’ll want to win by a bunch anyway, but the necessity for a big win is greater if CR wins by 4 vs by 1. If CR wins by 1, if we can even win by 2 that puts us at +8 over CR. And we’re currently +7 on goals scored over CR which is the next tiebreaker so if we finish tied on GD, we’d still have the goals scored tiebreaker. So being at +8 on GD going into the last game would mean CR would have to beat us by 5 to pass us.

[stitchface]

I would die for gio

I’ve watched his run over fifty times at this point. What a beautiful player.

 

It's Messi-esque - except Messi's end in the back of the net . . . or used to anyway. Hopefully he can start and get Pulisic some space - the US needs CP to have a positive impact and Weah perhaps is too one-dimensional. Pepi or whoever plays the 9 needs to get involved in build up play.

[stitchface]

I was pretty disappointed by the end of that game. Overall, I think the US has passed Mexico - not sure if that is more US getting better or Mexico getting worse. It was a pretty sloppy game. At times, the US looked really good though and I think deserved the win they should have had if they could finish. Quite a contrast from the home game a couple years back where the US couldn't even get out of their own half and the only hope was good defense and good luck.

 

So, disappointing because they didn't finish and that ultimately is the difference in advancing or not at the next level. You can't miss chances like those against the world's best. I also felt like the US came out to bunker in the second half and that was disappointing. The last 15 minutes were awful - and this with 5 of the 6 forward players replaced (all but Acosta who was a mix of brilliant and awful). Why the hell couldn't they play forward instead of just hoofing it down the field? And why did they have absolutely no threat up there? Not a good way to close out a game.

 

I have to wonder on altitude, how many of Mexico's players live at altitude? Is it really that big an advantage for them?