soccer soccer soccer

[imb]

Mckennie needs to get right. Pulisic got a lot of attention for his lack of form but it was coming in 10 minute garbage time appearances. Wes is sucking ass every week as a starter against weaker competition. At least you can squint and say pulisic isn’t actually out of form he’s just got getting a run in the squad. Wes just sucks right now for Juve and the US. Juve is a mess right now of course

[imb]

The CBS studio halftime/pre/post show is better than TNTs NBA studio show

[wolf stansson]

The CBS studio halftime/pre/post show is better than TNTs NBA studio show

I literally was just thinking about this. Micah Richards is the true heir to Charles Barkley. Draymond ain’t it. Titi is the perfect straight man. Carragher is Kenny Smith. A great middle ground. And Kate Abdo is a hot Ernie Johnson. It’s incredible TV. Their producers have done a really good job and deserve a ton of credit because their USMNT team is also very very good and fun. Gooch is kind of meh and Chuck D sometimes is a little too try hard, but they’re by far the best USMNT studio show ever. Deuce is obviously perfect. Shout out to CBS.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

If it wasn't buried on Paramount I'd probably find a way to watch their post-matchday shows even if I hadn't watched the games, it's that good. The first 30 seconds here is like the perfect distillation of the show

 

[imb]

If it wasn't buried on Paramount I'd probably find a way to watch their post-matchday shows even if I hadn't watched the games, it's that good. The first 30 seconds here is like the perfect distillation of the show

 

 

the fact that he did it twice is just perfect lmao

[soccer10k]

Barcelona is out unless they win out and Inter doesn’t win a game. If Inter wins one, they’ll be on 10 points with the tiebreaker over Barcelona.

[wolf stansson]

It’s crazy that we’re watching Barca destroy themselves in real time just to sign horsefeathering mid wingers and an old striker.

Welp

[wolf stansson]

Good news for our left flank but yet another example of why an in-season World Cup to accommodate capitalist fascists is really terrible.

 

 

[imb]

god dammit

[stitchface]

Good news for our left flank but yet another example of why an in-season World Cup to accommodate capitalist fascists is really terrible.

 

 

 

 

This isn't an example of that at all. Playing the world cup at the end of the season is far worse for injuries.

[wolf stansson]

Injuries after the tournament, sure. Not before.

 

 

Actually, no. I disagree with you fully.

[soccer10k]

I would think the mid season World Cup is worse because the club games are condensed even more than they normally are. For example, after the most recent international break, each of the English teams that’s in Europe had a scheduled game each weekend and midweek from Oct 1/2 through Nov 12/13.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I would think the mid season World Cup is worse because the club games are condensed even more than they normally are. For example, after the most recent international break, each of the English teams that’s in Europe had a scheduled game each weekend and midweek from Oct 1/2 through Nov 12/13.

 

 

Up front, I'm with wolf that the world cup shouldn't be in Qatar and shouldn't have been moved to winter. That said, I'm not sure how different this is than what teams have been dealing with. James played 11 games, all of them full 90s, across all teams/competitions from 8/6 to 10/5. That's too many! But as a quick point of comparison, last year Salah had 13 games between 8/14 and 10/16 and 15 games from 10/19 to 12/16 with very few minutes lost to being subbed out. Also way too many! But not demonstrably different for someone who is counted on for a club team in Europe and their National team.

 

Personally, while I understand the complaints about there being too many games/competitions at the highest level, it strikes me as a "simple" problem to solve via rotation, especially in a world where 5 subs is the new norm. Teams pushing these limits always have deeper/richer squads than those who don't, so that can be an equalizer in exchange for them hoarding all the revenue. Or if you absolutely think coaches will just risk injury forever, you could do LLWS-style minutes limits as a restrictor plate of sorts. Don't get me wrong, I don't care if the Carabao cup disappears tomorrow and the international calendar is a mess for 5 different reasons right now, but I also understand that the power structures are basically never going to say "you know what, less soccer" so best to think through solutions in that reality.

[stitchface]

Injuries after the tournament, sure. Not before.

 

 

Actually, no. I disagree with you fully.

 

 

I think you're letting your dislike for Qatar get the best of your logical functions. How does James injury have anything to do with the timing of the world cup? You are correct that just as many injuries happen before the world cup when it's in June - probably more. This is just confirmation bias on your part. Playing in November or June has no impact on injuries.

[imb]

this was so good

 

[wolf stansson]

I think you guys need to see how the increased peak intensity workload during a pro season plays out before you make any assumptions. Maybe I’m an idiot for thinking a rest recovery window before & after is better for players, but I don’t think so.

 

 

But you’re right that Reece James was just me hopping on prematurely because I wanted to grind my axe. I didn’t make the point well. There are just so many players who are rushing back from early season injuries to make the cup and the intensity if the prep and game load is totally different from any other season. It’s going to take a big toll in the second half of the club calendar. Why are we doing it? For very bad reasons.

[stitchface]

what a dull game. the announcers kept making it sound riveting and intense but . . .

[stitchface]

Fruitless in the end but that was Pulisic's best effort that I can remember.

[stitchface]

The Ronaldo story is getting pretty sad. I've never been a fan but incredible to see his ego destroy the latter stage of his career.

[wolf stansson]

 

The prince who was promised

[UMFan83]

 

The prince who was promised

 

I can’t be the only one that held my breath when the entire team fell on top of him

[bukie]

Nice article to prep you for the USMNT at the World Cup next month:

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/usmnt-world-cup-preview-22-questions-about-the-us-at-qatar-2022-answered-153005805.html

[imb]

they really summed it all up in one sentence

 

The roster is deeper, younger and more talented than ever before, but has scarce World Cup experience, no clear on-field identity and a couple glaring weaknesses that could prove costly in Qatar.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

MLS's new approach of just playing a series of world cup-style tournaments all year long may go up in flames but I'm nothing if not intrigued: https://theathletic.com/3730955/2022/10/25/mls-considering-significant-overhaul-of-playoff-format-sources/

 

That format will have to change in order to accommodate 30 postseason contests. According to the sources, one possible outcome would be a shift to a World Cup-style playoff tournament. The specifics of what that potential tournament would look like weren’t entirely known by the sources, but one hypothesized that a format could look something like this:

 

- The top eight teams from each conference would qualify for the postseason

- Those teams would be split into four groups of four teams each

- Groups would be segregated by conference; Western Conference teams would only be grouped with fellow Western Conference teams and Eastern Conference teams would only be grouped with fellow Eastern Conference teams

- As is the case in the World Cup, each team would play three group stage matches, one each against the other three teams in the group

- The top two seeds in each group would host two group-stage games; the bottom two seeds would host one group-stage game

- The top two teams from each group would advance to an eight-team, single-elimination knockout stage

- Like the group stage, the knockout stage would also be divided by conference

- Higher seeds would host the knockout-stage matches, with the Western Conference champion advancing to MLS Cup against the Eastern Conference champion

 

The same source that outlined this potential new format also noted that MLS could structure such a tournament so that it plays multiple group-stage matches every night for nearly two weeks. The current MLS playoff format makes it hard for the league to generate narratives; blink and the entire postseason is over. Expanding the playoffs and having games on consecutive nights for a couple of weeks could theoretically allow the league to gain more of a mainstream foothold. Conversely, shifting to a playoff format that would be unique to both soccer and the North American sports landscape could confuse casual fans or newcomers to the league.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Celtic and Rangers are 0-8-2 in Champions League (the 2 is a pair of 1-1 draws against Shakhtar), with 4 goals for and 29 against. Beginning to wonder if the median SPL team would win in USL.