soccer soccer soccer

[JHBulls]

6 hours ago, stitchface said:

yea, this is puzzling to me also.

Wharton or Mainoo need to start where TAA is. Have TAA as the RB or off the bench. Southgate is destroying what is a great squad with his weird starting lineup. 

[stitchface]

3 hours ago, JHBulls said:

Wharton or Mainoo need to start where TAA is. Have TAA as the RB or off the bench. Southgate is destroying what is a great squad with his weird starting lineup. 

squad is massively overrated. 

[stitchface]

good game for US. controlled almost all of it - should have scored more goals but none of the mids went 90. I would be in favor of just playing one 9 and let them get in sync. not Pepi based on tonight

[UMFan83]

12 hours ago, stitchface said:

good game for US. controlled almost all of it - should have scored more goals but none of the mids went 90. I would be in favor of just playing one 9 and let them get in sync. not Pepi based on tonight

Solid performance that I enjoyed but Bolivia is also by far the worst team in the tournament and probably one of a handful of teams that will have the lowest number of supporters at their matches.  If anything it worries me that we could only bury 2, there were certainly plenty of chances to bury more.  Mildly concerned about a scenario where the US and Panama draw giving Panama a chance to run up the score on Bolivia and advance on GD. 

Lot of assumptions there though as US should beat Panama, US will probably park the bus and go for a draw or 1 goal loss vs. Uruguay making Panama need likely a +4 margin vs. Bolivia, etc (if the US loses).

In reality lets hope the US wins against Panama, clinching advancement and we can just go out there against Uruguay and open it up to see how we stack up against one of the best in the world.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

19 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

In reality lets hope the US wins against Panama, clinching advancement and we can just go out there against Uruguay and open it up to see how we stack up against one of the best in the world.

I'm going to be attending the Uruguay match so I really hope that too. If it helps, Panama doesn't face the full USMNT all that often since Gold Cups are often rotated squads, and the last time it happened the US smashed them 5-1 at the end of WCQ.

[stitchface]

US should beat Panama.

Modric just missed a PK but scores 30 seconds later . . . 1-0 Croatia. Come out and play Italy!

 

[stitchface]

Italy probably goes through 3 -1 as they would already be ahead of Hungary so would only need to be ahead of one more team. Still more drama though!

[stitchface]

oh damn, wow

 

[soccer10k]

Had a Spain 1, Croatia 2 bet so that one hurts.

[stitchface]

Just now, soccer10k said:

Had a Spain 1, Croatia 2 bet so that one hurts.

brutal beat for you and croatia. sorry. good day for Hungary

 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Hungary I think is through now simply with an England win, which probably does not make Scotland feel very warm and fuzzy after the PK they didn't get yesterday.

[UMFan83]

Colombia is so good 

[stitchface]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

Colombia is so good 

When I saw James out there against the US, I was like "he's still playing?!?"

 

[stitchface]

3 hours ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Hungary I think is through now simply with an England win, which probably does not make Scotland feel very warm and fuzzy after the PK they didn't get yesterday.

they best hope for that - wouldn't want to be hinging on Turkiye . . .

[UMFan83]

Brazil is getting CONCACAFed

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Well that is gonna make the USA/Uruguay game theory complicated, unless Costa Rica can bunker their way to a draw against Colombia too.

[squally1313]

10 hours ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Well that is gonna make the USA/Uruguay game theory complicated, unless Costa Rica can bunker their way to a draw against Colombia too.

ELI5?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

3 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

ELI5?

Costa Rica drew with Brazil, which means that Colombia no longer need to beat Brazil to win their group.  The US's group is paired with this one for the knockout round, and normally if we entered the Uruguay game tied on points with Uruguay, the main competitive angle would be to win the group and avoid Brazil in the quarters.  Now it's unclear(and won't be clear til after the game since we play before Brazil's group) what Uruguay game outcome = Brazil.

[UMFan83]

31 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Costa Rica drew with Brazil, which means that Colombia no longer need to beat Brazil to win their group.  The US's group is paired with this one for the knockout round, and normally if we entered the Uruguay game tied on points with Uruguay, the main competitive angle would be to win the group and avoid Brazil in the quarters.  Now it's unclear(and won't be clear til after the game since we play before Brazil's group) what Uruguay game outcome = Brazil.

At this point I'm not even sure if it matters who we'd align with in the QFs.  Brazil hasn't looked to be in good form this summer and Colombia has been an absolute monster.  I know Brazil is still Brazil, just saying I'm not sure if the margin is big enough for me to care who we match up again if we advance to the knockouts.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Just now, UMFan83 said:

At this point I'm not even sure if it matters who we'd align with in the QFs.  Brazil hasn't looked to be in good form this summer and Colombia has been an absolute monster.  I know Brazil is still Brazil, just saying I'm not sure if the margin is big enough for me to care who we match up again if we advance to the knockouts.

Yeah, and I think there's the attitude that the expectation is to advance, and beyond that it's good to get these reps against Uruguay, Colombia/Brazil, etc ahead of 2026 so given the form and the fact they played somewhat competitive friendlies against both this summer, it's not a huge distinction.

[soccer10k]

Wild stuff going on in Group D right now. Austria up 3-2 over the Dutch and France tied 1-1. As of now Austria would win the group.

[UMFan83]

7 minutes ago, soccer10k said:

Wild stuff going on in Group D right now. Austria up 3-2 over the Dutch and France tied 1-1. As of now Austria would win the group.

Wouldn’t France win the group with 7 points vs 6 for Austria?

either way good stuff though would be a little more exciting if France and Netherlands hadn’t already clinched advancement (though obviously placement plays a big part in your path to win the tournament)

[wvcbxl]

The Dutch press is going to be on fire tomorrow - might read some for entertainment value.

[soccer10k]

4 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Wouldn’t France win the group with 7 points vs 6 for Austria?

either way good stuff though would be a little more exciting if France and Netherlands hadn’t already clinched advancement (though obviously placement plays a big part in your path to win the tournament)

France was on 4 points coming in so they needed to win to for sure win the group (no idea what the tiebreakers would have been had they and Netherlands tied).

[UMFan83]

1 minute ago, soccer10k said:

France was on 4 points coming in so they needed to win to for sure win the group (no idea what the tiebreakers would have been had they and Netherlands tied).

Oh horsefeathers for some reason i forgot they drew the Netherlands and were sitting on 6 points. My bad