soccer soccer soccer

[soccer10k]

Well I'm certainly looking forward to the two semis.

The two best teams in the tournament in one semi. All the history between England and Argentina (Falklands War, Hand of God, the Beckham yellow in in 1998).

Hopefully both games deliver.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

1 hour ago, soccer10k said:

Boy was that dumb by the Swiss guy. You're already on a yellow card and you dive near the sideline, 35 yards from goal. Like what are you hoping to gain there?

It sucks because Argentina was fouling all over the place and diving a lot but it was also by the book simulation and especially stupid to do when you already have a yellow.

[CubinNY]

On 7/9/2026 at 12:12 PM, WrigleyField 22 said:

It's just crazy. I didn't grow up playing much soccer since I played football pretty early on.  Nonetheless I helped a little bit two years ago with my son's team and last year (U7) when the local AYSO was desperate for coaches I stepped in and did my best Ted Lasso impression.  Now, headed into U8 this fall, about half the kids I coached are already moving into expensive travel clubs. Some of these kids have nice talent, but there's onto so many "top" kids who will get attention and the rest will pay thousands for that "product" just marginally better than the rec AYSO.  Now I live in an area where most can burden that cost. But if that happens elsewhere that means the development just basically stops because kids just get priced out all together.

 

Rec league will carry on into U12 at least, but won't compete with the expensive leagues, and a lot of the kids in that expensive travel league will burn out because the cost puts a lot of pressure on it from mom's and dad's who see this massive commitment they're making for 8 year olds.

 

So on one hand accessible development gets its rug pulled out from under it from expensive league. Meanwhile the expensive leagues really don't excel at development either - they really just act as a segregation tool, so the competition is "better", but still not actually focused on development.

 

That said, the issue isn't just soccer ever becoming as popular as our other big sports, but at least for basketball/baseball/football there is still a lot of crossover benefit and playing multiple sports for as long as possible is still somewhat encouraged (though way less so that it used to be). In soccer, except for the true freaks of nature, early specialization is probably key.  You can be an Erling Hallaand and specialize later, but you aren't going to build a roster completely of those guys. You probably need a deep pipeline of early specializers and early specialization here is just a rich kid thing so it cuts out deep parts of the potential pool.

I don't know anything about Soccer, but the "travel" league stuff is rampant in all sports outside of football. I have friends who have paid tens of thousands of dollars over the years in fees, hotel rooms, equipment, etc., so their kid could be one of the cool kids on a travel team. In some cases, as a bench warmer and in others as a regular contributor, whether it be baseball, soccer, volleyball, or whatever. Exactly 1 played D1 soccer and then decided she didn't want to play after a year. I think a few others played JUCO or small school sports in college. 

I guess the point is that everything is a product now. It's a shame b/c I had so much fun playing summer ball, and at the end of the season, we had "all-star" tournaments that cost nothing extra. 

It's kind of interesting that it appears to be hurting us on the world stage. 

[UMFan83]

As it's been a week since the US loss to Belgium, I'm starting to think deeper about which of the last 2 World Cup squads performed better in the event.  

At first glance, even with the humbling to Belgium I would think that 2026 team was better, but digging deeper, I'm starting to side with the 2022 team, with the caveat that the 2022 team was missing an elite finisher.

In 2022, the US was in a group with England (5), Wales (19) and Iran (21).  They went 1-2-0 against that group, scoring 2 goals, conceding 1 goal (on a PK).  They then played Netherlands (10) and lost 3-1.  Overall they scored 3 goals and conceded 4. Average opponent ranking of 14 (FIFA rankings are sketch but w/e)

2026, the US was in a group with Türkiye (27), Australia (28), and Paraguay (34).  They went 2-0-1 against the group, scoring 8 goals and conceding 4.  They then beat Bosnia and Herzegovina (61) 2-0 in a knockout game and then got exposed by Belgium (8) 4-1 in the R16.  Overall they scored 11 goals and conceded 8. Average opponent ranking of 32

Tactically the 2022 team was probably more cohesive tactically and stronger defensively.  They shut down a powerful England squad, and even in the Netherlands game they had a better xGA and possession statistics (though partially because the Dutch led most of the game).  The biggest problem they had was finishing, which ironically was one of the 2026's team's biggest strengths with Balogun but also stronger more aggressive passing and attacking in the midfield.  I'm not sure if simply adding Balogun instead of Sargent/Wright/Ferreira changes everything but I'm sure it makes some difference.

So did the US make progress from 2022 to 2026?  Probably...it seems like part of the roller coaster in performances is due to Poch trying to transition the US into a more attacking team which looks great against opponents outside the top 20 but sometimes causes issues against elite teams.  Some of it is our back line depth just wasn't up to par.  Greggggg's style certainly seems like it had a ceiling, so I am not sure that him coaching the 2026 team leads to any better results.

Would love to get the soccerheads input on this.  I would never call myself a soccer expert...I've been watching soccer for 2 decades but never analyzed things closely until my kids started playing travel soccer and started to really understand some of the strategy behind the game better.  But I could sound like an idiot too, that's fine 😆

 

[mul21]

I'm still befuddled that we had to rely on a 38 year old defender to play starter's minutes in a World Cup.  

[CaliforniaRaisin]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

As it's been a week since the US loss to Belgium, I'm starting to think deeper about which of the last 2 World Cup squads performed better in the event.  

At first glance, even with the humbling to Belgium I would think that 2026 team was better, but digging deeper, I'm starting to side with the 2022 team, with the caveat that the 2022 team was missing an elite finisher.

In 2022, the US was in a group with England (5), Wales (19) and Iran (21).  They went 1-2-0 against that group, scoring 2 goals, conceding 1 goal (on a PK).  They then played Netherlands (10) and lost 3-1.  Overall they scored 3 goals and conceded 4. Average opponent ranking of 14 (FIFA rankings are sketch but w/e)

2026, the US was in a group with Türkiye (27), Australia (28), and Paraguay (34).  They went 2-0-1 against the group, scoring 8 goals and conceding 4.  They then beat Bosnia and Herzegovina (61) 2-0 in a knockout game and then got exposed by Belgium (8) 4-1 in the R16.  Overall they scored 11 goals and conceded 8. Average opponent ranking of 32

Tactically the 2022 team was probably more cohesive tactically and stronger defensively.  They shut down a powerful England squad, and even in the Netherlands game they had a better xGA and possession statistics (though partially because the Dutch led most of the game).  The biggest problem they had was finishing, which ironically was one of the 2026's team's biggest strengths with Balogun but also stronger more aggressive passing and attacking in the midfield.  I'm not sure if simply adding Balogun instead of Sargent/Wright/Ferreira changes everything but I'm sure it makes some difference.

So did the US make progress from 2022 to 2026?  Probably...it seems like part of the roller coaster in performances is due to Poch trying to transition the US into a more attacking team which looks great against opponents outside the top 20 but sometimes causes issues against elite teams.  Some of it is our back line depth just wasn't up to par.  Greggggg's style certainly seems like it had a ceiling, so I am not sure that him coaching the 2026 team leads to any better results.

Would love to get the soccerheads input on this.  I would never call myself a soccer expert...I've been watching soccer for 2 decades but never analyzed things closely until my kids started playing travel soccer and started to really understand some of the strategy behind the game better.  But I could sound like an idiot too, that's fine 😆

 

I'm no soccer expert but to me, Pochettino's USMNT played a more pleasing style to watch and actually beat up on teams that were equal or lesser than them, unlike Berhalter's squad. And yes, some of that was having someone who could actually finish.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Also we’re getting a CONCACAF semifinal:

 

[Brian707]

France should advance.

Tomorrow England vs Argentina.  That one more of a toss up?

[mul21]

11 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

France should advance.

Tomorrow England vs Argentina.  That one more of a toss up?

Not if FIFA has anything to say about it based on how things have landed in Argentina's favor at every turn here.

[Derwood]

I know they are catering to an international audience, but the semis and finals not being in primetime is wild

[soccer10k]

2 hours ago, Brian707 said:

France should advance.

Tomorrow England vs Argentina.  That one more of a toss up?

I think both are fairly even matchups and wouldn’t say any of the four should advance.

[soccer10k]

Some pretty terrible ball watching by 6 and 20 on the Porto goal. He passed the ball and they just didn’t follow.

[cl smooth]

Is France cooked?

[mul21]

1 minute ago, cl smooth said:

Is France cooked?

Considering Spain has allowed 1 goal the entire tournament and they need 2, I'd say so.

[jersey cubs fan]

11 minutes ago, cl smooth said:

Is France cooked?

Sous vide

[UMFan83]

This is the most disappointing outcome from a highly hyped game since Michigan whooped Arizona in the Final Four (sorry I can't help myself)

[soccer10k]

Well if Spain was going to win, this is how it was going to happen. They just completely shut down the French attack.

Edited 1 hour ago by soccer10k