bukie

10 days to CONCACAF WCQs, with 3 games in 7 days for the USMNT: @ El Salvador, v Canada, @ Honduras. If they don't get at least 5 points they're setting themselves up for a lengthy, tense qualifying round again.

Kyle Hendricks now leads the majors in wins.

Cubs were 50-51 at one point, and are doing their best to lose 100 games this year. The team gave up weeks ago, the fans should follow in turn. Hell, one game thread for the rest of the season is more than this team deserves.

With September qualifiers coming up, here's what ASN thinks the September camp roster will be: http://www.americansoccernow.com/articles/what-will-the-usmnt-roster-look-like-for-september-world-cup-qualifiers GK: Steffen, Turner, Horvath D: Dest, Cannon, A. Robinson, Vines, Brooks, M. Robinson, McKenzie, Richards, Miazga MF: Adams, Acosta, McKennie, Musah, Williamson, Lletget, Aaronson F: Pulisic, Reyna, Weah, Hoppe, Sargent, Pefok, Zardes

Ranked ahead of Germany, never thought I'd see the day. Figure the USMNT would have to climb to 7th or higher to be in pot A (because Qatar), so they'd need to pass Mexico and at least 2 other UEFA teams. Portugal seems the most likely candidate, but then they'd need to pass one of Belgium, England, France, Spain, or Italy (or Brazil or Argentina).

Knicks, Hawks might be just as good as the Heat, but who really knows right now.

wow, disagree. Great to beat mexico but this seems myopic to me. Robinson, Turner, and Hoppe helped cause. Don't agree on any of the others and would put an asterisk on Hoppe as not convinced he will be effective against better competition. I'm not an Acosta fan and the rest of those midfielders gave the ball away way too much including Busio against weak competition. Even last night, the lack of composure throughout the team was evident. Dike hurt his cause in my view especially after he hurt himself flinging himself to the ground. This team was second best last night and really never showed they were better than the other teams they played in this tournament. I completely disagree, especially the back line was strong all tournament, so guys like Vines and Sands really stepped up, and Shaq Moore was also an asset for sure. Acosta was at his best last night and was the only player that was a holdover starter from the Nations league final, and he's definitely at the very least shown he needs to be on the field against Mexico. Dike was worn down, but showed flashes early, needs rest more than anything. Hoppe was really the only one creating anything for the first 70 minutes of the game yesterday, and almost won the game on his own offensively against Qatar. They were definitely the second best team on the field vs Mexico until about the 65th minutes, then the subs came in and they effectively bossed the game from there on out, with Mexico generating no real dangerous chances on Turner, with just one easy save to make beyond the end of the first half. As for the rest of the games, the scores show they just squeaked by, but they really dominated each game, save when they effectively let Canada do whatever they wanted and bunkering after getting the early goal, and early on vs Qatar when they were a little slow to handle counters in the first half despite dominating the ball. The lack of scoring was an issue for them all tournament, mostly due to a complete lack of connection between what was a solid back line all tournament and an inexperience forward trio, with midfield being a glaring weakness all tournament. Everything always seemed to get better when Roldan came on, though, and Busio did make a positive impact on at the very least the Martinique and Mexico games after he came on, and earned himself a look from high level Euro clubs.

Despite the struggles vs Canada due to the odd tactical switch after the goal, and to some extent Qatar, they were definitely the better squad for every other game in the tournament I'd say probably 8-10 players helped their status during the tournament, and more than that should be involved at some point in WC qualifying, especially with the 3 games per international window schedule. Helped cause: Robinson, Turner, Acosta, Sands, Vines, Hoppe, Moore, Busio, Roldan Didn't hurt their cause: Cannon, Dike, Lletget, Williamson, Gioacchini, Bello, Zardes, Kessler Hurt their standing on the USMNT: Arriola, Yueill, Lewis

On we go to CONCACAF WCQ. Here's how I'd rate the teams going into the octagon: 1. USA 2. Mexico 3. Canada 4. Costa Rica 5. Jamaica 6. Honduras 7. El Salvador 8. Panama

B in an ideal world with full fitness. But this is our, like, C- team Thanks. I knew it was our C team but didn't know much of anything about their team. You could argue the USMNT played with 0 starters on the field (depending on your opinion of Zardes and Cannon), and Mexico played with effectively 9 starters, missing Ochoa most glaringly.

Busio and Gioacchino will hopefully settle in a bit here in ET. Killed a couple late opportunities with heavy feet there at the end of regulation.

Sands really trying to get Mexico a goal here early in the second half.

The midfield is non existent so far, and as a result the US can't keep any kind of possession going forward.

Feelings right now:

Always going to appreciate what Rizzo brought to the team.

I'm not sure exactly where he'll fit on the team (he's not really a PG, not really a SG, does a lot of things well but nothing particularly spectacular except work ethic), but super happy for the guy, who is genuinely excited to be on the Bulls. [tweet] [/tweet]

Canada completely bunkering in against Mexico early here.

US has been clearly the better team now for upwards of 30 minutes. Not sure if fitness or subs are the difference, but they're clearly on a different level now.

One other thing I'm noticing during this Gold Cup is that though I'm not sure how many of their best players each team brought (except Qatar, they have the whole gang), but after Mexico in WCQ, the difference between, say, Costa Rica and Panama is almost negligible at this point. Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Canada, El Salvador and Panama are all about the same quality, so it could be interesting to see who qualifies in the octagonal aside from Mexico and assumedly the US.

Headlines: "Simone Biles and US Women's Gymnasts falter in qualification" Reality: Biles still had the best score all around by quite a bit, and the 5th and 6th best US women finished 9th and 11th overall. However, one of their top 4 did fall off the balance beam, causing the meaningless team score for the day to dip a bit below the Russian meaningless team score. American women went 1st-2nd-4th on the vault, 2nd-10th on the bars, 3rd-7th on the beam, and 1st-3rd-9th on the floor. Because they didn't finish first through 5th on every apparatus in qualification, they "faltered".

I thought Busio was outstanding the last 20 minutes or so - the difference in the game for me. I think it showed his composure. Acosta is terrible. the announcers were talking him up but I was terrified every time he had the ball. Nice for Hoppe - he's a bit out of control but sure plays hard. They were better overall after they swapped Acosta and Dike out for Roldan and Zardes, really dominated the ball and the chances from then on, really deserved that goal late. Qatar should be an interesting matchup, especially since they've got their full A team because they aren't doing any world cup qualifying.

Arriola and Acosta were not good tonight. Back line was solid all night, front line had trouble all night getting much of anything going, still effectively dominated the game outside of a 15-ish minute stretch near the end of the first half. The US midfield has been weak all tournament, which at the same time makes me glad that none of their best 4-5 midfielders are in there, and concerned that the midfield pool is as thin as 4-5 at the top. Busio has shown flashes but wasn't great today either.

Kampf is a symbol of the Hawks' struggle since 2015.

One of England, Denmark, Czech Republic or Ukraine will be in the final. Go Denmark!

Or Hungary, if they win.