USMNT 2022

[Hagbard Celine 10871]

On 4/2/2022 at 3:55 PM, UDontKnow said:

For ?????? I say try playing Musah there because he can play defensively.

wingbacks only work at this level if their defense doesn't wane after the hour

if you have 5 or 6 dests in your 23 hey all good you can sub and rotate

but aaronson is not a dest defensively, and dest is imho better going forward the aaronson

[Hagbard Celine 10871]

On 4/2/2022 at 5:06 PM, Napoleon said:

???????? = Kevin Paredes, Jonathan Gómez, or Cade Cowell

i haven't seen a minute of any of them

sell me

[Napoleon 8688]

10 hours ago, Hagbard Celine said:

i haven't seen a minute of any of them

sell me

FOR SALE !!

Casual Soccer Fan

w/ Limited-to-Zero

Knowledge of the Game

FOR SALE !!

CHEAP !!

[Napoleon 8688]

PEPI REPORT:

-Started & played 89 mins

-Augsburg won 3-0

-No Goals / No Assists for Pepi

-Nice Give-&-Go to start the sequence leading to the 3rd goal and the announcer said his name as the g-&-g happened. 

-The win was good for their relegation battle.

-Though he didn’t score, his interplay, at least on that 3rd goal, was good and the coach left him on for all but the curtain call substitution that rewards someone with applause for a job well done. (It was a HOME match for Augsburg.)

IN SUMMARY: Still not goals/assists, but everything else you would want to see from your team:

Win, Multiple Goals, & a Clean Sheet

[Captain Ron 12883]

Our summer is coming into focus. 
 

First Nations league:

 

[Captain Ron 12883]

And we’re putting Uruguay on the summer docket too

 

 

[shnsajax 3591]

5 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

And we’re putting Uruguay on the summer docket too

 

 

I would put the B team in the Nations league and start our A team in as many friendlies like this as possible. Give Dike, Hoppe, Pefok and Sargent as many minutes as possible against the Nations League opponents and save Pepi and Ferreria for the friendlies. Give Gaga Slonina every start at keeper in the Nations League (I want him to go to Qatar), and give minutes to Caden Clark, Cowell, CCV, Che and of course the Surly Favorite Joe Scally. Everyone else can stay in the big bubble bubble wrap while playing in quality friendlies and not this sloppy Concacaf shit. 

[ztejas 43474]

We need a 9 and we need a keeper going into 2022. Solve both of those we could make the semis. Come in with both of those as ?s we could get bounced out of the group stage. It's really that fucking simple.

[Captain Ron 12883]

6 hours ago, shnsajax said:

I would put the B team in the Nations league and start our A team in as many friendlies like this as possible. Give Dike, Hoppe, Pefok and Sargent as many minutes as possible against the Nations League opponents and save Pepi and Ferreria for the friendlies. Give Gaga Slonina every start at keeper in the Nations League (I want him to go to Qatar), and give minutes to Caden Clark, Cowell, CCV, Che and of course the Surly Favorite Joe Scally. Everyone else can stay in the big bubble bubble wrap while playing in quality friendlies and not this sloppy Concacaf shit. 

Given the shifted schedule, there is limited time to work together between now and the World Cup itself. They don't have the luxury of not using these games for chances to get everyone together.

May 30-Jun 14 - 4 games, the games I posted.

Sept 19-27 - 2 games

Nov 21 - World Cup Day 1

Every game until Nov 21 has to be in preparation for Qatar. So no B team at all. At best and A- team, but if you don't have a chance to make the World Cup, you aren't playing this summer.

[Longboard Horn 40331]

On 4/2/2022 at 7:52 AM, Wulaw Horn said:

They (all) are terrible. We should win convincingly. 

"We are going to win" - @Snacks

[Longboard Horn 40331]

On 4/1/2022 at 4:17 PM, The Dog said:

British tabloids never learn:

Honestly if Wales is the qualifying team, don't take them lightly. They've beaten England before in Euro Cup and will be hungry to do it in the big dance. 

[NorthLoop 14215]

Scotland ain't no slouches this year either

[Trey3216 15347]

And Ukraine is the people's choice award winner...

[Napoleon 8688]

1 hour ago, Longboard Horn said:

Honestly if Wales is the qualifying team, don't take them lightly. They've beaten England before in Euro Cup and will be hungry to do it in the big dance. 

 

46 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

Scotland ain't no slouches this year either

 

30 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

And Ukraine is the people's choice award winner...

I will continue to say it through to the World Cup.

The England match is our LEAST IMPORTANT MATCH.

It basically doesn't matter. We should try to win, but if we even tie, it's a win. But little preparation should be wasted on the England match. The focus should be Iran and whichever squad comes through qualifiers. At least one friendly in June should be a straight up copycat country of Iran. Then, the September friendlies should either be two teams that play similarly to the qualifier, or 1 like Iran and 1 like the qualifier.

It would be best if we could eek out wins against Iran & the qualifier, so that should be our sole focus.

[UDontKnow 10447]

10 hours ago, shnsajax said:

I would put the B team in the Nations league and start our A team in as many friendlies like this as possible. Give Dike, Hoppe, Pefok and Sargent as many minutes as possible against the Nations League opponents and save Pepi and Ferreria for the friendlies. Give Gaga Slonina every start at keeper in the Nations League (I want him to go to Qatar), and give minutes to Caden Clark, Cowell, CCV, Che and of course the Surly Favorite Joe Scally. Everyone else can stay in the big bubble bubble wrap while playing in quality friendlies and not this sloppy Concacaf shit. 

This makes too much fucking sense to ever happen.

[shnsajax 3591]

4 hours ago, Napoleon said:

I will continue to say it through to the World Cup.

The England match is our LEAST IMPORTANT MATCH.

It basically doesn't matter. We should try to win, but if we even tie, it's a win. But little preparation should be wasted on the England match. The focus should be Iran and whichever squad comes through qualifiers. At least one friendly in June should be a straight up copycat country of Iran. Then, the September friendlies should either be two teams that play similarly to the qualifier, or 1 like Iran and 1 like the qualifier.

It would be best if we could eek out wins against Iran & the qualifier, so that should be our sole focus.

We got lucky to be playing England 2nd I think. Since we are getting Scotland/Wales/Ukraine in our first match all of the focus/training/planning should be around that. If we have a couple of cards that match, we can make some adjustments to be 100% ready for Iran knowing exactly what kind of result we will need. 

Of course if we shit the bed in the first match, everything is out the window at that point. 

Edited April 6, 2022 by shnsajax

[Captain Ron 12883]

 

[Captain Ron 12883]

BTW US Soccer, take note ...

 

 

[Ted Lange 16110]

 

[Bottlecap 1523]

Its going to be amazing when we finally fold the gold cup and go all in on copa america. they can keep nations league for the piddly concacaf championship. its a more exciting/satisfying tournament format anyway.

[LurkingHorn 1066]

Please let this happen on a permanent basis. So tired of the gold cup every other year. 

[Captain Ron 12883]

Eventually someone is going to wize up and make it happen. It's really not hard to figure out:

Going pre-COVID

Euro 2016: attendance 2,427,303, 47,594 per match (24 teams, 51 matches)

Gold Cup 2019: attendance 1,043,168  33,651 per match (16 teams, 31 matches)

Copa America 2019: attendance 867,245  33,356 per match (12 teams, 25 matches)

 

Copa America Centenario (2016): attendance 1,483,855 46,370 per match (16 teams, 32 matches)

 

You could easily expand the a North / South America tournament to 20 teams, give a few more North American teams a shot and have a solid tournament with great attendance. It's really a no brainer. And if CONCACAF doesn't do everything they can to make it happen, given the potential of CONMEBOL–UEFA joint nations league, they are foolish.

[shnsajax 3591]

BTW US Soccer, take note ...
 
 

It’s not like he going to take on any real challenge.

That said he should get ten Hag to take over City next year and fuck over ManU one more time.

[Napoleon 8688]

2 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

RE: COPA AMERICA

You could easily expand the a North / South America tournament to 20 teams, give a few more North American teams a shot and have a solid tournament with great attendance. It's really a no brainer. And if CONCACAF doesn't do everything they can to make it happen, given the potential of CONMEBOL–UEFA joint nations league, they are foolish.

The tournament should be 24 Teams with the elimination matches start with a Round of 16, like the World Cups were when the US hosted the WC in 1994.

Give Bolivia a shot to make it to the knockout rounds of an international tournament.

All CONMEBOL nations (10) are invited, plus USA, Mexico, Canada, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Jamaica, Costa Rica are automatic qualifiers (8).

The rest of CONCACAF fights for the six (6) remaining spots. 

[Ted Lange 16110]

Nobody wants to see Brazil vs St Kits and Nevis or even Curaçao.    MAX this tournament could be at is 20.  And I think 16 is perfect, 4 groups of 4 with 2 advancing.  Maybe 5 groups of 4 with some 3rd place teams advancing.   But 4x4 seems perfect. 

[Napoleon 8688]

1 hour ago, Ted Lange said:

Nobody wants to see Brazil vs St Kits and Nevis or even Curaçao.    MAX this tournament could be at is 20.  And I think 16 is perfect, 4 groups of 4 with 2 advancing.  Maybe 5 groups of 4 with some 3rd place teams advancing.   But 4x4 seems perfect. 

Some of us do, and CONCACAF minnows definitely do.

CONCACAF RANKING INDEX

As of April 1, 2022

Position	Member Association	Tricode	Position	Points	+/-
1	Mexico	MEX		2,020	+6
2	United States	USA		1,917	-11
3	Canada	CAN		1,821	-65
4	Costa Rica	CRC		1,805	+98
5	Panama	PAN		1,624	+9
6	Jamaica	JAM		1,471	0
7	Haiti	HAI		1,432	-19
8	Guatemala	GUA		1,417	+27
9	El Salvador	SLV		1,390	-21
10	Honduras	HON		1,350	-17
11	Martinique	MTQ		1,252	+12
12	Curaçao	CUW		1,249	0
13	Trinidad & Tobago	TRI		1,232	-6
14	Cuba	CUB		1,096	+7
15	Suriname	SUR		1,089	-16
16	French Guiana	GUF		1,030	0
17	Guadeloupe	GLP		1,011	-22
18	Nicaragua	NCA		986	0
19	Bermuda	BER		973	0
20	Antigua and Barbuda	ATG		953	0
21	Guyana	GUY		924	+23
22	St. Kitts & Nevis	SKN		910	-20
23	Dominican Republic	DOM		872	0
24	St. Vincent & the Grenadines	VIN		865	0
25	Grenada	GRN		834	-21
26	Belize	BLZ		795	-14
27	Montserrat	MSR		767	0
28	Puerto Rico	PUR		725	0
29	Bonaire	BOE		718	0
30	St. Lucia	LCA		709	0
31	Barbados	BRB		674	-16
32	Dominica	DMA		625	0
33	Bahamas	BAH		538	-19
34	Aruba	ARU		528	0
35	Cayman Islands	CAY		512	0
36	Turks and Caicos Islands	TCA		448	0
37	Saint Martin	SMN		381	+19
38	Sint Maarten	SXM		296	0
39	US Virgin Islands	VIR		246	0
40	Anguilla	AIA		218	0
41	British Virgin Islands	VGB		152	0

 

https://www.concacaf.com/rankings/men-s-national-team/

[Captain Ron 12883]

No one thinks a St Kitts would make this field, even at 24 teams.

But the field needs to be expanded to sell more tickets and to make the TV deal a little sweeter.

 

While 16 teams has a nice symmetry to it, A) the tournament it too small, you need more teams to give it some bite B) With only 6 teams it limits who makes it from CONCACAF.

When the 2016 Centenario was played it was:

All 10 from S America, USA and Mexico were automatically in.

Costa Rica got in via the Copa Centroamericana

Jamaica via the 2014 Caribbean Cup

Haiti and Panama got in via a playoff.

 

That still left out some good teams.

6 hours ago, Napoleon said:

The tournament should be 24 Teams with the elimination matches start with a Round of 16, like the World Cups were when the US hosted the WC in 1994.

Give Bolivia a shot to make it to the knockout rounds of an international tournament.

All CONMEBOL nations (10) are invited, plus USA, Mexico, Canada, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Jamaica, Costa Rica are automatic qualifiers (8).

The rest of CONCACAF fights for the six (6) remaining spots. 

 

I don't like this this field, only in that we should not let so many automatically in (from CONCACAF).

 

First I think we should be careful about expanding too much. As noted 16 is too small, but jump to 24 might just dilute this before it gets off the ground.

6 hours ago, Ted Lange said:

Nobody wants to see Brazil vs St Kits and Nevis or even Curaçao. 

We already see this, it's called Brazil vs Bolivia (78 in the world). Despite being so weak, they didn't finish last.

But that being said, I understand those games don't have much interest. And yes you want to limit them. Hence don't go for 24 just yet.

 

I think shoot for 20 initially and then go from there. 

The next question, who gets in from North America?

I think you can only justify the US and Mexico as automatic qualifiers. You might be able to let Canada in via a lack of any extra qualifying path like the Copa Centroamericana or Caribbean Cup. But you should be really careful, they are still CONCACF #4, so you would be jumping Costa Rica with that decision.

That leaves you with 7 more spots. I love using the sub cups of North America to determine places.

So now 5 more spots. If you said highest ranked teams from Central and Caribbean, that gives you 2 more

And you could have a playoff for the last 3 places. And I'm talking something on par with World Cup qualifying, because ultimate you would like those slots to go to those left out of Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica, making sure to get in the top teams from the Confederation. And in that 1 more team slips in, there's your field.

 

 

 

 

[Captain Ron 12883]

https://theathletic.com/3234174/2022/04/06/usmnt-world-cup-fans/

 

 

There are some good points, but there are a lot of bad points too.

 

It feels like there is a schism going on in USMNT fandom, either you must drink the Kool-Aid and buy in completely with zero criticism of the team or any criticism and this team is far better off without you watching. It's like there is no nuance in how you're a fan (IE - I'm glad they are going back to the World Cup, but I don't think this coach is doing all he can with this team consistently).

Funny from an article that is critical of fans ... being critical yet says 

Quote

“It’s a bit of a weird feeling right now because I hate to lose so much. But I’m really proud and I can’t wait to go to the World Cup,” Christian Pulisic told CBS just after the match, demonstrating that humans are capable of nuanced emotions that weigh all sides of a given situation.

 

[NorthLoop 14215]

Reyna just got hurt in the BVB game. Not sure how bad it is. 

[Captain Ron 12883]

6 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

Reyna just got hurt in the BVB game. Not sure how bad it is. 

 

Barely a minute in.

[gsoda3 3263]

[shnsajax 3591]

Reyna just got hurt in the BVB game. Not sure how bad it is. 

Going to be optimistic that it’s not bad being that he walked off on his own power and fairly well.

Still at this point his season needs to be shutdown.

[ztejas 43474]

16 minutes ago, Captain Ron said:

 

Barely a minute in.

They just canned their training director or some such (lead PT it looks like).

I will say - Gio is suuuuper emotional. Didn't he act this way last time and it ended up being fairly minor? Hopefully that's all it is again - although if I'm the NT I might be giving Bvb a call and suggesting they shut him down for a bit longer this time.

Edited April 8, 2022 by ztejas

[Captain Ron 12883]

Yeah, kid is emotional. He did act the same on his last in jury and it was relatively minor. Fingers crossed this is the same.

And if I was BVB and the NT called them, I would tell them pound rocks, we pay his salary, not you.

Where I think they could do well is to call Gio and make sure he's thinking of everything, but with his dad being Claudio, I'm sure he knows the drill.

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by Captain Ron

[Napoleon 8688]

Gio needs to come to Austin (not that I’m in Austin), rehab with Austin FC/UT, bang UT co-eds (and maybe a few from Texas State, if he wraps up), and do yoga every day. 

Something isn’t right in BvB’s training room.

[kingkoopa6 8369]

damn... prayers gio!!! 

[ztejas 43474]

1 hour ago, Captain Ron said:

And if I was BVB and the NT called them, I would tell them pound rocks, we pay his salary, not you.

Yes I know they won't do that but I'm sure they're frustrated.

[LurkingHorn 1066]

Let’s maybe just sit Gio the rest of the year. Dude is clearly not right and clearly BVB has no idea how to properly handle the situation. 

[shnsajax 3591]

Going to consider this a blessing in disguise and plenty of time to rest and recover.

[Braff Zacklin 13618]

Dude can't buy a break. Hope he's not another John O'Brien.

[Hagbard Celine 10871]

closest thing we have to a truly transformational player like a de bruyne

this sucks

[Napoleon 8688]

13 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Dude can't buy a break. Hope he's not another John O'Brien.

Callate!!

[ztejas 43474]

15 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Dude can't buy a break. Hope he's not another John O'Brien.

Pulisic is the next John O'Brien. Have to find a different comp for Reyna. The next Pulisic?

[ztejas 43474]

Time to bring him in. Just need MC to win the treble *vomits in mouth* and he'll step away. 

[Captain Ron 12883]

LOL. I heard he said it, I just didn't get the context. Interesting.

 

That said, USMNT Only is on my shit list, last night

 

 

Clearly getting roasted for Zardes on there.

[Napoleon 8688]

1 hour ago, Captain Ron said:

LOL. I heard he said it, I just didn't get the context. Interesting.

 

That said, USMNT Only is on my shit list, last night

 

 

Clearly getting roasted for Zardes on there.

The two on the left aren’t even starting strikers for their clubs.

Sargent is out injured and his team scores two goals in a surprising win. Zardes is old, with slow reflexes. 

Only the two FC Dallas academy players are going from this list of 5 unless Pefok does something this summer to keep Folarin Balogun from switching to the US. 

Sargent is just awful. He gives solid effort, but needs to stay with the team and see if he can figure shit out in The Championship or go to an MLS squad, because the Premier League is too fast for him. I can’t imagine he will return to the national team as the mainstay that he was from 2019-2021 because he would be the #6 or #7 winger choice and drops further each season. 

[Captain Ron 12883]

 

[Captain Ron 12883]

37 minutes ago, Captain Ron said:

 

So dumb, I start reading about Sargent, I think I'm in the EPL thread.

[Hagbard Celine 10871]

On 4/11/2022 at 8:28 AM, Captain Ron said:

Clearly getting roasted for Zardes on there.

the tweet is stupid because it shows options 4, 5, 8, 9 and 14

if reyna is fit and in form and we don't build down the spine of reyna - pulisic - adams then we're conservative

and i'm okay with that if gregg gets results or man-manages minutes to get surprise-package subs that advance us

psa:

usa game-winning world cup goals in the modern era:

1994: stewart

2002: mcbride, donovan

2010: donovan

2014: brooks

that's it, folks.

4 players have scored 5 game-winning goals in the world cup over the past 32 years

 

[Captain Ron 12883]

English cunts, I mean  Chelsea fans taking apart Pulisic on the social media.

 

I hope we beat the shit out of them in the World Cup.