World Cup Thread
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A little sad that France has beaten Morocco. Morocco plays a very appealing and easy to watch style and they have some tremendous players. France capitalized on their good chances and put them in the back of the net...and they defended well as a group also, blocking several good Moroccan threats in the box. Morocco also missed a couple of good chances just wide and I believe they hit a post. It was a really fun game to watch. Here's hoping France wins on Sunday....I've never been much of a Messi fan and right now I'm convinced their style of play is to go down at the slightest touch and hope for a foul call leading to a free kick or PK.
That was a heck of a game and both teams played their heart out. I thought Morocco was going to put a couple in but it was always close but no cigar. They should be able to beat Croatia for third place. I wouldn’t mind if Messi got his World Cup but I’m sticking with the position I had at the beginning, it’s hard to pick against France, they just have so many weapons.
My son is rooting for France because he doesn't want Messi to win a World Cup. And in all honesty, if Argentina plays a clean game and doesn't just flop around in and around the box, France will beat them. Argentina has struggled to score goals in the run of play and they've been the beneficiary of several given questionable PKs (IMO).
Mbappe is going to be a matchup problem for Argentina (as he is for everyone). Let us not forget, France's top choice for the 9 is sidelined with a bad knee injury. Giroud has played great in this tournament but imagine if France is out there with Benzema, Mbappa, and Griezmann in the attack?
I've got the Frogs repeating. But if they get beat, many will be consoled that a top 5 player in world futbol history who we were all priviledged to watch over the years, gets the only trophy (& the biggest) to add to his resume.
Argentina won Copa America last year. A pretty big trophy by world football standards. It's the same for Portugal and Ronaldo winning the Euros a couple years back. Not the ultimate trophy for soccer players but they are still giant accomplishments for the players and their countries in international soccer competitions.
I meant the only trophy "left" for him to add. Copa America is definitely a big deal, and hallelujah! we are in it in 2024. I think it's already a done deal, with Canada & maybe Mexico also invited. None of this Gold Cup & Nations League crap to start tuning up for 2026.
IMO, the WC in Qatar was delayed several months from normal dates due to the desert heat there. This gave most of the WC Finalists the opportunity to play in huge tournaments in So. America, Europe & even the Far East. Some of these tourneys lasted into this year & were perfect tune ups for the WC. Meanwhile, the USMNT had concacaf & a couple friendlies in which we were blasted.
But, this Copa America thing is wonderful news for our USMNT, if their club teams let our players go.
IMO, the WC in Qatar was delayed several months from normal dates due to the desert heat there. This gave most of the WC Finalists the opportunity to play in huge tournaments in So. America, Europe & even the Far East. Some of these tourneys lasted into this year & were perfect tune ups for the WC. Meanwhile, the USMNT had concacaf & a couple friendlies in which we were blasted.
But, this Copa America thing is wonderful news for our USMNT, if their club teams let our players go.
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Copa America is usually a summer deal so there shouldn't be a problem with our front line Euro-based players making it provided they are healthy. As for Gold Cup and CONCACAF Nations, we play in the competitions we can play in. Short of switching our affiliation to UEFA or CONMEBOL (not gonna happen), we are stuck with the CONCACAF comps unless we get special invites to others like Copa America.
We need better players and depth. Until then, it doesn't matter who we play in the lead up. And we did a pretty good job of scheduling friendlies to compensate for the lack of regional competition. Morocco (you probably forgot we beat them soundly a few month ago, huh?), Japan, there were others. Frankly, we need cash too, since we are a budget strapped program to begin with and we have to finance a youth program and women's program who are self financing or government supported in other systems. So we need to play games that sell tickets. I'd rather be playing Honduras in Chicago to a packed house than Ecuador in an empty stadium in Peru.
Did people realize that Argentina played all but 2 field players with meaningful minutes? Those last 2 got mop up time vs Croatia.
Think about how far from that we are right now. Need to find that depth and plug a few holes up front and in the back.
And that does not have to be a true 9. Morocco did very well without that.
Yep. Taking 4 or 5 right backs and 1 left back makes us look absurd to the rest of the world.
Not to mention not playing Gio and leaving players home that invited teams we knew we would face to change their formations to exploit our lack of physicality at key points on the field.
Not to mention not playing Gio and leaving players home that invited teams we knew we would face to change their formations to exploit our lack of physicality at key points on the field.
I’m excited to see the US play in the Copa America but we need our first line players to play there and I believe that will require a new coach.
Of course we're stuck in C'caf. But I want the toughest competition possible to prepare us for the toughest of all competitions. And Copa America in 2024 is, and the GC & NL ain't. Three or so friendlies against WC qualifiers are great, but not necessarily when it's never the same starters. Our starters in the WC were chosen about six weeks before the tournament.(better late than never).
Regarding depth, there is some buzz over certain U-21's coming up that I'm anxious to see. Any depth will only come from these and a very few in Europe not called up.
Regarding depth, there is some buzz over certain U-21's coming up that I'm anxious to see. Any depth will only come from these and a very few in Europe not called up.
Holy crap what a final!!! Of course Argentina opens the scoring off of a soft PK call and Stone and Holden gush over the fact Messi scored yet another from the spot after not being the player to earn the PK. France looked awful for most of the game until about the 70th minute when they decided to get desperate and play with urgency. And I was pretty certain France was going to win after they scored the 2nd as Argentina looked defeated and tired but they gutted it out. The last 45 minutes of actual game play was riveting. The number of times my son and I scared the crap out of the dog because of our yelling...it was a lot.
I felt bad for Lloris because I thought he played well enough to win. Martinez also played exceptionally well once France decided to start shooting. The save on the break away late in the 2nd ET period...one of the best I've ever seen considering the situation. Mbappe was ridiculous once he decided to start taking over. The goal off the half volley was just ridiculous. The game was definitely worthy of a World Cup final.
I felt bad for Lloris because I thought he played well enough to win. Martinez also played exceptionally well once France decided to start shooting. The save on the break away late in the 2nd ET period...one of the best I've ever seen considering the situation. Mbappe was ridiculous once he decided to start taking over. The goal off the half volley was just ridiculous. The game was definitely worthy of a World Cup final.
I’m so over the “greatest match ever”. Everyone knows the greatest match ever was when the Allies tied the Nazis with Stallone as keeper.
That was a fun movie.
I can't say for certain it's the greatest match ever...but it certainly lived up to the hype of two teams with 2 of the best current players on the planet playing for the ultimate trophy.
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