You know I'll tell you I am a US citizen (also Italian as well), and I am more than happy that the USA did not qualify. I really did not think highly of the US soccer team ever, and in the last 2 world cups, I got so furious when my friends were bashing me and saying "USA is better than Italy" just because the US did better. USA got lucky while Italy was unlucky. Now all we need is for Italy to get there through the playoffs. Even if Italy don't make it, at least the USA did not do better and it can be argued that Italy had a much tougher task. Anyway it will be horrible if we don't make it so I hope we get there ok!
We got exactly what we deserved. If you watched the match, the US players looked like they were sleep-walking....no effort at all, even after they went behind and knew they needed to score.
All I can say is this. I hope that Grant Wahl now realises that when both sides are utterly desperate, and when everything is on the line, and when any mistakes can mean the end, it is actually really really hard to look good. J Mind you, what did Trinidad have to play for?
you had said chile would beat Iran at least 5-0. then Iran beat you 2-0. but you still didnt learn your lesson and didnt become humble. then when chile was at risk of not qualifying, you started attacking AFC and saying how AFCs spots should be given to CONMEBOL. dont blame AFC, or anybody else. chile lost 3-0 and went out due to goal differential. you have nobody to blame but yourself. you would never have gone far with that defense of yours. give credit where its due for once, and admit that your team did not deserve it for once. take these 4 years to reflect on your arrogant behaviour and learn that karma exists! see you see us in russia. adios amigo!
I don't attack AFC. All I say is that their level is "crappy", which is no invention, as almost always at the WC, almost all AFC teams, don't get many points against other teams, there (if any, in some cases), a reality to which your team also doesn't escape from, btw. And not because we (chileans) don't make it to the WC, or we lose some friendly match along the way, means you guys are better. Only means that at Conmebol, there aren't any bad teams here, where anyone can get good results almost against anyone (something that never happens in other Confeds). In many aspects, our qualifiers, are lots more dificult than the same WC. Yes, gives me great pain to not qualify this time, to the WC. But if the others in Conmebol, were better, we don't deserve to go. It is as simple as that. In any way, we still had a great run for the past 8 years : 2 times continental champions (actually we still are the current champion), 1 Confed cup finalist position, and specifically at the WC, 2 times we passed through the group phase, towards the round of 16. Not something many teams can say on their behalf (and least of all, any from AFC)........
I would like to see Iran playing in the height of La Paz or Quito, in the hot Barranquilla or Maracaibo, or in the Maracaná, Bombonera or Centenario stadium ... A whole cycle in the qualifiers of Conmebol for 3 years ... AFC qualfiers are just a piece of cake in comparison to our South American qualifiers.
"were gonna build a wall. a big, beautiful wall. that will keep central american countries from eliminating our arses from the world cup."
obviously south america is tougher, that is not a question. but its just silly for chile fans to start whining about AFC spots when their team goes under risk of not qualifying. that is desperation and pathetic. also, even though the quality of asian competition is obviously worse than south american, i wouldnt say AFC is a piece of cake. you havent dealt with the crap we dealt either. try playing vs persian gulf countries like bahrain and qatar. we have to deal with stuff like qatar buying a bunch of african players before our game. then rolling on the grass and wasting 30 minutes of match time in must win matches. in 2010 saudi arabia got to play north korea AFTER all the other matches on the same matchday. this means they knew they needed a 1-1 draw to knock us out, and that is exactly what happened. in 2018 they also got the same luxury, playing after australia, which is partly the reason australia is in the playoffs instead of saudi. and in 2014 qualifiers, qatar deliberately lost to uzbekistan 5-1 to knock us out because they were banking on us losing or drawing in south korea, but thank god we won that match. obviously the AFC did not even investigate that match. in 2002 an already eliminated bahrain played super motivated so they could knock us out and have saudi arabia leapfrog us, at the end of the match they run on the pitch waving saudi flags. where else in the world does this happen? we also had to deal with crap like their fans making noise outside our players hotel the night before the match to make them sleep deprived, and during the match they put loud annoying repetitive music so loud that you cant even hear the commentator. they also put our fans in cages inside the stadium. and they also detained and fingerprinted our players at the airport, holding them for several hours. and i dont know why you are talking about hot weather, try playing in 45 degrees celsuis heat in qatar or other surrounding countries. and which south american qualifer was played on this kind of pitch: this was in the asian cup, not world cup qualifying, but it shows you the crap we have to go through in the "cakewalk AFC"
We owned Chile 2-0. Also, Chile couldn't beat Australia that failed to earn an automatic qualification from Asia at the Confederations Cup. These midget players don't deserve to be in Russia. Period.
Btw, what I've said about AFC, I didn't started to say it when we were in danger of not making it to the WC. I've been saying it always since my first post here in Big soccer, long before this last qualifier process even started.
you clearly stepped it up in the OFC and AFC merge thread, which was created at a point chile was in danger. dont even pretend my friend. at this point i find no point in dragging this on, and i am just going to put you out of your misery. 4 more years.
I just read and realized, that Chile has been eleminated from the World Cup, because of their very own protest?! That is unreal. If they wouldnt have protested against that bolivian player (cabrera) being inegible to play for bolivia. CAS verdict meant a 3:0 and 3 pts for both matches of Bolivia vs. Chile and Peru. However, Peru had lost and Chile had drawn vs. Bolivia. That means, that without the protest, the finale standings would have been: 5th. Chile 24 pts -4 6th: Paraguay 24pts -6 7th: Peru 23pts -4
If you would've taken just a few minutes to actualy look when that particular thread you are talking about, you'd realize that it started 3 years ago, when this current qualifiers process was still in diapers, and no one in the world was even close on getting eliminated yet, and only got re-activated a few days back, by someone else, and since back then I had my say on what I thought about the issue, since that thread started. My opinion regarding the issue as what I thought since then, hasn't changed much : AFC is still full of crap, up to the same level as of OFC (or even worse than them). Now, if you feel bad because someone put OFC at the same level as of AFC, (to where your team belongs), and that comparison hurts your feeling, well too bad you can't take criticism as something where you can learn something from it. At the end, it is your problem, to be close minded, not mine.