Match thread: U.S. U17s vs. Paraguay, 10/16/17, 10:30 a.m. ET

for perspective, paraguay about the same population as the state of washington

 

And we get the winner of England/Iraq vs Japan if we managed to come out on top against Paraguay. Don't have a lot of faith right now being an Indians/Nats/Caps fan, and obviously a USMNT fan. Feel like I'm carrying an epic curse w/me from other sports into US soccer fandom like that cartoon dude w/the dark cloud that follows him over his head.

Anyway, if nothing else, we may have got the minimum rest, but unlike many other tournaments in recent years, we have equal rest to our opponent instead of less, so at least there is that.

 

Not even sure if this team can beat Paraguay right now. We have great players but as long as we have such a sh*tty coach, we're gonna lose the games that matter.

 

English Speaking Serious Football USA is only 2 or 3 million people at most. That's the relevant number.


As for the thread, Paraguay looks conspicuously like Venezuela for the U20 event. That team was a handful for our tired players and I don't see them getting past this team. Should have ran a b lineup against COLOMBIA and let the chips fall where they may. Winning the group and having no legs left is pointless.

 

lol 'at get it now' like you just didnt spout off some opinions as if they were facts

 

That soccer is no big deal as a men's game here and considered a women's sport or was it something else? Yeah you got me going so I reacted and then edited the inappropriate post to not only protect myself from moderation but to keep from letting you troll me with the BUT POPULATION style arguments and drag the thread.

 

I've always wondered how these best third allocations work. Does anyone know what the rules are? As in, why do we have Paraguay and not Iran?


EDIT:

Answered my own question: There's a table in the tournament regulations. Since Mexico and Chile cannot both finish on one point, we have the best thirds from groups A D E F

A D E F 1A v 3D, 1B v 1A (US), 1C v 3F, and 1D v 3E
http://resources.fifa.com/mm/docume...ion/02/88/01/81/reg_fu17wc2017_en_neutral.pdf
(see PDF page 27)

In the irony department,
if the US had beaten or tied colombia, we'd play NIger instead, which would have been ok,
but if we'd lost by only one goal, then we'd have have gotten GERMANY instead of Paraguay!

Sometimes it pays to lose...

 

Paraguay's population is about the same percentage of ours as Ghana's is of India's.

This probably means something!

 

Not a bad team for us to face. We should be able to beat them.

 

Put him in da bathroom!

 

I expect the delicate little US flowers to wilt when Paraguay punches them in the face.

And then this board will get excited about results in meaningless games for a couple years. Then the next round of delicate little US flowers disappoint everyone when opponents actually start trying . Rinse and repeat.

 

Is this edition's U17 team really that soft? I ask because I don't normally follow the U-teams compared to the full MNT.

 

Thanks for reminding me I need to bring the snacks to my son's rec league game tomorrow.

ps. At 13 he's finally allowed to head the ball.

 

No soft, just complacent. Like us.

 

Compared to Colombia? Yes. Compared to other US teams? Not really.

 

I wouldn't say soft, just saving something for the next round and playing tired against a COL side who needed to win to guarantee passage and possibly win a tight group. Does one result undo the whole cycle? Not a group stage match where they boys were already through against an opponent who we had circled as uniquely dangerous on the attack.

I don't see us advancing past Paraguay but i do think the matchup will be more favorable for our small technical players up front to create and score. Colombia was not only technical but physically stronger and Paraguay are smaller and less of a matchup problem for Andrew and George. I also think there will be less of a speed problem in back. Colombia broke through because of unique features to their side. In my mind going in they were on of the most dangerous sides in the event even while missing their star striker at the moment.

Is Germany better than Paraguay? The total destruction Iran unleashed upon them makes me wonder. Is the weather getting to the Germans?

 

Having Goslin suspended will be a blessing in disguise. Now we can play someone who can actually pass properly

I wish Hackworth gave Booth a chance just in case we need him later. Now we have no idea what he looks like against top u17 competition

 

Since when is he suspended?

 

Given how incompetent the USSF is, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the U17-es bent over, just like the Senior Team did against Trinidad.

The USSF is soft and our teams are soft. Why should we expect them to do much of anything these days?

 

Seems like some pussy ass thinking to me. I haven't seen anything from the U17's to indicate that they're soft.

Our senior team representing a youth development landscape from 20 years ago just failed.

We certainly have structural issues we need to fix within our current model as well, but I can't get down with the inferiority complex.

 

^ Nice reference to the movie Idiocracy

I agree. I don’t think the team is soft either. What they are lacking is:

1). Technical players that are starting outside of the top 5 of: Sargent, Carleton, Acosta, Durkin, and Weah. The rest of the players are weak in this aspect. A team like Spain or Brazil has technical players at EVERY position.

This comes down to player selection. Hackworth could have played Booth or Indiana more but decided against it because he lives in his own world

2). Movement off the ball is poor. This comes down to coaching. We can’t play a free flowing attacking style if players don’t know how to create space for themselves. And this comes down to Hackworth again.


With all the money US Soccer has, I always wonder why they don’t pluck some really good Dutch or Spanish youth coach. We need that outside knowledge because we obviously don’t have it right now.

 

10 years ago. Guys developed 20 years ago were tough as nails.

 

reading between the lines, you seem to be hinting that there is some sort of ol boy network in US Soccer...an inner sanctum, if you will....the type of environment where "who you know" is more important than what you offer.

personally, i'm surprised this guy hackworth is still a youth national team coach...seems to me he's tried and failed multiple times in the past. he's mediocre and uninspiring. and i know its wrong but i just cant seem to shake the fact that the first letters in his name are HACK. (as in, this guy sucks he's a hack)...

i think coaches and players like him stay in position because the bar for expectations is just so low....when teams dont do well it fits in with the general performance of the federation and therefore even when that under-performance might be truly attributable to poor coaching...that fact isn't clear because of the legacy of similar results from similar teams in the past. people only zero-in on the poor coaching when the results are staggeringly low a la bruce in wcq....but you can have decent or even good results and have poor coaching at the same time.....a team could finish in the quarterfinals for instance whereas another better coach couldve taken the same team to the championship. wouldnt that qf finish be poor coaching then??

i dont think ussoccer is at the point where people can look past results in judging performance...which is a bigger problem than most realize. jusr because a forward scored a goal doesnt mean he had a good game. . and just because a team won doenst mean all the players played well....whihc, when judging player ratings in ussf....seems to be a point that is lost on many us soccer observers/writers/fans/coaches.