dude, we are on the middle foot, not the front, not the back. we don't bunker back and launch it. we don't play direct soccer. we do work the ball up but we kind of fart around the perimeter and look to create indirectly. we are not canada or some team that just goes to goal. the reason we accumulate possession is we aren't taking risks to try to create volumes of chances. we are farting around hoping for the right berhalter cue from the soccer gods.
Looking forward to the "From the American dream to nightmare" headlines after they shockingly lose, lol
We used to have a team that was together a lot more. This side is just getting to really know one another, especially since so many of the key core guys have missed significant stretches of matches. Ever since Bora's side in 1994 that was essentially a club team with a couple of additions, we have ALWAYS had a core that has played together more than the current side has. Our last side, as flawed as they were, had a LOT of experience playing together, at least the key players did. This side will get a little more experience together this year, but it won't be a ton of experience together, as we only have 6 match dates in the FIFA calendar left before the WC camp (and maybe a non-window friendly or two besides, which won't be for the key players).
i don't think an aggressive 433 travels well, even if stocked with hustle players in the midfield and forwards who chase. if my goal is to lock things down and play for a few chances there are better ways to go about it. we basically have an attacking formation from which we nervously retreat by personnel choice. i also think in the last decade we have nearly abandoned the idea of the "road friendly." i think it tipped over into constant home friendlies and tournament then maybe 1 road window a year, some years. i think it would help if we had to win a gold cup someplace else. all that in retrospect showed you is we could play these teams at home. cash cow problem. at some point USSF became obsessed with the revenues.
The Panama game at home we won with 39% possession. I have a hard time calling our style an 'aggressive 433.'
Except that it actually was. It was a pressing 433 that wins the ball high up the pitch with a high line, as is typical for this side. We were on the front foot all game long. We do NOT sit back and counter. That's Canada. Look how they play. Look how we play. The two are nothing at all alike.
T Nicky Summerbee? Former Man City player has lived in Qatar for 12 years. He said it’s usually damp and cool, plus the stadium will be air conditioned like hell so I don’t think heat will be too much of an issue for anyone.
re we used to do better abroad, we have achieved ties in mexico long before mike bradley's shot, and even won in costa rica. for all the "plateau" talk of the snobs we are not yet back to their level of quali excellence, 2+ ppg, only give up road losses and to teams like mexico or costa rica, not some team with an isthmus. 2002-2010. started eroding under JK and got worse since. only partly recovered. we did use to be good for the occasional road win in someplace like italy. or to beat a good team in a friendly, even if they select goofy or don't try, but still get the result rather than make excuses. i have voiced this 20x but my concern with the snob cult is their initial honest presentation was they didn't like the way we played and didn't care if we qualified to install it. that only later became this will improve us, as a sales pitch. because you were talking to fans of a round of 16 world cup team from the confed cup final. the "new way" hasn't yet showed itself even up to old standards at which we had supposedly plateaued. what is less than "plateau?" in your climbing shoes with your carabiners and your harness just trying to get to where we were? hmmm. but the europeans are no longer making fun of our outfit. maybe they will let us in their club and not talk sass.
The last win Iran had against a team that qualified* for this World Cup was at the last World Cup, when they beat Morocco in the group stage opener. They may be good, they may not be, but they haven't registered any good results of note in the last 4 years. * - they beat Qatar in a December 2018 friendly, but Qatar didn't have to qualify for this, obviously. Eta: We have 11 wins against fellow qualifiers since the 2018 World Cup if you assume Costa Rica wins their playoff, 7 if they don't.
The internet says that the average high in Doha in November is 29.5 C and low is 19.5 C, so they'll probably be playing when it's in the lower 20s and humid, at least outside. The average humidity in Doha in November is 66%. https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/qatar/doha-weather-november There are a couple of guys in here that spend time in Doha, one I believe currently lives there, and perhaps they can tell us what it's like inside the stadiums.
The last win not in the USA against any team qualified for this World Cup we had was the friendly in Germany seven years ago, in Köln. We beat the hosts 1-2. Mix and Bobby Wood scored, Bradley was our MOTM.
what time of day are the games gonna be? both because of climate and also because not sure if people have considered the hours they may be airing at. 8 hour time difference this time of year.
If Ukraine qualifies, then every single one of our match-ups is somewhat overshadowed by "story." The old Anglo-American cultural rivalry, the 1950 1-0, etc. The mess that is Iran-US history and politics. And the nation that rightly has the world's sympathy right now against us. I feel bad for not wanting Ukraine to qualify, but... selfishly, for the US and as a US footballing fan, I don't really want Ukraine to qualify and be our first match. Too much drama in a group that will be all about drama. This WC probably doesn't have a proper "group of death," but we would definitely be the "Group of Drama."
it is inherently aggressive. you have 3 mids to police the midfield. we chat up "press" because if you don't do something with the wings transition is too easy. simple matter of numbers. have people forgotten the first few years of berhalter? wrong personnel, toast.
There is a huge difference between home games, or even home continent games....Qatar is the only home team. Everyone else are playing teams on neutral ground.
I don't think the history matches our player pool, talent or tactics. We were a different team with a different pool and different approaches when Poland and the Czech's crushed us and we beat* Slovenia, though I guess they're more Southeastern European.
meh. should we have "gelled" GB's initial favorites for 4 years? half the problem is he tossed all the sarachan tape in the USSF dumpster and started over with his carnival collection of oddities. took him 3 years to work his way back to horvath and EPB and weah and moore and such. only by the summer of 21 had he figured out a half approximation of the right players to pick. he then had to work through injuries. when was the gelling supposed to happen? gelling happens when the coach isn't learning on the job and confused who to choose. a good coach who saw through the bull would have helped this along.
Google "Qatar World Cup stadiums." There are eight. Five of them are the same size, 40,000 capacity, and three of them are larger. The larger stadia might have retractable roofs, but the smaller stadia do not look to have covered pitches, only covered seating areas. I have not yet seen a graphic that tells us which matches will be played where, except that the second biggest will host the opening match of the tournament, that the final will be in the biggest, Lusail, and that the third-biggest stadium looks from the air like a giant vagina.* * I confess that I thought that when I first saw it, but my wife just confirmed it today, so it's not just me.
Saudi Arabia is a perenial power regionally but gets curbed stomped at all world cups not hosted by the US in 1994. Poland was garbage at the Euro's and basically unless I'm remembering wrong, stomped at pretty much all World Cups since they started making it back again 20 years ago. While Wales isn't studly or anything, they've made knockout runs in back to back Euro's, and a deep run in '16. Poland is Lewandowski and blahhhhhhh. Mexico can fear him and they're height, but not much else in that group other than the usual Argentine thrashing of them.