I think the two separable issues are weather and the field itself. Each federation must be able to ensure that the players of both teams will not be put under undue risk of injury from fans and from the playing surface itself. If a federation can’t find a stadium and field that satisfies this standard, the game should be moved to a neutral country’s stadium that does. As far as weather, that is obviously not controllable by anyone but the confederation heads can and should move or postpone games if the weather conditions (extreme heat, extreme cold, torrential rains, etc.) make the game conditions a hazard. And that applies to our silly stunt in Minnesota.
This matters so much. If you aren’t confident in your keeper it undermines the whole team. It is a huge issue.
That was not a wet field. That was a swamp. If a country can’t invest enough to keep a field playable after a little rain, then they have no business hosting matches. San Salvador had less rain than we had in Des Moines, and my back yard wasn’t a swamp. If these countries aren’t going to take things seriously, then I don’t know what to say.
I liked what Lalas had to say at halftime about elitist privilege and crying about a muddy shirt - “suck it up buttercup”.
Can we really have any complaints about the reffing last night? Both red card decisions were defensible. The missed PK, i agree but without VAR that call is a hard one in real time. Otherwise I think the ref called a good match.
The complaint isn't about the rain, it's about the lack of a field that can handle rain, which is basic infrastructure for a soccer federation. An American field will still be perfectly playable in the snow.
Add this to the reasons their field was trash. USMNT notes from 🇸🇻…Doesn’t seem Walker Zimmerman will play because of injury.At both teams’ training last night at Cuscatlan, pieces of metal were being found on the field — presumably left over from weekend concert. Concacaf reps aware.More rain today = sloppy.— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) June 14, 2022
The weather is in god's hands. That kind of weather in America would make an unplayable field too. We have plenty of examples in MLS and previous USA matches of trying to fit a game in on playing surfaces just as bad as last night. In fact, the field held up better then I expected and the ball continued to move and never really died in puddles like you'd have expected at kick off. So much whining. I'm mad at you for making me agree with Alexi Lalas on something.
I think this all seems to make sense until the logistics, politics and inertia of these situations set in. There has to be deep sensitivity in the federation about economic discrepancies between the us and most of the countries in Central America. ES doesn’t have a lot of choices with the venue. frequently moving games to a neutral stadium would put them at a competitive disadvantage Then there’s the issue of finding new venues on short notice. Moving dates has other consequences w tv and what not.
Lalas is a dinosaur from a bygone era. Things have changed. That was a danger to player safety last night, and it happens far too often in CONCACAF. I’m sure Alexi also enjoys watching 1970s era English soccer on YouTube as well. What’s the quote about what happens when people just sit back and do nothing? I’ve offered solutions to fix the problems of CONCACAF not doing its job. I get we are all tired of this joke of a corrupt confederation holding soccer back in our part of the world, so let’s see those who hold some real power do something about it.
CONMEBOL fields are better than Central American ones. Having lived in La Paz and even been on the field itself I can tell you it is better than just about every field in CONCACAF outside of Mexico and the US. It's just the altitude that seems to be the issue for most.
A year ago we scored a near injury time winner to knock Honduras out, came from behind twice to steal the nations league crown from Mexico and then didn’t give up a non pk goal all tournament in the gold cup w/a b/c team that won the crown, also in extra time. Grit was there a plenty a year ago, it was qualifying, where that sterner stuff suddenly vanished.
Yeah, I feared the game would be an unwatchable splat fest but the ball was actually moving well enough. That game didn’t really speak of extreme weather conditions compared to some I’ve seen.
When Weah made way for Arriola, I said to myself in frustration that Berhalter has given up on this game. I basically had the same reaction when Morris came on, but I had completely forgotten that Jordan is the CNL assassin...
That's how I saw it, too. Cannon backs off and the guy hits the shot of his life. Horvath was positioning for the cross, as he should have been. Looked way worse than it was and even it Horvath had dove for it (good luck planting your cleats into that garbage turf), he wouldn't have gotten to it. It was a laser and a 1 in a million strike from Larin and he couldn't do it again if he tried.
Maybe, but I think he has a point about elitism and privilege. Especially when people are talking about leaving Concacaf because the soccer is beneath us. Probably a dumb question, but is there evidence that more injuries happen in conditions like last night? It certainly seems more dangerous but curious if there is evidence to support it.
We only had grit at home. Never on the road. This is night and day from our first qualifier road trip at Cuscatlán.
Not sure I'm signing on to 1 in a million strike. I tend to agree that it looked worse for Horvath than it probably was, but are you saying it was unstoppable? Optics matter, Horvath would be taking less of a beating if he had at least made an effort even if he knew it was past him.
You might be missing the point of the argument. I think I watched about half of the CONMEBOL qualies last cycle. Sure there is shithousery - though not as much as in CONCACAF - but I'll take that to avoid meaningless games like Grenada and to see the NT tested against quality competition.
For me, the most underrated and overlooked aspect of Greg Berhalter's team is that they are willing to fight like hell. We’ve never had this before, or at least not like that this. Even such iconic moments (not an adjective I use lightly) as Bloody McPride were more about enduring and persevering. This team gets angry by ramming the game down the other team’s throat. i love it. And it matters
Another potentially dumb question. Didn't things seem better this time around through qualifying? My sense is that there were less field issues and less gamesmanship this go round. I could be wrong. Are things worse or better? My sense is that they improved this last cycle.
I remember a couple of times the fields weren’t great, but are we prepared for not qualifying as often if we join Conmebol? Whining about Concacaf is one thing - losing to teams like Bolivia and not qualifying as often is another thing altogether. We don’t have things so terrible if you ask me.