Things I've noticed in the announcing of the two matches and two partial matches: The announcers go out of their way to describe the stadiums in a way that makes them sound distant from each other. In USA-England, they are in the "northernmost stadium". The other day was a match described as in the "westernmost stadium". While I'll grant that Qatar is not a city state ala Singapore, or micronation like Andora, it would rank as 3rd smallest if a state in the US, at 4600 square miles compared to Connecticut's (actual 3rd smallest) 5500 square miles. While we can technically speak of there being western, northern, etc. of Connecticut, it's not like we imagine we are describing climatic or significant altitude differences. All it does is confirm that this is Qatar sportswashing its image as a despotic state that killed thousands to prepare for this tournament. USA! USA! USA!
A point against England was a good result and the USA outplayed England for the majority of the match IMO. Now 3 points against Iran on Tuesday.
A point was a good result, but my biggest frustration in the match was our inability to shoot the ball. Our forwards were looking for the best shot rather than the quick shot and they gave England's defense enough time to collapse on the shooter and block the shot. Our forwards need to look at getting the ball off their foot faster against Saudi Arabia.
My biggest frustration with the announcing is not all pairs have a play-by-play announcer and a color commentary announcer. I tried listening to a game yesterday during my drive from Sandy to Cedar City and both announcers were doing commentary. It ended up being a great game that was lost in the commentary. Announcer #1: Player A has the ball and he is currently in great form with Inter. He's scored X number of goals this season and is in top form. Announcer #2: Yeah, and his home life is quite ordinary. But his mom makes a spectacular apple pie. Announcer #1: Oh and what a goal! Zero build-up to the goal. No information on how the end-to-end play is happening. Maybe I've just been spoiled listening to Bill Riley for so many years.
I'd also say that we have also been gunshy on trying to play Weah through, or hitting penetrating passes. We seem to prefer crosses, which is going to be not so effective against slabhead (Maguire).
USA Through! I was teaching class with my phone sitting on the web page so I could refresh and see if the score changed. I advised the class of the scores as we went. I was then advised by one student (one of the best in the class!) that she didn't like the US team, 'bunch of scrubs', and that she's cheering for France. Quel l'horreur!
The Wright and Moore subs really have me asking WTF. In every match our midfield starts amazingly and tires, but we’ve seen nothing from De la Torre. In the first two matches we got little from strikers, and struggle to finish. How are Gio and Jesus - some of our most creative attackers - almost not used? We’ve been tough to score on, our keeper is nails, we have good attacking outside backs and the first 55 minutes of our midfield have been top flight…we belong in the elimination round - gotta get scoring, let’s use our fresh legged talent who aren’t Sounders.
This is an aside..... and feel free not to respond... But oh man! Things must be pretty nervy on your campus. Are you giving your students extra accommodations?
I didn't think that far ahead, sadly... setting a reminder in calendar right now, in case I've not yet retired.
Landon Donovan has been my favorite announcer in the tournament. He provides good anecdotes and information, but even when he is excited he still sounds like Kent Brockman calling a soccer game.
Big fan of Aly Wagner. She does a great job. enjoyed Jaqui Oatley as well. I do like John Strong too. 45 down 45 to go!
Easy! He simply assigned them to research and write an essay on the matchup viewed through the lens of current US/Iran international relations.
It was fun keeping track of the Tico/Germany and the Japan/Spain games. Every goal in each game seemed to impact the virtual group standings. Japan’s winning goal was one of the most controversial I’ve seen in WC. As the commentator asked,”How can they factually determine that the ball hit one of Ronaldo’s hairs (a previous game in the tournament) but can’t factually determine if a ball completely crossed the touch line?” The other part of the controversy is that the AR kept his flag down. Then he raised it for a moment. Then he put it back down again. So everyone is asking “Why”? Had he called the ball out the VAR would have had to support that call. As it was, he didn’t call it out, so VAR had to support THAT call. And finally, I’ll again ask a question I’ve asked for years: how is the AR supposed to see a whole ball on the touch line on the OTHER side of the goal?
It's funny how that goes. All those World Cups watched: 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 through the group stage: 6 wins, total, 32 years. Otoh: Slovenia was a win, robbed by the ref. Portugal was a win in the 94th minute lol, before a Bradley error and some idiotic coaching from Klinsy, created a huge gap for Ronaldo to exploit, and like that "poof" went away 2 more wins, or 1/3 of the current total. The other key piece is that we've now advanced to the knockouts in 4 of 5 tournaments we qualified for this century, and 5 of 7 after getting rolled in 1990 with college kids (great effort vs host Italy though). So, comparing that to the rest of the sides outside of the UEFA and Conmebol powers, and it's actually a real good track record, not quite Mexico, but still damn good.
For those who do not know, I teach at the University of Idaho. Two weeks ago, four of our students were murdered in an off-campus house in a knife attack that has no arrest in sight. We were gobsmacked to say the least. Last night we had a statewide vigil for them, and it was a very powerful/profound experience. But many of our students have not returned to campus, feeling unsafe given that the killer is still at large. We're doing hybrid education over these two weeks and finals to come; we don't know what enrollment will look like in the spring, and we certainly don't know when we'll stop hurting or have the unease fade. Catching someone would be helpful on all of these fronts.
It'd be nice if we could score more than a goal in a game... I feel like Shaq Moore makes the game 10v12. Felt like he was passing it away more than to another teammate.
I didn’t know about the vigil, but I’ve been trying to follow the investigation. I was a student at FSU when Ted Bundy struck at a sorority house. The pall over campus in the aftermath sounds similar to that which the U of I community is experiencing. I’m sorry that y’all are going through this tragedy. Please excuse my cavalier post earlier on this page.
He has the potential to be an asset to the MNT. He made Best 11 at Gold Cup. But, he was terrible the other night. I hope he doesn’t see the field again in this WC.
I want to know why Ferreira is even on this team? Dude has no role and I can’t see how he would actually impact a game? If only the USMNT had a 6’ 3” striker in form to start or bring off the bench? Shame.