If your team has 10 or so rooms they might let you use a conference room for free. Or it may just be better to use the common area anyway. I'm sure there are other teams there too.
Way too many people start thinking college way too young. As a parent and coach, my primary objective/goal is to try to get all my kids who want to play HS to be in a position to make the team and get playing time. That said there is a wide swath of what it takes to do that. I have a girl on my team who never played before who started varsity for her team as a freshman (It's not that she was that good (though her learning curve was impressive). I also have girls who have played all their lives who were scraping for minutes on their freshmen team (JV-B). This is less about how good either one of them are, and more about how competitive their respective schools are. And it's not as simple as suburban vs more urban or rural. The competitive team is in a suburban school district with 3 high schools. One of that districts other high schools doesn't even have a freshman team and their JV-A was bad enough I had one girl opt to play Spring club with me and my middle schoolers over her HS JV team.
Meh, Mexico tied Argentina on points and only missed advancing or the first time in, what, 7 cycles due to goal differential. Costa Rica wasn't a direct qualifier, they had to win a playoff and they beat a very solid Japan side. The only team not pulling their weight top qualifier Canada
I think it’s clear that Costa Rica is on the decline. They have a ton of players over 30 and every few youngsters coming up. Ditto with Mexico. They might have a lost generation scenario brewing. Canada took advantage of a weakened Mexico in WCQ, fair enough. This WC was too early for them though, I felt that way going in. USA… I have questions about WCQ now. Why were certain players ignored for the past year, yet come the WC they are playing huge roles (Sargent, Wright, Ream)? Also, the defense in the WC had been great. The passing and movement has been pretty good. Where was this in WCQ? Were some of our players just not playing that hard? Not taking CONCACAF seriously? I watch Musah every week at Valencia, I’ve never once seen him play a full 90 minutes defensively for Valencia the way he has in this WC. Ditto with Dest. I think the US and Canada are on the way up, while CR and Mexico are on the way down.
I assume you meant Poland. Ask the Mexico how they feel about going out of goal difference. It’s a complete and total disaster for them. Australia wasn’t a direct qualifier either, they advanced. Asia got three of six teams advanced. Japan topped a group with Spain and Germany. Morocco topped a group with 2018 WC finalists Croatia and 2018 WC third place finishers Belgium. Hell, Saudi Arabia beat Argentina.
No question re: the aging Ticos. And Canada is on the rise in spite of these results. (As someone posted somewhere: “Canada ‘22 = USA ‘90.” First WC in decades, poor performance, hosts the next cycle; hopefully they don’t have a USA ‘98 in 2030.). Edit: Question is: do they dump Herdman after going point-less and his “f up Croatia” remark? I predict that the CSA would keep him but some club or nation offering more $ might snatch him up. With Mexico, how much of their qualifying struggles has more to do with Tata and his tactics rather than the Mexican talent pool and system? I’m not that close a follower of theirs, but I see similarities to Bruce Arena and the US in 2018–calling up a lot of aging players, ignoring the youth, not developing the next generation. We’re making up for it four years later. Mexico surely will be able to, won’t they?
One thing that hurts CONCACAF at the World Cup is the useless refereeing in qualifiers. Canada learned how to hack and dive, Mexico and CR have been using it for years but I don't blame them for playing that way when they are rewarded. The problem is when you have a decent ref you look ridiculous diving as much as CR did against Germany for example. CONCACAF is way behind on referees, field conditions and technology.
Mexico should be fine. Though their coaching revolving door will continue to spin. But they have enough good players they should qualify every time and usually advance out of group play. They've only made the quarterfinals twice in their history though, most recently in 1986.
As a non-parent and a person who played 4 varsity high school sports but wasn't overly gifted at any of them, allow me this question: Does anyone play just for the fun of it anymore? Or is a scholarship the only motivation and if that's not in the cards then don't play?
Was hoping Brazil would finish second in the group. Get some results to go our way and maybe... Must sink the netherlands first
My husband and I both work in higher ed. Neither of us care about sports scholarships for the kids. I want our kids to play because they love/enjoy what they are doing - sports, school, band, dance, etc., etc.
This is the 1st time since the 1994 World Cup that no team gets the full 9 points in the Group Stage! 🤯— Tactical Manager (@ManagerTactical) December 2, 2022
Ah, yeah. I forgot about your careers in higher ed. It's good that you're encouraging your kids to have fun doing things they enjoy. Sometimes I see my peers who have kids forgetting that youth sports are supposed to be fun.
I would guess that your peers are trying to do their best. Being a parent is tough.. and wonderful. For instance, we are driving thirty minutes out of our way so we can drop off our kids at my folks. That way we can attend a swanky work gala at the Landerhaven. After a long week. And before the craziness of tomorrow.
Rumors of English teams wanting Herdman have been floating around. I’m sure someone from MLS would take a look at him as well.
I'm quite sure they are. I'm not judging, just curious. As Ted Lasso taught us. Have fun at your gala, it's going to be a crazy weekend indeed!
Almost from the time he was 6 Mookie wanted to play in college. I don't think anyone ever said a word to him about it. It was all him. Honestly, it was pretty much his main if not only motivation for going to college. He was a terrible student who only did enough to stay eligible and otherwise majored in girls and red plastic cups. Since he just graduated from Medical school this past spring and is doing a residency now, I can't complain but it was all him. I always figured my - our - role was to make sure that he knew the roads that were open to him, but he had to choose for himself. (and in answer to a question you asked a while back, yes indeed, his mom is pretty proud. Me, I just remember wearing out a really nice conversion van .)
One observation I've made as a non-parent is kids seem to pick one thing and focus on it year round at earlier ages. I don't know if it's attempt to keep up with the club schedule or if there's a social aspect to it but it seems that way no matter the sport.
As for the other part of @LaMacchia’s question: there are a good number of kids who do play sports for the fun of it. Much to my sadness, my kids didn’t go all in on soccer, but my daughter played it through 8th grade in diocesan leagues because she had fun playing. My son played basketball and baseball in diocesan leagues through 8th grade, knowing later on that he had no chance of playing basketball in high school (although he’s giving baseball a shot as a freshman). He’s playing Catholic Youth Organization basketball with his friends this winter