After being announced nearly twelve years (12 years?!?!?!?!?!) ago, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is here. It's time to focus on the games ahead. Lots of intriguing matchups, and some tough groups too. This also marks the last World Cup with the 4 team group format, as the 2026 edition will be expanding to 48 teams. So enjoy this folks! As usual all game time is eastern. National broadcast is listed. Games will also be streamed on Peacock en Español, & on Foxsports.com. MLS N&A play by play threads are neutral spaces. Keep all rivalry-esque banter out of these parts. Please try to refrain from discussions of corruption, politics, Religion, etc. in the games pbp thread. There are threads for those topics on this website. Bullying. personal attacks and/or trolling will not be tolerated. Sunday, November 20 QAT vs ECU 11:00AM Fox / Telemundo Monday, November 21 ENG vs IRN 8:00AM FS1 / Telemundo SEN vs NER 11:00AM Fox / Telemundo USA vs WAL 2:00PM Fox / Telemundo Tuesday, November 22 ARG vs KSA 5:00AM FS1 / Telemundo DEN vs TUN 8:00AM FS1 / Telemundo MEX vs POL 11:00AM Fox / Telemundo FRA vs AUS 2:00PM Fox / Telemundo Wednesday, November 23 MAR vs CRO 5:00AM FS1 / Telemundo GER vs JPN 8:00AM FS1 / Telemundo ESP vs CRC 11:00AM Fox / Telemundo BEL vs CAN 2:00PM Fox / Telemundo Thursday, November 24 SUI vs CMR 5:00AM FS1 / Telemundo URU vs KOR 8:00AM FS1 / Telemundo POR vs GHA 11:00AM Fox / Telemundo BRA vs SRB 2:00PM Fox / Telemundo Friday, November 25 WAL vs IRN 5:00AM FS1 / Telemundo QAT vs SEN 8:00AM FS1 / Telemundo NED vs ECU 11:00AM Fox / Telemundo ENG vs USA 2:00PM Fox / Telemundo Saturday, November 26 TUN vs AUS 5:00AM FS1 / Telemundo POL vs KSA 8:00AM FS1 / Telemundo FRA vs DEN 11:00AM FS1 / Telemundo ARG vs MEX 2:00PM FS1 / Telemundo Sunday, November 27 JPN vs CRC 5:00AM FS1 / Telemundo BEL vs MAR 8:00AM FS1 / Telemundo CRO vs CAN 11;00AM FS1 / Telemundo ESP vs BEL 2:00PM FS1 / Telemundo Monday, November 28 MR vs SRB 5:00AM FS1 / Telemundo KOR vs GHA 8:00AM FS1 / Telemundo BRA vs SUI 11:00AM Fox / Telemundo POR vs URG 2:00PM Fox / Telemundo Tuesday, November 29 ECU vs SEN 10:00AM Fox or FS1 / Telemundo NED vs QAT 10:00AM Fox or FS1 / Universo IRN vs USA 2:00PM Fox / Telemundo WAL vs ENG 2:00PM FS1 / Universo Wednesday, November 30 AUS vs DEN 10:00AM Fox or FS1 / Universo TUN vs FRA 10:00AM Fox or FS1 / Telemundo POL vs ARG 2:00PM Fox or FS1 / Universo KSA vs MEX 2:00PM Fox or FS1 / Telemundo Thursday, December 1 CRO vs BEL 10:00AM Fox or FS1 / Telemundo CAN vs MAR 10:00AM Fox or FS1 / Universo JPN vs ESP 2:00PM Fox or FS1 / Telemundo CRC vs GER 2:00PM Fox or FS1 / Universo Friday, December 2 GHA VS URU 10:00AM Fox or FS1 / Universo KOR vs POR 10:00AM Fox or FS1 / Telemundo SRB vs SUI 2:00PM Fox or FS1 / Universo CMR vs BRA 2:00PM Fox or FS1 / Telemundo
Is it June already? Oh wait, the time change messed me up. The ultimate money grab to put the World Cup in the desert forcing the shift is finally here. Can’t wait to get this started!
USA World Cup roster: 26 players called up for Qatar 2022 tournament By MLSsoccer staff Wednesday, Nov 9, 2022, 05:18 PM It’s official. #USMNTThis is the squad to rep the stars and stripes at the World Cup! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/yEfzTrlreU— Major League Soccer (@MLS) November 9, 2022
Going social media silent on the WC and will use pirated streams as much as possible. My best subversive method in response to many complaints. So for now, I act disinterested online.
I don't know about you guys, but I have a very uneasy feeling about these games. It seems like the USMNT has never quite jelled this WC cycle. They've had a couple good games and a lot of games where they just seemed to be kicking the ball around. There's been a lot of different players, kind of a constantly changing cast of characters, but without many distinguishing themselves and claiming a spot on the team. Berhalter's esteemed system seems to have mostly shown a lot of really dull, unimaginative soccer. I'd like to be more optimistic, but unless there's a miracle of sudden teamwork building, this USMNT iteration seems headed for three and out. How do you guys feel?
I think it's 50/50 at best for us to advance. We have some really good players but also have some holes in the 11 regardless of who Berhalter chooses. His system doesn't seem to really bring out the best in the players we have. If we try to always build from the back we're at serious risk of conceding WPIOOTBGW goals. If we're as slow and sloppy as we were in the September friendlies there's no way we advance. OTOH if we play our best we could advance and even win a knockout-round match. I'll be rooting hard either way.
We're in the Group of Death, four top 20 teams from the FIFA rankings. You could show me a final standings where any one of these teams went 3-0-0 or any one of these teams went 0-0-3 and I'd believe it (ok, I'd be a little surprised at Iran going 3-0-0).
Those are basically my thoughts too... (EDIT replying to SccrDon) On paper, we're better than Iran and a favorable-toss-up against Wales. But recent form is not encouraging - and even if we do advance out of the group, I don't fancy our chances against the Netherlands. I think the only way we get a fifth game is if the "USA-ENG rivalry" gifts us a surprise performance and we top the group.
Maybe it's just all the negativity on Twitter, but it seems "fans" are almost rooting for us to go 0-3 so they can fire Berhalter. I mean I don't agree with all the choices he made, but at the end of the day it's what we have so Team USA all the way from here on out!
I don't know where to put this so I'll just put it here. MLS ends up with 36 representatives in the FIFA World Cup.Most of any league outside of the big 5 by my count.— Tutul Rahman (@tutulismyname) November 14, 2022 That's a nice achievement for MLS anyway you look at it, even if you exclude domestic players. But of course your friendly MLS hater will come out of the woodwork and try to find a way to discredit this. I've seen "but MLS has almost double the teams of other leagues", "but MLS isn't sending elite players", "but MLS isn't sending players to elite teams" etc. The mental gymnastics they use to try to discredit MLS every chance they get is amazing. This number will only increase with more time. MLS hasn't even reached its 30th year!
The one I liked is "well, its the only domestic league that has teams in two countries at the World Cup". To which anyone paying attention immediately said "The EPL/Championship had/has teams in England and Wales".
Add another player to the list... BREAKING: Atlanta United's Thiago Almada has been called into Argentina's official World Cup squad as an injury replacement.Almada, 21, is MLS's record signing and had a strong debut season with Atlanta. Just made Argentina debut in September. Huge news. pic.twitter.com/ZSxHCWmqEN— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) November 17, 2022 First MLS player to be called to an Argentinean World Cup squad.
Well, some thought that Mexico turned the corner with an impressive 4-0 win over Iraq... but no, they followed that up with 2-1 defeat to Sweden.