2026 WC USA (et al): Worldwide Opponents Watch [all R's]

Argentina wins 1-0 over Peru with a pedestrian performance.
Chile tops Venezuela 4-2 in Chile. Venezuela is not taking advantage of their opportunities.
Paraguay grabs a 2-2 draw in La Paz against Bolivia
Ecuador gets 1-0 away win in Colombia while being down to 10 men for most of game
Uruguay gets a 1-1 draw in Brazil while actually committing fewer fouls than Brazil

Some interesting notes from Conmebol qualifying:

Uruguay has 3 wins and 2 draws in 5 games vs Bra, Arg, and Col. Uru playing much better against the "top" teams than the mediocre teams. I think their next game is home to Arg.

Ecuador has the second-best record of all teams right now and would be alone in second place (3 points behind Arg) if not for the 3-point deduction. I think they also have the best defense of all the teams so far.

 

Raul Jiminez with what should have been a second yellow with back to back nasty tackles. He’s lucky to still be on the pitch.

 

What the hell kinda defending was that on the 3rd Mex goal. Guy just let him take it down and stood there while he scored.

 

Under Rueda, Honduras are home merchants, on the road they're pretty much Bolivia.

It was always wishful thinking to believe Honduras could capitalize in Mexico.

 

On behalf non-Mexicans everywhere, what a shame. What an opportunity for Honduras!

 

Twice it's happened. The altitude played a part and honestly Rueda's substitutes were horrendous. Called a perfect game in Honduras twice, but too many questionable tactical decisions two times in Mexico killed them.

 

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Apparently the Gold Cup Playoff matches are set...

Match ups were based on each teams respective CONCACAF rankings. CR highest ranked play-off team, Belize the lowest ranked, etc. etc.

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Honduras last night was the soccer version of the prevent defense in American football. The only thing it prevents is a victory.

 

Agreed, I'm not an expert on who has managed to steal points in Mexico and who hasn't the last decade or so, but in my memory, it's generally required putting pressure on El Tri periodically, and finishing your chances. You can't bunker. Last cycle several teams did a good job of it in Mexico, including the US, Canada, and Costa Rica, 2 of the 3 teams did the job through attacking, not sure what Costa Rica did to grab their draw, and Jamaica came within an 89th minute goal of tying them. In '18 it was just the US, in '14 it was a blood bath (they tied the US, tied Jamaica, tied Costa Rica, lost to Honduras and if memory serves needed a last minute bike goal to beat Panama).

To me, generally, what this illustrates is you can't mess around on the road, you need to challenge El Tri, and then defend in #'s, if you try to simply outlast them, you won't (there are exceptions but they are quite rare, and usually involve teams with elite defenses for concacrap, not Honduras or Panama or Jamaica etc). That's why I took El Tri -1.5, it just seemed obvious, of course I butchered it by taking the under on 3.5, and 2.5 goals, oh well. Needless to say, I thought El Tri was fine beyond the nagging thought that considering how much they've fallen off and how weak the attack had gotten before Jimenez bounced back this year, well, it might just be too big a hill. It wasn't, and I should have just put everything on El Tri -1.5 like I had planned, seemed obvious they would find a way to get 2 at bare minimum.

Herc can yell about the beer can all he wants, and I'm sure that helped to some extent, but I think it was 90/10 El Tri was advancing regardless of the 0-2 deficit. Only way I didnt see it happening was if Jimenez had gotten hurt in Honduras. Otherwise, should be easy enough, and it proved so, though it took a while. You simply can't park the bus in Mexico and expect to survive for 90 minutes. It's idiotic.

 

You'd think they'd learn.

 

To be fair, Bolivia is actually pretty good at home too. I think both teams probably rank pretty similarly.

 

I think Honduras road record is pretty deplorable in general. They're only decent road results tend to be in places like El Salvador and oddly enough, Costa Rica/Panama... But I think it's shifting away from that.. and quick.

 

Unfortunately, I have a better chance to meet the real Santa Claus than an El Tri player getting a 2CT in a Concacaf competitive home game. Not saying you are wrong at all, but that's just never going to happen.

 

It's like they saw the gameplan from the last Nations League quarterfinals and thought, "Let's do that again!"

Except there was no controversy this time, Mexico just flat out dominated.

 

FIFA ban incoming? Will Canada be punished?

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West Ham issued a statement today that Michail Antonio has been involved in an automobile crash in the UK.

The statement makes it sound very serious.

 

Man, he's one of the most likable guys in the game. Hopefully nothing major, terrible news

 

From Sky Sports:

https://news.sky.com/story/west-ham...dition-after-car-crash-club-confirms-13268908

 

Antonio was lucky to survive that. But it looks like his career and his quest for a World Cup appearance are over.

 

We got Albania and Serbia for World Cup Qualifiers... Hopefully we can avoid a total war this time around.

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Hearing reports he didn't want to lose a fourth straight Nations League to the USMNT

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