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

yeah Im happy Paz didnt go back to Madrid, very smart decision on his part. Hes gonna be very important for Argentina when Messi hangs it up after Spain Portugal Morocco

 

When the old chess guys are out for you, well . . .

"I don't want to criticise Tuchel, because I think reaching the semi-final was a good result. However, I know from my own sport - chess - that it is exceptionally difficult to voluntarily defend passively for a long period of time. Against Mexico, we only had 10 men and therefore had little or no choice but to try to hang on. It is completely different when you have a choice to attack but don't take it."

-- Nigel Short

 

AKA unilateral disarmament

 

There was a well timed injection of youth that folks who were more tuned in could've seen coming. Also Argentina had a couple absolutely terrible managers in the 2018 cycle with Bauza and Sampaoli, both of which made some perplexing tactical and personnel decisions. While Scaloni was received with some obvious skepticism at first he at least started to call up guys that made sense instead of the old guard who were clearly past it like his predecessors.

 

Center of the basketball universe?

*laughs derisively in Hoosier*

 

He is absolutely right. It is also why England faced Norway rather than Brazil.
Never ever bunker unless you’re actively chased out of the midfield.

 

And when you have two men covering Messi, one of them should remember that he also has a right foot. I was shocked for about a tenth of a second when he made that fake and went right, but then it was obvious

 

That's interesting because my sense - based only on how the crowd came through on the tv - was that the atmosphere at the Azteca was more intense than the semi.

 

I'll say it again... as soon as the bunker came, and Pickford began to get peppered (before Argentina got the first goal), I was already convinced that Argentina was about to win 2-1. To me, it looked not only inevitable, but obvious. Tuchel clearly underestimated the world champs and their ability (and tendency!) to score late when required. You simply can not invite that team to attack you at will, repeatedly.

Almost every analyst I sampled last night- and I sampled a lot of them- were astonished by Tuchel's decisions. One mild exception was the arrogant contrarian Stevie Nichol, whose comments I found a bit ridiculous. "Once Alan Gordon scored that great goal, Argentina (who had been content to just let the game flow along) suddenly came alive". Gee, ya think, Stevie? I wonder why they "suddenly came alive". Then he says: "Now, you can question whether you think England's tactics were right or wrong [actually Stevie, no, you can't], but at the end of the day, for the final 30 minutes of that game, Argentina were absolutely on fire... ...but it took them going behind to wake up". ??? It took them going behind to feel some desperation, of course, but it also took them BEING INVITED to swarm and attack relentlessly to be able to score twice and win. He continued: "It took them going behind for us to see why they were world champions four years ago"... uh... is that the last time you saw them play, Stevie? What an idiotic comment. I could go on, but that's enough of that nonsense.

 

I imagine the atmosphere was more intense but indoors in a dome the sound is just louder.

 

It always turns. Brazil may be down talent wise now but at some point that’ll flip. The traditional powers have their ups and downs but they always manage to rebound.

 

Going great for Tuchel here

🚨 NEW: Thomas Tuchel defends his part in England’s World Cup exit as he blames DNA of players in failing to control game against Argentina

🗣️ “No structure in the world could have helped us”https://t.co/vAWypORGbs

— Craig Hope (@CraigHope_DM) July 16, 2026

 

Germany criticizing DNA of others.........

Ill let someone else take the alley oop here.......

 

England players were puzzled by the tactics against Argentina but Tuchel tied his own hands with his squad choices and lack of rotation.

It’s how you lose. FA review should conclude that tournament wasn’t good enough. Hard to see how Tuchel recovers. https://t.co/Tw08kg8xy8

— Jacob Steinberg (@JacobSteinberg) July 16, 2026

They should go get Pep but I think Pochettino would also do very well with England (though I’d rather he stay with the US).

 

The best defense is a good offense.

 

If anyone had seen Tuchel's club career, he's doing exactly what he has always done.

Play for the draw or defend the 1-0 lead. His tactics was not surprising, it was poor but not unexpected from him. The guy never grew.

 

I'm not sure that we're all that far behind Argentina in terms of skill (Messi excluded, of course). But we don't have nearly the desire to win, and even more the hatred of losing.

At some point in the past, our youth program decided to de-emphasize winning and emphasize skill development. It has been OK if you lost the games as long as our best young players were advancing their skills. It was the right tradeoff then and still is. But I think we've gotten way too comfortable with losing.

 

Players currently in MLS:

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 – 13
🇦🇷 – 33

Makes you think.

— Ben Wright (@benwright) July 15, 2026

 

It's funny listening to the English media post-Semi-Final.

They talk about how the English level is Semi-Final and they can't break through that level.

That's the thing that's pretty clear. The international game has levels and some teams levels are make the world cup, some are round of 32, some are round of 16, some are quarter final, some are semi-final and some are final.

The U.S. level is Round of 16.

We are trying to break into the Quarterfinal level.

And it's really hard to move up levels.

People should recognize and understand that.

 

Wonder how that team transitions after Messi.

 

I cannot agree with this enough. Getting from crappy to decent is easy. Getting from decent to good is harder. Getting from good to excellent in the most competitive sporting environment on the planet is very, very hard. There's a reason that there have only been two first-time winners in the last 50 years, and both of them were hardly rags-to-riches stories.

It's like every Olympics where we hear stories about how the world is catching up with USA Basketball and, every Olympics (with one recent exception), the USA wins the gold. At the end of the day, having that first-mover advantage is massive.

 

Point set, and match.

So completely on point. I used to hate NY fans more than any other fans, then I finally started meeting Boston fans, and then post '04, omg. But yeah, should have seen it coming with how insufferable Celtics fans were. The lack of self-awareness is just the pinnacle of it all.

 

Yep, when the bracket laid out, it was always clear:
Upper Left:
France
Germany
Morocco
Netherlands

Lower Left:
Spain
Portugal or Portugal

Upper Right:
England
Brazil
Norway

Lower Right:
Argentina
Colombia or Portugal


When Colombia got knocked out early on pens, it turned the entire right side, which was weaker before a ball was kicked, into a total cake walk for Argentina.

 

I find Yankees fans that live in New York are pretty fun and great to talk to. The ones that aren't from New York on the other hand ...

 

Now that I think about it your are right on with this.