Pre-match: 6/12/26 9PM EST USA vs Paraguay: Game 1 of the big show

Just want to pop in here and wish you guys the very best World Cup possible. Prove the naysayers wrong in your own country and worldwide!

It’s officially World Cup day people. My favourite day every 4 years.

******** me im going to be nocturnal for the next month.

 

Looks like it.

Here's a breakdown of a 100k sim for the USA GD when we finish 3rd on exactly 3 points.

GD:
+6 - >0%
+5 - 0.1%
+4 - 0.3%
+3 - 0.9%
+2 - 2.6%
+1 - 5.7%
0 - 25.5%
-1 - 24.0%
-2 - 18.9%
-3 - 11.9%
-4 - 6.1%
-5 - 2.2%
-6 - 1.3%
-7 - 0.4%
-8 - 0.2%

If the 79% advance% I calculated is to be believed, the breakeven to get through is usually around minus 2 GD (78% of the obs. above)

 

I love Frankie. I’ve got a funny Frankie story, too. But my battery is dying. And Frankie is by far the only player that comes out of that American Fiasco podcast smelling like a rose. He was awesome.

 

That’s quite possible.

 

who told you that????!!! Damn, Ive ben to Oz several times and Ive never even seen or heard that from anyone!

 

I’d feel better about the game with Paraguay if we hadn’t just played them. Somehow I think they’ll get more from that.

 

And.. if your only going to get 45 from him, would he be more effective against tired legs in the 2nd half?

 

Good to see the players have some fun. Given that like 40% of the team is from the Northeast, the Knicks support can't be too surprising.

Less than 48 hours before the team’s World Cup opener — Friday at SoFi Stadium against Paraguay — midfielder Tyler Adams jumped over multiple couches. Defender Chris Richards, who hasn’t played in nearly a month due to an ankle injury but said Wednesday that he’s “ready” to play, leapt on top of a pile of players at the team’s hotel in Southern California.

...

Brenden Aaronson, Antonee Robinson, Tim Weah, Auston Trusty, Joe Scally, Max Arfsten and a few other players were also present.

One player playfully tackled Scally on top of forward Haji Wright, who sat still on one corner of the couch while Aaronson shook his shoulders and Weah got a camera in his face. Wright, who looked displeased, is from Los Angeles and is a Lakers fan.

Tim Ream, 38, the team’s captain and elder statesman by a margin of nearly seven years, was sitting on a couch and simply leaned back in shock, with his hand over his mouth.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/73...hared_gift_article_copylink&smid=url-share-ta

 

Here's a terrible idea.

Start Aaronson on the left. Draw yellow cards on all of Paraguay's right sided players, then bring Puli on after 20 minutes.

 

I won't be surprised at all if Aaronson starts one of these games..............................

I suspect that for the first game, we're going to go with the lineup from the Germany game to start (with the possible exception of Richards).

 

man oh man do i hate that...

to rain directly on your (not you specifically @schrutebuck) parade, piss straight into your cheerios, etc adams and richards should have kept their asses on the couch next to ream.

sorry, not sorry.

 

This is exactly the image of Ream I want from this tournament.

Sort of a Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon character constantly saying "I'm too old for this ****."

If Ream has a good tournament, he's one who is going to go into severe "cult hero" status.
Like Kyle Beckerman following 2014.

This is legacy-defining time for a lot of these guys.

A guy like Jozy Altidore is missing it from his resume. Meanwhile guys like John O'Brien, who played less than 100 games in club soccer, is a hero due to the 2002 WC.

These games are defining moments.

 

Understand the point but go look at who did not play for us in that match compared to who is likely to start tomorrow! Way different lineup and we still beat them. Again, not saying its a gimme at all but we are better than Paraguay.

 

The better teams don't always win.

 

Of course not and didn't say they do. My point was "fans" on here could be a bit less negative toward our chances against Paraguay.

 

Good luck to the Three Lions. Hoping you folks go deep in the tournament.

Not to turn this into an England thread, but interesting roster choices! (No Foden or Palmer?). Endlessly debated elsewhere on BS, I'm sure.

 

Not sure what the "fans" jab is about. I am a fan. I've also watched all 30 US world cup games since 1990 and noticed they have won six times and lost 18. So, I am conditioned to be nervous and aware of the elements working against the team. Not sure that is the same as negative. Yes, those were different teams, but the US's relative expectations have been pretty similar for most all of that period, so the trend is not irrelevant.

 

This is the world cup level.
Very few automatic wins here.

Every game in this group is going to be a tough one.

..........................the CONCACAF team closest to Paraguay in the FIFA rankings is our nemesis Panama. The team that's we've failed to beat in 4 of our last 6 tries. And, by the way.......Panama got us for the quadrouple in those 4 losses. Copa America, Gold Cup, Nations League, and WCQer.

Paraguay?

We're favored to beat them and we should be. This won't be an easy game, though.

That's the way it should be at the World Cup. These are going to be tough tests.

What I do believe is the Senegal team we beat with some really nice play..........is better than this Paraguay team (without Enciso in particular).

 

Yeah, that's just not true.

 

https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/06/11/views-of-the-united-states/

We are not popular among Australians. That might not be reflected on a personal level.

 

"VERY PREDICTABLE!" Gregg Berhalter EXPLAINS how England have CHANGED since 2022 World Cup!

Wasn't sure where to post this. Ignore the title, it's Gregg Berhalter, Brad Friedel, Jim White and Simon Jordan on TalkSPORT talking about the USA, the world cup, their experiences etc. Gregg talking about the situation with his son, when he was born. Thought he came across really really well.

Think a few people in here might like watching this.

 

I didn’t know Australia was our mega rival, I guess that game got more interesting.

 

Oh, it absolutely is.

I listen to ABC a couple of hours a day. Not an hour goes by that someone doesn't make some caustic remark about Americans.

One of the hosts directly said that Australians don't like Americans. He was interviewing a Canadian author in Aus. He noted that Australians can't easily distinguish between US and Canadian accents and "since both Canadians and Australians share a dislike of Americans, has that made it difficult for you?" 1) He directly said Australians don't like Americans. 2) the dislike is so strong, he was concerned that a Canadian would get collateral hate for being mistaken for an American.

Another host, when discussing the relatively new use of "Czechia" said "oh, I just assumed the people saying that were Americans being lazy."

Maybe people have been polite to you in your travels there, but when you are not in their presence, they, by and large, hate you for your nation of origin.

 

Colonials unite!

 

There's literally no chance that's happening. My issue is: Celebrate insanely, but not body riskingly. When Donovan scored that goal sixteen years ago I screamed, when the Caps finally ended 40+ years of choking in '18 I recorded it and hollered alongside my two year old. There are innumerable things you can do, scaling a couch multiple times on 1 leg is beyond insanely stupid. So I agree in that sense.

But. This was the biggest moment for Nets fans is literally 53 years, and the most famous moment since Willis Reed hobbled out 56 years ago. It's literally half a century ago that Knicks fans had a moment this special, so losing your mind is gonna be de rigueur.