Group D's General Discussion Thread

Most even and unpredictable group.

I will be adventures and say:
1. Turkey
2. Australia
3. Paraguay
4. United States

I really think Turkey has became way more consistent with Montella taking over and they have some world class players like Chalhanoglou, Yildiz, Guler, etc.

Australia are arguably the best organized and structured team in this whole group and I feel like they improved from 4 years ago despite not having the most talent. I really have high hopes in this Australian team and feel like they might even be the second best team in Asia after Japan at this time.

Paraguay vs USA is a toss up for 3rd and 4th. My heart tells me to be adventurous and pick Paraguay, but it could really go either way. Both teams are very disorganized and play chaotically and that'll cost them in the group. Right now the US looks to be the better team on paper but Paraguay have better chemistry in terms of playing with each other. Not sure, but neither team looks to me like they can beat Turkey or Australia well.

 

USA- Home cooking
Turkey- Great attacking team
Paraguay- Decent tactics but just is not there talent wise
Australia- I have them losing to Turkey the first match and it will be hard to recover in Seattle the next match.

 

Chris Richards may miss the World Cup due to two torn ligaments in an ankle. (Latest report is 50/50.)

Not going to lie, that is not news I wanted to hear today.

 

We seem to be adopting a dribs and drabs approach to preliminary squad announcements with players only being announced once their club commitments finish and they arrive in camp. I've no idea how many are actually in the official preliminary squad but a few more should be added next week.

 

Match records:

USA 5-2-2 Paraguay - the US has a win over Paraguay at the 1930 World Cup and the teams have traded wins at the Copa America in 2007 and 2016; the US defeated Paraguay 2-1 in a 2025 international match.

Turkey 2-0-0 Australia - no matches in official competition with both friendlies being played in 2004.

USA 2-1-1 Australia - no matches in official competitions; the US defeated Australia 2-1 in a 2025 international match.

Paraguay 0-1-0 Turkey - no matches in official competitions; the lone match was a 0-0 draw in 1995.

Turkey 2-1-2 USA - Turkey earned a win over the US at the 2003 Confederations Cup; Turkey defeated the US 2-1 in a 2025 international match.

Australia 2-3-0 Paraguay - no matches in official competition with all matches being played between 2000 and 2010.

 

Unfortunately

 

Let's not go crazy now.

 

I hope the USA get grouped!!!

 

But with three teams possibly advancing the odds are really against it.

 

All three can lose too. Home cooking should help.

 

Anyway, the team I really do not get is Australia.
Almost every time I have seen them play this cycle they look so anemic other than a friendly against New Zealand.

I think it is more likely they finish last.

 

It's definitely the easiest to put in 4th place but I wouldn't be shocked if one of the other three crashes out badly instead of them.

 

Australia always gets underrated. They’re honestly very organized defensively and very hard to break down in a competitive match unless your attack is world class, which I only behave that the team in this group with a world class attack is Turkey.

In many of the past friendlies, Australia have not started their best team or played their starting players all at once. They’ve been rotating a lot. In the World Cup, we’re going to see a much stronger Australia.

If I’m being very candidly, if we go by structure, organization, tactics, and mental strength, I think the USA is the weakest team, despite being the second strongest on paper in this group. Pochettino style is not really working with the USA so far.

In fact the USA vs Turkey match reminds me so much of the 2014-15 Europa League Round of 32 match between Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur and Montella’s Fiorentina. Tottenham were favorites coming in but Montella’s Fiorentina prevailed. And Turkey vs USA is likely even more advantage Turkey because Turkey are the better team on paper slightly and while Pochettino’s Tottenham in 2014-15 were still growing and not the team they were later on, I think they still fit Pochettino’s playstyle and philosophy better than the USA national team.

To be fair as well, I feel like Paraguay and Australia play quite similarly in terms of style. I know this is the unpopular opinion, but I honestly give the slight edge to Australia here. They had a very good qualification performance, and I feel like many people overrate the talent and teams at CONMEBOL.

Look at previous interconfederation playoff results;

Iraq 2-1 Bolivia
Australia beat Peru on penalties last World Cup qualification, and even Saudi Arabia’s upset against Argentina. Now that was definitely an upset, but the fact that that even happened does say the gap isn’t as big as we might’ve originally thought.

This is why I honestly think Australia has the edge against Paraguay.

 

It all depends on that first match for Australia. If they lose that one they are behind the eight ball having to play the hosts in what might be the most difficult venue to play in. Seattle to me is the absolute best soccer town in the USA.

 

Potentially but don’t forget that Australia lost to France 4-1 last World Cup in their opening match and then came back. Also in 2018, they tied Denmark in their second match after losing their opening match to France.

Australia tends to have a history of being best in their second match for the past few world cups.

 

Yes. I do not think it will be easy but the USA should be favored and find a way in Seattle.