Group D's General Discussion Thread

The 4 final omissions were Martin Boyle, Brandon Borrello, Kye Rowles and Joe Gauci. Feel a bit sorry for Boyle as an injury kept him out in 2022 when he was one of our better players but he hasn't been able to reproduce his club form under Popovic's tactical system.

 

Not necessarily according to Poch.

 

Not a key player I believe

 

He's their main guy.

 

I stand corrected. I think I was thinking of the wrong player and got confused

 

USA: While this team might be the second most talented team in this group with the likes of McKennie, Balogun, Weah, and Pulisic aging but still good; I have a lot of concerns about the chemistry, structure, and defense. This team is all over the place, and has serious disorganization and liabilities in the back. Pochettino is supposed to be a good coach on paper, but the players this team has are not equipped for his coaching style or philosophy.

Paraguay: Ever since Alfaro took over as coach in Late 2024, this team has found stability, consistency, and tactical discipline; therefore has improved quite a bit. Might not be super talented, but they’ve got Gomez, D. Gomez, Sanabria, and a few others. Great chemistry, structure, organization, and quick attackers.

Turkey: Arguably the best coached and most talented team in this group. This team has been very consistent since Montella became coach 3 years ago, and very tactical. They’ve also got the likes of Demiral, Calhanoglu, Celik, Ozcan, Yildiz, Guler, etc.

Australia: Not super talented, but don’t underestimate them. Their defense is extremely organized and hard to breakdown without a world class attack. Popovic is a very solid coach, and they have the likes of Circati, Bos, Metcalfe, Leckie, etc. I have some reservations about the omissions of Duke and Boyle though.

I believe that Montella’s Turkey is a step above the other teams in this group and will just narrowly win the group. Sorry Americans, but realistically the USA is in big trouble against the defensive, structured, and organized teams of Paraguay and Australia. I don’t tactically see how they’ll successfully break them down without getting hit on the counter. USA vs Turkey reminds me of 2014-15 Europa League Round of 32 with Pochettino’s Tottenham vs Montella’s Fiorentina, with the latter having prevailed against the odds; due to being tactically superior at the time; and the gap between USA & Turkey is larger. The big question is Paraguay vs Australia. It’s really close and could be a stalemate. That being said given the schedule, and Paraguay being narrowly more talented, I fancy them to just nick second place, pushing Australia to third.

Final Predictions:
1. Turkey
2. Paraguay
3. Australia
4. United States

 

USA is not finishing last.

 

Absolutely. Anyone that says otherwise is either a pessimistic yank or someone that knows nothing.

 

Most radioheads (English and other Euro) that I have heard in the last week have the group a toss-up between Turkiye and USA.

Anything can happen though, that is why you play the games. I however, do not see the US being fourth. While the cohesion and players may not be an exact perfect fit for Poch's style, they are talented and I see them being able to score. Might not be able to keep other sides off the board but they will score.

 

This might be the most balanced group. The Turks are the best team on paper but I think home cooking pushes the USA top of group

Australia vs Paraguay has draw written all over it, which likely imperils both going forward. They will need wins vs the Turks or hosts to get to/over 3 points that 3rd place teams will have in Group of Life Groups (South Africa, Qatar, Haiti, Jordan, Curacao, etc.

USA 1st: 7
Turks 2nd: 5
Aussies 3rd: 2
Paraguay 4th: 1

 

Radioheads also mentioned that Group D was the strongest group according to FIFA rankings.

 

Hoping Paraguay will get at least a draw, but I think USA might win 2-1.

 

Paraguay hanging on for dear life.

 

Where the heck is the Paraguay from the qualifiers?

 

Is Paraguay playing shambolically or just the USA playing well? I think it’s both but this doesn’t look like the Paraguay from qualifying at all.

 

Qualifying and world cups are totally different.

Also playing the hosts in such a hostile atmosphere is tough. I said the same for South Africa.

Canada's atmosphere was whack compared to Mexico and US which are really intimidating.

 

Paraguay did not give up 3 goals in any of the 18 games of the Conmebol qualifiers.

 

I love this team so much.

 

They look very good.

 

Well, that was some kind of statement. Woah!
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