How will the US acclimatize for the hot and humid games?

Really good post here, that could definitely be a factor. However, I think we will be more acclimated than say Germany and Portugal, that's about our only hope if we want to advance

 

i hoped after the draw the USA would move their base closer to where the games are, both for less travel and temperatures/conditions closer to gametime.. but we stayed in Sao Paulo. I know that Italy plays in the exact same 3 cities as the USA, and they moved or looked into moving their base from Rio up closer to the Northeast. I think we are going to be screwed with the travel to/from and weather in sao Paulo which is going to be chilly when compared to playing in the Jungle or on the Equator... but still have faith we will find a way into the Round of 16...

 

Based on what?

Curious because I have read several US posters state this as fact and wonder what the reasoning is. I don't think the German, Portuguese, or Ghanaian staffs are unaware of the weather in Brazil?

 

They get this from the European teams generally underperforming in tournaments outside Europe. Specifically the tremendously hot tournaments of 94 and 02. Meanwhile the US has made it out of the group past 3 non-European tournaments they participated in (94, 02, 10) and done horribly in the last 3 WC's held in Europe (90, 98, 06).

The belief among US fans is that European teams wilt in climates hotter than they're used to (pretty much all climates outside Europe perhaps except South Africa in the winter). Thus few US fans think the climate will affect Ghana negatively.

Whether you agree with this or not, I hope I have illustrated why US fans hold these beliefs.

 

Gaucho has made some of the similar points that I was going to. European teams have not faired well at all in WC's outside of Europe especially in South America. European climates during summer average around 70*F compared to much warmer temperatures in the US during these times. To add to this, the majority of USMNT players play their seasons in the MLS which is during the warmer parts of the year compared to European leagues which are played during the winter months. I never mentioned anything about Ghana...I'm sure it won't affect them as much. Hope this makes sense.

 

Fair enough, I suppose... although it seems a bit of a jump concluding climate as the primary reason without other evidence.

Also, based on a quick wiki look this doesn't really seem to be true unless you go back to before 1970, except for 2002:

2010 - 3 of last 4 were European teams
2002 - 1 or 2 of last for were European (depending on your idea of Turkey)
1994 - 3 of last 4 were European teams
1986 - 3 of last 4 were European teams
1978 - 2 of last 4 were European teams
1970 - 2 of last 4 were European teams

Given how well the US did in 2002 I wonder if this is a case of assuming a rule based on a one-off.

 

UEFA, as a whole, didn't do all that well in Wc2010, although several of the top tier UEFA sides (Spain, Germany, Holland, and to some extent even Portugal) did do well. But the others were just taking space! 2nd tier UEFA sides on the whole did poorly.

Japan beat Denmark 3:1 and Denmark didn't advance. S.Korea beat Greece 2:0 and Greece didn't advance. Australia beat Serbia 2:1 and Serbia didn't advance, finishing pointless. Italy and France, Wc06 champions and runner up, both flopped badly and each finished last in their group!

The 2nd tier UEFA teams that did well enough, typically did so not by beating teams from other confederations, but by beating fellow UEFA teams. Slovakia couldn't even beat New Zealand and lost 2:0 to Paraguay; they advanced beating Italy, who incredibly finished last behind New Zealand who Italy similarly couldn't beat. Switzerland beat Spain but couldn't beat either Chile or even Honduras. In any case, they didn't advance and while Slovenia did beat Algeria (but not the US), they too ultimately didn't advance either.

Overall, 7 UEFA teams (Serbia, France, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Slovenia, Switzerland) didn't advance while only 6 did (Spain, Holland, Germany, Portugal, England and Slovakia) which is less than 50% or less than the mere mathematical odds. (With 2 teams advancing from groups each with 4 teams, all things being equal, the mathematical odds would be 50/50). 3 UEFA teams finished last in their group (Serbia, France, and Italy).

I just don't see how anyone could pretend that World Cup 2010 was in any way a good tournament for UEFA as a whole, even if 3 of the 4 semifinalists and both finalists were from Europe.

 

To add to this:

2/3 CONCACAF teams got out of the group
5/5 CONMEBOL teams got out of the group
2/4 AFC teams got out of the group
1/5 CAF teams got out of the group (very poor and likely the reason there is a disparaging CAF thread elsewhere in the general thread)

To say that there were UEFA powerhouses that did well is misleading. There are UEFA powerhouses that do well in every tournament and this is to be expected. The question is how did UEFA do compared to how they perform in Europe.

I would say 3/4 semifinalists is to be expected of UEFA, 4/4 is a particularly good performance and 2/4 is a below average performance.

 

They only have 1 hot game, in Manaus. I can't see how the Portuguese would have any advantage in that game. The USA players are able to play in hot weather, they've done it more than Portugal....not a big deal

 

Your points are correct - if Denmark or Switzerland were in group G the above would be an issue. In the context of this thread, however, this is irrelevant, since the European teams in this group are Germany and Portugal (and in the case of my own questioning the assertions of the poster above regarding climate and non-European WMs, Germany).

 

the team that qualifies first will play round of 16 in Porto Alegre. Probably in for a temperature shock, mornings with temperatures in the range of 6º and afternoon temperatures reaching around 16º... with bad luck, more extreme temp differences (0º in the morning, 12º at afternoon) and with luck less temperature shock, with some hot air mass coming to southern Brazil from the north, making low temperatures around 15º and maximums in the upper 20ºs

 

No, it doesn't. I mean really, time zone? You do realise that the teams have been there nearly two weeks before their first match?

 

Portugal will wilt

 

Climate conditions are really opposite out there. But I think Americans are well aware from this factor. Humid climate can make difference in their performance because the conditions are not favorable for them.

 

Spend a couple weeks in Miami, New Orleans or Houston, where you go jogging wrapped in a wet wool blanket, that's how you acclimatize for jungle conditions.
US summers do get considerably hotter than German summers, but I don't think that's gonna help much......

 

If you grew up playing in Texas like I did, Brazil ain't no thang.

Crazy hot summer days on ground that feels like concrete...Texas soccer players are tough.

Dempsey played for my rival squad a few years after I played. I think Torres played in Texas. Omar Gonzalez did too.

 

Desert hot has nothing to do with tropical hot, especially when you're playing in the middle of a rain forest. Even a lower temperature than what you have in Texas, would be worse for players if the humidity is much higher.

 

It's very interesting. At the end of the England-Italy game, you could tell they were all a bit tired. But, the U.S. had training camp in California as well as Miami, I think. I don't think they'll have too many problems adjusting. Portugal and Germany though? European teams might have more trouble than they realize. It's looking like a good bet, all of a sudden, that either Germany or Portugal don't make it out. This does give me hope that Ghana can win against Portugal, or draw against Germany.

The U.S-Ghana match is going to be a bloodbath. Beyond the fact that each team needs to win to have a chance, as getting more than 4 points from Germany & Portugal verges on the impossible, the teams themselves have a recent rivalry going on. The U.S don't like Ghana because we've been in their way of success for the last 8 years. And as a Ghana fan, I didn't like how the U.S. supporters thought Ghana was a small team. I remember both in 2006 and 2010 people were all like "Ghana is a small African country, we should be able to win...". It was that entitled mindset that put me off of team USA. However, now, the U.S. realize that Ghana is a footballing power, at least there is some new-found respect there. I still think Ghana pulls it out, in the end. But this game is going to be crucial.

In my ideal world, U.S. and Ghana put Portugal and Germany to bed. Monday is going to be a tough day for me. I want my African teams to go through, but I also want USA to go through. Ugh..it's so so ugly for me.

 

US plays most of its road qualifiers in hot and humid conditions. We will be fine.

 

It appears that you aren't aware, but Texas has many humid environments that are hotter than anything the teams will encounter in Brazil. MLS teams play in hot and humid environments all summer long. This is not new to us like it is to the Portuguese and the Germans.

 

The USMNT's final warm up match was against Nigeria in the hot and humid environment of Jacksonville, Florida.

Nigeria were gassed by about the 70th minute after the US team controlled most of the match. The US team dominated at a different level after Nigeria got tired.

The US team will absolutely be ready, and we all believe that our fitness is an advantage for us. The team believes that its fitness is an advantage.

 

Better than England, that's for sure

 

Everyone should be trying to play in Belo Horizonte, São Paulo or even Rio (which is not that hot in this time of the year), but even more in Curitiba or Porto Alegre.

I garantee this has absolutely NOTHING to do with weather.Name how many WCs there were in South America:

Uruguay in 1930. Brazil 1950. Chile 1962. Argentina 1978. Brazil in 2014.

All of them in the south american winter. The 1950 World Cup had a SINGLE host city in the hot northeast of the country: Recife. The other cities were Porto Alegre, Curitiba, São Paulo, Rio and Belo Horizonte.

Therefore, ALL the south american World Cups so far (except 2014 in the north and northeast of Brazil) had temperatures and weather quite colder than European summer.

check out Argentina 1978 final... dutch players wearing long sleeve jerseys.


Italy vs Chile 1962... also plenty of long sleeve jerseys



obviously, nobody is saying that Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Santiago, Porto Alegre or Curitiba are as cold as european cities in the winter. No way. But they are much colder than European cities in the summer.

some rare times, you even get games under snow in southern Brazil