The idea that in many developed countries, the best players are coming from 1st and 2nd generation immigrants.
I kinda thought the middle class World Cup thing was picked up by the media everywhere, including Alexi. It lead to a greater push against pay-to-play.
More like the "Upper Middle Class World Cup". . I don't really buy idea that the "lower economic class" will have more fight necessarily and therefore play harder in the games. Most of these players are making many millions of dollars. If they've fought to get there, they've already won. But certainly "pay to play" is a problem in the US. When we didn't qualify in 2018 there was all kind of hang-wringing, and "we have to completely redo soccer in our country, or we'll never be any good!!". And then we started bringing in lots of talented young players like Antonee Robinson and Dest and Musa and Weah and Gio, etc. and people for the most part forgot about it. I also agree that in a short tournament it mostly comes down to luck. All of the games are close, and one play here or there will make or break you and the games often come down to PKs. With the US, the one critical play was the Weah red. W/o that we would probably beat Panama comfortably and G would probably still have his job. Canada scored, what 1 or 2 goals in 5 games in the tournament, and even failed to score when Chile played with 10 men most of their game?
Relative athleticism (size, strength and speed) is an issue, in my mind. Colombia appeared vastly more athletic than Uruguay, for example. Canada is currently more athletic than the U.S., based on recent head-to-head play. The Quakes, too suffer from relative non-athleticism. They tend to be shorter than their opponents, and therefore lose contested headers regularly, and they also lack speed at key positions (Tanner Beason being a poster boy).
The Colombia - Argentina game will be very interesting. To put it in the most over-simplified terms, it's athleticism vs. skill. I think a lot depends on how the ref calls the game. If he calls a tight game, it favors Argentina. If he calls a game like Colombia-Uruguay, it favors Colombia. Argentina is of course the favorite to win.
Nothing to do with Darwin Nunez's game last night, but I stumbled on this. It's like the Liverpool version of "Da Bearsss". Only things missing are the pints and the bangers. Those accents are thick!
I've enjoyed watching Uruguay since they almost took out Germany for 3rd place in the 2010 WC. I remember watching the game at work and I think it went into extra time? About 1/2 of the Germans flopped on the ground in exhaustion after the ref blew the whistle. Many good players and, let's be honest, Suarez is an amazing player. Clearly a head case, but after the biting incident, I remember reading an article about him. His childhood coach laid out a pretty bleak picture of his environment growing up, but also marveled at his competitiveness at such a young age. Having said that, Colombia clearly looked like they wanted this more and they deserve to be moving on. If they keep the momentum they currently have, I say they will be taking the cup...
Uruguay wins third-place match in penalties Canada vs. Uruguay highlights: Uruguay wins third-place match in penalties ... Canada's Ismaël Koné scores a goal in 22' to tie the game against ...
A TOAST TO JESSE MARSCH AND CANADA Even in defeat, this Copa has been a massive win for Jesse Marsch. Leading Canada to their deepest Men’s international tournament performance, taking steps towards redemption, and being able to laugh at the United States predicament at the same time. For years, we have talked about the promise which has crackled north of the border. God Bless Jesse Marsch for coming in and delivering a style of football which hummed with audacity, delivering a signature knockout round victory and setting up the team for a World Cup 2026 rub with positivity and optimism, in which everything feels possible. We US fans, can only look on with admiration and wonder at the difference Jesse has made in just six weeks
Why wasn't the USMNT starting an 18 year old CB from the Fulham academy against Uruguay at Copa America
I think it's folly to think that Marsch would have somehow magically transformed the US team. Canada was already a fast counter-attacking team and had some good success with that style of play. Under Marsch they were a fast counter-attacking team. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The US doesn't have that kind of speed and tries to play more technically. Under Marsch it would be the same. Would he have gotten better results than GGG? Maybe, but I think it'd be largely the same team playing the same general style, and in these short tournaments, it's a bit of a crap shoot beyond that. I think in international play, if you don't have A players like the very top teams in the world, you're better off playing a fast counter-attacking style because you're not going to be better technically than the top teams, and you don't have time in training to develop the sort of technical precision that could elevate your team beyond the sum of its parts. Playing the phyiscal game is working well for Colombia also.
My sincerest apologies. I usually do acknowledge my posts and quotes but I was in a rush and must have forgotten. If it is that big of a deal, I'll try and remember that next time. Thank you for pointing this out.
Colombia has some good moves but seem a little slow. They had more chances in the first half from what I could tell.
SHAKIRA HALFTIME PERFORMANCE 🎶🇨🇴@shakira in Miami for the Copa América 2024 Final between Colombia and Argentina 🔥 pic.twitter.com/SacPw5Yhhi— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 15, 2024