Happy for Canada with that Qatar goal Group is wide open with 2 games left They win both they’ll finish top barring a freak scenario.
I think the odds of these two draws today were pretty low (about 3.5% chance). Who had Morocco getting the draw against Brazil?
That was billed as possibly the best group game so it doesn’t surprise me. Morocco is very balanced and good. Brazil is seriously missing their top end talent they’ve had before. A lot of really good, but few great players
Our group just got interesting. How is Australia going to approach the match on Friday, given that they already have a win? Their original game plan was probably to defend and counter against the US. But maybe they'll be less conservative with their 3 point cushion. On the other hand, if they come in more open and less defensive, that probably benefits us (see: Paraguay's Folly). Australia wouldn't be dumb enough to do that, right? I don't know enough tactics to make a guess myself, so I'll be reading the regular commentators this week about how the US can set up our defense to prevent the Aussies from killing us on counters. What's Turkey going to do against Paraguay, who I have to guess will return to their excellent defense that had them up near the top of Conmebol qualifying? What on earth will the Aus-Par match look like? Come the end of the group stage, we might end up being really glad we have that +3 goal differential from game 1.
I thought Turkey would dominate Australia. So far this WC is my worst effort at predicting the winners and losers of matches. If this continues chaos might describe the tournament.
I’m concerned about Ream having to defend that cat-quick Aussie forward who embarrassed Turkey’s backline.
Agreed Though the best way to prevent this is doing what the US did so incredibly well against Paraguay, especially in the first half: counter press. turkey got sucked into the shape Australia wanted on counters so easily. Their back 3 would be spread way too far in attack and they left massive gaps to run into. Iranunde is a talented player who will cause discomfort but the us can mitigate in how it (I) counter presses any turnovers in the middle and attacking third and (ii) not allowing easy isolation The best recipe for the us is an early goal through the same suffocating tactics from Friday. If they execute on that, Australia have to change their shape - see the friendly in Denver for example - which opens them up to our best players getting at them I’m probably still wildly over optimistic, but I think this tactical setup is for the US to not only win, but win by multiple goals again. i also think the other group game that day (turkey/paraguay) is gonna be brutal to watch. You’d hope both teams come in hoping to win and attack, but I’m thinking it’ll actually be cagey and ugly akin to the Scotland/haiti game
They’ve lost their flair and seem only able to have two types of players anymore: wildly athletic head cases or bruisers who lack real passing ability watching the Ronaldinho documentary on Netflix is a good reminder just how far off they’ve got. Vini and raphina are talented, but they aren’t in the same category of a ronaldinho, kaka, etc
Weird to keep hearing Plata during this Ecuador game. I’m watching Telemundo, so I’m not following very well the announcers. But every time I hear them say Plata, I’m trying to find the shortest dude on the field. Alas, it is definitely not Joao.
This World Cup has been great so far. As an American born in Germany I am loving it! I know it’s early but it looks like quite a few teams in this tournament look like they can go pretty far.
I assume we’re talking Sweden / Tunisia here I thought the use of the microchip for the review on that goal was cool as hell. And was a well ran set piece. Sweden look formidable. Tunisia looked disinterested in soccer
I saw a guy on tik tok lamenting the fact that the reason Brazil has lost it's flair, style, and drive was because none of the player came from the favelas and they had never suffered through poverty. They are all suburb kids that didn't have to really suffer through anything to get to the National team. I thought it was an interesting take. True? I couldn't say. It was kind of how I viewed this group of USMNT players though. Having it a little too good so to speak. They never really had to ride a bus across America to play in MLS. lol So far this USMNT has proved me wrong. For at least one game. They also went and made me a little more hopeful than I really wanted to be. Damn them kids.
I think a good reason why Brazil is suffering is that the creative types are not really that successful anymore at the game’s highest levels. Everyone is expected to be a 2-way pressing player. Predictable patterns are more valued. Also, smart phones.
This and not Curacao getting thrashed is a game where the expanded World Cup gave us a diluted prospect. Both teams actually: Sweden finished last in their UEFA qualifying group and only qualified for the playoff owing to their performance in Nations League Tier C. Note they didn't win that group either, but UEFA reserved four (I think four) WC playoff slots for the best performers in each NL group who didn't otherwise qualify for the World Cup directly, or for the playoffs directly. They were dire in their group - BUT have two top strikers and can do something in the right situation. In AFC, Tunisia was in a group where the second best team was . . . Namibia. Really a terrible group, that they waltzed through. Their only win in preparation was a narrow 1-0 result over Haiti, and they were blasted by Belgium 5-0.
Luckily the US players are keeping the flair alive! The dribbling vs Paraguay was insane from Pulisic, Dest, McKennie, and Tillman. The flicks, megs, backheels, etc. were going off and it was a beautiful thing!
Haiti surprised me yesterday. Granted, I didn’t watch any of their qualifying games, but they held their own against Scotland and were unlucky not to get a tying goal. Edit: I helped my brother move on Saturday and was only able to watch one game. I got through six games yesterday and may have burnt myself out. Ran out of time to watch the Sweden v Tunisia game. Got more catching up to do today
When people complain about the expanded tournament, they'd eliminate this game: Scotland came through an expanded playoff and it's awesome having the Scottish fans here, and Haiti is worthy but wouldn't have been one of Concacaf's reps.
I was opposed to it at first for watering down the competition… but watching nations like that be able to play is cool shit. And it’s all of 1 more game for a team if they go the full length so I don’t think it actually harms the tournament at large in fact… I’d actually be for a 64 team setup. Partly because it would give more nations a chance, but also get rid of this weird 3rd place scenario that’s playing out now. Having a tiebreaker against teams you didn’t play - nor had any shared opponents with - is something I loathe
Tunisia took the game serious enough that they fired their head coach. Seems a bit extreme to do during the tournament, but apparently they've done this before.They fired their head coach after two games during the 1998 tournament. https://www.tsn.ca/soccer/article/r...chi-after-world-cup-thrashing-against-sweden/