The Soccer Thread (Version 13) — Winter World Cup Edition

Pulisic was a disappointment.

Crosses in for headers was a complete failure.

Figure something else by Friday, please.

 

True, but Wales got three other times in stoppage time. Kind of stupid.

Ref didn't dictate the outcome in this match but he sucked.

 

Terrible on corners too. Missed completely on all but one.

 

Well, he's been propped up plenty. I'm sure there are millions waiting to tear him down.

Still about the only one who consistently looked for scoring chances.

 

Picked a 1-1 before the game and mildly disappointed to be right. Matchup felt like Team Not Ready for Primetime vs. Team Past Its Prime, and each side kind of fell victim to its flaws. Wales were not dynamic enough and too deep in the first half and the US had the class on the ball to punish them on the Weah goal, while the US was rickety in the back and unable to break Wales down and get that second goal. Not impressed with Gregg Berhalter in that one. Felt like Wales adjusted after the break and the US didn't.

I still think it's entirely likely that USA, WAL and IRN finish with two draws apiece, and we know Iran's goal difference is shot. I mean, the US didn't make it easy on themselves from here, but this is more like a punt than a turnover. As far as the other two games, though England may have qualification assured by their Wales game, they also seem more likely to dick around and drop points to us than a Home Nation. I also think it's much more likely that we hang a big number on Iran than Wales does.

 

My bet for the USA to win 1-0 with Weah scoring the only goal and at least 4 US corners looked really good for a while.

 

The ref messed up allowing the first stoppage and let the Welsh get one in kind.

But there were a couple of times Pulisic went down easy. Not shocked he didn’t get a stoppage there.

 

There's two more points we should have had but can't get back. We turtled in the second half, didn't come close to matching Wales' intensity or aggression.

In a country of 340 million, can't we find one person who can score consistently? Not asking for a Pele, Messi or Maradona, but you'd think in the last 40 years we'd have developed someone like Harry Kane, Rooney or Michael Owen, or Van Persie. Somebody for crying out loud.

And who picked those coaching tee-shirts, the same guys who did the "College" shirts for Animal House? "States?" WTF.

 

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before …

 

OK, I'm over it now. We blew 2 points, but we still have a good chance of getting through.

That said, no Gio? Jordan Morris? OK.

And that Qatari ref should be banned from working any match higher than U10. He was horrifically inconsistent. The ARs weren't much better, missing obvious corner kick calls for throw-ins.

 

The ref was really bad but it didn’t hurt us other than maybe Dest’s YC.

Our CBs are mediocre and our FBs are unsteady on the ball. I thought our front 5 was decent but lacked a cutting edge.

England will crush us. I’d play a 4–2-3-1 with Acosta and Adams.

 

I'm usually pretty positive about these things. A point after one game. That's OK, even if it could have been three.

That said, I think that is a bad result for wanting to move on. It's better than a loss, but after England's butt kicking today, I just don't know. I think that is probably a no-hoper and then you have to probably hope for a win against Iran and that Wales doesn't do something spectacular down the road. But I know these things all always end up nuts at some point. Maybe the US packs it in and gets a point against England.

Maybe it's just how overall they controlled the first half that has me pessimistic. I don't know.