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Sports FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
- Thread starter awyp
- Start date
truly pathetic defensive lapses from the US just leaving attackers wide open in/around the box. One terrible lapse each from Musah, Dest, and Robinson and the Dutch were clinical with all 3 finishes. Outside of those 3 gifts, the Dutch really didn't get too much going all game. Turner made a great double save, but it would have been called back for being offsides anyway. The only other particularly good save outside of that came on a near own-goal.
When the US actually remembered how to mark players, they looked like the better team - more possession, better pass accuracy, more shots, more shots on target. If you showed me the stat line without the actual scores, I'd have said the US won. But you have to have consistency, and the US that didn't concede a goal from open play in the group was not the US that showed up to play today.
When the US actually remembered how to mark players, they looked like the better team - more possession, better pass accuracy, more shots, more shots on target. If you showed me the stat line without the actual scores, I'd have said the US won. But you have to have consistency, and the US that didn't concede a goal from open play in the group was not the US that showed up to play today.
I'm not a soccer expert in the slightest, so I'd be interested to see how you feel about this take:
I honestly think that on offense we played a little too unselfishly at times. Like we were trying to make an extra pass on some of our attacking chances when we should just gotten a shot on net and see what happens. I think we had some good shot opportunities that we just didn't take. Pulisic had a few shots that went right to the goalie but I don't think they were necessarily bad or anything. And we saw on our one goal that sometimes if the ball is somewhat close to the net it just goes in sometimes. I think this was more of an issue in the first half than the second half, but yeah.
Agreed on the defense though
certainly plenty of issues on offense as well, but tbh the US was not particularly likely to score 2+ in any game this tournament just given what the roster is. we lack a strong goalscorer. It's the biggest weakness of the roster, and has been for kind of a long while now. the defense played very solidly in the group though, so there was still a realistic chance of winning 1-0 games or taking 0-0/1-1 draws into extra time or even PKs. It was from that baseline assumption that I blamed the loss on the defense collapsing. It would also be fair to say that if the US had legitimate goal scorers, that the game could have easily been 3-3, but I was not expecting the US to score 2+ on Netherlands, after it only had 2 from its 3 group stage games in total.
That said - if you want me to criticize the USMNT offense too, happy to do so!!
I don't actually think the problem for this team in attack is unselfishness and looking for one too many passes. I think it is to some extent just a baked in talent/roster problem that we lack a natural goalscorer (not sure if it's fixable before 2026. I'm not an expert on who's up and coming.), but beyond that it comes down to tactics. There are other teams that don't really have natural goalscorers like Switzerland or Japan and they still find a way through creativity. For much of the game we just tried to play reasonably mediocre crosses in and pray (cough Pulisic and his awful set pieces cough), but even with a much better striking corps than we actually have... trying to do that against Virgil Van Dijk was always going to be a losing proposition. And even given the roster we have, there were poor decisions in the lineup all tournament including today. We weren't starting our best 11 players. The US is not so deep with talent that they should have been thinking formation first, talent second. Sometimes you just have to start your 11 best and figure out how to make the formation work. In particular today we started Ferreira who is terrible and brought on Haji Wright who is even worse. Wright's goal was accidental off a botched touch tbh, and every other time he got the ball he turned it over. A healthy Sargent would have helped a little bit, but without him, the answer should have been probably to use Gio or Aaronson from the beginning or even just starting some other defenders in the back and finding a way to push Dest up more into the attack. If the US was going to score on Netherlands, it was going to have to come from creativity - not direct play. The goal against Iran was the sort of imagination the US totally lacked today.
When the US went down 2-0 and didn't then try to pivot to some sort of 3-5-2 or some other formation that was more aggressive, I was stunned. Did they really think they'd suddenly find 2 goals doing the same thing they'd been doing without success? Madness.
Okay so I'm jetlagged but I'm ready to throw my unsolicited opinion on the US game (as a fellow American).
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Talking points for tomorrow:
I think France get an easy win against Poland (Side note: My dad put money on Poland which are a +660 underdog) I think he's insane but whatever. I feel like France needs to get back in form from their loss and finalize their starting 11 that they use from here on out. I do think someone who's not Mbappe steps up on the offensive end.
Senegal vs England: I'm excited for this game, on paper it's an easy English win but in reality this is what Senegal has been waiting for the opportunity to turn up against a world class team on the big stage. I wouldn't be shocked if Senegal pulls the upset (+360 underdog).
Fantastic analysis, so the US never adjusted in the second half. Dumfries was dominating the right hand side constantly, running through and looking for the cutback pass. He did this multiple times in the game, and each of the goals that the US let happen each scorer was unmanned. It would be either a cutback pass or even a cross where you had Dumfries open for the 3rd goal which honestly should never happen in the Round of 16 and I feel like it's just experience that the US is lacking. Yes the US doesn't have that big body striker to just stay in the middle for the crosses and put in the shots, I do think they need that for 2026 I don't know who it will be but it will continue to be their downfall. I think the USA has great talent but they don't play their best players as you said so I think the coach needs to go, straight up. The US always plays the ball slow, they'll speed up the play but then slow it down as soon as they get close to the box (Easy to stop / obvious plays).
I did not really watch this game because I had flight but I did watch the highlights, Messi is the real deal. He's having a better world cup than CR7, and I was speaking to my dad about it. The hardest competition that Argentina has so far was Poland! They're in the top 8 right now and they're going to face the Netherlands which will now be their toughest competition to this point. If you told Argentina hey you have an opportunity to be 4 of the last teams standing and the only thing you have to do is beat the Netherlands, THEY WOULD BE ESTATIC.
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Talking points for tomorrow:
I think France get an easy win against Poland (Side note: My dad put money on Poland which are a +660 underdog) I think he's insane but whatever. I feel like France needs to get back in form from their loss and finalize their starting 11 that they use from here on out. I do think someone who's not Mbappe steps up on the offensive end.
Senegal vs England: I'm excited for this game, on paper it's an easy English win but in reality this is what Senegal has been waiting for the opportunity to turn up against a world class team on the big stage. I wouldn't be shocked if Senegal pulls the upset (+360 underdog).
i think so yeah. 538 says 55/45 CRO, i'd prob say 60 or 65 to 40 or 35. besides the fact they lost to costa rica
, their stats are pretty fluky.JPN expected goals / expected goals against: 3.65 / 5.35 (-1.70. solidly positive v COS, solidly negative vs ESP/GER)
CRO expected goals / expected goals against: 4.57 / 3.85 (+1.72, solidly positive v CAN, near-even v MAR/BEL)
Another note: JPN possession: 26% GER, 57% COS, 17% SPA. I'm no expert, but I could interpret these low stats in two ways. One is that JPNs proficiency on the counter attack would inconvenience CRO, making them play very defensive for fear of an inescapable hole, en route to a possible 0-0 draw into pens. Another is the top class croatian midfield will methodically sit on JPN and slowly eat them alive, THEN play very defensive after the first goal. (CRO possession has been about even, bar 65-35 vs MAR.)
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well, 3 up, 3 down for the outsiders. It's down to Morocco (vs Spain), Japan (vs Croatia), and South Korea (vs Brazil - lol) to have a non-UEFA/non-CONMEBOL team in the QFs.
AFC have only ever appeared in the QFs twice (1966 and 2002).
CAF has only done it 3 times (1990, 2002, and 2010).
Morocco and Japan have never made it before. South Korea was the one in 2002.
If the power confederations win every game though, we're headed towards a top 8 of 6 UEFA, 2 CONMEBOL - same as occurred in 2006 and 2018.
Rooting for the little guys!
AFC have only ever appeared in the QFs twice (1966 and 2002).
CAF has only done it 3 times (1990, 2002, and 2010).
Morocco and Japan have never made it before. South Korea was the one in 2002.
If the power confederations win every game though, we're headed towards a top 8 of 6 UEFA, 2 CONMEBOL - same as occurred in 2006 and 2018.
Rooting for the little guys!
has lewandowski always been that shit at pens or was it just the pressure of the big stage and almost certainly his last ever kick of a football at the WC? lol
solid enough from england even though u need to be resting walker for the france game because they'll live or die by him keeping up with mbappe. ran that game after a shaky mins 10-35. not too sure on not starting rashford but kane finally getting his momentum through that goal does bits - whichever team wins france vs england should be going to the final honestly, and with the calibre of the teams as well it's a shame it's not the final. i actually think england has a good stylistic matchup since their defence has been brilliant this tournament (maguire and L. martinez top 2 def of the tournament for me) and france's way of winning is simply by outscoring the opposition due to their own defence not being all that great - as was seen in the poland game today. still think france are the favourites but if england was ever going to do it, it would be this time.
solid enough from england even though u need to be resting walker for the france game because they'll live or die by him keeping up with mbappe. ran that game after a shaky mins 10-35. not too sure on not starting rashford but kane finally getting his momentum through that goal does bits - whichever team wins france vs england should be going to the final honestly, and with the calibre of the teams as well it's a shame it's not the final. i actually think england has a good stylistic matchup since their defence has been brilliant this tournament (maguire and L. martinez top 2 def of the tournament for me) and france's way of winning is simply by outscoring the opposition due to their own defence not being all that great - as was seen in the poland game today. still think france are the favourites but if england was ever going to do it, it would be this time.
I literally think it was the pressure even though they were down 3-0. I could tell by just looking at his face that he was gonna miss the first one. The lineup they played today is the lineup I want them to go with against France except I would go Arnold instead of Walker but maybe not this game for defensive purposes.
I am grumpy because I was having my 3-0 bet for France correct and suddenly the referee decided he wanted to take it away from me! Mbappé's second goal is an absolute stunner, more than the trajectory it's the speed of execution that was most impressive to me. I've seen him score similar goal several times and he seems to get even quicker at shooting every time. Senegal held their game for 30 minutes against England but got ultimately devoured by an English team that exploited lost balls perfectly and Senegal was left without an answer, a disappointing end for a sympathetic and talented squad.
Damn that was a crazy win by South Korea! Oh whoops, I spoiled the future my bad
Ayo wtf
Japan missed 3 penalties
This is a psychological problem in penalty kicks
Japan missed 3 penalties
This is a psychological problem in penalty kicks
The goal keeper of Croatia is very good, he goes in all balls.