I don't understand what Greg sees in Shaq Moore. He literally almost cost us the game himself. He can't connect a pass if his life dependent on it. Scally is soooooo much better.
USA played well but the competition was weak. Wales and Iran both suck. Only reason Iran won a game is because they played Wales. Seems to me USA got into the knockout stages partially because of how weak the group is.
You gotta play who is in front of you. We haven't conceded a goal yet in open play and that's nothing to sneeze at especially after watching England toy with Wales and Iran.
Sorry but this is the uneducated position. While FIFA rankings aren't the best, this group had the highest average ranking of the 8. Iran is one of the top teams in Asia. Wales went deep in the most recent Euro's and has been an up and coming team for some time. England is one of the best teams in the world. We gave up 1 pk goal in 3 games. Iran and Wales do not suck. Don't put down this accomplishment...getting through this group with only 1 goal conceded. Berhalter really needs to do some soul searching before Saturday. If we get up 1-0 again and he makes the changes he made today, we'll lose 3-1. Shaq Moore should not play another minute. I'd like to see Scally but Yedlin would've been a better choice. They should've brought in Reyna to help maintain possession when Sargent went out. We played relatively well but man was our 1st touch bad today. Robinson's touch was that of a brick wall. So many balls given away. Iran, tactically, was a mess today. They didn't really pack it in but they didn't really go for it either. They were kind of stuck in the middle and we had the chances to put this away earlier. The Ream-CCV partnership was fantastic, especially considering they've never played together. Dest was great. Pulisic gave it all and I'm ecstatic he got a WC goal and a historical one at that. I'm not scared of the Dutch (sorry @arno_ed). They just haven't impressed me at all. The way our defense has played, they can corral Gapko, and our midfield can shut down theirs. Should be a good game.
Is there a women of the world cup thread somewhere? I see a lot of ppl on twitter talking about one Iranian chick in the crowd that was shown at the final whistle but there was an absolute beauty that was shown towards the end of the Star Spangled Banner at the start. One of the most beautiful Iranian chicks I've seen and that's saying a lot cos that country seems to be blessed with so many beautiful ladies(shame on the government for trying to hide their beauty from pure, tender hearted gentlemen like myself).
No worries they do not impress me (Or anyone in the Netherlands) at all. This is one of the weakest teams the Dutch ever send to a tournament. The only reason we got past our group is the weak competition. We have played some good games in the past year. But we are really mising a creative leader. Someone that can take the team by the hand and create (Someone like Bergkamp, Sneijder, Robben). it is sad that we do not have any great offensive players... That has always been our strength. We are missing any sort of offensive creativity. We have 3 acceptable offensive players. De Jong, Gakpo and Depay. I have never been a fan of Depay. It is really sad that we have been so dependent on him. De Jong is capable of being creative, he just doesn't show it at all. Gakpo has been the lone bright spot. but there is so much one player can do. I am also not a fan of our current system. The team plays without any level of confidence and there is no offensive drive. On top of that when things aren't going well we do not have anyone that can lead. to many players just get hesitant when it isn't going well. That being said. You never know what Van Gaal might do. And if for some reason they do get confidence you never know what can happen. I expect an US win.
They don't even need to win, just kill time till PK shootout and hope Noppert can do wonders. They went away from the 4-3-3 and got defensive, the Defense is alright. It's not a traditional Dutch team.
Pretty likely France wins the group so we don't have to face them on our side of the bracket. They are a strong contender for the wc even with all the injuries
For Denmark this WC seemed to come at an inopportune time, tired from playing domestic league, CL and Nations League.
No team has knocked it out of the ball park in all 3 group games. The team that is a contender and that has a great goalie, can convert penalties, would likely win the whole thing. Haven't written off Croatia yet. As you said there is not a 'heavy' favorite in this tourney.
The duel between those Aussies and Italy was legendary. They are just the ultimate super blue collar team when the WC rolls on.
Just an observation but I wonder if some of the Euro teams are struggling with the heat in Qatar - so many upsets. DD
I think it's a combination of a few things at play: 1) The idiocy of playing a World Cup smack dab in the middle of the domestic season, leading to tired legs. 2) The idiocy of playing in a literal desert which LEADS to having to play the tournament smack dab in the middle of the domestic season because otherwise players would be collapsing from heat strokes. 3) On a more positive spin, I do think the rest of the world are catching up on tactics and individual skill. Coaching has truly become global, and players from non-traditional power house countries are the beneficiaries.
Many players and the audience have actually complained because it's too cold, Qatar is going way overboard with the ACC (and the evening games would be room temperature even without it). Otherwise a mix of tired midseason players and zero time to prepare with the national team for automatisms and proper plays imo.
As far as the gap, I still see a vast difference between the USA and the upper echelon. So many bad touches, errant passes, bad corners, and just flat out missing the frame. At this level of training and play I still can't quite fathom why the US looks so challenged at such simple things. Things they should be masters at by now. It's one thing if you don't have the creativity and magic to see the game before it happens, or the spatial awareness to get shots and passes, but it's another to just simply not have the basic skills that the top teams display. We still seem to suffer on the latter.
