2022 World Cup

[The Ack]

Where the phluck was Reyna?!!!

I agree with Landon - why wasn't Gio Reyna a sub?

But Jordan Morris was.

Rumors of injury unfortunately. Big opportunity missed for the Yanks. Foot off the gas. This isn't Nation's League circa 2021. Can't 1-0 this World Cup.

 

[690West]

Rumors of injury unfortunately. Big opportunity missed for the Yanks. Foot off the gas. This isn't Nation's League circa 2021. Can't 1-0 this World Cup.

Now that I think of it, would have to be an injury. Berhalter is not that incompetent…..I hope

 

[crv1728]

Sorry I’m upset

Same here, just bummed. You get three chances in WC and we just squandered the first.

 

[Orangezoo]

S

but that is usually both sides so the refs probably put away the whistles cause you can’t call everything (think classic Pitt bball). This was pretty one sided assault, at least in the first half

9 straight uncalled fouls in the second half on Wales. Second half was one sided in stretches too.

Wales figured out if you scream loud enough it gets a card too...

 

[CanadianSU]

I think the draw from a neutral perspective was always likely between these two teams. Wales is unbelievably frustrating to play against, stubborn as anything, then bale fires one in out of nothing. Really awful penalty to concede, that can’t happen.

Type of opponent that makes many European teams want to pull their hair out after. I do favour wales against England a little better than USA against England based on their play style. But overall, I still think USA has more potential to score so I’d favour them for 2nd in this group. It really comes down to who can beat Iran by the most, one of the things with the World Cup group stage, unlike the Euro is you do get a lot more cupcakes that can determine outcomes.

 

[Orangezoo]

I think the draw from a neutral perspective was always likely between these two teams. Wales is unbelievably frustrating to play against, stubborn as anything, then bale fires one in out of nothing. Really awful penalty to concede, that can’t happen.

Type of opponent that makes many European teams want to pull their hair out after. I do favour wales against England a little better than USA against England based on their play style. But overall, I still think USA has more potential to score so I’d favour them for 2nd in this group. It really comes down to who can beat Iran by the most, one of the things with the World Cup group stage, unlike the Euro is you do get a lot more cupcakes that can determine outcomes.

The bigger issue I see is if we don't get at least a draw from England then they are in the driver's seat and then nothing stops them from a bland draw with Wales to ice us out barring Wales beats Iran. Need Wales' style to result in a draw with Iran I think to have a shot out of the group.

 

[CanadianSU]

The bigger issue I see is if we don't get at least a draw from England then they are in the driver's seat and then nothing stops them from a bland draw with Wales to ice us out barring Wales beats Iran. Need Wales' style to result in a draw with Iran I think to have a shot out of the group.

That’s a good point. The schedule favours Wales although I really think Iran maybe by the third game might be totally checked out. It just seemed today that they are in an incredibly awkward position and it’s going to reflect in their play imo at least.

 

[Orangezoo]

That’s a good point. The schedule favours Wales although I really think Iran maybe by the third game might be totally checked out. It just seemed today that they are in an incredibly awkward position and it’s going to reflect in their play imo at least.

Yeah. My expectation is sadly that we will hammer Iran but that England/Wales play the silent verbal draw game.

Which means we have to slay the Lion if we want a chance or at least tame it 1-1

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Ah well. Missed opportunity. The penalty was a penalty. While some of the early yellow cards seemed unwarranted, there was less of that later on.

The commentators were braying about Reyna not coming in, but I thought bringing in Wright for headers and Aaronson for his running at the point of attack were both quality moves by Berhalter.

Tough result. We were good enough for a second goal.

I'm with you.

Great first half. I have never seen us dominate a World Cup game like we did in the first half. We have never had a team capable of dominating a World Cup game like we did in the first half.

Agreed with every sub. Yedlin for Dest, who was both on a yellow and not a good 1 v 1 defender. One wrong foot and you go a man down.

McKennie is coming off an injury so Aaronson sub was perfectly fine and then Acosta for Musah to try and close out the game. Nothing wrong with any of those.

I do think that we panicked somewhat in the second half under pressure but we are a very young team.

Definitely disappointing but not sure how anyone can point the finger at Berhalter for this result.

Reyna instead of Morris? Yes. But that is about it.

Somehow, some way, can we strap a point from England...

 

[qdawgg]

After this I don’t see us getting out of the group and we had that game won. I don’t understand the Reyna thing either. IMO he’s our best crosser in a game where all the passes over the middle pretty much sucked.

 

[upperdeck]

I thought that Pele stat was kind fun to hear..

 

[NineOneSeven]

Very tough loss considering how well the first half was played and how Wales scored. Missed opportunity.

 

[crv1728]

I'm with you.

Great first half. I have never seen us dominate a World Cup game like we did in the first half. We have never had a team capable of dominating a World Cup game like we did in the first half.

Agreed with every sub. Yedlin for Dest, who was both on a yellow and not a good 1 v 1 defender. One wrong foot and you go a man down.

McKennie is coming off an injury so Aaronson sub was perfectly fine and then Acosta for Musah to try and close out the game. Nothing wrong with any of those.

I do think that we panicked somewhat in the second half under pressure but we are a very young team.

Definitely disappointing but not sure how anyone can point the finger at Berhalter for this result.

Reyna instead of Morris? Yes. But that is about it.

Somehow, some way, can we strap a point from England...

I agree - great first half.
Yedlin for Dest I disagree, just don't think Yedlin is good at this level. But Dest w/ a yellow card, ok. Yedlin made a bunch of unforced errors i.e. simple pass out wide to him and he received it out of bounds! Come on man!
Acosta for Musah only if Musah for 90 vs England. Otherwise, a tired Musah still better than fresh Acosta.
We could debate subs forever, only GB's opinion matters though.
I don't think you can separate the notion of the team panicking a bit in second half from coach's strategy and the coach himself. I think that is where he is getting some flack. I think strategy changed for second half. And I hate watching a team try to hold onto a one goal lead for so long. I wish we were determined to score the second goal, not hope Wales didn't.
You probably know more than i do about the game, so I will appreciate your response.

 

[The Ack]

I think the draw from a neutral perspective was always likely between these two teams. Wales is unbelievably frustrating to play against, stubborn as anything, then bale fires one in out of nothing. Really awful penalty to concede, that can’t happen.

Type of opponent that makes many European teams want to pull their hair out after. I do favour wales against England a little better than USA against England based on their play style. But overall, I still think USA has more potential to score so I’d favour them for 2nd in this group. It really comes down to who can beat Iran by the most, one of the things with the World Cup group stage, unlike the Euro is you do get a lot more cupcakes that can determine outcomes.

Bale didn't fire that in out of nothing; Zimmerman conceded a needless penalty. Wales nicking a point makes our path much more challenging than their own. We needed and should have secured three tonight. We squandered that chance and now we aren't fully in control of our destiny.

 

[CanadianSU]

Bale didn't fire that in out of nothing; Zimmerman conceded a needless penalty. Wales nicking a point makes our path much more challenging than their own. We needed and should have secured three tonight. We squandered that chance and now we aren't fully in control of our destiny.

Yes for sure needless. I’m just saying from previous games I’ve seen from Wales that’s their playbook.

 

[upperdeck]

Bale didn't fire that in out of nothing; Zimmerman conceded a needless penalty. Wales nicking a point makes our path much more challenging than their own. We needed and should have secured three tonight. We squandered that chance and now we aren't fully in control of our destiny.

we are in full control really win both games..

 

[690West]

Saudi Arabia is up 2-1 in the 60th minute over Argentina.

Alex, I’ll take things i thought I’d never write in my life for $100!

 

[Vorony]

Saudi Arabia is up 2-1 in the 60th minute over Argentina.

Alex, I’ll take things i thought I’d never write in my life for $100!

Argentina should have been up 4-0 in the first half if it wasn’t for all of those offsides calls.

 

[690West]

Argentina should have been up 4-0 in the first half if it wasn’t for all of those offsides calls.

Were they the right calls though? Looks like people are throwing the “rigged” word around a lot this morning

 

[goofnoff]

I thought the US team looked very good. Why they backed off attacking in the second half I don't understand.

 

[Vorony]

Were they the right calls though? Looks like people are throwing the “rigged” word around a lot this morning

They all looked legitimate on replay. But would they have been called if they didn’t have all this fancy new technology? Most likely not.

 

[690West]

They all looked legitimate on replay. But would they have been called if they didn’t have all this fancy new technology? Most likely not.

Ahh interesting

 

[orangenauburn]

Kingdom of Saud with a massive performance

 

[CanadianSU]

That’s a shocking result. Saudi with excellent tactics in that one but still wow one of the favourites going down to Saudi is crazy. I wanted to see Messi potentially win but now it’ll be hard getting out of the group.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Were they the right calls though? Looks like people are throwing the “rigged” word around a lot this morning

All but one were pretty obviously offside. The Saudi defensive strategy was structured to induce the offsides and Argentina didnt adjust

From the time Argentina scored on that bogus penalty , until Saudi made it 2-1, Argentina was not the better side