Fire Gulati.

Fox Sports paid $200 million to outbid ESPN for 2018 World Cup broadcast rights in the US. They must be really regretting that decision now, I bet the ratings are going to be absolutely terrible without the US team. Apparently Telemundo has Spanish language broadcast rights in the US, they'll probably end up with more domestic viewers than Fox Sports.

Fox Sports paid $200 million to outbid ESPN for 2018 World Cup broadcast rights in the US. They must be really regretting that decision now, I bet the ratings are going to be absolutely terrible without the US team. Apparently Telemundo has Spanish language broadcast rights in the US, they'll probably end up with more domestic viewers than Fox Sports.

LOL

Taylor Twellman's reaction to this was nuts! I was dying laughing. He is absolutely right though.

 

Totally agree!  Video of his "perfect rant" available at the link below:

 

https://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2017/10/10/16457134/world-cup-2018-usa-vs-trinidad-and-tobago-taylor-twellman-rant-sportscenter

https://www.dispatch.com/sports/20181202/gregg-berhalter-officially-leaving-crew-sc-for-us-mens-national-team

 

U.S. Soccer confirmed what has been widely suspected for months.  Columbus Crew head coach Gregg Berhalter has been named the new head coach for the U.S. Men's National Team.  Berhalter will be the 37th coach in national team history.  At 45, he will be the youngest in team history and will also be the first to have played for the United States in the World Cup.  His brother, Jay, is the chief operating officer for the United States Soccer Federation.  Berhalter takes over the head coach position that has been occupied by interim coach Dave Sarachan, who replaced Bruce Arena when he couldn’t lead the United States to the 2018 World Cup after inheriting a dire situation from his predecessor, Jurgen Klinsmann.

 

For the past five seasons, Gregg Berhalter was the head coach and sporting director for MLS' Columbus Crew.  The sporting director title gave him complete control over the on-field soccer side of things within the Crew organization.  Under his direction, the Crew has consistently fielded teams that outperformed the penny-pinching budgets of soon-to-be former team owner Anthony Precourt.  In his five seasons with the Crew, Berhalter compiled an overall regular-season record of 67-58-45 while reaching the postseason four times - reaching the MLS Cup in 2015 and reaching the Eastern Conference finals in 2017. Along the way, he built a roster that included the likes of current national team mainstays Zack Steffen and Wil Trapp.

Does anybody have the attendance at the USA 6-0 win vs Trinidad & Tobago at

Brown's Stadium Today.

^24k

I watched the first half of the U.S. vs Curaçao Gold Cup quarterfinal match last night.  The U.S. went up 1-0 in the 25th minute on an easy header from a beautiful Christian Pulisic pass.  The game was still 1-0 at halftime, but the U.S. was dominating the game.  And since the game didn't start until 8:30PM, and I needed to get up extra early the next morning, I didn't watch the second half - feeling confident that the U.S. was going to roll to an easy victory against the 79th FIFA ranked team.

 

But Curaçao - the Dutch-owned Caribbean island 40 miles north of the Venezuela with a population of 160,000 - had a different second half in mind.  Curaçao flipped the script and dominated the second half.  Only a brilliant late game save from Zach Steffen preserved a 1-0 victory for the USMNT:  

 

https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2019-06-30-us-mens-national-team-vs-curacao/recap

 

Despite the scare from Curacao, the U.S. did advance into the Gold Cup semifinals, where they'll face Jamaica on July 3.  The winner of U.S./Jamaica will face the winner of Haiti/Mexico on July 7 in the Gold Cup final.

https://www.massivereport.com/2019/7/4/20681908/united-states-mens-national-team-defeats-jamaica-3-1-advances-to-gold-cup-final-mexico

 

https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2019-07-03-jamaica-vs-us-mens-national-team/recap

 

The USMNT defeated Jamaica (eventually) after an over hour-long lightning delay at the game's 15th minute.  Fortunately for the Stars and Stripes, they scored an early goal in the 9th minute prior to the delay to go up 1-0.  After the lengthy delay, Jamaica regained its footing a held the U.S. scoreless until 20-year-old phenom Christian Pulisic scored in the 52nd minute.  After that the teams traded goals - Jamaica at 69' and Pulisic scoring again at 87'.

 

The 3-1 victory puts the U.S. into Sunday's Gold Cup final at Soldier Field in Chicago against Mexico.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/report?gameId=529165

 

https://www.espn.com/soccer/blog/the-match/60/post/3894012/mexico-delivers-harsh-lessons-to-the-usmnt

 

The USMNT couldn't match what the USWNT did earlier on Sunday - as they fell 1-0 to Mexico in the Gold Cup final.  The U.S. Men's team played well enough in the first half, generating some decent scoring chances.  But in the second half, the favored Mexico team seemed to get stronger and stronger until they finally scored in the 73rd minute, and then held on to that lead.

 

Not a terrible showing for Gregg Berhalter's USMNT, as they rebuild from the failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.  But a shaky game against Curaçao and a good but still not good enough game against Mexico, showed they still have some work to do.

Give their money to the women.

Qualifying for the 2022 World Cup has a new procedure in CONCACAF. There are 3.5 spots in the 2022 World Cup reserved for CONCACAF nations (North America, Central America, and the Caribbean plus Suriname and Guyana).

 

The participants in the "Hex", which is the last round of the qualifying, will be determined by FIFA rankings instead of a knockout or group play among other CONCACAF teams.

 

This means that at the cutoff time after June 2020, the top 6 ranked teams in CONCACAF would automatically qualify for the Hex. The first matches would be held in September 2020, and the last matches in September 2021.

 

Each team in the Hex plays home and away against each other team. The top three teams in the round robin tournament automatically advance to the 2022 World Cup.

 

What about the other 29 teams in CONCACAF?

They will all play a series of matches starting with a group stage (seeded by FIFA rankings). The winner of each of the 8 groups will advance into a knockout tournament (each match consisting of a home and away match against your opponent) for a quarterfinal, semifinal, and final. The winner of that tournament doesn't automatically qualify for the World Cup. They qualify for a home-and-away series against the team that finished 4th in the Hex. The winner of that series still doesn't advance to the World Cup. There are only 3.5 spots available to CONCACAF, so the winner of the series between the 4th place Hex team and the winner of the lower team tournament will then play a playoff match against a team from another continent's qualification tournament who has a half qualifying spot. This would be a team from Oceania (0.5 qualifying spots), Asia (4.5 spots), or South America (4.5 spots).

 

If the draw for the Hex was today instead of 2020, the teams qualifying for the Hex would be Mexico, USA, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Honduras, and El Salvador.

The obvious losers in this are the teams that are ranked just outside of the top 6. As of today that includes Panama, who actually went to the World Cup in 2018; Haiti who nearly beat Mexico in the Gold Cup semifinal; Curaçao, who performed well against the United States in the Gold Cup quarterfinal; Canada, who has a pretty good team and improves every year; and Trinidad and Tobago, who notably knocked the US out of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in the previous Hex in 2017. These teams would all be fighting each other to play the 4th place team in the Hex for a chance to play another continent's team for the last spot.

 

Like the College Football Playoffs, the teams that are just outside of the Hex are going to be really upset that they can't participate in the Hex. The teams ranked 4-9 are all pretty close in talent, so this will create a lot of controversy.

 

This is good for the United States, Mexico, and Costa Rica, who will definitely qualify for the Hex and don't have to win another group earlier in a tournament like in the past. They will still have to finish in the top 3 of the Hex to automatically qualify for the World Cup.

More info can be found here.

There hasn't been much worth posting about the U.S. Men's National Team when they were playing and missing the 2018 World Cup and then playing and not looking good in 2019.  But never fear - 2020 will be a rebound year right?  Covid says hold my beer.

 

But now the USMNT (along with the rest of the world) is returning for matches in 2021.  One of the first was the inaugural CONCACAF Nations League, in which the U.S. won a semifinal game and then faced Mexico on late Sunday night in Denver's Mile High Stadium.  OK, its not the Gold Cup, which is coming later this month, but after a year off you take what you can get.

 

What we got was the USMNT winning the inaugural Concacaf Nations League trophy after beating Mexico 3-2 in the final in extra time on Sunday:

• https://www.mlssoccer.com/competitions/concacaf-nations-league/2019/matches/usavsmex-06-06-2021/
• https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/usmnt-player-ratings-horvath-and-pulisics-penalty-heroics-decide-concacaf-nations-league-final-in-extra-time/

And it was a wild match - both on and off the field.  Mexico went up 1-0 in the 2nd minute after a terrible U.S. turnover in the 18-yd box.  Then it looks like Mexico went up 2-0 in the 24th minute, but VAR ruled the player offside (he was).  It was the U.S. that got the game's next goal only 3 minutes later to tie it 1-1.

 

In the second half, with the game still tied 1-1, the U.S. lost their starting goalkeeper Zach Steffen to injury and had to bring in his backup, the relatively unknown Ethan Horvath for the remainder of the game.  Mexico scored their second goal in the 79th minute to go up 2-1.  But only 3 minutes later, the U.S. tied it 2-2 on a header off a corner kick.

 

The game is tied 2-2 after 99 minutes of regulation play.  Because this is a tournament, the game went to 30 minutes of extra time.  Seventeen minutes into the extra time at 107', Chelsea star Christian Pulisic is fouled in the 18-yd box and awarded a penalty kick.  Pulisic converts the PK to give the U.S. a 3-2 lead.  But it wasn't over yet.  Mexico was awarded a penalty kick for a U.S. handball in the box at the end of extra time - but the PK was stopped by Horvath(!)  USA wins 3-2.

 

Now, when I said it was wild both on and off the field, here's what I meant.  Mexico fans have a "charming tradition" of using a homophobic chant against their opponents during games.  International soccer organizations have tried to deter this for years.  In this game, when the Mexico fans started that chant, the ref halted play until they stopped chanting it(!)

 

https://www.tmz.com/2021/06/07/usmnt-mexico-soccer-fans-homophobic-chant-pause-concacaf-game/

 

And that wasn't even the wildest off the field incident last night.  After Pulisic scored his game-winning goal, Mexico fans threw cans and cups at the U.S. team on the field.  One even hit a U.S. player in the face(!)

 

And as the game was finishing, their was another can/cup throwing incident where a Mexico player was hit in the head(!)

 

https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/usa-mexico-ranking-five-wildest-moments-from-usmnts-concacaf-nations-league-final-victory/

So I thought it was super cool to see the US win. But can someone explain to me like I'm five why we need the Nations league when we already have the Gold Cup? And what the difference is? I know basically nothing about the way this works.

33 minutes ago, DEPACincy said:

But can someone explain to me like I'm five why we need the Nations league when we already have the Gold Cup? 

 

Don Ohlmeyer, the original producer of 'Monday Night Football' and later a network executive, once said:

 

“If your question is about sports, The answer to your question is money.”

9 hours ago, DEPACincy said:

So I thought it was super cool to see the US win. But can someone explain to me like I'm five why we need the Nations league when we already have the Gold Cup? And what the difference is? I know basically nothing about the way this works.

I had the same question... and after trying to figure it out, my understanding is that the National League will happen every year whereas the Gold Cup only happens every other year. There might be other relevant differences, but it's not readily apparent through their websites (and respective Wikipedia pages).

16 minutes ago, jwulsin said:

I had the same question... and after trying to figure it out, my understanding is that the National League will happen every year whereas the Gold Cup only happens every other year. There might be other relevant differences, but it's not readily apparent through their websites (and respective Wikipedia pages).

 

So the Nations League actually has a relegation system that's constantly in flux, with countries moving in and dropping out. This culminates with a "group" tournament style competition - the winner of which qualifies for the Gold Cup. Nation's League essentially ensures that enough intra-CONCACAF play is occurring. 

 

The Gold Cup has it's own qualifications and is by far the more prestigious competition and is every other year. 

 

In sum, the formatting and prestige are the only two differences. 

 

Having said that - for the first time in my lifetime the US has a soccer team that should genuinely expect to compete at a high level in next year's World Cup, and potentially be legitimate contenders in 2026. 

My son should be ready for the US team in 2030 or 2034. 😎 Remember the name: Martin "The Destructor" Tkachenko.

Tomorrow night the Gold Cup championship match will be played in Las Vegas between the U.S. and Mexico.

 

These are the two highest ranked teams in the CONCACAF region and "everyone" expected/hoped this would be the final.  But both the U.S. and Mexico had tough semi-final games on Thursday to advance to the final.

 

The first Thursday Gold Cup semi-final was the U.S. vs Qatar.  Qatar isn't in our CONCACAF region, but was an invited team for this tournament.  The U.S. hasn't lost a game in the tournament, but outside of a 6-1 win over tiny Martinique, every other win was 1-0.  In the group stage games, the one U.S. goal came very early (1' & 8').  But in the knockout games, they made the U.S. fans wait until very late for the winning goal.  In the quarter-final win over Jamaica, the U.S. didn't score until the 83rd minute.  In the semi-final win over Qatar, the U.S. didn't score until the 86th minute (on a goal by the Columbus Crew's Gyasi Zardes(!) who has had a strong tournament).

 

The second Thursday Gold Cup semi-final was Mexico vs Canada.  Canada emerged out the same group the U.S. won - and their only loss was 1-0 to the U.S., before defeating Costa Rica 2-0 in the quarters to reach the semis.  Mexico started slow with a 0-0 draw to T&T, before winning the rest of their games, including an impressive 3-0 win over Honduras in the quarters advance to the semis.

 

Mexico got the first goal against Canada, but Canada equalized in the 57th minute.  Mexico was awarded a PK in the 63rd minute, but the Canada keeper stopped the shot to keep it 1-1.  Their semi-final game looked like it was headed into overtime, but Mexico got an extremely late game-winning goal in the 99th minute(!) to advance into the final.

 

Tomorrow's Gold Cup final is the U.S./Mexico matchup that was expected.  However, it was a little less expected for the U.S. because Head Coach Gregg Berhalter decided not to use some of the USMNT's best euro players (like Christian Pulisic and Zach Steffen) in this Gold Cup, in order to rest them for the upcoming World Cup qualifying games.

The USMNT wins the 2021 Gold Cup with a goal in the 117th minute(!)

 

We were supposed to get destroyed by Mexico last night. They were fielding a team that was very close to their best possible lineup. We were fielding what could probably be considered a B team at best, but was probably closer to a C team. Mexico's team was full of guys who play for some of the bigger teams in Europe and some of the top teams in Mexico, most of whom have tons of international experience. Our team was almost exclusively made up of young MLS, many of which were making their first national team appearance in this tournament. 

 

Last night was our second timing beating Mexico to win a trophy over the course of the past month. The future is extremely bright for the USMNT. I can't wait for WCQ to start next month so we can keep the momentum rolling. Assuming we qualify for the World Cup (I don't think we should have any issue this time around), I think we'll have enough quality to actually make a decent run in the World Cup next year.

The USMNT began their qualifying games for the 2022 World Cup with a 0-0 draw at El Salvador:

 

https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup-qualifying-concacaf/story/4467859/united-states-inexperience-shows-with-draw-in-el-salvadora-faltering-start-on-road-to-world-cup

 

Although a road point is not a bad result, the USMNT had some chances for a game-winning goal that they couldn't convert.  This is the first of three-games-in-seven-days for the USMNT.  On Sunday, they host Canada in Nashville.  On Wednesday, they travel to Honduras.

2 minutes ago, Columbo said:

The USMNT began their qualifying games for the 2022 World Cup with a 0-0 draw at El Salvador:

 

https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup-qualifying-concacaf/story/4467859/united-states-inexperience-shows-with-draw-in-el-salvadora-faltering-start-on-road-to-world-cup

 

Although a road point is not a bad result, the USMNT had some chances for a game-winning goal that they couldn't convert.  This is the first of three-games-in-seven-days for the USMNT.  On Sunday, they host Canada in Nashville.  On Wednesday, they travel to Honduras.

Not having Pulisic definitely hurt. Overall, not bad for a first road game considering their youth. Gotta get three points at home vs. Canada. 

USMNT getting a 0-0 draw on the road at El Salvador:  OK

 

USMNT getting a 1-1 draw at home against Canada:  NOT OK

 

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/soccer/us-mens-national-team-usmnt-canada-top-moments-world-cup-qualifying-christian-pulisic-alphonso-davies

In tonight's match at Honduras, the USMNT was down 1-0 at halftime - and it was like:

 

But in the second half, the USMNT scored four unanswered goals - and then it was like:

What a crazy game. Going on the road and winning by 3 goals is something that rarely happens in CONCACAF WCQ, but somehow we managed to do that even after being down a goal for most of the game and without 3-4 of our best players. Oh, and an 18 year old making just his second appearance with the national team was involved in one way or another in all 4 goals!

 

With that being said, the USMNT fanbase is one of the most bipolar groups of people. After winning the Nations League and Gold Cup over the summer, they were ready to build Berhalter a statue. Then, after drawing our first two qualifying matches and being down a goal in this match, they were ready to publicly execute him. The constant flip-flopping is crazy. 

 

Anyway...on to the next qualifying window! Hopefully Pulisic and Reyna will be healthy, McKennie will learn to stop breaking team rules to hook up with girls, and we can get some guys like Hoppe and Musah back with the team. I'm still confident that we will qualify, but it's going to be a dog fight!

So, that 4-0 win at Honduras vaulted the U.S. into third-place (the last qualifying position) and they'll be facing three teams below them in this October window.  Everything aces, right?

 

https://www.starsandstripesfc.com/2021/9/29/22700161/usa-usmnt-october-world-cup-qualifying-roster-christian-pulisic

 

Well, Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna, who have both battled injuries of late, are not on the October roster.  And then after the roster was announced, veteran center back John Brooks withdrew from the October games because of back issues.  In addition, the UK placed Panama on their Covid red list and the Premier League teams blocked the call up of players who would be traveling to countries on this red list.  Therefore, U.S. Soccer confirmed that UK-Premier League players - Zack Steffen, Antonee Robinson, and Tim Ream - will not be available for the USMNT against Panama.

 

On the positive side, Weston McKennie returns after being sent home from the team the previous month due to repeated violations of team protocol.  And then Paul Arriola, Tim Weah, and Gyasi Zardes return to the roster from previous injuries.

 

Here's the October schedule:

Thursday, Oct. 7 vs Jamaica in Austin

Sunday, Oct. 10 at Panama in Panama City

Wednesday, Oct. 13 vs Costa Rica in Columbus

 

The Panama road game is the toughest - Panama is tied in points (5) and record (1-0-2) but the US holds a goals-scored tiebreak.  But if the USMNT takes care of business hosting last-place Jamaica and 5th-place Costa Rica, the Panama game becomes less important.

The USMNT took care of business with a 2-0 win last night.  After a scoreless first half, 18-year-old Ricardo Pepi got goals in the 49th minute and the 62nd minutes of the second half.

 

That win, and Canada's surprising 1-1 draw in Mexico, vaults the U.S. to the top of table:

The USMNT followed their pleasing 2-0 home win against Jamaica with a displeasing 1-0 road loss at Panama.

 

Canada took a similar path by following their inspired 1-1 draw at Mexico with a uninspired 0-0 draw at Jamaica.  That draw plus Panama's win vaults Panama into third and drops Canada below the qualification line into 4th-place.

 

The U.S. drops into second after Mexico got a 3-0 home win against Honduras to take control of first-place:

 

 

Wednesday's home game in Columbus against Costa Rica looms even larger as a virtual must-win for the USMNT, unless they want to make things dicey for the final series of qualifying games in November and January/February.

Columbus welcomed back the USMNT to the home of 'Dos a Cero' in a new downtown home of Lower.com Field.  And although they didn't reach that storied scoreline.  They did get a 2-1 win and three vital points in the WCQ standings:

 

 

But the USMNT got off to a terrible start by conceding a Costa Rica goal in the game's first minute(!!)  However, a 25th-minute tying goal and a go-ahead goal in the 66th minute were enough to get those three vital points and put the USMNT in a more comfortable second-place position after this round of games.

 

Mexico got an easy 2-0 victory over El Salvador to stay in first.  Canada jumped into third with an emphatic 4-1 win over Panama.

The return of 'Dos a Cero' -- Pulisic and McKennie score to lead the U.S. over Mexico in Cincinnati:

 

https://www.espn.com/soccer/match/_/gameId/606071

 

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/recap-united-states-2-mexico-0

The USMNT got a 1-1 draw at Jamaica yesterday - not a terrible road result but disappointing considering the US had a lead but couldn't hold it.  Later last night Canada hosted Mexico in an epic match at a frigid Edmonton stadium that Canada Soccer called "Estadio Iceteca"(!)

 

But Canada got a 2-1 win over Mexico.  The game-winning goal was scored on this play early in the second half - followed by a wild post-goal snow celebration(!!)

 

So Canada's two wins in this round jumps them to the top of table going into 2022.  The US is in okay shape but with more work still to do.  But Mexico dropped two games during this round and is now tied in points with Panama (who won two games and made up a 6-point deficit).

 

how many more games are left, how many points do you think it will take to earn a bid?

1 hour ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

how many more games are left, how many points do you think it will take to earn a bid?

6 more games. No idea how many points will be needed to qualify. There are too many variables based on whether the other top teams get a bunch of wins (potentially getting 18 more points) or just squeak out ties. I doubt any team will win all of the remaining 6 matches, but hypothetically the highest point total would be Canada with 34 points if they win all their remaining matches. 

 

Schedule for the USMNT's remaining matches:

https://www.ussoccer.com/competitions/concacaf-world-cup-qualifying-2022

Our three remaining home games are very important. We're expected to win at home, and steal a point on the road.

 

USA v. El Salvador

USA @ Canada
USA v. Honduras

USA @ Mexico

USA v. Panama

USA @ Costa Rica

 

We should ideally get 9 points at home in our remaining 3 games. Dropping points at home is really not great this late in the campaign, especially against the weakest opponents in the Octagonal. 7 points would be acceptable. Of our home games, Panama is the most important since they are in contention for a World Cup spot, but also the team we expect to beat the least of the three.

 

Our road games are a lot harder, and we haven't performed well on the road this cycle. Canada is hot right now, and will be a tough game. Mexico at the Azteca is really tough. Costa Rica isn't at the top of the table, but historically are one of the best teams in CONCACAF, and at the start of the qualification campaign would have been expected to be in the top 3 or 4. 

 

Beating Mexico was huge, especially after drawing Jamaica last night. Finishing in the top 3 guarantees a spot in the World Cup. If we finish 4th, we have to play a team from another continent in June to secure our spot.

Venues have been announced for the next WCQ window. The USMNT will be back in Columbus on 1/27 against El Salvador, and will be in the Twin Cities on 2/2 against Honduras. In between those, they'll play Canada in Hamilton, Ontario.

 

 

https://www.nbc4i.com/sports/everything-to-know-for-usa-world-cup-qualifier-at-lower-com-field-against-el-salvador/

 

 

And that was everything to know for the USA World Cup Qualifier at Lower.com Field tonight against El Salvador.

 

Okay.  Okay.  It's cold.  Let's get hyped and win this game.

Okay guys - not to be overly optimistic here - but I think we're going to dust them. 

 

I think the USMNT finally has the talent combined with a massive chip on its shoulder to hit the ground running en route to Qatar

49 minutes ago, YABO713 said:

Okay guys - not to be overly optimistic here - but I think we're going to dust them. 

 

I think the USMNT finally has the talent combined with a massive chip on its shoulder to hit the ground running en route to Qatar

 

Plus, it's cold.  El Salvador ain't ready for that.

4 minutes ago, ColDayMan said:

 

Plus, it's cold.  El Salvador ain't ready for that.

 

Can we confirm it is, in fact, cold?

You've gotta be kidding me!!! What freakin' idiot scheduled a soccer game in Columbus in January?? At first I thought this was a heads-up for a game in a couple of months. But January?? I can't believe it.....

Made very hard work of that. Awful game. 

5 hours ago, KJP said:

You've gotta be kidding me!!! What freakin' idiot scheduled a soccer game in Columbus in January?? At first I thought this was a heads-up for a game in a couple of months. But January?? I can't believe it.....

 

Shh.  Nobody tell KJP the next two games are at Hamilton, Ontario (1/30) and Minneapolis/St. Paul (2/2).

10 minutes ago, roman totale XVII said:

Made very hard work of that. Awful game. 

 

A win is a win.  But that was more difficult than it needed to be.

 

For all the hype about the cold, it seemed like the conditions affected the spectators more than the players.  The playing field in particular was excellent.

 

So was the tifo:

 

 

Although, the ESPN commentators looked like they were freezing 🥶

I don't know which was more humiliating in yesterday's 2-0 loss at Canada.  Was it the Canadian Ultras chanting "We burned the f***ing White House to the ground"?  (Technically the British did it, but Canada was a part of the British Empire then, so close enough)

 

Or was it a Canadian goalkeeper who looked like he was the father of some of the players blanking the USMNT?

 

With four games remaining, Canada is four points up on the U.S. and Mexico.  The U.S. is tied with Mexico in points but +1 in GD for second-place.  And Panama is lurking in fourth-place only one point behind.

 

Bottom Line:  The USMNT needs to take care of business on Wednesday in Minny and beat the last-place Honduras team convincingly(!)

On 1/31/2022 at 1:15 PM, Columbo said:

Bottom Line:  The USMNT needs to take care of business on Wednesday in Minny and beat the last-place Honduras team convincingly(!)

 

Tonight's USMNT-Honduras game in Minnesota will have a starting temp of 3 and a wind chill of -13(!!!)  Now there's cold - and then there's "exposed skin will freeze in 15 minutes" cold.  Which this is(!) 🥶

 

The U.S. has said (and continues to say) that the cold weather gives them a playing advantage over the warm weather teams.  But the real reason that the U.S. schedules these games in northern venues is because they don't want a crowd full of opposing fans - which has happened in games at L.A., Houston, Dallas, Miami etc.

 

But when it gets this cold, you have to believe that both teams get degraded play.  And the USMNT is a much better team than last-place Honduras.  So if both teams play is degraded, that should be advantage Honduras.  We see what happens, but if the U.S. gets anything less than a win tonight, don't be surprised if these super-cold games don't get scheduled again.

The USMNT avoided a frozen doom scenario with an easy 3-0 win over last-place Honduras last night.  The U.S. scored early in the 8th minute, then added a 37th minute goal to go into halftime up 2-0.  Then Pulisic came on as a second half sub (which was heavily criticized pre-game) and added the third goal.

 

Because the game was on FS1, one of those loud critics of Berhalter not starting Pulisic was the awful Alexi Lalas.  Just like his takes on #SaveTheCrew, he was wrong about this too.  Fortunately, we Crew fans that despise him got to enjoy his freezing his dumb a$$ at the game(!)

 

With last night's win, the USMNT is in excellent shape to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.  Here are the current standings after last night's action:

 

The U.S. is still in second-place with a +3 GD over Mexico and four points up on 4th-place Panama and five points up on 5th-place Costa Rica.  The top three automatically qualify for the World Cup, while the 4th-place finisher would need to win a home-and-away playoff series with an Oceania team to qualify.

 

The downside is that the USMNT is done facing the bottom three teams.  The final three games in March are against Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica - all good teams still in contention to qualify (see the schedule below):

The most important of these three games is the one remaining home game (vs Panama on 3/27).  If the U.S. wins over Panama, they will guarantee at least a 4th-place finish - because the U.S. will have 24 points and Panama would max out at 23.  The win would also virtually guarantee a top-3 finish for the USMNT.  Costa Rica could still pass the U.S., but they would need to win all three remaining games to do so - even one draw would max them out behind the USMNT.

 

Of course if the U.S. could pick up a point or three at Mexico or Costa Rica, that would be even better.  But just a home win against Panama would likely pave the way to Qatar.

 

 

 

 

Even though it went down to the last game, we still qualified. 3 and 0 in Ohio. When we win our qualifiers here, we go to the world cup!

 

The historic and or geopolitical drama of group B will be legendary. Obviously I want Ukraine to advance, but it would be great to see Scotland beat the Welsh just to get into a WC group with the English. Not a bad draw though, with a 5th ranked Pot 1, 21st ranked Pot 3 and whoever makes it out of UEFA this June. 

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Can't wait till November! Everyone mark your calendars - United States vs England, Black Friday 2022