Noticer
SILVER
are you okIt's only the sweet 16, but who thinks the USMNT has turned into a team to be reckoned with?
Who thinks this success is a result of the Player Development initiatives from 2016
Has USMNT arrived?
- Thread starter Larzby
- Start date
Quite a disappointing result. Worst performance in a game by US for a long time. However, whether we had won or lost, the basic facts do not change. There is no elite pathway in the US. Physicality and short term results are placed at a premium and the interests of numerous small clubs are held above player development.
Karlton Athletic
SILVER ELITE
Was it a red? Sure, probably. Was it harsh? Definitely. Seen them given for less though. But what Daddy "show me where he touched you" Trump didn't do (God, you guys are weird) was get it rescinded. IT'S STILL A RED CARD!!! He just got them to suspend the punishment for the first time in World Cup history, for reasons yet to be explained. It sure looks like we were cheating, and all the goodwill the team (and the USA in general) had built up disapperared in seconds.
So what happened then? Mexico threw everything at England for 90 minutes and left the field heads held high. Mutual respect. Canada dominated Morocco for probably 70 minutes before running out of gas. Jesse Marsh running his mouth didn't help, but Canada definitely earned respect there.
The US? I don't know? Maybe 10 minutes of fight when we were already 3-1 down? WTF happened? Was it the pressure? The opening game was huge pressure. The Bosnia game was huge pressure. We were confident and slick in both, and we can thank Pochettino for that, so the lethargy and errors were truly bizarre. The US were unrecognizable.
To me, they played like they knew they were cheating. I'd be embarrased in that situation and I think it weighed on them. At the youth level we live in, I would have strong words with our coach if he knowingly tried to play an ineligable player, and I'd even pull my kid from the game depending on the scenario.
Trump kills everything he touches and he just had to go an insert himself into the World Cup, giving us the Reflecting Pool of last 16 games in what was a winnable game if we didn't just hand them three or maybe even four goals. We cheated and all we got in return was the Belgium team doing the Trump double wank dance in celebration.
Why can't we have nice things?
CleatSniffer
BRONZE
It played out exactly as I thought it would. US is not and has not been pre
Not even close to the worst performance in the past 2 years. Maybe the score line. They played just like they had leading up to the WC. The only game they played remotely well was the first game against Paraguay.
Karlton Athletic
SILVER ELITE
TDS
You called him "Daddy" and yet I'm the one who got TDS? Have some self-respect, Man. Yelling "TDS" or "Fake News" doesn't somehow magic away the facts.
If you want to discuss the fact that the red card wasn't rescinded, just the punishment suspended, I'll be here, otherwise go back to pissing in the wind on the COVID thread.
there were questionable calls and use of var in the Egypt v Argentina game too. Quite obvious at least a pinky if not a thumb is on the scale for Argentina and Messi. The quarters are basically boiling down to countries with robust soccer leagues and academies + Morocco + fifa darling Messi. Once Messi exits we are back to the all Europe show.
Belgium avoided being trumped. Egypt, however, could not avoid being Messied.
And there it is…all Europe except Messi (with fifas thumb on the scale) and Morocco (which is heavy with European players).
It’s academy academy academy (and the reason for Brazil’s decline). You either get your players to Europe or you need more robust local options. You can’t have more local options until you remove the mls salary caps. You need to plug the holes for kids under u13 who do not have academies yet and u19 pathways to transition to pro careers.
Until that stuff is fixed the us is going to putter around 15-16 (yeah others are rising but our academies aren’t nothing…enough to keep us around 15 4 and 8 years down the road), and the women (who don’t have academies) are going to see a decline.
It’s academy academy academy (and the reason for Brazil’s decline). You either get your players to Europe or you need more robust local options. You can’t have more local options until you remove the mls salary caps. You need to plug the holes for kids under u13 who do not have academies yet and u19 pathways to transition to pro careers.
Until that stuff is fixed the us is going to putter around 15-16 (yeah others are rising but our academies aren’t nothing…enough to keep us around 15 4 and 8 years down the road), and the women (who don’t have academies) are going to see a decline.
You got a likey from Mr. Kool Aid himself
++++ Look, so you took all the jabs. It can happen to the best of us. I can't take you serious with any idea on facts or advice Karlton. Daddy told us to take Horse Goo, but most would not listen to daddy.
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Belgium dunked on him hard afterwards...fitting
I lost 4 very close friends to the jab's asshole. I lost everything for saying no to the vaccines. Sorry Karlton, this is very personal for me. My kid was blocked entry to colleges for saying, "no" to the vaccine. My Pastor pal's sister died for saying, "yes" so she could keep her job and not rock the boat in her family.
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Don't forget the Ronaldo suspension as well. He got a Red in the preliminaries, 3 games, but only served one and got the other 2 suspended. The irony of UEFA complaining about the US but crickets when one of theirs gets away with even more.
That Egypt game was ridiculous. I just wonder at the mechanism on how the refs get briefed before the game and who to favor.
That Egypt game was ridiculous. I just wonder at the mechanism on how the refs get briefed before the game and who to favor.
Karlton Athletic
SILVER ELITE
You’re right that UEFA didn’t complain (I’m assuming CONCACAF didn’t complain either about Balogun), but Ronaldo’s suspended sentence did cause a firestorm at the time though:
Fifa’s bow to Cristiano Ronaldo marks new low in stained reign of Gianni Infantino
The bizarre but unsurprising decision to lift the suspension that should have ruled Ronaldo out of Portugal’s opening World Cup games damages the sporting integrity Fifa is meant to uphold above all else
www.independent.co.uk
But, Ronaldo did miss his next game and this wasn’t an in-tournament red card, which is unprecedented.
The Ronaldo corruption was just the ice breaker for the Balogun corruption, and ironically, both Portugal and the US would probably have been better served by just letting the red cards play out as they should have done.
Bummer about all these issues around officiating is it's only going to have a negative impact on youth soccer referees. The players and sidelines are going to intensify in negativity. Doesn't matter if there's a fix on or if it's just bad officiating. When you have controversy after almost every game with coaches and players complaining about officiating, that will definitely trickle down.
The problem is red cards make a player ineligible for the next game. I get why this happens but its too much, too heavy of a call. It makes refs afraid to red card players. Its probabaly a nightmare to administer for leagues. Limit a red card to being ejected from that game and playing man down and all the issues will go away.
On the youth level it makes refs reluctant to hand out red cards which is one of the reasons some refs lose control of games. You can still do a suspension for certain actions like violent conduct, racial slurs, dissent, spitting...you'd just set up an appeals process for pro leagues that have var...but it's an awfully harsh punishment for things like dogso or reckless challenges. Not all red card fouls are equal.
Karlton Athletic
SILVER ELITE
Yeah, I'd agree on that - seems we need a third card or something for violent / dangerous conduct that includes a ban, plus a regular one that just gets you kicked out for the rest of the game. But, the refs will always get it wrong at times, whatever you do. I'd be open to the US style challenge system too, but again, the beauty of soccer is its simplicity and all this VAR technology to get to the "right" decision seems to be robbing us of the magic. That disallowed Croatia goal for example - I guess it was the right decision technically, but the Croatians didn't gain an advantage by being offside, it took way too long and it wasn't a clear an obvious error.
There will always be controversies, even with VAR, so we'd almost be better off going back to a system where we rage at the ref instead of raging at VAR.
VAR will never go away, it will only increase. It ups the drama and makes decision points last longer. Also it gives sponsors time to plug their products while everyone is 100% focused on the game.
This is a reasonable analysis. My issues are as follows: It took over a minute for VAR to call down for a review. Is a foul "clear and obvious" if it takes over a minute to analyze? I'd say no. The review was shown in slo-motion. Studies of slo-mo have shown that it distorts intentionality, severity and concept of time. It is not uncommon for it to be disallowed in court as prejudicial. Soccer is a game played in real time at real speed. In real time/real speed the ref didn't even call a foul. So it went from no foul to SFP. Does that pass the smell test? If we watched a game in slo-mo it would dramatically change our perception of the game.
In the Spirit of the Game, its not a red card, despite the fact it may be technically correct.