2022 FIFA World Cup [Sun, 20 Nov 2022 – Sun, 18 Dec 2022]

[Sad People]

It was fun while it lasted. Think I'll root for the winner of England vs Senegal the rest of the way.

[Malfatron]

10 hours ago, CWood21 said:

Time for my bracket predictions.

Netherlands over United States (3-1)
Argentina over Australia (2-0)

Croatia over Japan (2-1)
Brazil over South Korea (4-0)

England over Senegal (2-1)
France over Poland (0-0, PK)

Spain over Morocco (2-0)
Portugal over Switzerland (3-1)

 

Netherlands over Argentina (3-1)
Brazil over Croatia (2-0)

England over France (2-1)
Spain over Portugal (3-1)

 

Netherlands over Brazil (3-1)
Spain over England (2-1)

 

Netherlands over Spain (1-1, PK)

Next time, a spoiler tag would have been nice

[Fresh Prince]

1 hour ago, Pats#1 said:

The top male athletes in this country have MUCH better options when it comes to pay, until that changes, US soccer will always be made up of the JV talent pool.

I don’t buy the notion it’s the top athletes playing other sports. It’s the soccer academy’s that don’t match up with other countries, teaching these kids the right skills.

 

I would even say they need to pick a style of play, and have that be taught from the youth national teams, all the way up to the national level. Give these kids years of playing in just one system  no matter what coach is brought on.

Edited December 3, 2022 by Fresh Prince

[Pats#1]

8 minutes ago, Fresh Prince said:

I don’t buy the notion it’s the top athletes playing other sports. It’s the soccer academy’s that don’t match up with other countries, teaching these kids the right skills.

 

I would even say they need to pick a style of play, and have that be taught from the youth national teams, all the way up to the national level. Give these kids years of playing in just one system  no matter what coach is brought on.

I don’t think the athletic discrepancy is the entire reason the US is so much worse then the rest of the world, but I think it plays a big part.

 

The speed and skill level of the players I’ve watched (admittedly rarely), they just aren’t on the same planet as professional NFL/NBA players, heck even NHL players.

[amac]

1 hour ago, Fresh Prince said:

I don’t buy the notion it’s the top athletes playing other sports. It’s the soccer academy’s that don’t match up with other countries, teaching these kids the right skills.

 

I would even say they need to pick a style of play, and have that be taught from the youth national teams, all the way up to the national level. Give these kids years of playing in just one system  no matter what coach is brought on.

This, also in a lot of the major power countries soccer is basically life for kids from a very young age. They’ve been developing their infrastructure for player development for much longer than we have. It’s not the they have better raw athletes, it’s that they are on a different level technically and in terms of soccer IQ/tactically
 

The we don’t have our best athletes argument is silly, just look at a guy like Messi or Modric physically, neither is becoming an NBA or NFL player if he’s born here. You don’t have to steal from those athlete pools to have a great pool of soccer players and we’ve got seemingly millions of people playing the game now.

Edited December 3, 2022 by amac

[Aztec Hammer]

1 hour ago, Pats#1 said:

I don’t think the athletic discrepancy is the entire reason the US is so much worse then the rest of the world, but I think it plays a big part.

 

The speed and skill level of the players I’ve watched (admittedly rarely), they just aren’t on the same planet as professional NFL/NBA players, heck even NHL players.

I think the standout quality of this USA side was probably their athleticism to be honest. They were probably one of the most athletic teams in the competition. It's the natural ability and skill level where they can't yet match up with the main European and South American sides. The Japanese and South Koreans are also further advanced technically in truth.

My opinion as a European watching this set of USA players is that I get the impression that the coaching system from grassroots right the way through to the professional and national team needs to focus more on technique. I wouldn't be surprised if the US coaching is too concentrated on athleticism and speed. It would be understandable if this is the case, as your other sports have a heavy dose of pure athleticism involved and athletic numbers etc. But that's not really what football is about.

That being said, there is also something to a country leaning into their natural zeitgeist and just going with that. But if you look at examples like the Dutch with 'Total Football', the Spanish with 'Tiki Taka' and the Brazilians with the 'Samba' style, it does tend to be technique, skill and a nuanced understanding of the game that gets it done.

[Fresh Prince]

7 minutes ago, Aztec Hammer said:

I think the standout quality of this USA side was probably their athleticism to be honest. They were probably one of the most athletic teams in the competition. It's the natural ability and skill level where they can't yet match up with the main European and South American sides. The Japanese and South Koreans are also further advanced technically in truth.

My opinion as a European watching this set of USA players is that I get the impression that the coaching system from grassroots right the way through to the professional and national team needs to focus more on technique. I wouldn't be surprised if the US coaching is too concentrated on athleticism and speed. It would be understandable if this is the case, as your other sports have a heavy dose of pure athleticism involved and athletic numbers etc. But that's not really what football is about.

That being said, there is also something to a country leaning into their natural zeitgeist and just going with that. But if you look at examples like the Dutch with 'Total Football', the Spanish with 'Tiki Taka' and the Brazilians with the 'Samba' style, it does tend to be technique, skill and a nuanced understanding of the game that gets it done.

Agreed with this 100%. You can see it when the USA play, a lot of times when they try to do these nice passes the technique and skill just isn’t there, it’s just frustrating to watch. They need to find their own style and stick with it through all the ranks.

[Sad People]

How does the Aussie goalie miss that. Seemed routine to me.

[Heimdallr]

5 hours ago, Pats#1 said:

The speed and skill level of the players I’ve watched (admittedly rarely), they just aren’t on the same planet as professional NFL/NBA players, heck even NHL players.

In terms of raw size/speed/strength athletic profile, it is true you do not need that to be an elite soccer player, compared to NFL/NBA where it is the main attributes you look for. However, there are guys like Ronaldo that are every bit as athletic as any NFL player. Ronaldo could have been a HOF WR, and the fastest soccer players are absolutely on par with the top NFL players. 

In terms of skill, I'd argue the elite soccer players are far more impressive than any NFL/NBA player. The coordination, precision, balance, agility, endurance (mental and physical), vision, and awareness required is honestly incomparable to any of the 'big 4' American sports. In my opinion Messi is miles and miles more skilled than prime Tom Brady, Randy Moss, or Lebron James.

The reason the US isn't on the level of the top countries has nothing to do with the "top athletes" not playing soccer. It is because it requires 20 years of non-stop daily training to develop the skill necessary to get to the elite levels.

In Europe and South America, the promising kids go into fulltime academies with professional coaching from the time they are 5-6 years old. The US just doesn't have the culture and youth infrastructure in place to develop players in the same way. It is no coincidence that a lot of the top US players grew up in Europe.

 

[Fresh Prince]

1 hour ago, Heimdallr said:

In terms of raw size/speed/strength athletic profile, it is true you do not need that to be an elite soccer player, compared to NFL/NBA where it is the main attributes you look for. However, there are guys like Ronaldo that are every bit as athletic as any NFL player. Ronaldo could have been a HOF WR, and the fastest soccer players are absolutely on par with the top NFL players. 

In terms of skill, I'd argue the elite soccer players are far more impressive than any NFL/NBA player. The coordination, precision, balance, agility, endurance (mental and physical), vision, and awareness required is honestly incomparable to any of the 'big 4' American sports. In my opinion Messi is miles and miles more skilled than prime Tom Brady, Randy Moss, or Lebron James.

The reason the US isn't on the level of the top countries has nothing to do with the "top athletes" not playing soccer. It is because it requires 20 years of non-stop daily training to develop the skill necessary to get to the elite levels.

In Europe and South America, the promising kids go into fulltime academies with professional coaching from the time they are 5-6 years old. The US just doesn't have the culture and youth infrastructure in place to develop players in the same way. It is no coincidence that a lot of the top US players grew up in Europe.

 

Exactly what I meant about our academy’s not being anywhere near the top country’s. Couldn’t have said it any better.

[agarcia34]

That 2nd pointless goal from Mbappe just cost me my under. Bruh **** the French 

Edited December 4, 2022 by agarcia34

[Sad People]

England vs France.. My oh my. What a match.

[Heimdallr]

9 hours ago, agarcia34 said:

That 2nd pointless goal from Mbappe just cost me my under. Bruh **** the French 

Bro you picked the under with Mpabbe and France playing against Lewandowski and Poland?? That was an obvious 3+ goal game for France alone 

[Heimdallr]

3 hours ago, mattyice0401 said:

England vs France.. My oh my. What a match.

Now we need Spain and Portugal.

the top 4 were always going to be France, Brazil, Spain, Argentina

[DreamKid]

The odds of it happening are obviously very low, but a Japan vs South Korea QF would be quite the spectacle. 

England vs France is amazing because it means one of them is guaranteed eliminated. 

Not super excited for Tuesday's games but they may have some potential.