NFR World Cup

Non-fishing related
After a promising start of the tournament, when it mattered and for multiple reasons, completely outclassed. Stats don't lie and at the same time only tell part of the story:

Screenshot_20260706_192209_Chrome.jpg

Midfield was dysfunctional, defense was a sieve, goalkeeper had some great saves but gifted the 3rd Belgium goal on a rookie mistake, attack was just not there with key players seemingly not showing up. How much outside interference messed with the team's head will probably never be known, but definitely changed the story from an underdog team with a chip on their shoulder to a team seemingly guilty of something they had nothing to do with. Pochettino has been a great influence on the team, let's see if he stays or a new experiment begins.
 
Last edited:
The midfield was not the problem. Tim Ream was the problem....period. He was consitently shown to be confused, weak and slow defensively. He was weak footed offensively.
We had to drop Adams deep to protect Ream. That put us a 1/2 man down in the midfield and partially eliminated our press which is this teams strength. Ream got confused and failed to mark any crosser on the 1st goal. He then got overpowered on the 2nd.
The 3rd was a goalie mistake but damn, a real pro likely gets his foot on it.
Offensively, he was a HUGE ISSUE (Shoutout Travers). Belgium forced us up his side and played a trap there. He could not play the ball diagonal over the top. They pinned us to the left boundary for most of the final 30 minutes.
Belgium also avoided our press by kicking the ball deep repetedly at Ream and he failed to win far too often. The press and our talented midfield were neutralized by the Belgian tactic of attacking Ream on goal kicks. All other chances to press were eliminated because Adams had to play deep to help Ream.
We need to delelop some centerbacks. That was the single worst performance that I have seen from a player, ever. He was awful.
Dest was terrible too. Fortunately, we only had to watch one half of him.
Hats off to Belgium for exposing our weakness at centerback.
 
Last edited:
Pretty cool they made it to the round of 16.
Having said that...I only watched the 1st half and could tell they were gonna get blown out unless they changed their ways.
Poor passing and ZERO pressure on defense. The on-ball defense was non-existent.
I don't watch much soccer and not a soccer guy, but watch a lot of other team sports, including WAY too much college hoops. My analysis would be they were not ready for the moment and frankly, played uninspired ball. Very out of sync like they had never played together.
Or as some of my hoops buddies would say..."just say it already! They choked!"
 
The post game celebration claims another.
SF

 
The future of the USMNT remains to be seen. This core is still fairly young.

Mckennie is the best all-around player and will be well over 30 in four years. Midfielders tend to start to decline about then. They should be able to get another round out of him. Tillman and Adams should still be in their prime years. No one knows what will happen with Reyna. He is young still and at times seems so promising but can't get on the field for a bad German Bundelsiga team. I thought Berhalter saw his star rise in the tournament. He will never be a real star but he played with poise. If only Reyna had his mental toughness. The best case scenariio in the midfeld is that Cavan Sullivan develops in England and can replace Mckennie and Reyna finds his way.

In four years, no one knows if Pulisic will be a star or broken. His burst and skill are remarkable. He seems to be made of percelain.

The defense has been a mess. However, Ream will be gone and Freeman and Richards are really young. There are some promising FB's in the pipeline. Dest was awful last night but played so well earlier in the tournament, especially in attack. He just appeared confused last night. Hopefully he can recover. They need a solid CB. Hopefully they can get Noahkai Banks to commit to playing for the US.

I hope that Pochitino stays. IMO the program needs to purge the old leadership as completely as possible. I would not be surprised if that same leadership fails to retain him. He got this team to look like a cohesive unit in a manner that I have never seen our men be before. Standards and toughness must rise. In the US, soccer development is a pay to play game with plenty of middle class or wealthier kids. We need to find a way to get the kids whose parents can't afford braces to have a chance to compete. They tend to be a little tougher.
 
Not a huge futbol guy, wife and I watch the WC typically. We’ve watched a lot of this one. Really looking forward to Nor v Eng….some stellar keeper play. Haaland is a monster. England is scrappy.

Takeaway from USA v Belgium. They are just a much more skilled team. Crisp, accurate passing. Stifling defense. Everyone where they should be. I didn’t notice to the depth of Charles above, but I noticed Ream….and the mistake by our keeper was just reeeeeeally bad. USA looked like they were playing scared cuz they knew they were out-classed. That equals losing 4-1 in a laugher
 
Looking at the stats VMP posted above, it's interesting that passing accuracy was higher for the U.S. than for Belgium. It seemed to me that every time on attack, when passing really mattered, Belgium intercepted. They were so clearly better at winning the ball. There was no "woulda', coulda', shoulda;" the better team clearly won the match. I was uncomfortable seeing the U.S. team so out-classed.
 
Salmo_g said:
Looking at the stats VMP posted above, it's interesting that passing accuracy was higher for the U.S. than for Belgium. It seemed to me that every time on attack, when passing really mattered, Belgium intercepted. They were so clearly better at winning the ball. There was no "woulda', coulda', shoulda;" the better team clearly won the match. I was uncomfortable seeing the U.S. team so out-classed.
Click to expand...

That’s an odd stat for sure. Cuz when the passes needed to be accurate, Belgium was so much better
 
Whoa, Argentina getting taken behind the woodshed.

Well, on the scoreboard anyway.
 
clarkman said:
Whoa, Argentina getting taken behind the woodshed.

Well, on the scoreboard anyway.
Click to expand...
Well, just as you say that... back they come, Messi is just so good.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VMP
clarkman said:
Whoa, Argentina getting taken behind the woodshed.

Well, on the scoreboard anyway.
Click to expand...
Never count Argentina out when this guy is in...what a game! He is still human, extended his record of missed penalties by misisng another. First time ever in the history of the World Cup a team overturns a 2 goal deficit in a knockout match after trailing after the 78 minute and still win it in 90 minutes before extra time., good thing cause the old legs were done! 3 goals in the last 13 minutes of the game, what a comeback!!!!!
Screenshot_20260707_114544_Chrome.jpg
 
Last edited:
VMP said:
Never count Argentina out when this guy is in...what a game! He is still human, extended his record of missed penalties by misisng another.
Click to expand...

Wait what? Another? I didn't get to watch this game but at what point do you start letting some other players take the PKs? Does Messi have the PK yips?
 
VMP said:
Never count Argentina out when this guy is in...what a game! He is still human, extended his record of missed penalties by misisng another. First time ever in the history of the World Cup a team overturns a 2 goal deficit in a knockout match after trailing after the 78 minute and still win it in 90 minutes before extra time., good thing cause the old legs were done! 3 goals in the last 14 minutes of the game, what a comeback!!!!!
View attachment 187755
Click to expand...
Blown away watching it on Telemundo! Celebraran esta noche en La Plaza de Mayo!!

Damn auto-correct
 
  • Party Time
Reactions: VMP
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top