I think there have been much fewer penalties because VAR is much more formalized and the simulation emphasis w/ a yellow card sanction. Not as many players are going down trying to "draw’’ a penalty with 25x or more 4K cameras recording their every move.
Handball regulations have changed quite a bit in the past. In the words of one of my colleagues, most handballs are not handballs anymore. Any ball that hits off a players own body directly onto their own hand is not a handball anymore. The hand going down to brace a fall, if the ball hits it while in the natural brace position is not handball anymore. Natural position has been expanded to flailing arms while turning… which is why the appeal in the first half was negated.
So TL/DR based on my experience:
Risk of simulation yellow cards w/ so many 4K cameras pointing into the penalty area… and 2x yellow cards across matches triggering a suspension for your next match.
More lenient “natural position” handball regulations introduced over the past 4 years by IFAB.
For me VAR stops simulations from players - at least by a large margin - I coached a game earlier this year where the opposing coach was overheard telling his players to go down in the box on any attempted tackle - doesn’t work with VAR.
Also I’ve been impressed overall with the play-on mentality it seems has been emphasized to the entire officiating staff this go round - lots and lots of non calls in the field of play too.
Many a HS coach will have their players do this. I had a number 9 continuously stick his butt out in the box and flop down any time he was lightly touched. The whole sideline and fans would erupt like someone knocked an old lady down the stairs, but it was totally a ploy and I called none of them.
There has been some teeth gnashing in some corners around the dual nationals playing for the us men’s national team and how “American” the roster is. People don’t realize that all these rosters across all countries are filled with dual nationals.
The best stat to drive this home:
There are 7 sets of brothers playing in the World Cup. Only 3 of those sets play for the same country.
Of those 3 sets playing for the same country, one set are the bacuna brothers who played for curaco, but were born and raised in holland. Another set are the Duarte brothers who played for Cape Verde, but were also born and raised in holland.
The only set of brothers (of 7 sets) playing for the same team and born and raised in that country is the Hernandez brothers for France. And their father is a Spanish national, making them eligible for Spain had they chose so
edit: not trying to get political, but found the brothers stat super interesting.
I’m not sure why this is a big deal… this has been going on forever. One of the most famous US National team players back in the day was Tom Dooley. He never lived in the US. He was essentially German and his entire playing career was in Germany.
Despite this he was named US Soccer Athlete of the Year in '93 and was the US Captain at the '98 World Cup. Where was the teeth gnashing back then?
I’m sure the current political environment is contributing, but I do think the biggest driver is the USMNT actually seems “good” now. And people want to question how real/sustainable it is. So lines of argument like “we just recruited a foreign roster and this is why we are finally good” are sprouting up - mostly from haters of the sport here in the US.
Whatever. If you qualify for the US team and choose to wear they shirt, that is American enough. And the actual dual national thing is not new, as you point out. I’m excited for the USMNT continuing to grow and develop with each step.
This phenomenon cuts both ways and isn’t unique to soccer. Eileen Gu was born and raised in San Francisco, but competes internationally for China in freestyle skiing. Mondo Duplantis has lived his whole life in Louisiana, but competes for Sweden in pole vault. And the vast majority of the players on Israel’s and Italy’s teams in the World Baseball Classic are from the US. The players from other countries on the USMNT are no more or less American than those US-based athletes are Chinese, Swedish, Israeli, or Italian. As long as the athletes meet the eligibility requirements of their sports’ respective governing bodies, I don’t see what the big deal is.
There are more dual-nats across all teams nowadays compared to historical rosters since FIFA has loosened the eligibility restrictions; the biggest recent one was allowing for a one-team switch for players who have had a max of 3 senior national team caps before the age of 21 (and it being 3 years since the last cap). Article goes into detail on the various drivers:
Indeed, 292 of the 1,248 players involved were born outside the country they are representing, and all but eight nations at the tournament have a foreign-born player in their squad.
The team with the most number of players born outside their country is first-timers Curacao. The Caribbean island is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and all but one of their squad is made up of Dutch-born players, with the group also overseen by Dutch manager Dick Advocaat.
Most of the squad have connections to Rotterdam, the world’s largest seaport outside Asia, and a gateway for migration.
If us and Senegal both advance, does the game we played last month help either team more than the other?
As for the guys eligible for multiple countries choosing one to play for, what’s the big deal? Balogun was born in the US. Tillman’s dad was in the US military. Dest’s dad is a naturalized US citizen. Should Pepi represent Mexico even though he was born in and grew up in the US? Don’t we want Banks to play for America? Pulisic was eligible for Italy and Croatia I think.
And as far as sustainability, a lot of the most elite American youth players are already moving to Europe as teenagers. The sustainability is to continue to find the best players eligible to represent the US and convince them to play for the US if they have other options.
Need to come out with the same urgency we saw from Mexico last night. Just like that game, we have a speed advantage. Jump on Bosnia early and don’t give them a chance to settle into things. Canada created a ton of chances and Switzerland put 4 past them. No reason we can’t do the same as long as we don’t let Bosnia control the tempo
As a very casual soccer guy who gets sucked into the World Cup, I’m all in. It may have been covered earlier, but this seems like the biggest men’s soccer game in the World Cup history for the USA. I’m wearing red, white and blue and rooting for everything, but if we don’t win this game, is it the biggest loss in World Cup history for the United States? We should win this game. Let’s fucking go.
Huge to get that first half goal. They’ll have to open up in the second half and Balogun, Pulisic, + Dest should feast on the space. Just can’t give up corners with their size advantage
Good start. Bosnia opting for the bunker and counter approach, which seems like a very bad idea against a US side that has picked apart low block defenses that don’t pressure their passers.
