Crazy how many ‘first since 1930’s’ we’ve had so far
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Anyone else see Russell Crowe (John Nash timeframe) anytime they show our coach?
Always thought it was kind of BS when they initially said he was just taken out as a precaution against Paraguay at half time (but somewhat implied he could have kept going). That’s not a thing that generally happens in soccer, as I know you know. If you’re in control of a game, yeah, you sub your stars starting around the 60, 65 minute mark maybe to preserve them. They don’t come out at half time unless something is actually wrong or your really changing up tactics.
Anyway, hope he’s fit for the knock out stages. Can’t imagine we’d see him against Turkey.
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Suck it, metric system.
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Would be amazing if Paraguay could draw Turkey and allow us to sit anyone on a yellow in the final group stage game.
This site has the US at 48% to make the QFs:
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I broke my finger in a game once and my ring finger was at a 60 degree angle at the knuckle. I asked my coach to sub out and his response was “You don’t need your hands in soccer”.
Cranked that thing straight and played the rest of the game.
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Onto the next round. Could it be USA vs ENG in Philadelphia on July 4th?
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Don’t think either of their groups is feeding into the Philly site for round of 16, per the Athletic’s bracket:
Right now the most likely US path is Bosnia/Herzegovina in R32, then Belgium in R16. That would be a very good path to the QF.
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Brazil looks headed for a round of 16 exit for the first time since 1990
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A red card for covering your mouth is the dumbest rule in sports history. I understand what they are trying to stop but a yellow card would suffice. No need to alter the entire World Cup when he could’ve just said the other guy’s breath stinks. European athletes wouldn’t last a day in the NFL or NBA
Why not just be annoyed at the doofus who eff’ed his team over. Those boys are gonna be struggling if the last ten or so minutes is any indicator.
Does make the 2nd half extra spicy for US fans watching. I’d been hoping to cruise to the group win tonight.
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This is an unbelievably dumb rule. The number of times athletes have talked while covering their mouths is innumerable. Crosby. Draymond. Brady. LeBron. Messi. Jordan. Bird. Ronaldo. Do you think they were all saying Vini type stuff?
And this is the first major competition with the rule. If you want to implement something like this, try it out at a Europa Conference first. This is so dumb. Paraguay’s FA president should get to box Infantino for it. When it happens in the knockout there will be literal riots
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Hate to say it but the path through the knockout rounds is better finishing 2nd:
- Finish first: Bosnia, Belgium, Spain/Colombia, France/germany/holland, finals
- Finish 2nd: Egypt, Argentina/uruguay, Portugal/ghana, Brazil/england, finals
Getting Argentina in the round of 16 would be not preferable, but the path is better otherwise in the 2nd place track.
Edit: this is “most likely” opponents at this point.
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Very much prefer path 1. First two rounds are soooo much better. Anything beyond making a quarterfinal is house money
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Yeah Egypt is much better than BiH this go around.
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I admittedly don’t know much about soccer. But anytime you can avoid the best player on the planet in the playoffs it’s kind of general rule across all sports you want to take that path. Option 1 all day on those scenarios…
I’m trying to follow along and have been spamming @jazznutUVA questions but he’s not answered yet this morning. What is the strategy for next week now? Does this game mean anything to us? Do you rest everyone? Do you put pullisic out there at all now?
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Agree. This site has Spain and Argentina as basically joint-best teams:
So either way you get a favorite, but it’s better to be on track to get them a round later (one more small chance something fortuitous happens). And Belgium is not peak golden generation Belgium anymore, more of a normal good European team.
- No
- Yes
- No
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So you don’t worry at all about rust going into the knockout rounds for your star player?
Not with the dreaded calf injury. Too many horror stories with that as a precursor to an Achilles rupture.
You’ll get a steady diet of reserves vs Turkey. I think it’ll be good rest for the starters given the travel and tighter turnaround. Would much rather have the luxury of resting guys than to have to throw the kitchen sink at getting a result in match 3.
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