next soccer question

[pdub]

Love Mexico's home. Mexico's away too busy for me.
France's home is right up my alley.
Japan's home as well.

Cameroon's is pretty bad.

[UnholyLivingDead]

Japan always seems to have great jerseys. I like what Hummel did with Denmark's kits.

[NewtonHawk11]

Man, the US just needs to go with the Waldo look back in 2014 for their home kits and the bomp pops for their away kits.

Hell, even think the WC jerseys of 2010 with the diagonal sash on both the blue and the whites were clean.

These jerseys stink.

[UnholyLivingDead]

Rumor is Zack Steffen is being left off the roster. That means Matt Turner is officially the #1.

GKs going to Qatar: Turner, Ethan Horvath, Sean Johnson

[NewtonHawk11]

That's fine. Steffen stinks, only thing he is good at is playing with the ball at his feet. Turner is the best ball stopper. Horvath is solid overall but doesn't do anything great. Sean seems to be in there as an athletic backup who has had success at the MLS level.

Turner is going to have to have at least one game of Timmy Howard 2014 WC performances for the US to have a chance to advance.

[UnholyLivingDead]

Steffen is going to be an interesting story. After the failure to qualify for WC2018 he was basically seen as the surefire next #1 keeper. Then he moved to ManCity and Turner came on the scene with some pretty impressive performances. That being said, I don't see it is a big omission. Turner is the better keeper. Johnson has been a consistent backup, Berhalter likes him. Horvath has had a couple big moments as well. Ideally you're only ever playing 1 keeper the whole tournament so the backups shouldn't matter THAT much. But these are trustworthy enough if we do end up needing them.

[UnholyLivingDead]

Goalkeepers
Matt Turner
Sean Johnson
Ethan Horvath

Defenders
Cameron Carter-Vickers
Sergino Dest
Aaron Long
Shaq Moore
Tim Ream
Antonee Robinson
Joe Scally
DeAndre Yedlin
Walker Zimmerman

Midfielders
Brenden Aaronson
Kellyn Acosta
Tyler Adams
Luca de la Torre
Weston McKennie
Yunus Musah
Cristian Roldan

Forwards
Jesus Ferreira
Jordan Morris
Christian Pulisic
Gio Reyna
Josh Sargent
Tim Weah
Haji Wright

[UnholyLivingDead]

So, a few surprises here. Shaq Moore beat out Reggie Cannon essentially for the spot backing up Dest at right back. Tim Ream made it and he deserved it, guessing the injury to Chris Richards made that decision a little easier though. Aaronson listed as a midfielder instead of a forward/winger is an interesting change as well. Did not see Haji Wright making it over Pepi/Pefok at forward as well. Then Jordan Morris gets in over Paul Arriola, I thought for sure Arriola would be a veteran presence that Berhalter would want. Overall, I like it. Really glad to see de la Torre is expected to be healthy in time for the tournament.

[NewtonHawk11]

Thank goodness Arriola is out. Wright over Pefok is interesting.

Good for Sargent for getting back into the picture. He could be a Julian Green type from 2014 that comes in and does some different things.

Overall a really good lineup, I think. The CBs are a bit worrisome. But Zimmerman has been really good lately and Aaron Long is a good one as well. But after that, it's a bit rough.

US success dependent on Pulisic, McKennie and Reyna. They have a good tournament and the US will have a good tournament.

[pdub]

Hey Cascadia.
Yedlin is going.

[Deleted User 863]

Hey Cascadia.
Yedlin is going.

[NewtonHawk11]

The US plays in almost exactly 4 days. Still weird.

Qatar is being shitty to media (no surprise)

ESPN did a piece where a writer ran about as much as the players will run in the same elements. Body temp in the range of 99-100.5. The guy lost a pound. Heart rate reached 174. He drank 26 ounces of fluid but lost 43 ounces of fluid in sweat.

[CrimsonNBlue]

So hard to predict, but my money would be on Brazil or Argentina.

I know they're not darkhorses by world ranking, but Belgium or Denmark may surprise some casual viewers.

Of the contenders, I will be rooting for England, then France. I'm also very OK with Messi finally doing it in his last year.

[pdub]

ESPN has been noticeably salty in their articles leading up to the cup.
They either lost or even weren't part of the TV bid that FOX won.

[NewtonHawk11]

Think Belgium is a little too old, but it's not a bad pick although I think Spain or Germany pick them off in the round of 16.

I think this is Argentina's year, for some crazy reason. It'll burn me, I'm sure. But it just feels right for them.

I think Argentina beats Brazil in one semi with Messi scoring the deciding goal via free kick and Spain beats France in the other as France missing Pogba and Kante in the midfield finally gets to France.

Argentina wins 2-1 over Spain with Angel di Maria winning the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.

This is the healthiest the US has been in a long time outside of Miles Robinson injury. Wouldn't be shocked if they gave the Netherlands a run for their money in the round of 16.

[UnholyLivingDead]

ESPN has been noticeably salty in their articles leading up to the cup.
They either lost or even weren't part of the TV bid that FOX won.

It's easier to get your claws out when you're not the tournament's official broadcast partner. Fox is going to ignore all the problematic elements for big money and will be/already are being taken to task for it.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Think Belgium is a little too old, but it's not a bad pick although I think Spain or Germany pick them off in the round of 16.

I think this is Argentina's year, for some crazy reason. It'll burn me, I'm sure. But it just feels right for them.

I think Argentina beats Brazil in one semi with Messi scoring the deciding goal via free kick and Spain beats France in the other as France missing Pogba and Kante in the midfield finally gets to France.

Argentina wins 2-1 over Spain with Angel di Maria winning the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.

This is the healthiest the US has been in a long time outside of Miles Robinson injury. Wouldn't be shocked if they gave the Netherlands a run for their money in the round of 16.

Apparently, there is some history of Western Europe not doing well when the WC is in Asia. Not sure if completely true or not.

[CrimsonNBlue]

ESPN has been noticeably salty in their articles leading up to the cup.
They either lost or even weren't part of the TV bid that FOX won.

It's easier to get your claws out when you're not the tournament's official broadcast partner. Fox is going to ignore all the problematic elements for big money and will be/already are being taken to task for it.

Didn't FOX's contract start with the 18 cup? So 18 (No USMNT), and 22 (blood money).

[UnholyLivingDead]

ESPN has been noticeably salty in their articles leading up to the cup.
They either lost or even weren't part of the TV bid that FOX won.

It's easier to get your claws out when you're not the tournament's official broadcast partner. Fox is going to ignore all the problematic elements for big money and will be/already are being taken to task for it.

Didn't FOX's contract start with the 18 cup? So 18 (No USMNT), and 22 (blood money).

Yep, this is FOX's second tournament as the current rights holders.

[NewtonHawk11]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/qatar-bans ... 32288.html

Things are going well