World Cup
- Thread starter ronpolk
- Start date
Yea. We can definitely beat them. But…Argentina is next so…it ends there regardless.
Understood. I don’t keep up with soccer that often. I was not sure how big of an upset this would be for us to win.Can we win?
Yes.
But expect this…
We're big underdogs. Netherlands is one of the best teams in the world. We're very talented, but the youngest team to advance. But you never know in soccer. Our defense has been solid, and they haven't looked all that great in this tournament themselves. It should be a low scoring match. If we can find a moment of brilliance from someone like Pulisic, Weah, or Reyna (if Berhalter will finally give him some minutes), we could have a chance.
It won’t be the biggest upset of this World Cup
(that would be Saudi Arabia over Argentina) but think of the USMNT as a 6-seed taking on a strong 2-seed in the Sweet 16.
For years, maybe the best comparison would have been to say that the Netherlands is to soccer what State is to baseball.
They’re Strong. Real strong. But they’ve not won the title and have been finalists three times.
State finally won its baseball title.
Someday the Netherlands will win the World Cup.
(that would be Saudi Arabia over Argentina) but think of the USMNT as a 6-seed taking on a strong 2-seed in the Sweet 16.
For years, maybe the best comparison would have been to say that the Netherlands is to soccer what State is to baseball.
They’re Strong. Real strong. But they’ve not won the title and have been finalists three times.
State finally won its baseball title.
Someday the Netherlands will win the World Cup.
That's a pretty good analogy. But we do have a chance. I don't think Netherlands is any better than England (despite the fact Netherlands is #4 and England is #8 in the ELO rankings). And we drew vs England and very well could have won the game. But yeah, I fully expect us to lose this one. It'll be a good learning experience for a young team.
Interesting side note. Our talented young right back, Sergino Dest, was born and raised in Netherlands. He's Dutch with an American father. How awesome would it be for him to assist on the winning goal.
Dumb question, I'm sure, but do MLS or the USMNT fans have some of those insulting and hilarious chants like our cousin's across the pond?
No national teams actually look good compared to club teams in the top leagues. You can't develop much chemistry when you're playing maybe a dozen or so games per year spread throughout the whole year and have no practice time except a couple of days before each game. The quality of play in the International game just isn't that good anywhere.
I was going to ask why Tennessee fans would be dancing but then I realized nobody was morbidly obese in that picture and the shade is a bit off for hunter's orange.Can we win?
Yes.
But expect this…
The good news is, not many Liverpool players are going to be advancing to the final four of this tournament, and a couple of those are mostly sitting on the bench for England.
I’m also a soccer novice, so my comments aren’t worth a thing, but it sure seems like we’re a lot better at keeping the other team from scoring when we’re attacking. This was now twice when we’ve completely dominated possession in a first half, switched to a defensive strategy, and then things almost went south.
Whatever we’ve been doing in second halves, it seems like we need to stop
19.83% chance (actually probably about half that).
You may be a novice, but you already know more about how to protect a 1-goal lead than many of the top soccer coaches in the world. Drives me crazy when teams park the bus (soccer term for what we've been doing in the 2nd half of games) with a 1-goal lead.
Yep, high school soccer is sloppy and ugly compared to club teams too.
Yes, we only had 7 to begin with. Van Dyke is THE one left we can't do without. Whoops, Allison too.
His header on Tuesday was a thing of beauty. It sort of gets lost in favor of the actual goal, but he took a long looping entry with his head and delivered it exactly where Pulisic could finish. That's a lot harder than he made it look. Incredible assist.
There's been some good, exciting soccer in this World Cup. I like soccer, I'm American so I like watching and supporting the US national team. We're among the final 16 teams competing. I'm a State grad, I watch State football and not because every year it plays football as well as the best teams in the NCAA or NFL. I like Liverpool too but I've never lived in that city. It's sports and it's the emotional bond. I'm not originally from Mississippi so I didn't care about State or Ole Miss growing up. After a week or so enrolled at State, I learned to dislike Ole Miss.
I actually think we could be OK with Kelleher in goal for a few weeks if we had to. Van Dyke is indispensable though.
Soccer version of the Stansbury Stall
No.
But as it has to be decided on the field of play, their players could all cramp up, be fighting a stomach flu, decide to throw the game for some reason, etc. and our players could play out of their minds...
so there is always a chance. But not really. It would be 10x's greater than the Miracle on Ice.
But as it has to be decided on the field of play, their players could all cramp up, be fighting a stomach flu, decide to throw the game for some reason, etc. and our players could play out of their minds...
so there is always a chance. But not really. It would be 10x's greater than the Miracle on Ice.
LOL. While this would certainly be an upset, this would be nowhere near the "Miracle on Ice". This is far from Netherlands best team and they have never won a WC. That USSR team had won 6 straight Gold Medals and were playing college kids. The talent disparity between the US and the Netherlands is nowhere near the difference between the USSR team and the US hockey team.
^^^ Username definitely checks out
I agree with you. Ned has not looked great so far in the tournament. They missed qualifying at the last World Cup just like we did. They are a better team, sure, but 10x the miracle on ice may be a bit of a stretch. lol
The World Cup is also something players want to play in, even the richest ones (they aren't opting out of a say, a bowl game, for instance). Winning the World Cup matters, even advancing out of group play matters and you can see the emotional toll it takes on some players. Soccer is something that's largely middle and upper-class in America. Notice how much more intelligent our players sound in interviews than the undereducated English players. In the rest of the world, it's a working class and poor man's game where nationalism has a much greater role. We've got nice soccer moms who hate violence and regard soccer as morally superior to American football, pay-to-play soccer leagues, and trophy participation tournaments. It's got status here. No offense, but it's not the preferred sport of those who live in trailer parks or inner cities. In the rest of the world nationalism matters and that's why there are more racist incidents in world soccer than in American soccer. Being successful at soccer just matters more in the rest of the world. They take losses hard, especially to countries they regard as international rivals.
I think what people forget is back then the athletes on the teams were all amateurs, but the USSR (and all the communist countries) basically kept their best athletes as 'amateurs' and paid them handsomely. The American athletes were college players or former college players who weren't in the NHL. A strategy like this wouldn't work in the modern world because even a large country could not keep a dedicated set of athletes who would get good enough to win, even if we paid each player $25 million a year to only play for the international team. Our players would not be getting enough play time against the best in the world (in the professional leagues) to really develop.
Actual professional soccer is significantly better than international soccer. I'd wager a middle of the pack Premier League squad could beat the WC champs. Not because of talent, but because of how that talent can play together.
Sure it could. It could also lose. How much time would the national team get to prepare for such a match?
We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. England is objectively a better team than the Netherlands and the US went toe to toe with them for 90+ minutes. Also, the US soccer "Miracle on Ice" moment has already occurred. Happened in the 1950 WC when the US beat England 1-0. That was a shock.
Do I expect the US to win on Saturday, No. Will I be surprised if the US does, Yes. Will I be shocked if they do, No.
I don't think there's a huge disparity. There's a disparity but we can play with Dutch. Their goalie plays for Heerenveen. How many have even heard of that team and knows the city the team plays in (trick question)? England had more stars, but they didn't score. I think the disparity in football between Alabama and State is greater than the disparity between the US and the Netherlands in soccer. I don't expect the Netherlands to blow us out, something Alabama does routinely. And yet we still watch and hope State wins.
I don't understand how the Netherlands (17 million people) is better than England (55 million people) in a sport that England virtually invented along with having the best league in the world in their country. Makes no sense to me how that's possible
The English looked to be playing for a draw to me. The knock out round is a bit different than the group stage.
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