Better result tonight. 4-0 plastering of Guatemala at home puts us back at 2nd in the group. Should move on to the final round fairly easily now but it shouldn't have been this stressful.
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Second to last matches of this stage were today. USA rolls against St. Vincent as expected. A loss by Guatemala would have put us through to the Hexagonal. Unfortunately they managed a draw by scoring in the 86th mminute. Final matches are on Tuesday and we play Trinidad and Tobago in Jacksonville.
Win or draw and we are through at the top of the group. A loss combined with an expected win by Guatemala over St. Vincent would go to goal differential tie breaker. Our GD is currently 12 better than Guatemala so the chances of an extremely embarrassing crash out of the world Cup this stage are very small. But it we are not supposed to wait until the last day of this stage to go through.
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A lot of Americans should be happy with this. I think it's garbage.
http://www.espnfc.com/blog-fifa/stor...cup-on-tuesday
Expanding the World Cup Final Tournament to 48 teams. 16 groups of 3. Two from each group advance. What is the friggin' point of the group stage if 2/3 of the teams advance?
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Originally posted by Omaha 680 View PostA lot of Americans should be happy with this. I think it's garbage.
http://www.espnfc.com/blog-fifa/stor...cup-on-tuesday
Expanding the World Cup Final Tournament to 48 teams. 16 groups of 3. Two from each group advance. What is the friggin' point of the group stage if 2/3 of the teams advance?
Also, they didn't need high priced consultants to tell them it was a bad idea to have everyone play at the same time. That's one of the dumbest things about soccer I've never understood. Even Champions League. You have 8 games in a day with all the biggest clubs in Europe playing. Ratings bonanza for TV. And you play them all at the same time? What the...? Do they even want to make money?Last edited by jay santos; 01-09-2017, 08:54 AM.
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Originally posted by jay santos View PostNot a terrible idea to go from 32 to 48 teams, but I see a bigger problem as taking the knockout round from 16 to 32. Too high of a chance for favorites to lose along the way in a format like that. When the favorite of a tournament goes in with a small chance to win the championship, that's just a weird format.
Also, they didn't need high priced consultants to tell them it was a bad idea to have everyone play at the same time. That's one of the dumbest things about soccer I've never understood. Even Champions League. You have 8 games in a day with all the biggest clubs in Europe playing. Ratings bonanza for TV. And you play them all at the same time? What the...? Do they even want to make money?
On simultaneous play: the world cup tournament only does simultaneous games on the last days of group stages to avoid giving an advantage to one team. As long as tiebreakers are going to be GD and goals scored, you can't have one team play before the other when they are fighting for a spot in the knockout round. But maybe they can just do away with those tie breakers and give the spot to the team with the biggest TV ratings.
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Originally posted by Omaha 680 View PostIf you are looking at it just from a $ perspective then your post is correct. But if you are worried about overall quality and rewarding performance it is dumb. The group stage will now be complete garbage with zero drama. The first round of the knockout stage will be as big as the current tournament, meaning half the games will be foregone conclusions and absolute blowout bloodbaths. Some favorite may lose in the round of 32 every so often, but overwhelmingly it will be the Germanys destroying the Algerias of the world.
On simultaneous play: the world cup tournament only does simultaneous games on the last days of group stages to avoid giving an advantage to one team. As long as tiebreakers are going to be GD and goals scored, you can't have one team play before the other when they are fighting for a spot in the knockout round. But maybe they can just do away with those tie breakers and give the spot to the team with the biggest TV ratings.
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Originally posted by BlueK View PostThe US is in real danger right now of not even making it to 2018.
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I was curious so I went back and looked at the average points for the lowest CONCACAF qualifiers over the last 4 cycles. Third place averaged 16 points and fourth place (play-in spot) averaged 13.5 points. If we win the rest of our home games except CR, draw CR, and draw the rest of our road games we get to 14 points. Exchange one of the draws for a win and we get to 16. So yeah another loss at home would be a disaster, but if we win the games we are expected to and manage a win against CR or any road game we will be fine. I won't hit the panic button unless we fail to take care of business in the March games.
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Originally posted by Omaha 680 View PostI was curious so I went back and looked at the average points for the lowest CONCACAF qualifiers over the last 4 cycles. Third place averaged 16 points and fourth place (play-in spot) averaged 13.5 points. If we win the rest of our home games except CR, draw CR, and draw the rest of our road games we get to 14 points. Exchange one of the draws for a win and we get to 16. So yeah another loss at home would be a disaster, but if we win the games we are expected to and manage a win against CR or any road game we will be fine. I won't hit the panic button unless we fail to take care of business in the March games.
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Huge games on Friday and Tuesday for the US. It has been a while since our backs have been against the wall like this in qualifying. Anything less than 3 points against Honduras would be a disaster. They really need to get the win @Panama on Tuesday as well to make me comfortable. But 4 points at the end of March would make me feel a bit better.
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Originally posted by Omaha 680 View PostHuge games on Friday and Tuesday for the US. It has been a while since our backs have been against the wall like this in qualifying. Anything less than 3 points against Honduras would be a disaster. They really need to get the win @Panama on Tuesday as well to make me comfortable. But 4 points at the end of March would make me feel a bit better."I think it was King Benjamin who said 'you sorry ass shitbags who have no skills that the market values also have an obligation to have the attitude that if one day you do in fact win the PowerBall Lottery that you will then impart of your substance to those without.'"
- Goatnapper'96
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Originally posted by Pelado View PostI heard a score on the radio the other day that I thought might be for soccer. I think they said the US had lost to Costa Rica or something.Ain't it like most people, I'm no different. We love to talk on things we don't know about.
"The only one of us who is so significant that Jeff owes us something simply because he decided to grace us with his presence is falafel." -- All-American
GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!
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