Official FIFA 2018 Russia World Cup

[Omaha 680]

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.

[Omaha 680]

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.

[Omaha 680]

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?

[jay santos]

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?

Not 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?

[Omaha 680]

Not 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?

If 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.

[jay santos]

If 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.

No, I'm against adding a round to knockouts. I'd keep it at 16. I might add more teams to the tournament, but still keep it to 16 for the knockout round. I agree, 16 groups of 3 moving to a knockout round of 32 is a bad idea.

[BlueK]

The US is in real danger right now of not even making it to 2018.

[Omaha 680]

The US is in real danger right now of not even making it to 2018.

On paper looking at the current table, yes. In reality, no. We had 2 of the 3 most difficult matches in the Hex to start out. Losing both and getting pummeled on GD in Costa Rica was a horrible start but not fatal. The only likely loss left is in El Azteca. Throw in a draw vs. CR at home and a random draw against one of the other teams on the road and we still qualify comfortably. The good thing about switching to Arena is he will rally the troops, go back to the old style, and grind out the qualifying results we need. The bad news is the experiment is over and we will continue to be what we have been for almost 25 years: lock to qualify, good/great chance to get out of group stage, not much hope to go any farther.

[Omaha 680]

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.

[BlueK]

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.

Qualifying in a weak region has its benefits. The US would be sunk right now if they had to qualify through S. America or a European group.

[Omaha 680]

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.

[Pelado]

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.

I 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.

[falafel]

I 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.

World baseball classic

[Omaha 680]

What a start. I'm loving this attacking lineup.

[LiveCoug]

3-0... Even Bradley and Dempsey getting in on the action!