US SOCCER

[tribe_pride]

The European fans are all excited for this Friday when Euro 2016 starts in France. This is as big of 1- 1 1/2 months soccer will get outside of a World Cup year.

[tribe_pride]

US beat Paraguay 1-0 yesterday and with Costa Rica beating Colombia, the US advance as 1st in the group and Colombia moves on as 2nd in the group. US will likely play Ecuador and Colombia will likely play Brazil though final matchups will be resolved today and Peru could be top 2 in Group B as well.

For the US, Yedlin is an idiot for getting a red card yesterday and will have to sit out the quarterfinal game. The first yellow was questionable but he can't get that 2nd yellow which was obvious. We held on well over the 2nd half playing a man down for 45 minutes or so.

[tribe_pride]

US to play Ecuador in one Quarter
Colombia to play Peru in another Quarter
Other 2 quarters will be decided by Tuesday though Mexico, Venezuela and Argentina have already moved on

Peru upset Brazil today on a "hand of God" like goal that should not have counted but Brazil benefitted from a non-goal to tie Ecuador in their opening match so it is hard to feel bad for them. Colombia's resting starters in their loss to Costa Rica will not hurt them since they get to play the worse team between Peru/Ecuador and avoided Brazil thanks to the Brazil loss.

[SDHornet]

US beat Paraguay 1-0 yesterday and with Costa Rica beating Colombia, the US advance as 1st in the group and Colombia moves on as 2nd in the group. US will likely play Ecuador and Colombia will likely play Brazil though final matchups will be resolved today and Peru could be top 2 in Group B as well.

For the US, Yedlin is an idiot for getting a red card yesterday and will have to sit out the quarterfinal game. The first yellow was questionable but he can't get that 2nd yellow which was obvious. We held on well over the 2nd half playing a man down for 45 minutes or so.

I thought that 2nd yellow was terrible in that he made no contact with the guy. Just a dive job. US did a great job of playing a man down the whole 2nd half. US still had some short handed chances, that one guy needed to shot the damn ball when he an open look, could have made it 2-0 and ice the game for good.

[SDHornet]

US to play Ecuador in one Quarter
Colombia to play Peru in another Quarter
Other 2 quarters will be decided by Tuesday though Mexico, Venezuela and Argentina have already moved on

Peru upset Brazil today on a "hand of God" like goal that should not have counted but Brazil benefitted from a non-goal to tie Ecuador in their opening match so it is hard to feel bad for them. Colombia's resting starters in their loss to Costa Rica will not hurt them since they get to play the worse team between Peru/Ecuador and avoided Brazil thanks to the Brazil loss.

I thought Peru out played Brazil most of the game. Their goalie also played one hell of a game. Glad to see Brazil go home.

[CitadelGrad]

I don't mind Peru beating Brazil on the hand ball. Peru got robbed in the first half when they should have been awarded a PK.

[tribe_pride]

I don't mind Peru beating Brazil on the hand ball. Peru got robbed in the first half when they should have been awarded a PK.

That 1st half also had at least 1 time when Brazil could have been awarded a PK as well (and at least 1 flop in the box). Ref was letting a lot go but not so much that the game got out of hand.

Wouldn't be surprised if replays on goals (at least in some limited fashion) soon. No reason that it should have taken 5 minutes for that to be ruled a goal. If he didn't know either way, it is a quick as to ask the linesman and the 4th official - neither of which saw the hand ball and then they should have moved on.

That said, Brazil played to tie and lost because of it.

[89Hen]

US to play Ecuador in one Quarter

How does the US stack up?

[tribe_pride]

US to play Ecuador in one Quarter

How does the US stack up?

Ecuador will be favored. We beat them 1-0 in a friendly a few weeks ago but from my understanding it was ugly when the starters were in the game (friendlies allow for more substitutions than tournament action which limits to 3). Brooks in the back and Guzan in goal will need to be strong and we will need to develop some sort of attack which we did not against Colombia or Ecuador.

[GannonFan]

How does the US stack up?

Ecuador will be favored. We beat them 1-0 in a friendly a few weeks ago but from my understanding it was ugly when the starters were in the game (friendlies allow for more substitutions than tournament action which limits to 3). Brooks in the back and Guzan in goal will need to be strong and we will need to develop some sort of attack which we did not against Colombia or Ecuador.

nah, saw the earlier game, neither side did much of anything until late in the game. It was like a friendly without purpose, just getting the minutes in. Can't really draw anything from a game like that.

US could get a little home field boost from this - game is in Seattle and the pacific northwest is a real hotbed for soccer - should be a great setting.

[tribe_pride]

US played well for the first 65 minutes (except for Jones' stupid red) and held on for the win against a good Ecuador squad. Hopefully Brooks is ok because Argentina is likely next and the US will be without Jones, Wood, and Bedoya though Yedlin comes back. Zusi will be in for Bedoya and Pulisic maybe for Wood

Let's go Venezuela

[tribe_pride]

In the Semis, host US plays world #1 ranked Argentina on Tuesday while on Wednesday world #3 ranked Colombia plays world #5 ranked Chile who just crushed Mexico 7-0 last night

[CitadelGrad]

The four semi-finalists and their FIFA rankings.

Argentina #1
Colombia #3
Chile #5
USA #31

Which of these does not look like the others?

[tribe_pride]

Being the host country is very helpful. Our only loss so far is to #3 Colombia in group stage. In the group stage, we beat #23 Costa Rica and #44 Paraguay and beat #13 Ecuador in the quarterfinals. We should be roughly 20-24 after this tournament assuming we lose to Argentina and in the 3rd place game. If we win one of those, better than that.

#7 and #9 Brazil and Uruguay failed to make it out of the group stage. Brazil tied #13 Ecuador and lost to #48 Peru while Uruguay lost to #16 Mexico and #77 Venezuela

[GannonFan]

Oh, and btw, in case you didn't see the game last night, we are so far away from the best in the soccer world it's laughable. Couldn't maintain any possession last night, Argentina basically played around with the ball for 68% possession during the match and the US managed not to get a single shot, on or off target, the entire night. It was like watching my kid's U12 team take on a professional team, just a complete mismatch. Granted, Argentina may very well be the best in the world right now, so we were never going to beat them. I just wouldn't have faith that we could beat a lesser team from Argentina right now either. How far down their system do we have to go before we could be on the same field? Brutal.

[tribe_pride]

That was ugly. Men versus boys. The team made a ton of "unforced errors" that they did not make in other games but it would not have mattered anyway. Interesting how well we could compete with the #13 team in the world but not come close with the 1 or #3 teams. We e either get Colombia again or Chile (who destroyed Mexico this past weekend) in the 3rd place game.

By the way, Messi's free kick was wow. Not a goaltender in the World that would have saved that shot unless he left the rest of the goal open.

[GannonFan]

That was ugly. Men versus boys. The team made a ton of "unforced errors" that they did not make in other games but it would not have mattered anyway. Interesting how well we could compete with the #13 team in the world but not come close with the 1 or #3 teams. We e either get Colombia again or Chile (who destroyed Mexico this past weekend) in the 3rd place game.

By the way, Messi's free kick was wow. Not a goaltender in the World that would have saved that shot unless he left the rest of the goal open.

Well, Guzan wasn't stopping it anyway once he cheated a step to the wall side before the kick. Guzan didn't cover himself in glory last night either - getting trapped in no man's land on that first goal (although Beckerman had a real nice vantage point to watch everything happen, just unfortunate that you can't get concessions down there or that would've completed the night for him) was just the tip of the iceberg for the US.

[tribe_pride]

I could have scored the first goal on Guzan. He stepped forward and then stopped. You can't do that and get caught in no-man's land. Either commit (which he should have done) or stay on your line at that point.

On the second one, I blame Beckerman. He tried to bring the ball down and first-touch passed it to Messi so that the US had no choice but to foul him in a prime spot.

Guzan made one or 2 strong saves yesterday (low shot going far post from Messi is one I can think of) but he like the rest of the team had a bad game. Can't think of one starter from the US who I can say did an above average job.

By the way at half in Euro 2016, Iceland is beating Austria right now 1-0 and Portugal-Hungary tied at 1. If things stay as is, Iceland wins that group somehow and Portugal would advance as one of the better 3rd place teams. If Hungary beats Portugal (Hungary was leading 1-0), Portugal does not advance to the Round of 16 with only 24 teams in the tourney. That would be insane.

[89Hen]

I turned it off at the 40 minute mark and barely went back to the game. That was just sad to see the reality of how far away the US is in the world.

[GrizFanStuckInUtah]

Soccer:

Spoiler: show

I do watch some of the major world cup/olypmic stuff but that is about my tolerance for it.

[tribe_pride]

Soccer:

Spoiler: show

I do watch some of the major world cup/olypmic stuff but that is about my tolerance for it.

To your "spoil", this is a bigger deal than Olympics soccer on the men's side because the Olympics are each country's U-23 squad plus 3 over age players I believe. This is full national teams competing in a usually continental+ tournament which turned into more of a Western Hemisphere tournament this year. Euro 2016 is the European equivalent.

[Grizalltheway]

Soccer:

Spoiler: show

I do watch some of the major world cup/olypmic stuff but that is about my tolerance for it.

Thanks for giving enough of a fuck to share your thoughts on the matter. A lesser poater would have just seen the thread title and moved on.

[GannonFan]

I could have scored the first goal on Guzan. He stepped forward and then stopped. You can't do that and get caught in no-man's land. Either commit (which he should have done) or stay on your line at that point.

On the second one, I blame Beckerman. He tried to bring the ball down and first-touch passed it to Messi so that the US had no choice but to foul him in a prime spot.

Guzan made one or 2 strong saves yesterday (low shot going far post from Messi is one I can think of) but he like the rest of the team had a bad game. Can't think of one starter from the US who I can say did an above average job.

By the way at half in Euro 2016, Iceland is beating Austria right now 1-0 and Portugal-Hungary tied at 1. If things stay as is, Iceland wins that group somehow and Portugal would advance as one of the better 3rd place teams. If Hungary beats Portugal (Hungary was leading 1-0), Portugal does not advance to the Round of 16 with only 24 teams in the tourney. That would be insane.

Yeah, Beckerman was awful, Brooks actually stopped and watched on that third goal, the one where Guzan made the initial save and then got scored on the rebound. I thought Yedlin would look better than he did but he made a ton of mistakes too. And I'm just not a fan of Michael Bradley, never have been and probably never will be. The amount of times he turns the ball over in the midfield, even against more average competition than Argentina, is just maddening. And with his bald head I know where he is at all times and I can see each and every mistake. If he's going to be that careless with the ball he should think about a toupee or something to blend in better.

Not having Jones and Wood meant that we had to see Beckerman and Wondolowski, but that just shows the lack of any depth out there. Like I said, Brutal.

Portugal squeezes into the round of 16 with a 3rd place finish in the group. I'm fine with that, another game to see Ronaldo is always fun. They get Croatia in the next round so decent game, better than watching Switzerland v. Poland. England/Iceland should be a fun game, and of course Spain/Italy is the real drawing card. I'm rooting for Wales to go all the way, classic underdog and with Bale and Ramsey they're actually pretty good.

[GrizFanStuckInUtah]

Thanks for giving enough of a fuck to share your thoughts on the matter. A lesser poater would have just seen the thread title and moved on.

I suspect soccer is much like baseball and hockey, much more fun to watch live than on tv. I will have to go to one of the games here in Salt Lake and see someday. Watching normal soccer on tv is like watching paint dry though.

[GannonFan]

Thanks for giving enough of a **** to share your thoughts on the matter. A lesser poater would have just seen the thread title and moved on.

I suspect soccer is much like baseball and hockey, much more fun to watch live than on tv. I will have to go to one of the games here in Salt Lake and see someday. Watching normal soccer on tv is like watching paint dry though.

It's all in the rooting interest. As a Phillies fan, I'll watch the Phillies on tv. In a game not involving the Phillies and not a playoff game, very unlikely I'll watch much or at all. Although frankly, even a non-rooting interest NFL game won't draw my attention like watching an Eagles game. That's where fantasy football has really delivered for the NFL. If you weren't a fan of the Falcons or the Lions, sitting down to watch a full Falcons/Lions game was unlikely. Now, if you happen to have a few players on either of those teams, you could be watching (although frankly, that's what the live scoring apps are for - you can see the points accumulate right on the phone while doing something else).