OT: We may win the World Cup in 2026
- Thread starter brad1218
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Hockey players dive and simulate stuff all the time. Guess you're not bright enough to catch it.
Agreed, most soccer players are wussies.
And what an awful game tonight. 4 shots on goal for France and literally 0 for Paraguay. What an exciting 90 mins! LOL.
Morocco is a very good team, but Canada had them on the ropes for much of the first half and could've easily scored a couple of goals, but just didn't quite finish. Would've been a very different 2nd half had they scored. Regardless, nice showing by our closest neighbor and best ally.
They mentioned that this was this ref's first WC and 3rd game and it showed. He completely lost control of the match - he needed to be firing out a few yellows early, like the great ref Taylor did in the Canada/Morocco game to keep that one under control.
Dont think thats what he said either. He said football won, and his technical analysis basically said that opponents changed their tactics against Paraguay after the US match, not that Paraguay changed. I was only vaguely listening after the match, so did a quick AI search for what he said - matches my thoughts.
Agree that there is some gamesmanship and embellishing is used to draw calls in other sports ...and I hate all of it, every time. I think in baseball (by nature, somewhat of a reduced direct player to player contact sport) it has the least impact on potential outcome or creating an unfair advantage. Even if batters are willing to get plunked for HBP, they aren't by and large faking getting hurt excessively to draw that call from the umpire. Soccer just feels like it's permeated the culture of the sport to its detriment. The refs are complicit which makes it more frustrating. Commentators don't address it much. Fans shouldn't put up with it either but they do.
Big question outside of who replaces Balogun that no one is really talking about - does Pochettino change the formation from a two back to a three back?
The defense has struggled while playing with just 2 center backs against quality teams due to Ream's slowing foot speed. The three back formation that worked very well for them in friendlies and would mean Freeman moves to CB and Dest/Robinson play as wing backs instead of Dest being on the right wing all game.
Thoughts?
The defense has struggled while playing with just 2 center backs against quality teams due to Ream's slowing foot speed. The three back formation that worked very well for them in friendlies and would mean Freeman moves to CB and Dest/Robinson play as wing backs instead of Dest being on the right wing all game.
Thoughts?
We’ve struggled? With our first team we’ve given up 1 goal in 3 matches?
You may need to. Here's a search for you. Paraguay hadnt changed.
did Thierry Henry say that Paraguay changed tactics after the US match
No, Thierry Henry did not say that Paraguay changed tactics after the US match; instead, he famously stated that "football won" following Paraguay's highly physical and defensive performance against France. [1]
While working as a pundit for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Henry's tactical commentary primarily focused on how other teams adjusted to play against Paraguay, rather than Paraguay changing their own approach. [1, 2]
What Thierry Henry Actually Said
- Praise for the USA's Approach: Following the United States' dominant 4-1 victory over Paraguay in the group stage opener, Henry praised USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino for tactical bravery. He explained on Fox Sports that using two strikers successfully isolated Paraguay’s central defenders, exploiting the spaces in what is usually a very compact team. [1, 2, 3]
- Criticism of Paraguay's "Dark Arts": When Paraguay advanced to the Round of 16 to face France, they relied heavily on a low-block defense, time-wasting, and aggressive physical fouls to disrupt the game. After France overcame these tactics to win 1-0, Henry remarked that "football won," taking a clear swipe at Paraguay's negative style of play. [1, 2, 3]
- Paraguay maintained their trademark defensive, physical identity throughout the tournament, rather than altering their tactics because of the US match. [1, 2, 3]
It's really felt they've been playing closer to a back 3 than 4 already. Freeman has stayed back in line w Chris and Tim pretty often, while Robinson would get up more forward on the other side.
Reading comprehension failed you here. Belgium will be the first quality team they've seen in this WC and the two back system didn't fare well in friendlies.
I think u can be rude
We didn’t have our first team when we played Belgium. Only 2 of the back 7 will be in our lineup Monday (Ream, Jedi) so you analogy is quite flawed
Our first team has played really good D this tourney - 1 goal given up in 270 minutes
BS
It’s laughable you are even remotely comparing the phony soccer flops to Ice Hockey. Try taking a stick to the mouth….soccer pansies out for a week.. hockey player back on the ice for the next shift.
YES!!!!! And those of you who insisted this could not be appealed….welp….you were WRONG lol!!!
**** honestly not even sure if this was an appeal by the USA or otherwise. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that screenshots and still frames were used by the VAR and making the decision which is not allowed in the first place.
**** honestly not even sure if this was an appeal by the USA or otherwise. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that screenshots and still frames were used by the VAR and making the decision which is not allowed in the first place.
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To which the soccer player responds: "Next shift? NEXT SHIFT? What is this thing called a 'shift' of which you speak?"
You keep clinging to 1 goal thus far when none of those teams were in the top 20 or had an offense that had multiple threats on the field.
Going against De Bruyne, Trossard, Doku and others on Belgium is a lot different than anyone they've faced in the four games combined.
It's on you if you want to bury your head in the sand that our center backs are a major weakness that's fine. Nothing is going to make Ream faster. They need to tweak the tactics and/or formation to mitigate it.
Dude, it doesn’t matter
Balogun can play!!!!!!!!!
Without doubt Balogun has the best nose for the goal of any USMNT player ever with possibly the only other being Dempsey who could score from anywhere
You think that Flo being available addresses the issue on defense? Did Tim Ream suddenly increase his foot speed because Flo is playing?
You are not rational if you think for one second Poch is changing anything for this game
We have nobody else to play and Ream has been solid. Richards has been excellent. Nobody else to put in
Big thanks to you-know-how for making this happen (don't want to be political, but we all know).
If you-know-who did in fact make this happen, then sooner or later you-know-who will let that secret out. It is his nature.Big thanks to you-know-how for making this happen (don't want to be political, but we all know).
A stick to the mouth is an actual foul or penalty that’s not what I was referring to.
I dunno...hockey players take dives and stuff, but at least they can be called for it. And more importantly, they don't fall down and writhe around in unnatural theatrical pain for 5 whole minutes, and literally make the trainer come out and pretend to examine their knee before hopping up and being 100% completely fine.
Where did I say put someone else in?
I said change the formation to a three back and move Freeman to the other CB and Dest and Robinson then become wing backs as opposed to Dest being solely up top. It's not like we haven't seen them play well in it in various friendlies against decent teams. Poch already changed the formation to start the WC when he moved Dest up to winger and went to a two back for more offense.
Thinking Belgium isn't a dangerous team that will expose the issues at CB is legit crazy. Relying on results against teams ranked in the 20s-40s as proof that no changes are needed is strange when CB and goalie were the two biggest issues on the roster.
The latter part we all would like to see eliminated and it's significantly down during this WC since if the trainer comes out, you need to stay on the sideline for a minute.
Absolutely stunned that FIFA suspended Balogun's suspension. It's the right call, but never expected it. I don't ever recall seeing such a thing. Great news. Wonder what Belgium thinks...
I will say this, though....I like that soccer players can touch or jump over or look funny at the other team's goalie without it starting a brawl every time. That has to be one of the dumbest aspects of hockey.
I posted about that the other day and agree that might be their rationale for the reversal, citing VAR for not following protocol, although I haven't seen anyone from FIFA say why yet. Regardless of how it happened it's the right decision for the game, as it was obvious to anyone watching that Balogun didn't intentionally step on the other player as he had has back to the other player (and even pulled his foot up once he knew he had stepped on the other player).
VAR made their recommendation to the referee based on slow-motion and still replays, which is not aligned with VAR protocols, as these should be used for only point-of-contact purposes in a red card tackle situation.
There is precedent. During qualifiers, Cristiano Ronaldo got a red card and received a three match ban. The last two games would have carried over to the WC group stage. However, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee gave him a suspended sentence, as they did with Balogun.
So after all the arguing about there not being a FIFA mechanism to suspend Balogun's suspension, there obviously is and it has been used before, fairly recently, in Ronaldo's favor. Surprised it took several days for anyone to realize this.
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee ruled that Balogun's suspension would be suspended for one year, citing Chapter, Article 27 of the FIFA disciplinary code on suspension of implementation of disciplinary measures, which notes that the "judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure."
https://www.foxsports.com/stories/s...ogun-can-play-usa-vs-belgium-despite-red-card
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee ruled that Balogun's suspension would be suspended for one year, citing Chapter, Article 27 of the FIFA disciplinary code on suspension of implementation of disciplinary measures, which notes that the "judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure."
https://www.foxsports.com/stories/s...ogun-can-play-usa-vs-belgium-despite-red-card
Just posted the same thing - still odd to me that nobody here or on-line that I saw was talking about this "Article 27" and the Ronaldo case in the wake of the Balogun call. You were absolutely convinced there was no mechanism for this a few days ago.
As expected, Belgium is not happy - they're "astonished" at this ruling and will appeal.
https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/as...bbb9-rBLJFCduE-r2fr8Ydoo9niydbvFPFMLlBjPUCAJy