World Cup Qualifying

Crusaders

Crusaders

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The first four final round home match venues were released today:

Sept 5 - Canada - Nissan Stadium - Nashville

Oct 7 - Jamaica - Q2 Stadium - Austin

Oct 13 - Costa Rica - Lower.com Field - Columbus

Nov 17 - Mexico - TQL Stadium - Cincinnati

3 pretty close by. May be making trips to all of them


Full schedule:
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Crusaders said:
The first four final round home match venues were released today:

Sept 5 - Canada - Nissan Stadium - Nashville

Oct 7 - Jamaica - Q2 Stadium - Austin

Oct 13 - Costa Rica - Lower.com Field - Columbus

Nov 17 - Mexico - TQL Stadium - Cincinnati

3 pretty close by. May be making trips to all of them


Full schedule:
E4AZgApUYAYY9OY
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The Mexico match moves from the traditional Columbus location to Cincy, hope the Queen City folks represent and make life hard on the Mexicans.
 
Yeah, it sucks. Read US Soccer wanted 100% of the gate, but the Crew wouldn't agree to it. Seems a little bit ridiculous but if someone's willing to take it, I can't blame them
 
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The US team is shaping up to be a dark horse type of team this WC cycle with a chance at being very dangerous in 2026. Lots of really good players under 23 coming up and showing well. They just need to shore up forward, really. Hoping to see Hoppe, Dike, and/or Sargent step up there during qualifying
 
I'll be pulling hard for Canada to qualify (in addition to the US) as I've really taken a liking to their team over the past several years.

Their best XI is probably not too far off the USA's best XI from a talent standpoint, but the US blows them away in depth.

They'll face some good competition from Jamaica and Costa Rica for one of the last spots.
 
Posted this also on the Olympic thread but the Mexico v Brazil match was a chippy one from reports. Why is it that it seems every match involving Mexico seems to have at least one moment like this>

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Bad attitudes from Mexican players mostly.

Mexico is sliding as a team, honestly. I wouldn't be surprised if Canada is the US' biggest competitor in CONCACAF after this cycle
 
Crusaders said:
Bad attitudes from Mexican players mostly.

Mexico is sliding as a team, honestly. I wouldn't be surprised if Canada is the US' biggest competitor in CONCACAF after this cycle
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Mexico has a lot of talent at their younger levels as evident with the solid performance of the U-23s in the Olympics.

They have a lot of older players at the senior level who aren't pulling their weight and there will be quite a bit of controversy over the coming months about how the "changing of the guard" should occur.

They're still good enough to be an odds-on favorite to qualify for Qatar but you are right, they are sliding very much compared to where they were several years ago.
 
Here are the updated (post-Gold Cup) FIFA rankings...

9) Mexico
10) USA (first top ten ranking since 2006)
44) Costa Rica
50) Jamaica
59) Canada
63) Honduras
64) El Salvador
 
First World Cup Qualifying roster callups:

DETAILED ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB/COUNTRY; CAPS/GOALS):​


GOALKEEPERS (3): Ethan Horvath (Nottingham Forest/ENG; 7/0), Zack Steffen (Manchester City/ENG; 23/0), Matt Turner (New England Revolution; 7/0)



DEFENDERS (10): George Bello (Atlanta United; 3/0), John Brooks (Wolfsburg/GER; 43/3), Sergiño Dest (Barcelona/ESP; 11/1), Mark McKenzie (Genk/BEL; 6/0), Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 45/1), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 12/0), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United; 9/3), James Sands (New York City FC; 6/0), DeAndre Yedlin (Galatasaray/TUR; 64/0), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC; 17/2)



MIDFIELDERS (5): Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids; 37/2), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig/GER; 14/1), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 29/7), Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 24/7), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders; 25/0)



FORWARDS (8): Brenden Aaronson (RB Salzburg/AUT; 7/3), Konrad de la Fuente (Olympique Marseille/FRA; 1/0), Jordan Pefok (BSC Young Boys/SUI; 6/1), Ricardo Pepi (FC Dallas; 0/0), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 38/16), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund/GER; 8/4), Josh Sargent (Norwich City/ENG; 16/5), Tim Weah (Lille/FRA; 13/1)




The matches are scheduled during a FIFA international window, making all players available for selection. While teams can summon a larger group, the game day roster for World Cup Qualifiers may only include 23 players.
 
SI just did a solid breakdown of the Octagon, biggest take away was that VAR will not be used in CONCACAF qualifying. WTF?!?
 
Not surprising given he hasn't been training the past couple weeks due to a positive Covid test. But he is training in Nashville, so I'd expect to see him against Canada on Sunday, along with an overall stronger starting XI than we'll field tomorrow
 
No Steffen either - Turner gets the start. Probably should be fine tonight without those two, though. As long as they're available for Canada, that's what's important.
 
Had to flip back and forth for most of it but from what I saw, they looked like a very young team playing their first WCQ in a tough environment on a really bad playing surface. I’ll take 0-0. But they need to be ready to go against Canada on Sunday
 
Kind of a meh result - always good to get at least one point when you're on the road, but they couldn't finish the chances they had. Guys like McKinney, who has been great often, were not good last night. Should have scored one or two on set pieces but couldn't put it on frame. The Canada game is critically important - they need a win in that one and hopefully a tie or win against Honduras to wrap up the first set of games.
 
Disappointing not to come away with a victory especially for what was supposed to be one of the most winnable away games of the Octagonal.

I only watched the highlights but it definitely seemed like the USMNT was lacking that cutting edge in the final attacking third of the pitch.
 
I’m not a soccer fan, but I do watch the World Cup every four years. I try to watch every match I can, due its ultra-competitive nature. It’s the sport at its best.

Due to a hospital stay and subsequent recovery, I watched nearly every match of the Euro tourney this past summer. High level soccer.

How is the USA ranked in the FIFA top ten? Just because they beat perennially grossly overrated Mexico a couple times this year? I don’t get Mexico’s high rank, either. They haven’t done anything in the World Cup in many decades.

Anyway, compared to the matches I watched in the Euro…even early round matches…what I saw last night was garbage. Neither the USA or Canada belong on the same pitch as any Euro team I saw. Even the teams that were knocked out early and have no hope of World Cup qualification.
 
It's still too early to panic but back-to-back disappointing performances in two very winnable games is definitely concerning.
 
cjb5656 said:
I’m not a soccer fan, but I do watch the World Cup every four years. I try to watch every match I can, due its ultra-competitive nature. It’s the sport at its best.

Due to a hospital stay and subsequent recovery, I watched nearly every match of the Euro tourney this past summer. High level soccer.

How is the USA ranked in the FIFA top ten? Just because they beat perennially grossly overrated Mexico a couple times this year? I don’t get Mexico’s high rank, either. They haven’t done anything in the World Cup in many decades.

Anyway, compared to the matches I watched in the Euro…even early round matches…what I saw last night was garbage. Neither the USA or Canada belong on the same pitch as any Euro team I saw. Even the teams that were knocked out early and have no hope of World Cup qualification.
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The FIFA rankings are pretty much useless outside of casuals looking for a way to gauge teams.

European teams are the best, no question. Outside of it, it’s basically Brazil and Argentina and a couple random teams that emerge per cycle.

As for the US, the team is really young. Not the normal make up of a senior team, so this sort of slow start isn’t entirely unexpected.
 
Crusaders said:
The FIFA rankings are pretty much useless outside of casuals looking for a way to gauge teams.

European teams are the best, no question. Outside of it, it’s basically Brazil and Argentina and a couple random teams that emerge per cycle.

As for the US, the team is really young. Not the normal make up of a senior team, so this sort of slow start isn’t entirely unexpected.
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I agree the rankings are useless. There should be 20 to 30 teams ranked above the USA and Mexico from my observation. I think FIFA is just hoping to cash in on the USA market and overinflates the USA place in the futbol world in the hopes it might someday be relevant.
 
Crusaders said:
Tough draw against Canada. I have to put this one on Berhalter. Guys were gassed after an hour and he wanted till the 80th minute to make meaningful subs
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I agree. My son was screaming at the TV wondering why Berhalter didn't have subs ready to go by the 70th minute (or earlier).
 
What a lousy week for the USMNT and mentally I am not sure this team is ready for pressure cooker type environments. I could see them losing to Honduras and calls for a new Manager following.
 
Going to be a tough one tomorrow at Honduras. Dest and Reyna will be out with injuries. Weston McKennie has been sent home due to violating the team Covid bubble policy. That's 3/4 of their "core", with Pulisic remaining.

I suspect we'll see a pretty defensive lineup and tactics in an attempt to get 1 point on the road.

Hopefully the next window turns out better. Would really like to see Hoppe get the start at forward.
 
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Hell of a turnaround after an absolutely awful first half. Huge 3 points and GD boost

The squad for the next window could finally have our best XI. I think Pepi has earned the starting forward spot but I am very intrigued to see Hoppe out there. Kid was a menace against Mexico
 
What a momentum-shifting 2nd half. Pepi looks like he could be the #9 we've been waiting to emerge for some time.

The US is within 2 points of top-of-the-group Mexico now and should expect nothing less than 7 points from the October fixtures.
 
Auggie said:
For some reason Josh Sargent just doesn’t seem to be the guy.
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I would agree. Seems to be a good goal scorer. Guy who can be in the right spot at the right time to finish off moves. Lacks any sort of awareness with the ball at his feet in space. His hold up play involves dribbling 10-15 yards back towards his own defense as well. Thankfully he is young and has time to improve
 
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