World Cup 2018 Qualification

Think so.

As it stands. Five mins to play.

The Americans need to pray for a last second Mexico goal here.

Some people blaming Trump lol

Confirmed. US fail to qualify from easy peasy CONCACAF.

And poor Donald was so looking forward to his holidays chez Putin...

ValleyGary said:

Some people blaming Trump lol

Mexico's defensive WALL did go missing in the second half.

Russia (hosts)

Germany
Portugal
Belgium
Poland
France
Spain
England
Iceland
Serbia
plus four of Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Denmark, Northern Ireland, Sweden, Rep. Ireland and Greece

Brazil
Argentina
Colombia
Uruguay
Peru or New Zealand

Iran
Japan
South Korea
Saudi Arabia
Australia or Honduras
Mexico
Costa Rica
Panama

Nigeria
Egypt
Tunisia or DR Congo
Morocco or Ivory Coast
Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde or South Africa

Weegie Addick said:

Confirmed. US fail to qualify from easy peasy CONCACAF.

It's not that easy. Some of the away trips are pretty brutal. The pitches are poor and the conditions are often bad. The US should qualify, don't get me wrong, but they do sometimes have an aura of "if we turn up we'll qualify."

There will be a lot of picking over the bones of this US team, but Klinnsman isn't that great of a manager and left them barely better off than he found them. Arena is not that good of a manager and his time came and went arguable a decade ago--and yet when he was brought in it was just assumed the US would qualify. Why? His teams sometimes underperrformed in qualifying and he's spent a decade+ in MLS since then. What's he done to improve himself?

The team are average, and some of the standout and even better players have chosen to come back to MLS in recent years. Some are aging, but you could argue all of their careers: Dempsey, Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Diskruud, have gone backward, with the one exception of Jozy Altidore who, shock surprise, can score against North American opposition and literally nowhere else.

There's also an element of bad luck in addition to bad decision making by US Soccer. To start with the latter, I could have told them Klinnsman is a snake oil salesman and not a man tactically adept to coach even the most basic of U-13s. Because he's smart and charming and handsome he keeps getting jobs he is not qualified for. And on top of that his ego and aloofness meant he fell out with most of the non-German players.

As to the bad luck, there is a generation coming through who look like talented players who, very notably, and this isn't an accident, have spent a lot of time at European academies, but who aren't quite there yet. Pulisic, at 19, is a wonderful player but he cannot lead a team by himself, especially with the shoddy service he gets. Luca De La Torre still can't break into the Fulham team. Gideon Zalalem hasn't matured anywhere near to his potential. Carters-Vicker and the FC KC lad whose name escapes me aren't quite ready yet. Same with Josh Sargent. And as such, the defense and midfield are made up of aging mediocre journeymen.

Also, somehow Tim Howard still gets picked in goal which is...weird.

Why wasn't Dom Dwyer in the squad?

So the US and Wales now our before the competition even begins. Bet their muggy bigheaded fans that celebrate when we go out will shut up now. Both flukes that won’t happen again for a generation.

Messi taking Argentina to the world cup on his own.

http://www.businessinsider.com/fox-world-cup-bid-200-million-2017-10?IR=T

Fox paid $400m for the TV rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup. Poor Mr Murdoch

SDAddick said:

Weegie Addick said:

Confirmed. US fail to qualify from easy peasy CONCACAF.

It's not that easy. Some of the away trips are pretty brutal. The pitches are poor and the conditions are often bad. The US should qualify, don't get me wrong, but they do sometimes have an aura of "if we turn up we'll qualify."

There will be a lot of picking over the bones of this US team, but Klinnsman isn't that great of a manager and left them barely better off than he found them. Arena is not that good of a manager and his time came and went arguable a decade ago--and yet when he was brought in it was just assumed the US would qualify. Why? His teams sometimes underperrformed in qualifying and he's spent a decade+ in MLS since then. What's he done to improve himself?

The team are average, and some of the standout and even better players have chosen to come back to MLS in recent years. Some are aging, but you could argue all of their careers: Dempsey, Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Diskruud, have gone backward, with the one exception of Jozy Altidore who, shock surprise, can score against North American opposition and literally nowhere else.

There's also an element of bad luck in addition to bad decision making by US Soccer. To start with the latter, I could have told them Klinnsman is a snake oil salesman and not a man tactically adept to coach even the most basic of U-13s. Because he's smart and charming and handsome he keeps getting jobs he is not qualified for. And on top of that his ego and aloofness meant he fell out with most of the non-German players.

As to the bad luck, there is a generation coming through who look like talented players who, very notably, and this isn't an accident, have spent a lot of time at European academies, but who aren't quite there yet. Pulisic, at 19, is a wonderful player but he cannot lead a team by himself, especially with the shoddy service he gets. Luca De La Torre still can't break into the Fulham team. Gideon Zalalem hasn't matured anywhere near to his potential. Carters-Vicker and the FC KC lad whose name escapes me aren't quite ready yet. Same with Josh Sargent. And as such, the defense and midfield are made up of aging mediocre journeymen.

Also, somehow Tim Howard still gets picked in goal which is...weird.

USA weren’t good enough,can’t blame the pitches or travel!

ForeverAddickted said:

UEFA Nations League has been seeded ahead of the Tournament being drawn in January

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41580638

I only read it briefly earlier but I haven't got a clue how that works.