Ronaldo against out back line is going to be brutal to watch.
Jozy and Dempsey are going to fun against theirs.
Jozy and Dempsey are going to fun against theirs.
Infield Infidel said:
US could have gotten Iran, Honduras, or South Korea's draws, which are much preferable
Vinho Tinto said:
Getting drawn with a country that has reached 2 Euro semis, a Euro Final, and a World Cup semi since 2000 is a good thing. Good point.
I'm beyond depressed.
SoxFanInPdx said:
I think, in order - the group shakes out to be Germany then Portugal. The US has a chance though. The opponents don't worry me as much as the travel does for them.
These game threads are going to be a ton of fun yet again.
Nice. Looking forward to that!dirtynine said:I'll have a post up soon (an hour or so) with shirts for Group A as part of the 32 Nations project I'm working on.
BigSoxFan said:For the casual fan, how many other draws would the US have had a decent chance to advance in?
Jeff Van GULLY said:Beat Ghana and Portugal in the amazon.
And hope Germany is already through so we can get a result in the 3rd match.
Zomp said:
This doesn't make sense to me. The US team probably travels better than any other country in the World Cup. Its about the opponents.
I do like playing Germany last though.
Agree with this. IMHO, Germany needs to beat up on the rest of the field in order for the US to advance. A final game draw vs. Germany would be an outstanding result for US, and may help the team advance.Dan to Theo to Ben said:
Unless Portugal gets a result v. Germany. Have to hope for a Germany win there IMHO. If Germany needs a result v. US, the US is f****d.
Zomp said:
I do like playing Germany last though.
Jeff Van GULLY said:
yeahlunchbox said:
I'm pretty new to this and a casual fan at best. I'm assuming the green circle is the US base of operations and the red circles are where we are playing the games. Why would the US pick a base before they know where they are playing in such a large country and is there anyway to change their base to move closer to where they play two games?
BigSoxFan said:For the casual fan, how many other draws would the US have had a decent chance to advance in?
Fuck that shit. I'll take advancing with an easy draw over valiantly going home with a tough one every day of the week and twice on Sundays.DrewDawg said:I like it. I don't want to advance and then hear it was only because we got an easy draw. If we want to move up in the world, we need to play and beat these teams.
The majority of the groups had no more than one long trip. We literally got the worst possible draw from a travel point of view.yeahlunchbox said:I'm pretty new to this and a casual fan at best. I'm assuming the green circle is the US base of operations and the red circles are where we are playing the games. Why would the US pick a base before they know where they are playing in such a large country and is there anyway to change their base to move closer to where they play two games?
It's about two completely different games. In 2010, we carried the play for large chunks of the match but were more wasteful with our chances. We also appeared to tire as the match went into extra time, which may be partly attributable to how hard we had to work to advance (thanks in part to a couple of blown calls). I'd be perfectly happy to get something approximating a re-run of that match, particularly if Portugal lose to Germany in their opener.Dummy Hoy said:I'm curious to see how much of the Ghana issue has been about players versus style.
Zomp said:OMG get Silver off of the television.
Mr. Wednesday said:
C, E, F, and H would look manageable if you were to swap the U.S. with the team from our pot that's in the group.
Fuck that shit. I'll take advancing with an easy draw over valiantly going home with a tough one every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
The majority of the groups had no more than one long trip. We literally got the worst possible draw from a travel point of view.
I'd agree that they should look at changing up the home base now that the draw is known.
It's about two completely different games. In 2010, we carried the play for large chunks of the match but were more wasteful with our chances. We also appeared to tire as the match went into extra time, which may be partly attributable to how hard we had to work to advance (thanks in part to a couple of blown calls). I'd be perfectly happy to get something approximating a re-run of that match, particularly if Portugal lose to Germany in their opener.
Soxy Brown said:
Was it the content you disliked or his delivery? I'm assuming the delivery (he's not, um, telegenic... to say the least).
I thought what he said was actually pretty interesting, at least for a very casual fan like myself. While most are declaring doom and gloom, his numbers gave the USA almost as good a chance of going through as Portugal (39% vs 40%, respectively). That's not far below the average chance he gave the USA of advancing before the draw, which was 41%. Draws varied between something like 17-73% (I don't recall the exact numbers).
He basically said that Portugal looked shaky a few times during qualifying and that, while they have two superstars, they aren't a very deep squad.
I thought it was a nice counterpoint to the "OMG, we R FUCKED!" cries, but again I'm a casual fan at best.
Soxy Brown said:
Was it the content you disliked or his delivery? I'm assuming the delivery (he's not, um, telegenic... to say the least).
Mr. Wednesday said:
Fuck that shit. I'll take advancing with an easy draw over valiantly going home with a tough one every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Zomp said:I think the travel issue is really overblown. They have 6 days in between matches. Their bodies will adjust.
Delivery. Though I will admit I do cringe when I see percentages on advancing in a game where so many variables can take shape between now and next summer.
Zomp said:I think the travel issue is really overblown. They have 6 days in between matches. Their bodies will adjust.
Saturday, June 14: D3. England vs. D4. Italy at Arena Amazônia, Manaus (9:00 p.m.)*
Yes, that's two European teams playing a game at 9 p.m. Eastern. That's 2 a.m. in London and 3 a.m. in Rome. Oh, and the game wil take place in the Amazon rainforest. Sounds fun, doesn't it?
mid 80s, 85% humidity, and the English national team (Rooney, Fat Frank, Terry,) that could be hillarious.DrewDawg said:Heh:
Jeff Van GULLY said:If the US could move their training center for the opening round and yet somehow keep Sao Paulo for the knockout if they were to advance, I think they should do it. I finally found FIFA's training centre handbook, which lists the 83 qualified training centers and there are not many good options up north for the US.
Here's some more info:
Natal
Manaus
So roughly 85 degrees in June in Manaus.
Recife
Other training ground options
Belem is between Manaus, Natal and Recife. Almost right in the middle of all three. Roughly 850 miles to each stadium.
Here's the training ground there:
Or they can move to a place closer to Natal and Recife and limit themselves to one longer trip to Manaus.
Two training grounds qualify for that, here's the first:
Or here:
Not sure if the US would want to move or pony up the money for two different training grounds but there are some viable options.