2026 FIFA World Cup Thread

Early on Morocco could have helped themselves if they brought some guys in the box when they got down there. You can't cross it to no one. I don't think they win anyway, just a thought.
 
cowboys5xsbs said:
USA is pulling a cowboys tonight
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Honestly, anyone who follows European soccer could have seen this coming. This was like an NFL team playing a college team. We don't have anyone on the US roster that could start for Belgium. In fact, if the US and Belgium combined player pools, maybe 2 guys on the US team could even make their roster. There was a huge talent disparity on the field. We don't belong in the top 8. Given the talent level, anything better than top 16 is a shocking result.
 
atlantacowboy said:
Honestly, anyone who follows European soccer could have seen this coming. This was like an NFL team playing a college team. We don't have anyone on the US roster that could start for Belgium. In fact, if the US and Belgium combined player pools, maybe 2 guys on the US team could even make their roster. There was a huge talent disparity on the field. We don't belong in the top 8. Given the talent level, anything better than top 16 is a shocking result.
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Is it really THAT bad?
 
We want Norway to pull this out but ultimately the goal is defeating France. England has a better chance.
 
gtb1943 said:
Is it really THAT bad?
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Pretty much. To get a good understanding, watch Belgium/Spain. Belgium is good and put up a fight, but their tactics were way less effective again Spain because Spain didn't crumble under the press. Spain was able to maintain possession under heavy pressure because of their technical ability and ability to think/play quickly.

The US just kept fumbling the ball away.

Edit: although I think the more apt comparison would be an NBA team vs a NCAA team. Because it's not necessarily a huge physical athleticism disparity like the chasm between NCAAF and NFL. It's just a big difference in tactics, speed, refinement, creativity, etc.
 
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Nova said:
Pretty much. To get a good understanding, watch Belgium/Spain. Belgium is good and put up a fight, but their tactics were way less effective again Spain because Spain didn't crumble under the press. Spain was able to maintain possession under heavy pressure because of their technical ability and ability to think/play quickly.

The US just kept fumbling the ball away.

Edit: although I think the more apt comparison would be an NBA team vs a NCAA team. Because it's not necessarily a huge physical athleticism disparity like the chasm between NCAAF and NFL. It's just a big difference in tactics, speed, refinement, creativity, etc.
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I thought we would have trouble when we didn't dominate possession. But I guess what confused me was the Belgium/Senegal game. Is Senegal that good? In fact, the player that scored the tying goal for Belgium, he pushed the defender down to head it in. Pretty much the same thing
Haaland did that got Norway's goal disallowed. Senegal could have beaten Belgium.
 
Flamma said:
I thought we would have trouble when we didn't dominate possession. But I guess what confused me was the Belgium/Senegal game. Is Senegal that good? In fact, the player that scored the tying goal for Belgium, he pushed the defender down to head it in. Pretty much the same thing
Haaland did that got Norway's goal disallowed. Senegal could have beaten Belgium.
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Again, I'm a casual. I've played more soccer than I've watched, and took a pretty big break in keeping up after my first kid was born 8 years ago. But now he's into soccer so we've been relearning the landscape.

Senegal's just better defensively than the US and anchored by a guy, (Koulibaly) who in his prime was a few tiers above where Richards is now... and Ream is 38. Geez Ream looked like a liability out there for the US. You could say the same about Sadio Mane up front.

I only caught the extended highlights of Senegal/Belgium, but think of it as a receiver pushing off vs just going up with reasonable contact while going for the ball. Haaland "shoved" Anderson (Anderson smartly sold it), and it was pretty clear. Also, I'm not even sure that goal would have been onside-- never got clarity on that front.
 
France being France and beating themselves here, not that Spain aren't exceptional. France, as good as they have been this century, do have a habit of going AWOL. Spain will be difficult for either of the other two remaining nations to stop.
 
Pompey-Cowboy said:
France being France and beating themselves here, not that Spain aren't exceptional. France, as good as they have been this century, do have a habit of going AWOL. Spain will be difficult for either of the other two remaining nations to stop.
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Spain was a lot sharper today. Yamal's heads up play to draw the PK set the stage for the rest of the game.

France had to chase, and Spain could just play great defense and wait for their opportunities.

Gotta get at least 1 up on Spain to have a shot it seems.

I will say that Mbappe waited too long to try to take over the game. Dembele, Olise, and Barcola consistently wasted opportunities.
 
My main allegiance is for USA. I'm Spanish so I lean towards them when the US is out. But as long as they don't lose to Argentina, I'm good with it. I'll be rooting heavily for England tomorrow.
 
Pompey-Cowboy said:
They are but they are also better than us. England aren't good enough defensively to win it all. There is a chance we beat Argentina but cant realistically expect to beat Spain.
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I agree with you re: Spain will be hard for anyone to beat them.

But I think Argentina and England are evenly matched - should be a close game, maybe extra time.
 
Pompey-Cowboy said:
Yeah but that was 46 years ago in a different sport, as inspirational examples go, its not the most optimistic.
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so what if its a different sport? They went up against what was nearly universally agreed was the greatest hockey team in the world and many thought the greatest in history
Spain aint that good. Not even close. Neither is Argentina
 
England deserved that. What was that? The Switzerland plan to beat Argentina? Let them dominate possession and hope they don't score. For most of the 2nd half, England looked like Cape Verde against Spain.
 
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