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US out of World Cup for first time since '86.

 
 
 
J

Jimmy Higgins

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Yes, I know, only 249 soccer fans in the US. Har har.

That out of the way, the US pulled off a miraculous performance by losing the last of the Hexagonal qualification round that determines which teams get to play in Russia and suffer food poisoning. Mexico and Costa Rica were in it. Mexico did what you needed to do. Costa Rica was pretty good.

The last automatic team would have been the US had they tied in their last game. But to be fair, they played both Trinidad and Tobago, possibly being unfair. Having lost that game, Panama qualify automatically... and Honduras... fucking Honduras are to play, I believe, the winner of Australia and Syria (of all nations).

Jurgen Klinsmann was axed last November and we have this to thank for it. Klinsmann did well with the US team. No, we didn't win the World Cup, however, the US got out of the Group of Death, a few seconds from 6 pts!, and then lost to a really tough Belgium squad. Won the Gold Cup and did pretty much what can be expected until the US can develop world class strikers.

But US soccer fans can be idiots and lost their bowel control when Klinsmann said no to professional underachiever Landon Donovan for the World Cup squad. Even non-soccer fans were upset... because all they can remember is him scoring against Algeria to win the game, when they should have closed that game out in the first half but kept on skying shots right in front of the damn net.

So now those same fuckers don't have to worry about America's performance in the World Cup in Russia... because the US won't be there. Panama and Costa Rica will... and congrats to them. Costa Rica has been on a wave since the last World Cup and Panama hasn't been shabby either.
 
As one of the few people who cheers on the American World Cup soccer team, I'm sad, but at the same time I'm happy for Panama. It's good to see someone from CONCACAF other than America or Mexico in the World Cup from time to time.

I'll cheer for Panama and I'll cheer for Mexico. *shrug*

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I also disagree with getting rid of Klinsmann.
 
The incredible thing, the US had 3 wins, 3 draws, and 4 losses. There are 10 games in the Hexagonal. That means 5 home games. That means they didn't win all of their home games. In fact, they didn't even get points in all of their home games. They went 3-0-2. They managed to take only 3 points in away matches. Even worse, even against Trinidad and Tobago... and a sparse crowd of 500 people and 72 feral chickens, they couldn't get a draw, which would have seen them into the World Cup. Needed just one more goal... for most of a half... and nothing!
 
The weird thing is, didn't the U.S. somehow get a world ranking hovering near the top around the time of the last world cup?

It sucks because I enjoy watching the U.S. play internationally, but at the same time I'm not overly surprised. The states aren't a soccer nation, whereas, depending on country, all kids in some of these other nations own is a soccer ball.

Anyway, at least you're not Canada, we've only qualified once.
 
It was depressing to watch last night.

Jurgen definitely got screwed. I wanted to give him another cycle before telling him he wasn't good enough. He needed enough time to let his youth system work and bring a few kids up to the senior team. I won't be surprised if Bruce gets shown the door after this.

Luckily the U-17 team is looking good in the world cup going on right now. Hopefully there's an entire team Pulisics that make their way up and can turn us into a soccer nation.

As a Sounders fan, I'm glad it was Roman Torres to put Panama through. He won the championship for us last season and he got Panama to their first world cup. I'll be rooting for them this time around.
 
Northern Ireland is fighting for a spot in the World Cup after finishing second in their group. Northern fucking Ireland! They have almost no top league players. Oddly enough, last time they qualified for the World Cup, US failed to, 1986.
 
rousseau said:
The weird thing is, didn't the U.S. somehow get a world ranking hovering near the top around the time of the last world cup?

It sucks because I enjoy watching the U.S. play internationally, but at the same time I'm not overly surprised. The states aren't a soccer nation, whereas, depending on country, all kids in some of these other nations own is a soccer ball.

Anyway, at least you're not Canada, we've only qualified once.
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That's kind of what makes the American team interesting to watch. They work so hard despite the fact that folks back home don't give a shit about what they are doing.

Both the American and the Mexican team are fun to watch for the raw gumption. What they lack in comparison to other teams, they will try to make up with sheer effort.

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Jimmy Higgins said:
Northern Ireland is fighting for a spot in the World Cup after finishing second in their group. Northern fucking Ireland! They have almost no top league players. Oddly enough, last time they qualified for the World Cup, US failed to, 1986.
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Good for them! That's a ridiculously competitive conference.
 
2019 in France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_FIFA_Women%27s_World_Cup

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Any federation that believes Bruce Arena is better able to lead their team to the World Cup than Jurgen Klinnsman deserves to fail.
 
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