World Cup 2018

[dawg80]

Starts tonite for the USMNT.

The 2+ year cycle of World Cup qualifying has begun. The US plays St. Vincent (and G...) in match one. Will do it w/o Dempsey, since our brilliant coach, JK, wants to demonstrate that once again, he can go it without a veteran, team leader. Granted, the US should be able to win tonite, and the next one, w/o CD in the lineup. But, that's not the point.

WC qualifying is a long, grueling process where eventually, CONCACAF will send 4 teams into the WC Finals (32 teams) in Russia, 2018. Unless something really, really dumb happens, the US should be in that number. The US doesn't have to, necessarily, "win" the qualifying tourney. Last time we did, and our higher seeding got us placed in the Group of Death in Brazil. So, no advantage there.

I am excited to see some of our youngsters getting a chance to start, and get more minutes in matches that mean something. No more friendlies. This is for real.

[Guisslapp]

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

[dawg80]

USA 6 St. Vincent 1

Congrats to St. Vincent for getting this far. First time in their history they reached the regional semi-final tourney round. In case you don't know, the lower ranked teams, outside of the world rankings top 150, have to play in "play in" tournies. Winners of these mini-tournies advance to the regional semi-final pools. Then, the top 2 finishers in these round-robin pools advance to the regional WC qualifying tournaments. In our case, CONCACAF.

EVERY nation on Earth fields a national soccer team. EVERY nation has the chance to be WC Champion IF they can win it on the field. THIS is why soccer is the greatest sport in the world. Even little ole St. Vincent can win it all. Still can, if they can win the rest of their games in this semi-final pool, they will advance to the next round. It is truly a WORLD cup!

US got behind early last night when Olax Anderson, who plays for the MLS' Seattle Sounders, scored giving them a 1-0 lead 5 mins in. Proved to be a wake-up call for us. But, also showed how weak we are on the back line.

[dawg80]

Tonite at Trindad & Tobago. Always a tough place to play. Defense needs to step up.

[dawg80]

0-0 final. We had the run of play but couldn't finish. Had two shots clank off the hardware, and just plain missed some shots off of good looks.

Guatemala is up next.

[Guisslapp]

Even this thread is making me sleepy. Zzzzzzz