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OT: World Cup Draw Friday morning

When it expands in 4 years to 48 teams no one can complain then.


BTW, there was an interesting article the other day about how this expansion is basically going to ruin qualifying. For instance there will be seven South American teams in the tournament, with an eighth making the continental playoff. And there are only 10 teams in the confederation. What in the heck is that process going to look like that will keep it from becoming a joke? If they don't change the format, Brazil and Argentina are going to have 30 - 40% of their qualifiers after they have already clinched a spot.

In CONCACAF you will have six spots (plus a seventh in the playoff). So they obviously can't go back to a hex. But even an eight team format like this year to send one team to a playoff and eliminate one team won't make any sense at all.

They are going to have to figure out some completely different ways to run some of the qualifying tournaments or it's going to be a real joke.
 
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Speaking of, I heard a recent poll conducted by a pollster called Blue something of other. They concluded that 52% of Americans approved of Will Smiths behavior. But what skewed it that way were young Americans, otherwise an overwhelming majority of the country didn’t approve.

so maybe my rant about American culture doesn’t hold true and we are on a moral decline.
Some young Americans care more about the climate than humanity.
 
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Just out of curiosity, do you feel the same way about CONCACAF? Three automatic qualifiers, all three from the "North America" part of the confederation, none from the "Central America" or "Caribbean" parts of the confederation.

What the World Cup needs is fewer Mexicos and United States and more Guatemalas and Arubas, right?
Yes. I feel the Carribbean should get 1 bid or at least a half bid like Oceania.

When it goes to 48, should be something like

UEFA (including USA): 18.5
Canada, Mexico, and Central America: 3.5
South America: 6
Carribbean: 1.5
Oceania: 1
Middle East (to include the 5 North African Arab countries): 5.5
Central Asia: 1.5
Far East (to include Australia): 3.5
Sub-Saharan Africa: 5

UEFA #19, Middle East/North Africa #6, and the Central American team are seeded in a 2 leg playoff vs Far East #4, Carribbean #2, and Central Asia #2
 
BTW, there was an interesting article the other day about how this expansion is basically going to ruin qualifying. For instance there will be seven South American teams in the tournament, with an eighth making the continental playoff. And there are only 10 teams in the confederation. What in the heck is that process going to look like that will keep it from becoming a joke? If they don't change the format, Brazil and Argentina are going to have 30 - 40% of their qualifiers after they have already clinched a spot.

In CONCACAF you will have six spots (plus a seventh in the playoff). So they obviously can't go back to a hex. But even an eight team format like this year to send one team to a playoff and eliminate one team won't make any sense at all.

They are going to have to figure out some completely different ways to run some of the qualifying tournaments or it's going to be a real joke.
I thought SA was only getting 6, maybe 6.5

As for Concacaf for 2026, it will only be 3 with the 3 hosts. But after that, I'd imagine they either do:

1 group of 10
1 group of 12
3 groups of 4 with top 2 in each group qualifying.

My guess would be one group of 10 to ensure 2 USA/Mexico matches.....if we arent in UEFA by then.
 
So what's everyone's dream draw?

Mine:

Pot 1 - Qatar. Easy. 2nd choice: Portugal or England

Pot 3: Serbia (has to be Euro)

Pot 4: New Zealand if they beat CR. 2nd choice is Saudi Arabia

Or get Morocco or Tunisia in Pot 3 and the Euro in Pot 4 (winner of Wales vs Scotland/Ukraine)

Imagine a group of:

USA
Qatar
Serbia
New Zealand

We can send the women though they'd probably ask for double the money.

Worst draw:

Pot 1: France, Belgium, Brazil, really most are "pray for a draw"

Pot 3: Poland, Serbia. Korea/Japan would be tricky

Pot 4: Ecuador, Wales if they go through, and Ghana

Worst draw
USA
France
Poland
Wales (dont think 3 Euros can be together) so Ghana
 
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Total turd last night from USA. Most talented team in years and finishes 3rd via points. Would
Be a mess if they lost to
Mexico.
 
Total turd last night from USA. Most talented team in years and finishes 3rd via points. Would
Be a mess if they lost to
Mexico.
I’m not concerned about last night. Costa Rica concacaf’d the game, slowed it down by kicking and chopping our players down continuously. and so we had about 15 corners and set pieces that we looked terrible on. If McKennie is fit, maybe he gets on the other end of something or at least occupies players so that someone else gets free.

but my biggest concern is we made it through the entire cycle and gained nothing other than qualification. Other countries are in “mid season form” and know their lineups and have chemistry. We still don’t have a best 11 and our core players of Pulisic , Reyna, McKennie, Adams, and Dest haven’t played together because none of them have been healthy for any amount of time. We somehow need to get chemistry the next 7 months, need to find a goalkeeper who will be ready to do the job in November and find a #9. With this being said, those things aren’t going to happen and the best we can hope for is a favorable draw, otherwise we will out after 3 matches.
 
Not sure what the schedule will look like in November, but Qatar is 7 hours ahead of us I believe. A Thanksgiving day with World Cup football will be 100X better than a Thanksgiving day with Detroit Lion Football.
 
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Not sure what the schedule will look like in November, but Qatar is 7 hours ahead of us I believe. A Thanksgiving day with World Cup football will be 100X better than a Thanksgiving day with Detroit Lion Football.
5AM, 8AM, 11AM, and 2PM are the Thanksgiving and Black Friday games. That will be pretty cool actually. Nothing worse than watching the Lions and Cowboys on Thanksgiving. Wished college football still played on Thanksgiving afternoons. Couldn't they do even like a 10AM or 11AM game so not to directly conflict?
 
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I believe it’s the top 2 then in the round of 16 it’s win or go home.

I’m relatively new to watching futbol so no idea how it’ll work when it goes to 48 teams.
Top 2

In 2026, groups will have 3 teams with top 2 advancing. In essence, its a 32 team knockout tournament. Just have to play the first 2 games to eliminate Costa Roca, Honduras, Panama, New Zealand, the Arab teams, and some African/Asian teams.
 
I’m not concerned about last night. Costa Rica concacaf’d the game, slowed it down by kicking and chopping our players down continuously. and so we had about 15 corners and set pieces that we looked terrible on. If McKennie is fit, maybe he gets on the other end of something or at least occupies players so that someone else gets free.

but my biggest concern is we made it through the entire cycle and gained nothing other than qualification. Other countries are in “mid season form” and know their lineups and have chemistry. We still don’t have a best 11 and our core players of Pulisic , Reyna, McKennie, Adams, and Dest haven’t played together because none of them have been healthy for any amount of time. We somehow need to get chemistry the next 7 months, need to find a goalkeeper who will be ready to do the job in November and find a #9. With this being said, those things aren’t going to happen and the best we can hope for is a favorable draw, otherwise we will out after 3 matches.
They had what, 3-4 set pieces and made 2 great plays to convert. We had a dozen and Pulisic looked like Ben Roethlisberger in December just missing guys, and the set pieces overall were uninspiring.
 
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Passing was awful.
No kidding. The USA looked like the Pens vs the Rangers the past couple of games. They looked like they would have a good run, then just magnetically passed the ball right to the Costa Rica player standing between the ball and the target.
 
They had what, 3-4 set pieces and made 2 great plays to convert. We had a dozen and Pulisic looked like Ben Roethlisberger in December just missing guys, and the set pieces overall were uninspiring.
I said to my wife at the time last night that I’m not a fan of CP10’s service into the box or on goal from set pieces and corners.

That’s not his strong suit. If he’s Sid Crosby, he’d work on it until it becomes a strength.

he’s a very good player, there’s no doubt. But he has a specific skill set in my opinion and doesn’t have all the tolls in his utility belt. He’s still only 23 so he can improve. But he’s a player who is a dribbler with pace at opposing teams putting pressure on defenders and is very good at arriving into the box to put away goals. But set pieces and balls in the air are not his cup of tea. And he needs to get stronger. He draws a lot of fouls and that’s good, but he also has to be able to fight through contact and stay on his feet sometimes.
 
I said to my wife at the time last night that I’m not a fan of CP10’s service into the box or on goal from set pieces and corners.

That’s not his strong suit. If he’s Sid Crosby, he’d work on it until it becomes a strength.

he’s a very good player, there’s no doubt. But he has a specific skill set in my opinion and doesn’t have all the tolls in his utility belt. He’s still only 23 so he can improve. But he’s a player who is a dribbler with pace at opposing teams putting pressure on defenders and is very good at arriving into the box to put away goals. But set pieces and balls in the air are not his cup of tea. And he needs to get stronger. He draws a lot of fouls and that’s good, but he also has to be able to fight through contact and stay on his feet sometimes.
Agreed. There has to be a better option on corners than Pulisic.
 
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Some young Americans care more about the climate than humanity.
A lot of those people think that Humans should become extinct to save the planet for everything else, because the planet belongs to everything but the humans.
 
Not sure what the schedule will look like in November, but Qatar is 7 hours ahead of us I believe. A Thanksgiving day with World Cup football will be 100X better than a Thanksgiving day with Detroit Lion Football.
That is true, I'd watch WC soccer over Thanksgiving Day football... unless the Steelers play.
 
Agreed. There has to be a better option on corners than Pulisic.
With us not having a true #9 but loaded on the wings, I said on the other board I'd play Pulisic as the 9. One of the former players, maybe it was Charlie Davies, said he'd put Weah there. Either way, you have to convert one of those wings to a 9.
 
A lot of those people think that Humans should become extinct to save the planet for everything else, because the planet belongs to everything but the humans.
And that likely will happen, regardless of what we do. The earth always does what it has to do to remain alive. However, when our sun expands or explodes, all the EV's in the world can't save us.
 
Bring badk
Jozy lol
With us not having a true #9 but loaded on the wings, I said on the other board I'd play Pulisic as the 9. One of the former players, maybe it was Charlie Davies, said he'd put Weah there. Either way, you have to convert one of those wings to a 9.
 
With us not having a true #9 but loaded on the wings, I said on the other board I'd play Pulisic as the 9. One of the former players, maybe it was Charlie Davies, said he'd put Weah there. Either way, you have to convert one of those wings to a 9.
Man I tell you what. I was listening to Jason Davis on XM and he was reviewing the cycle match by match, and Pepi was involved in a lot of buildups and goals earlier in qualifying. We kinda forgot about all that. He’s in a funk now obviously.

as far as moving Pulisic, it’s tough. I watched that game last night thinking he just doesn’t get involved enough when out in the wing. Our best player needs more touches. And of course in concacaf as soon as he gets the ball he gets cut down. But I watched him at chelsea playing the false #9, I watch all his games, and he wasn’t great in that position. The match I went to vs Everton he played that position and he wasn’t good. All the Brits in the crowd around me were bitching about him. The worldie he scored vs Liverpool a couple months ago was when he was playing that position. But other than that I’m not sure it’s the best position for him.
 
Man I tell you what. I was listening to Jason Davis on XM and he was reviewing the cycle match by match, and Pepi was involved in a lot of buildups and goals earlier in qualifying. We kinda forgot about all that. He’s in a funk now obviously.

as far as moving Pulisic, it’s tough. I watched that game last night thinking he just doesn’t get involved enough when out in the wing. Our best player needs more touches. And of course in concacaf as soon as he gets the ball he gets cut down. But I watched him at chelsea playing the false #9, I watch all his games, and he wasn’t great in that position. The match I went to vs Everton he played that position and he wasn’t good. All the Brits in the crowd around me were bitching about him. The worldie he scored vs Liverpool a couple months ago was when he was playing that position. But other than that I’m not sure it’s the best position for him.

Still holding out hope for Sargent. You guys wanted Pefok but he looked like a U8 player mishitting balls against Mexico
 
You guys wanted Pefok
Absolutely. None of these guys have shown any separation from the others, so I wanted the guy who’s actually, you know, scored goals this year. The option

Dike-out
Pepe- hasn’t scored since October
Sargeant-doesn’t even play the 9
Zardes-lolololololol
Ferrerra- MLS was just getting started.
Pefok- leads his league in goals.


personally I kinda wanted a Sargent call up but maybe since he hasn’t been playing the 9, Berhalter figured he had better wingers.

And far as Pefok missing a sitter, they all do. Whether your the leading scorer in the EPL, or the Swiss league, you don’t get there missing sitters, but it does happen.
 
So essentially our U23 team qualified for the World Cup last night. That’s pretty impressive when you look at it that way. It is thought by some that this might be the youngest team in the world to qualify for the World Cup, by a very wide margin.

 
5AM, 8AM, 11AM, and 2PM are the Thanksgiving and Black Friday games.


The other good thing about that is that they are not going to assign game times to the games until the teams have been selected, unlike in the past where that was all predetermined before the draw. So there is a really good chance that the US is going to at least get mostly the later games rather than the games that start at 5AM on the east coast. If the US were drawn with someone like Brazil or Argentina you can almost guarantee that will be the late game on whatever day they play it.
 
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Pot 4: New Zealand if they beat CR.


That can't happen. Because they won't know which team it's going to be before the draw, the New Zealand/Costa Rica winner cannot be drawn against a CONCACAF team, and the UAE/Australia/Peru winner cannot be drawn into a group with an Asian or South American team.
 
So essentially our U23 team qualified for the World Cup last night. That’s pretty impressive when you look at it that way. It is thought by some that this might be the youngest team in the world to qualify for the World Cup, by a very wide margin.

While that is impressive, its partly due to the fact that there was no talent developed between players currently aged between 26 or so and 32-33, which is why we missed the last World Cup. Clint Dempsey, bless his soul was our best player, and he was on Social Security.
 
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
Qatar (51)*Mexico (9)Senegal (20)Cameroon (37)
Brazil (1)Netherlands (10)Iran (21)Canada (38)
Belgium (2)Denmark (11)Japan (23)Ecuador (46)
France (3)Germany (12)Morocco (24)Saudi Arabia (49)
Argentina (4)Uruguay (13)Serbia (25)Ghana (60)
England (5)Switzerland (14)Poland (26)Intercont'l Playoff 1
Spain (7)USA (15)South Korea (29)Intercont'l Playoff 2
Portugal (8)Croatia (16)Tunisia (35)Euro Playoff
 
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