Weird, I didn’t see the match, but from what I read in argentinian twitter everyone thought the match was a borefest, perhaps my circle of twitter contacts is really hard to please?.
Shots were 21 w/ 8 on goal to 3 w/ 0 on goal. Stoppage time winning. So, one team did nothing the entire game, the other wasted a ton of chances for 94 minutes. I think, depending on what you like, PSG being fantastic and it being a bit boring can both be true.
USWNT vs New Zealand in the SheBelieves cup features a first half own-goal hat trick. Left, right, and header too. Absolutely brutal.
Well, I confess that’s not how I imagined El Clásico would be going.…
The score flattered Madrid too. Barcelona missed at least 4 chances that I would expect top class players to finish. Still early in his tenure, but Xavi is looking like a good hire. We’ll see what happens when Dembele leaves and Aubameyang starts throwing fits every week and collapses.
The biggest news today is probably Italy failing to qualify. Weird to miss these two World Cups and win the Euros in between. I wonder how fans feel about the relative value of these. If you could choose, would you miss a few WCs in exchange for winning the Euros?
In CONCACAF land, Canada had a rough game that they were probably due for, losing 1-0 to Costa Rica. Kaye took a very foolish second yellow. Canada actually played some nice attacking football in the second half, but couldn’t get the goal they needed.
So Canada is still not officially qualified, but the set of results necessary to keep them out is pretty long:
- Jamaica over Canada
- Panama over Canada
- Costa Rica over El Salvador
- USA over Panama
- Costa Rica over USA
- Mexico get 4+ points from Honduras and El Salvador
- USA make up 4 goal differential on Canada
- Costa Rica make up 11 goal differential on Canada
Seems like a safe bet 
.
Wow, Italy, just wow.
No, I wouldn’t miss 2 World Cups for a Euro title.
Italy looked horribly disorganized on that goal play. From a long goal kick in the opponent’s end to picking the ball out of your own net ten seconds later? In stoppage time?
Gregg Berhalter went for it at the Azteca and came out with a point. Coupled with Panama’s shock draw to Honduras at home, the U.S. is in a slightly better position than I had thought going into the weekend matches - a draw with Panama would ensure the USMNT at least a berth in the intercontinental playoff. A win, on the other hand, isn’t enough to earn outright qualification for the U.S. though Costa Rica would need a nine-point window and a bunch of goals to pass them for 3rd.
I’m thinking Berhalter’s gamble will pay off, but if there’s little squad rotation for the Panama match, and no result for the U.S., that Costa Rica away match with a fatigued team will loom large. Mexico has Honduras and El Salvador remaining - four points will be enough to outpace the Canaleros and Ticos.
Well there would have to be a little rotation I’d imagine, esp as Weah and Yedlin are suspended 
. I also think Jesus Ferreira may start as Striker as SOMEONE has to be able to score, right? I wouldn’t be surprised to see Luca de la Torre play for either Acosta or Musah (or maybe LDT and Roldan to play for Acosta and Musah - with Musah as a first off the bench sort of player) and Long to play for Miles or Zimmerman.
Pulisic and Pefok both missing free shots from inside 10 yards is infuriating, but I’d have gladly taken a point before the match. Panama dropping points is also quite nice.
Pulisic might need a sport’s psychologist. He seems to think he needs to do everything and ends up doing a lot worse than his skill set for the US. I do worry a bit that his miss will weigh on him and he’ll disappoint against Panama too.
Aaronson getting injured means there’s not a great swap for Weah. Sure, Reyna, but I think fitness is probably a question and he’s always felt more of a 10 than an outright winger to me anyway. Shaq Moore at right back? Wouldn’t surprise me to see Acosta subbed as well, for a more attacking lineup.
Sure, a win isn’t guaranteed to go through, but it’s pretty damn close. CR would have to win both remaining matches and make up a big GD deficit, and their offense is awful. I won’t be sweating the final game at all if the US gets 3 points on Sunday.
I suspect that on Chelsea, surrounded by a higher level of talent, he doesn’t feel like he has to be the one pulling the heavy load, and can wait for the game to come to him rather than trying to impose himself on it.
Perhaps as the U.S. talent level improves, he may feel less need.
I think it’s going to be Reyna, at least for the first hour or so. Then Arriola or Morris to run at a tired back line. Pulisic will need some rest as well if he’s going to have anything left in the tank for Costa Rica, in case we need it. SBISoccer says Shaq Moore is coming onto the squad for the next match; it’s a sure bet he’s going to be used. Panama’s going to be playing for their lives; we’ll need to be at peak readiness from the opening whistle.
Given that Weah has been our most consistent offensive playmaker of late, this is more than a little worrisome. Musah looked really gassed at the end of the last match; I think someone’s got to go in for him, even if it means he misses the biggest match of the Octo. Acosta could probably go as a sub after Reyna exits to keep a dead-ball specialist on the field. Hopefully Tyler Adams has enough left in the tank to go 60.
Yeah, but Gio looked fantastic in the playmaking aspect. I do think it will be helpful that Ferreira is very good at hold up play and playmaking (he was originally a central attacking midfielder).
Makes me wonder if Berhalter might try a false 9 scheme against Panama. Reyna and Ferreira exchanging in the buildup while Pulisic streaks toward the back post. What could go wrong? (Eyes dart nervously)
US with a 5-1 win over Panama. The only way they finish 4th is if they lose to CR by 6+. So I’m pretty confident they’re back in the World Cup after the disaster last cycle.
Well, most of my predictions went wrong: Musah started and played half the match, and did OK. Pulisic took both penalties with the right mentality. Reyna missed the first half and came on for Arriola in the second; of course it was Arriola who scored early. Weah wasn’t needed; the rest may do him good against CR.
All of which is to say: in Gregg I trust. As disastrous as it could have turned out, he took a chance that told his players he trusted them to deliver, and they did.
Oh, I did get Shaq Moore’s use correct, but that was pretty obvious. Also, Tyler Adams did have enough in the tank.
A bit of an anticlimax in the end, but Canada and (almost surely) the US and Mexico are in. The Canada game was really lopsided, more than I was expecting. Jamaica didn’t look like they much wanted to be there. The US getting 5 is pretty impressive, especially since Panama was playing for their lives.
So the WC draw is on Friday. There are restrictions so that teams from the same confederation aren’t placed into the same group (as much as is possible). How is that accomplished mechanically? Mexico and the US will get drawn from pot 2, for example into groups A and B. When Canada comes up in pot 3 or 4, what’s the procedure that ensures they don’t end up in A or B as well?
That’s an excellent question.
Perhaps they draw for all the other teams in the pot first, and only allow drawing for Canada when (in your example) A & B are filled by other teams from Canada’s pot. If they get down to the point that the only groups left are A, B & F (for example), Canada gets automatically drawn into F and they resume with the two remaining teams.
Though that might conflict with constraints from other confederations - I wonder if FIFA has talked with some mathematicians to make sure their procedure covers all the bases in a fair manner?
What’s more, constraints get even more complex when you include the placeholder slots in pot 4 for the playoff teams, where the placeholders must go into groups where neither of the teams that could come through would play against an opponent of their confederation. Not a big deal for the CONCACAF/Oceania placeholder, as you just have to keep that slot away from the Canada and (likely) US or Mexico groups, but the Asia/South America playoff might have only one or two groups it can be drawn into by the time the pot 4 picks are made. Now that I think of it, they may have to apply constraints to the earlier picks to ensure that at least one group remains for the Asia/South America playoff winner.
I hope FIFA publicizes their detailed flowchart/algorithm for this before Friday. What they have on Procedures for the Final Draw for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ released and the PDF that it references is a joke.
This was indeed a good question and the answer wasn’t very easy to find. But the general rule is that, if a team is drawn into a non-viable group – like Canada drawing into Mexico’s group – Canada is instead placed in the next “viable” group.
Yeah, that could get tricky nearing the end of each round’s drawing because at some point, maybe even the last two-four placements of a pot can only be placed in a certain way and remain viable. This isn’t really all that hard to determine, though, and surely even FIFA has people on duty who can do the math.
Anyway, I know what I’ll be doing Friday morning. Bring it on and then the countdown for 2026 here in the states can begin.
Yeah, I had found that document, and it has the same explanation of the constraints, but not the implementation of the draw that ensures the constraints are followed.
I guess that makes sense, although it’s easy to construct examples where it gets complicated. Pot 4 will maybe have two CONCACAF and two UEFA teams, which will each be ineligible for at least a couple groups. The exact procedure must be written down somewhere, so I’m surprised it’s not just included in the procedures given on the FIFA site.