Nerds.

So as not to be redundant, because I agree with most of what has been said... It wasn't just Pulisic who played poorly last night. Jedi and Dest both lost the ball incredibly easily, which resulted in Dest getting subbed out at the half. Weston lost the ball far too many times trying to be too cute with the ball. Even Balogun, who I thought put in a decent amount of effort tried 2 or 3 backheel passes where that just wasn't the right play.

And, yes, as mentioned, when you rely on a 40-year-old MLSer to captain your backline, you are asking for trouble. We got away with it against lesser opponents, but got exposed last night. (And it's not just that he made mistakes that led to goals, Adams had to cover for him and that messed up our ability to move the ball through the midfield.)

I'm to the point in life where I really don't care about growing the game. If a bunch of random folks tuned in last night to watch that and came away disappointed, whatever. But as someone who has followed this team for over 35 years, it's tough not to feel pretty disheartened. Hopefully, there's a wave of youngsters coming through, because this lot can't beat a premium side.

I would think someone might bring him in as a one season insurance plan AND his leadership/personality. Not to mention a little media/branding pop.

Part of me thinks a team like Wrexham pulls him in.

Coming here to type almost a verbatim post, Kuiper.  I would add that the GK they subbed off was having the night of his life. He was on fire and had what was probably the save of the tournament so far.

Coach over-thought a host of issues for the PK, but taking out a guy that was having a HEROIC night was the biggest issue I have.

Sometimes, when you have a plan, the greatest strength a coach can display is the ability to improvise and read the moment.

Huge fail on a bunch of fronts from him.

Absolute dagger re: Flo, but think about this:

The US has crushed its all-time total goals scored, and guess who hasn't scored any of those goals?

Hint: He hails from Hershey, PA.

I'm not minimizing CP's play at all so far. When available, he's been absolute class. I'm just saying he has yet to get on the ledger, and I'm sure he's hungry to step up with Balo out.
 

Some of those hotels... Woof. A Courtyard by Marriott?

I mean, I'm always happy when that's an option when I'm on a road trip, but for a group of highly paid professional athletes?

Yikes.

What's funny is that every time I open this thread, I'm hoping for an update on this guy.

What a curious path. I guess his wife was able to find gainful employment in the Tampa region.

Quote from: BaboNation on April 17, 2026, 07:51:04 PM

Quote from: Kuiper on April 17, 2026, 12:42:36 AMFrench National Team moves home base from Babson to Bentley

https://thewellesleynews.com/23335/news-investigation/french-national-football-team-chooses-bentley-over-babson/

Not a big deal in the overall scheme of things, but it would have fun to have the top ranked team in the world training at a D3 school

"The men's French national football team, Les Bleus, will train at Bentley University in Waltham during the World Cup this summer, despite having previously committed to training at Babson College. According to French football reports, the change was sparked by prolonged financial negotiations and an impasse between Babson, the French Football Federation (FFF) and FIFA.

Les Bleus are the top-ranked team in the World Cup as of April 14.

On March 26, Bentley's athletic director, Vaughn Williams, announced that the French team will arrive on June 10 and train at Bentley for the duration of the World Cup. The university will serve as a training site that the team will return to, no matter how far they travel for their tournaments, which are scheduled to happen across the country."

Disappointing, but we'll probably never get the full story.  I too was looking forward to having a World Cup team train there as they have numerous times in the past, and not just for WC matches.  Babson has been very accommodating in the prior years.
I suspect and expect Babson will still get a team.

Something I didn't know until just now: Bentley is D2 in 22 of 23 programs. I knew men's hockey is D1.

Quote from: Ejay on April 17, 2026, 05:36:29 PMSee now, I loved it. I love student announcers, especially when they're homers.

Yeah, I've heard a LOT worse than that.

That sounds like bird genitals.

*runs out of room*

Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on March 05, 2026, 11:37:29 AM

Quote from: Hopkins92 on March 05, 2026, 10:14:47 AMI love anything that cuts out time wasting. Huge pet peeve for almost all fans.

(I'm old enough that when I first started playing, you could pass back to the goalie and they could just pick it up and hold it for however long they liked. I would split GK duties with another player all the way through high school, playing midfield/defense in the other half. I was a bit of an anomaly at the time, being able to play keeper sweeper before that was really a thing. I actually "quit" playing goalie when I moved to MD... Didn't tell anyone that was my "real" position and made the high school team as a field player. Our goalies were terrible and one of my teammates outed me to coach... Rest is "history".


Nowadays, you've got guys like Neuer who probably could play at the highest level as a field player, but he's not some outlier, generally speaking.)

Hahaha. Yup remember that as well. Had to look it up. Apparently changed in 1992 which does not seem so long ago. The pass back was the main feature in the West Ger v. Austria 1982 pool play called "The Disgrace of Gijón"  Craziest fixed game. Algeria really, really got screwed.  https://youtu.be/M0mHp3iyWGg?si=L5zf7JK-OS2tdzW5 

Again, showing my age, I actually remember reading/hearing about that game.

I'm actually kind of shocked it wasn't changed until 92. I guess because I kept playing into my 30s and adapted with the new rules... I don't really remember being able to pick up back passes playing in college. That said, I remember punting a TON, which is funny thinking about how Hop plays today.

That has been floated for YEARS and I'm pretty annoyed it wasn't in place for this round of the WC. The fact that they are having a trial season in Canada is very encouraging.

The VAR process that splits hairs should favor allowing more goals, not the opposite.

I love anything that cuts out time wasting. Huge pet peeve for almost all fans.

(I'm old enough that when I first started playing, you could pass back to the goalie and they could just pick it up and hold it for however long they liked. I would split GK duties with another player all the way through high school, playing midfield/defense in the other half. I was a bit of an anomaly at the time, being able to play keeper sweeper before that was really a thing. I actually "quit" playing goalie when I moved to MD... Didn't tell anyone that was my "real" position and made the high school team as a field player. Our goalies were terrible and one of my teammates outed me to coach... Rest is "history".


Nowadays, you've got guys like Neuer who probably could play at the highest level as a field player, but he's not some outlier, generally speaking.)

Point of clarification, because I'm too lazy to dig this up:

Does "release" pertain to the goalie holding the ball in their hands, or does it also pertain to when the ball is at their feet? If it's the latter, that seems problematic.

Also, it feels like tracking this should be something a 4th official could help backstop, but I don't think 4th officials are a mandated thing at the D3 level. (I guess someone could clarify that, too. :-))

Lastly, I wonder if there is a mandate that all D3 schools have a scoreboard that has a clock/timer. It has always been weird to me that in basketball there isn't a ten second clock, separate from the shot clock. But in any event, a ref can just look at the darn clock to see if they have hit 10 seconds. Having them do it manually (or whatever the term is) seems so antiquated and silly.

You are absolutely correct. I got caught up in taking the Disney version of the story at face value. Most of the country, even folks in hockey country, weren't following their exhibition season until it was closer to the Games. I distinctly remember the Russians smoking the US, which stuck with a lot of folks.

But, yes, the overall run-up had its blips, but was mostly successful.