World Cup and European leagues

[SierraFD3soccer]

USA 4 - Paraguay 1

WOW!  That's how you start out the first World Cup competition on home soil in 32 years.

The flow of the US attack felt like Trinity (TX)'s 5-0 win over Augsburg in the NCAA Quarterfinals if we're doing something crazy and comparing it to a D3 men's soccer NCAA Tournament game.

Whether on home soil or not, that was really really impressive. Yeah, Paraguay, but still I was impressed. Besides getting goals which always seems like pulling teeth, Freese did not face a single shot on goal.

[Ron Boerger]

Chris Richards was 83/83 passing, the most perfect passes by any WC player since 1966.
With two goals in the opener Folarin Balogun is already fifth all-time for goals scored in USMNT history. And the last time any US player scored a brace in a WC match was 1930.
The last time the USMNT won a WC match by three goals was 1930 (when they did it twice).
The last time the US hosted the WC (1994) they scored three goals in total.   
The US had never scored four goals in a WC match until yesterday.

[jknezek]

I paid to some friends and family last night the first half was the most dominant half of soccer I'd seen the U.S. play in a meaningful game against a credible opponent. The second half was very good, but not great.

Couple defensive lapses. To give that much space on a free kick was just poor. But we knew defense was an issue coming in to he tournament. For teams that play defensive or we can keep on the back foot we should be fine.

I don't think we will hold up against a team that can take it to us. Still, 3 pts and a +3 goal differential gets us a long way toward the round of 32.

[Kuiper]

I don't know if @EnmoreCat checks back in on this Forum anymore, but congrats on Australia's 2-0 win over Turkiye late last night!

First the NCAA D3 Men's Soccer Championship with Amherst and now a win in its World Cup opener!

The US is going to have a challenge with Australia's speed in transition.

[Ron Boerger]

Crazy result where the Cape Verde Islands in their WC debut manage to tie Spain 0-0.   That's #64 blanking #3.  CVI keeper Vozinha, 40 years young, not only stopped seven shots but went from 50,000 to 2.2 million Insta followers.  Spain had 27 shots in total.

[Kuiper]

This Messi kid looks pretty good.  Not tall enough for Amherst, of course, but I'm sure he could find the right fit with some college recruiting consultants.

[SierraFD3soccer]

This Messi kid looks pretty good.  Not tall enough for Amherst, of course, but I'm sure he could find the right fit with some college recruiting consultants.

Hahaha, are you saying they can only have one below average in height a year since Nuhu is their man??  https://athletics.amherst.edu/sports/mens-soccer/roster/mohammed-nuhu/17526

Says 5'7" but I think they might be stretching it a bit.

[Gregory Sager]

This Messi kid looks pretty good.  Not tall enough for Amherst, of course, but I'm sure he could find the right fit with some college recruiting consultants.

I dunno. I'd hate to see Lionel Messi relegated to pounding the table over Williams College setting the gold standard in excellence in academics and D3 athletics.

[SimpleCoach]

This Messi kid looks pretty good.  Not tall enough for Amherst, of course, but I'm sure he could find the right fit with some college recruiting consultants.

The fact that he is all left foot ... just too much of a liability.  If he wants to stay in the Nescac, think he fit in at Trinity.

SC.

[Kuiper]

Random thoughts about a couple of the games today:

1.  Mexico clinched a spot in the next round, but South Korea's GK gift-wrapped it for them in an otherwise uninspiring performance (but for the Mexico GK's game saving double save).  I fully subscribe to the "go for the catch" school of goalkeeping, but that's because if you don't go in with that mentality, you will never catch it.  In this case, he mostly illustrated, though, why it is hard to speak in absolute terms about the split-second decision as his own defender undercut him and made the catch difficult.

2.  How did Switzerland-Bosnia go from a snooze-fest 0-0 tie to a 4-1 Swiss victory over the last 16 minutes!?  Seems like the Swiss coach got his starters completely wrong because when he brought in the young subs late, it completely changed the game.  I see that in the college game too.  Many coaches won't trust their freshman in key situations and it costs them the game.  They play not to lose instead of to win.  The Swiss really had to win so they wouldn't have to go play Canada needing a win.

3.  Canada crushing Qatar makes me wonder how Qatar tied Switzerland.

[Kuiper]

With the US' 2-0 victory over Australia and Paraguay's 1-0 victory over Turkiye, the USMNT secure the top spot in the group for the knockout round!

So, Poch will likely rest the guys with yellows (Richards, Balogun, Robinson, and Adams) and probably Pulisic too unless he's 100% and needs a run-out as a sub.  Does he do a full rotation or try to play a mixed group of players to keep the momentum going?

[BaboNation]

I wish they opened up the offsides rule a little to increase scoring and excitement (as I watch yet another "goal" taken away, this time for Sweden by a correct call).

Instead of ruling offsides if any part of the body is offside, rule it onside it any part of the body is onside.

[Ejay]

I've been arguing that for years, but IFAB won't listen to me.