This match had all kinds of strange non calls. Not one but two fouls in the area that could have given PKs to Italy. One was a no doubter. And not one but two no calls in handling by Italy in the area. One was a straight whistle swallow and the other I think the CR was blocked from seeing. It looked like the CR was hell bent and determined that he wasn't making the game changing call. And went instead with the game changing non call theory.

I think all of the rotten fruit in Italy probably was launched at the team bus.

aarjon said:

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The US should host an alternative tournament with Italy, Netherlands, Wales, Chile, Paraguay, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, NZ/Peru, Honduras/Australia and China.

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I'd watch that.

we could call it the "black jack and hookers cup"

Glad Sweden made it; they beat out the Dutch in pool play and advanced through the playoff.

I just wanted to come here and drop this in.

And the Swedes did it with an MLS CB in Gustav Svensson.

aarjon said:

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The US should host an alternative tournament with Italy, Netherlands, Wales, Chile, Paraguay, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, NZ/Peru, Honduras/Australia and China.

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During halftime of the US Portugal friendly the announcers just teased that the US was looking into such a tourney or series of matches. Is this actually a thing?

Before that comment I would have said there is a 1% chance of it happening. That comment made me raise it to 10% but still seriously doubting it

I'm down with us doing something - hosting a four-team friendly tourney would be an opportunity for our guys to get further NT minutes.

Sounds like something is coming together with all the failures

http://www.espnfc.com/united-states/story/3269935/us-soccer-exploring-pre-world-cup-matches-with-netherlands-italy

It could happen, copa America came together in less than s year. I'm sure Puma, Nike and Adidas would Be for it to sell jerseys

moneyag7 said:

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Before that comment I would have said there is a 1% chance of it happening. That comment made me raise it to 10% but still seriously doubting it

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Honestly its like we were invited to play at a certain playground so we're gonna take a ball and go play somewhere else. #ItsAboutUs

moneyag7 said:

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Copa America is an established tournament that has been around for a century though

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I think he meant the Centanario version. That was done on short notice.

Having Arena on yesterday was incredibly tone-deaf. All he did was make excuses and distance himself from the disaster he helped perpetrate. He really didn't face much in the way of pointed questions regarding his decisions either - kind of expected Lalas to be more aggressive, but he may have been told to keep in friendly.

That being said, about this NIT World Cup idea - I know it's not a great look and it smacks of taking our ball and going home (literally), but at this juncture, our young guys need playing time together. If we can get just three quality sides to send teams over for a little round-robin tourney, that would be for our benefit. The objections I see most are purely ego-driven. It's time to bite the bullet and admit we are in total rebuilding mode at the senior NT level. Heck, just embrace the idea and market it as a rebuilding tour or something. Maybe even play at some smaller venues that don't get to host matches regularly. (Yes, I know this assumes that USSF is cool with not trying to make this a cash-grab...)

I don't like the idea of the perception of a World Cup NIT, but it could be a cool way to bring some teams to the States. Just doing a quick scan of who's qualified and comparing it to the FIFA rankings...

Chile 9
Wales 14
Italy 15
Netherlands 20
N. Ireland 23
Slovakia 24
Ireland 26
Us 27
Scotland 27
Ukraine 30
Turkey 33
Congo 35
Austria 39
Cameroon 42
Czech Republic 46

Pick 8 teams from there, two groups of 4, top 2 advance from both groups. Everyone gets 3-5 games, and the ussf has 15 games of tickets to sell. Spread them across 5 cities and play the games in MLS not nfl stadiums. Say Chicago, one of the Texas stadiums, New York or Philly, Seattle, and LA?

If it were only the top 8 teams based on FIFA rankings (we'd barely squeak in), then it may actually be more compelling matches than many of the WC group stage matches.

ChipFTAC01 said:

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I don't like the idea of the perception of a World Cup NIT, but it could be a cool way to bring some teams to the States. Just doing a quick scan of who's qualified and comparing it to the FIFA rankings...

Chile 9
Wales 14
Italy 15
Netherlands 20
N. Ireland 23
Slovakia 24
Ireland 26
Us 27
Scotland 27
Ukraine 30
Turkey 33
Congo 35
Austria 39
Cameroon 42
Czech Republic 46

Pick 8 teams from there, two groups of 4, top 2 advance from both groups. Everyone gets 3-5 games, and the ussf has 15 games of tickets to sell. Spread them across 5 cities and play the games in MLS not nfl stadiums. Say Chicago, one of the Texas stadiums, New York or Philly, Seattle, and LA?

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I'm sure the players will play will all-out effort and the player's clubs won't mind a bit. Honestly I think I'd be cool as hell but I doubt the A-teams would be brought in to play.

Good luck filling up the stadiums, especially for the traveling countries.

Yeah, you'd get the B or B+ teams most likely, but clubs would be on break anyway due to the WC.

It would be fun for soccer fans but i think the "hot take" shows on espn/fs1/etc would make fun of it to no end. Thats not a reason to not do it, but i just know that by the time it happens the "not good enough" tourney takes will be annoying as hell.

I dint think we will see this as a "tournament" but I would not at all be shocked to see this happen as a set of friendlies. Bring in 3 other teams (Italy, Netherlands, Chile) and do a round robin where everyone gets 3 friendlies.

Timing would be an issue as well. League play ends generally in mid-May and the WC stars in mid-June. Would they try to fit this tourney in during the break and then squeeze 4-7 games in 2-3 weeks? I couldn't imagine they'd try to compete for screens agsint the WC. Then again depending on kickoff times, they could totally make a second concurrent tourney work. You know people would watch if only out of irony and masochism.

Just want to add a few thoughts here.

• Just because the clubs are on break, doesn't mean that they would release their players for a "meaningless" time during the summer.Injury risks and such so it would be B teams
• I don't think a tournament bracket is the right idea for this. Friendlies sure. Tournament with winners and losers, no. No federation is going to want to be crowned the loser of the "NIT World Cup"
• Play the games at night in the US and you can avoid scheduling issues with the World Cup
• Smaller venue thing would be cool, but we aren't in the business of this so I guarantee that USSF tries to make as much money as possible somehow lol
• I think it would be good for soccer in the US as it is a way to spread the sport with international players coming to town (that is, if big name players come at all)
• Overall, I like the idea of it. Just way too many options right now to make an educated opinion on what is actually going to happen. Also interesting to think about the future implications of this. Would this happen every World Cup summer? Who would host it each time?

Soccer speaking only, there is literally zero negatives to this idea.

There is always injury risk with extra games and extra fatigue for players travelling from overseas.

And if their nations made the WC that'd all be in play.

More soccer, more exposure, experience for youth for all teams involved.... again, minus some fans who think it's embarrassing, there is zero drawback for this

moneyag7 said:

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There is always injury risk with extra games and extra fatigue for players travelling from overseas.

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Same risk as all players in the World Cup.

There's no downside in the from the US perspective. We're going to have to have a pretty large youth movement for 2022, so the quicker we can get started the better.

Pahdz and B&C, yes they would have the same risk as a World Cup team but it's not up to the federations to decide who shows up. It is up to the clubs who are spending millions on these players and expect them to be healthy. A club would be much more unlikely to release a player for a round of friendlies.