***Official USMNT-WCQ Octagonal Thread***

204,729 Views | 3020 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by cruzdoggie
Mathguy64
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I just saw the Canada goal. If that doesn't prove they are a golden child this year I don't know what else you need to see. Shot from touch line hits the post low then hits a Canadian player laying prone on the ground who isn't even looking and then goes in. You couldn't do that is you tried.
PatAg
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Win at panama and 99.9% of the time we qualify
oh no
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Mathguy64 said:

I just saw the Canada goal. If that doesn't prove they are a golden child this year I don't know what else you need to see. Shot from touch line hits the post low then hits a Canadian player laying prone on the ground who isn't even looking and then goes in. You couldn't do that is you tried.
it was one of the freakiest unlucky goals I've ever seen.

I keep seeing Canada make bad passes, bad touches, and bad decisions when trying to play out. I see them finish a match and stats don't show many successful crosses, very few set pieces from the corners, very few shots on goal, passing accuracy and possession aren't great... yet they're undefeated vs the octagonal in WCQ because of freaky weird crap like that and actually finishing the 1 or 2 dangerous counters they get late in matches. It's working for them. Good GK and 3 tight CBs holding the line defensively and some dogs up top who bury their chance. ..and Canada got mean. They are nasty with their tackles, shoulders, elbows, **** talking and attitude. I just don't think they will have as good of a chance to get out of a group stage in Qatar. As soon as they face a UEFA team, I think they're toast and wont be able to rely on hope for one counter... but that's what USA used to be and we did make a quarter final in 2002 with Landon and Clint, so I guess you never know.
Pahdz
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are you equating our 2002 squad with this current Canada squad?
oh no
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PatAg said:

Win at panama and 99.9% of the time we qualify
yep - if Panama gets 3 on the first match day and we get 0 at Mex, then they've closed the gap to 1. We win at home vs Panama- which we should - it's back to 4 pts clear with a match left and they can't catch us. We would just need to see how CRC is doing those first two match days to see if we qualified already or still have a risk of falling to 4th for the play-in game. ..however, we draw or lose to Panama on the 2nd match day after losing at Mex, we're either behind by 2 or only 1 point ahead of Panama going to the last match on the road and would have a tougher task than Pan on the last day. but also depending on how CRC did those two days - could still be safe for at least the play-in 4th spot.

I feel pretty good about it, but we also felt pretty good going to T&T five years ago where all we needed was a point or CRC to lose in MEX.

I want us to go ahead and beat Mex in azteca on the first day. Let's just get 9 points in March and finish 1st in concacaf qualifying if Canada lays off the gas.
Rudyjax
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Never ever ever underestimate the chance the countries will collude with fake goals and losing on purpose to keep the US out.

We need to earn our way in, not have to count on others to let us in.
oh no
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Pahdz said:

are you equating our 2002 squad with this current Canada squad?
in a sense. not the most skillful, good GK, rely on athleticism speed / counters. in a sense that they shouldn't but could have a chance to break through to quarterfinals that way.
JJxvi
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I was gonna call you out for your Clint in 2002 reference, but I guess "Clint" technically did score a goal at the 2002 World Cup. Some might even say it was why he was there.
oh no
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lol.. don't give me credit. I was not thinking about that Clint. Brain fart. How about Donovan and McBride
Aston94
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oh no said:

Pahdz said:

are you equating our 2002 squad with this current Canada squad?
in a sense. not the most skillful, good GK, rely on athleticism speed / counters. in a sense that they shouldn't but could have a chance to break through to quarterfinals that way.
I think you may be discounting the skill on that 2002 USMNT a bit. They were athletic, but also very talented with:

Claudio Reyna
Brian McBride
John O'Brien
Earnie Stewart
Joe-Max Moore
Landon Donovan
Eddie Lewis
Demarcus Beasley
Steve Cherundolo
Pablo Mastroeni
David Regis
Cobi Jones

Not to mention the keepers (Keller, Friedel, Meola)

That was a very talented roster. There was a reason we were competitive throughout and had a real chance to beat Germany and go to the semifinals.

Canada plays well together, has some speed and some quality, but watching their three games, especially this 3 game set, they were lucky to claim 3 wins. Probably should have gone 1-0-2 at best, if not 1-1-1 or 1-2-0.
Pahdz
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Thanks for breaking that down. I was too lazy but yeah I feel like our 2002 roster had some damn good talent that Canada is nowhere near.
TRM
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Aston94 said:

oh no said:

Pahdz said:

are you equating our 2002 squad with this current Canada squad?
in a sense. not the most skillful, good GK, rely on athleticism speed / counters. in a sense that they shouldn't but could have a chance to break through to quarterfinals that way.
I think you may be discounting the skill on that 2002 USMNT a bit. They were athletic, but also very talented with:

Claudio Reyna
Brian McBride
John O'Brien
Earnie Stewart
Joe-Max Moore
Landon Donovan
Eddie Lewis
Demarcus Beasley
Steve Cherundolo
Pablo Mastroeni
David Regis
Cobi Jones

Not to mention the keepers (Keller, Friedel, Meola)

That was a very talented roster. There was a reason we were competitive throughout and had a real chance to beat Germany and go to the semifinals.

Canada plays well together, has some speed and some quality, but watching their three games, especially this 3 game set, they were lucky to claim 3 wins. Probably should have gone 1-0-2 at best, if not 1-1-1 or 1-2-0.

Imagine where'd be if we did beat Germany. Good chance we beat SK in the semis and go to the final.
oh no
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we did beat them
DeangeloVickers
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Now that we got the 3 points and head to March

How do we schedule a game against Honduras in February in MINNESOTA.....

Im still so puzzled......

Shouldnt we try to GROW the game in the USA.....not make everyone miserable?
Our leadership is so bizarre

oh no
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meh.. we already knew we'd have the middle away game in this window up in Canada in the cold and probably wanted to start camp and train in the cold to prepare for that one... so when you have two squads from damn near the equator coming up who have never experienced cold cold weather like that, might as well make them suffer and hope it helps us win.
Pahdz
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I don't know man, from my account I don't think anyone attending last night is hanging up their "fandom" because of it, probably gained fans.

The weather posts are tiresome. It's over we won and oh none of our guys got hurt.
akm91
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Pahdz said:

The weather posts are tiresome. It's over we won and oh none of our guys got hurt.
Other than Pepi
"And liberals, being liberals, will double down on failure." - dedgod
tysker
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Quote:

Eddie Lewis
Steve Cherundolo
this current US team would be so much more effective if they had defenders like Lewis and/or Dolo on the roster
aggiebird02
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tysker said:

Quote:

Eddie Lewis
Steve Cherundolo
this current US team would be so much more effective if they had defenders like Lewis and/or Dolo on the roster
Little Stevie 'Dolo's crosses were awesome; that dude could ball, and was a huge threat when pushing forward into the attack. And what about Frankie Hejduk, also a great attacking defender. I wish we had someone that dangerous now…
tysker
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aggiephoenix02 said:

tysker said:

Quote:

Eddie Lewis
Steve Cherundolo
this current US team would be so much more effective if they had defenders like Lewis and/or Dolo on the roster
Little Stevie 'Dolo's crosses were awesome; that dude could ball, and was a huge threat when pushing forward into the attack. And what about Frankie Hejduk, also a great attacking defender. I wish we had someone that dangerous now…
and Demarcus too. Instead we're trying to figure out how to get Dest on the field
oh no
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i feel like USA has struggled to find a competent left back since Beasley... until now. Antonee is it, IMO.
aggiebird02
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tysker said:

aggiephoenix02 said:

tysker said:

Quote:

Eddie Lewis
Steve Cherundolo
this current US team would be so much more effective if they had defenders like Lewis and/or Dolo on the roster
Little Stevie 'Dolo's crosses were awesome; that dude could ball, and was a huge threat when pushing forward into the attack. And what about Frankie Hejduk, also a great attacking defender. I wish we had someone that dangerous now…
and Demarcus too. Instead we're trying to figure out how to get Dest on the field

Hell yeah, the water bug, how could I forget him? I mean it seemed like he had a 20 year career on the national team…

Edit: Remember his cross to Dempsey in the World Cup game against Ghana? Dangerous!


PatAg
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oh no said:

i feel like USA has struggled to find a competent left back since Beasley... until now. Antonee is it, IMO.
He sucks at crossing the ball, unfortunately
JJxvi
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Beasley wasn't really a left back. He was just a left sided player that was still around plugged into the gap.
aggiebird02
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JJxvi said:

Beasley wasn't really a left back. He was just a left sided player that was still around plugged into the gap.
Okay. I still wish we had someone like that now…
JJxvi
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Although I guess Beasley is still a comparable player to Eddie Lewis. Lewis was also a winger who filled in at left back when he got older.
JJxvi
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It wasn't all peaches and cream on the left for a lot of those days either. We played a lot of games with a central defender on the left like Bocanegra with Donovan on that side in the attack.
jeffk
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Yeah, a lot of fond remembering of days gone by. I love those players, but it wasn't the good old days by most measures.
tysker
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i have this dvd somewhere...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1370261090/rise-and-shine-the-jay-demerit-story/description
Aston94
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JJxvi said:

It wasn't all peaches and cream on the left for a lot of those days either. We played a lot of games with a central defender on the left like Bocanegra with Donovan on that side in the attack.
Very true, I remember many, many times wondering why Jeff Agoos was the only LB we could ever find.
aggiebird02
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Ooof, Jeff Agoos, now there is a name I haven't heard in a long, long time…
Milwaukees Best Light
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PatAg said:

oh no said:

i feel like USA has struggled to find a competent left back since Beasley... until now. Antonee is it, IMO.
He sucks at crossing the ball, unfortunately
ChipFTAC01
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Listening to the post game podcast by MIB after the game this week and while they are rightly lambasting/mocking USSF for the location of these games, Roger is dancing not very gingerly around calling the USSF racists for not wanting to play games in Houston or LA where there are a lot more Latino opposing fans.
PatAg
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ChipFTAC01 said:

Listening to the post game podcast by MIB after the game this week and while they are rightly lambasting/mocking USSF for the location of these games, Roger is dancing not very gingerly around calling the USSF racists for not wanting to play games in Houston or LA where there are a lot more Latino opposing fans.
They are good when they stick to making funny jokes, but no one should go to them for any real soccer commentary or deep opinions.
PatAg
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I don't get how this is a hard concept for people. We dont want to play WCQ games where the crowd roots for the visiting team. Its not racist because that IS what happens when we play games in those cities against those countries.
Don't like it, show up to a friendly in one of those cities and have the crowd be majority for the US. Then the city might get a WCQ.
 
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