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

192,749 Views | 3020 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by cruzdoggie
oh no
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Facts shouldn't be racist and why should USSF not want to attempt to maximize a home field advantage? It shouldn't be too big of a deal for teams other than Mexico, but the difference in crowd when we play Mexico in Columbus vs if we played Mexico in Los Angeles is a very stark contrast that no national federation would welcome in their home country.
deadbq03
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I don't think it's racist to avoid areas where the country of origin data shows a high amount of people from the opposing country.

However, if they're being lazy and simply using Hispanic population to generalize all the countries, then yes, it certainly is racist.
akm91
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That's rich coming from guys who's countrymen are openly racists towards their players.
"And liberals, being liberals, will double down on failure." - dedgod
KCup17
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There is a reason that during the GC Honduras and ES play virtually all their games in Houston. From what I hear it is quite an environment to be in.
Rudyjax
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I'm ok making it as difficult as possible for fans of another country to go to a US home game.

And it has nothing to do with race. It just so happens that all but Canada and Jamaica are Latino. It's a fact.
PatAg
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Also, obviously all of us here would love to see World Cup Qualifying games at cities in Texas, we could attend them. I dont want to go to a game against a Central AMerican team and feel like I am the visiting fan base.
jeffk
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It wasn't as clear cut as "the USSF is racist because they won't play in Houston, LA, Chicago, etc." Basically Lamenting that those markets won't ever see an important qualifier because the population of those areas would make for a hostile crowd. Which is can see both sides of: we absolutely want our team to play in environments that give them a competitive advantage, but also if you want to grow the game to more markets, you can't be scared of people booing your team.

It's complex, and I thought they handled that nuance well. Obviously there's an aspect of race present in those decisions, but the choice to put key games in front of friendly crowds in smaller venues, isn't in and of itself racist.
PatAg
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We've been playing games in those markets for decades, you cant force people to root for the country they live in. Playing a game there wont change that, it will just give them an opportunity to go root for Honduras or Guatemala in person.
Thats why we play the friendlies there, or even Gold Cups. WCQ needs to be where we get the biggest advantage we can.
jeffk
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Also, I'll add that some of my favorite soccer memories are attending USA-Mexico matches here in Texas. Definitely loud and hostile crowds, but a lot of fun as well. I think it's bad optics for USSF and that's probably one of their top priorities when choosing venues.
oh no
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my personal observations - I've been to a Mexico [forget which cup] quarterfinal match at NRG statdium in Houston - it was insane. No way USMNT could draw that level of sell out and atmosphere at NRG over 70k attendance- most in luchador wrestling masks, dousing all other fans with beer when they scored. In contrast, I've been to a USMNT friendly vs Chile at BBVA Compass stadium in Houston - granted it was just a friendly, but it was sad. Very sad. Couldn't sell out 20k. Tons of Chile fans.. Chile!


Edit to say, even though I don't get to go watch in person, I would 100% rather US play a WCQ in Columbus than Houston!
Rudyjax
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jeffk said:

It wasn't as clear cut as "the USSF is racist because they won't play in Houston, LA, Chicago, etc." Basically Lamenting that those markets won't ever see an important qualifier because the population of those areas would make for a hostile crowd. Which is can see both sides of: we absolutely want our team to play in environments that give them a competitive advantage, but also if you want to grow the game to more markets, you can't be scared of people booing your team.

It's complex, and I thought they handled that nuance well. Obviously there's an aspect of race present in those decisions, but the choice to put key games in front of friendly crowds in smaller venues, isn't in and of itself racist.


Yep. It sucks. But I would rather the US have a home field than me having a chance to go.

But this absolutely has nothing to do with race. Nationality=/race.

If Canada brought 50k crazy soccer fans, we'd play them in a non tourist area as far away as we could.
TRM
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Aye Davanita said:

jeffk said:

It wasn't as clear cut as "the USSF is racist because they won't play in Houston, LA, Chicago, etc." Basically Lamenting that those markets won't ever see an important qualifier because the population of those areas would make for a hostile crowd. Which is can see both sides of: we absolutely want our team to play in environments that give them a competitive advantage, but also if you want to grow the game to more markets, you can't be scared of people booing your team.

It's complex, and I thought they handled that nuance well. Obviously there's an aspect of race present in those decisions, but the choice to put key games in front of friendly crowds in smaller venues, isn't in and of itself racist.


Yep. It sucks. But I would rather the US have a home field than me having a chance to go.

But this absolutely has nothing to do with race. Nationality=/race.

If Canada brought 50k crazy soccer fans, we'd play them in a non tourist area as far away as we could.
Edinburg would be a good location for that.
JJxvi
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I think its probably racist somehow that England only plays at Wembley.
Rudyjax
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jeffk
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akm91 said:

That's rich coming from guys who's countrymen are openly racists towards their players.


This is a silly criticism. They're vocally against player abuse when it occurs in the UK.
jeffk
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JJxvi said:

I think its probably racist somehow that England only plays at Wembley.


I was having a somewhat similar discussion earlier this week. The US is really the only nation in the region that has to make decisions about where to host games with any sort of regularity (Canada being a recent exception). Every other nation has a central and historical location that hosts 99% of their national team games. It's really nice that we have so many viable choices, but it also means that for every game there's also a group of fans who will be disappointed with the site.
akm91
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jeffk said:

akm91 said:

That's rich coming from guys who's countrymen are openly racists towards their players.


This is a silly criticism. They're vocally against player abuse when it occurs in the UK.
Just as silly as their criticism of where the USSF selects the WCG locations.
"And liberals, being liberals, will double down on failure." - dedgod
JJxvi
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We should just name Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas as the National Stadium.
jeffk
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nm
EastSideAg2002
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For all the BS the rest of CONCACAF puts the US through, I say F'em. Do it again next cycle.
Aston94
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Yeah, I will listen to the complaints of Central American clubs when they stop throwing batteries and urine bombs at our players.

We are fully within our right to play games where we have a larger fan base. If Central American fans would like to start rooting for their adopted country over the country they left then I am sure we would love to have qualifiers in southern locations.

It's not racist by the way, it's nationalist. We have plenty of Hispanic fans that cheer on the US, we avoid qualifiers where large groups of immigrants from one nation reside.
Gordo14
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Also anybody that remembers the Costa Rica game in New York last World Cup Qualifying cycle would understand why that happening is unacceptable.

I did my part and went to Columbus for the El Salvador game. I wish we could have that kind of home field advantage in Houston (and I'm not talking about the weather).
jeffk
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Interesting. I didn't know Jamaica had filed this.

oh no
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FIFA only dismissed their protest for clerical reasons.
Quote:

Jamaica failed to notify the match commissioner of the protest and failed to make a payment of 1,000 Swiss francs (then $1,075) to accompany the protest.

I remember these moments:
Quote:

Jamaica said Costa Rican referee Juan Gabriel Caldern improperly failed to call a hand ball in the first half, when Reggae Boyz claimed Chris Richards should have been penalized for a ball that struck him in the penalty area.

Jamaica also said Damion Lowe should have been credited with a goal in the 84th minute when he leapt above Walker Zimmerman at the top of the 6-yard box and headed Leon Bailey's corner kick to the left of U.S. goalkeeper Zack Steffen. Caldern cited Lowe for infringement and disallowed the goal.
jeffk
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Even if they had gotten the clerical steps right, I don't think they would have won a game overturn. No VAR then and I just can't see FIFA overruling the region on calls as close as those.
oh no
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yeah, I know. just noticed in the article that FIFA denied them for those two clerical reasons. poor Jamaica.
jeffk
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Pretty ballsy to even file that. Especially when you just leave the "processing fee" unpaid.
oh no
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I recall thinking we were lucky Richards wasn't called for that handball, but I also recall it being very close - arguably a natural position, and of course, Concacaf didn't have VAR available yet to review obvious errors. Could have done either way - ref is part of the game - just like soccer is supposed to be. Never considered it close to egregious to the point that a formal protest would be filed by Jamaica.

...and the other one, I recall thinking the ref absolutely got that call right. I thought Zimmerman 100% got shoved to the ground in the position jockeying in the air on that one. Be upset about it if you want, Jamaica, but Zero grounds to formally protest.


...but maybe my recollection is off and maybe I'm a bit biased.
fig96
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Either way, filing a protest over two clear judgement calls is...bold.
fig96
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I love how MLS Pro does it, release a weekly video and tell you they clearly got it wrong while having no actual effect on the match result.
Mathguy64
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Remind me again. Were these plays before or after the two blatant DOGSO non calls against Jamaica?

Should have taken their 1000 swiss francs and told them to pound sand.
TheMasterplan
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oh no said:

Facts shouldn't be racist and why should USSF not want to attempt to maximize a home field advantage? It shouldn't be too big of a deal for teams other than Mexico, but the difference in crowd when we play Mexico in Columbus vs if we played Mexico in Los Angeles is a very stark contrast that no national federation would welcome in their home country.
The main ones that are complaining about US soccer playing in very cold environments are the ones that only just started watching soccer and weren't paying attention to what the USMNT went through in the 2000s.

Honestly, Canada is in WCQs now, should they be denied home games because it's too cold? Central American teams are just going to have to accept that now. US has cold places as well so it makes no difference.

2:00 PM games in San Sula when it's 100+ degrees out with fans outside the hotel isn't fun.

Rudyjax
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TheMasterplan said:

oh no said:

Facts shouldn't be racist and why should USSF not want to attempt to maximize a home field advantage? It shouldn't be too big of a deal for teams other than Mexico, but the difference in crowd when we play Mexico in Columbus vs if we played Mexico in Los Angeles is a very stark contrast that no national federation would welcome in their home country.
The main ones that are complaining about US soccer playing in Canada are the ones that only just started watching soccer and weren't paying attention to what the USMNT went through in the 2000s.

Wait, are people complaining that Canada has home games?
TheMasterplan
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Aye Davanita said:

TheMasterplan said:

oh no said:

Facts shouldn't be racist and why should USSF not want to attempt to maximize a home field advantage? It shouldn't be too big of a deal for teams other than Mexico, but the difference in crowd when we play Mexico in Columbus vs if we played Mexico in Los Angeles is a very stark contrast that no national federation would welcome in their home country.
The main ones that are complaining about US soccer playing in Canada are the ones that only just started watching soccer and weren't paying attention to what the USMNT went through in the 2000s.

Wait, are people complaining that Canada has home games?
Replace Canada with "cold environments in the US"

Got ahead of myself.

Main point I was making is Canada is always going to have cold home environments going forward now that they're a CONCACAF contender. Just because the US has warm climates somewhere doesn't mean they have to play there.
oh no
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Aye Davanita said:

TheMasterplan said:

oh no said:

Facts shouldn't be racist and why should USSF not want to attempt to maximize a home field advantage? It shouldn't be too big of a deal for teams other than Mexico, but the difference in crowd when we play Mexico in Columbus vs if we played Mexico in Los Angeles is a very stark contrast that no national federation would welcome in their home country.
The main ones that are complaining about US soccer playing in Canada are the ones that only just started watching soccer and weren't paying attention to what the USMNT went through in the 2000s.

Wait, are people complaining that Canada has home games?
I don't know what Masterplan is talking about, but Canada was not part of the HEX in 2018, 2014, 2010, 2006, or 2002... These Central American and Caribbean squads haven't ever had to play an away concacaf WCQ in Canada between the 1998 HEX and the 2022 OCT. I haven't noticed an uproar about it though. I've only seen the uproar about the US playing in Minnesota vs Honduras the other day, which was calculated considering our 2nd match day was in Hamilton Ontario and we had Honduras coming up from central america.

It really is crazy comparing how bad Canada has been to how good they are right now. A lot of immigration over the last 30 years, investment in their youth and development programs over the last several years, MLS helping a lot.. .
 
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