The first match of the World Cup knockout stage features a nation which shockingly missed the 2018 World Cup, has routinely disappointed in previous World Cup appearances, and which features a domestic league known for development but that has a questionable competitive level. The other nation is the United States. The two sides will square off on Saturday, 12/3 at 10 AM Eastern.
As we know, the US advanced to the knockout rounds with a 1-0 win over Iran on Tuesday. Over in Group A, The Netherlands topped their group with 7 points on the back of 2-0 wins over Senegal and Qatar and a 1-1 draw with Ecuador. They left it late against Senegal with the first goal coming in the 84th minute followed by a clincher a few minutes later. An early goal put them ahead against Ecuador but they were quite poor throughout and conceded the equalizer shortly after halftime. Finally, they easily dispatched an already-eliminated Qatar with no drama.
While the Dutch topped their group, there were times they didn't look convincing. They look quite strong in defense, but they are lacking creativity in attack (sound familiar?). They have had major issues with ball progression and are still figuring out which of their attackers who aren't actually strikers they should start at striker. Because if there's one thing I know about soccer, it's that if you don't have any natural players at a given position, you should play a formation which requires two of them 🤷🏻♂️ They are a formidable opponent, but the prevailing opinion seems to be that they could be there for the taking. I wouldn't bet the house on either side, but the point is we have a shot.
Their key player thus far has been Cody Gakpo. A breakout star for PSV in Holland this season, Gakpo has taken the tournament by storm thus far. Naturally a left winger, he has been playing either in a free-roaming attacking midfielder role or as one of two strikers in this tournament. He has scored 3 of The Netherlands 4 goals and been the key man for their attack. He is extremely athletic, with an unusually large build for such a quick player and can score with either foot or use his tall frame to win headers, as he did with his first goal against Senegal.
Other key players:
- Frankie De Jong - CM: Extremely talented dribbler and passer who keeps things moving in midfield. Likes to drop into the back line and carry through to break pressing.
- Virgil van Dijk - CB: The Netherlands boasts one of the deepest groups of CBs in the world, headlined by Van Dijk. He's been the best in the game for many years and, at the risk of upsetting the Liverpool fans on this board, perhaps he's taken a step back? For international soccer though, his level is still elite. He's partnered in defense by Nathan Ake and one of Jurrien Timber or Mathias de Ligt
- Denzel Dumfries - RWB: The Netherlands plays with 3 in the back with two central front players, so the wingbacks are the main source of width for the Dutch. Dumfries is an excellent outlet at RWB who can be very dangerous swinging in balls to Gakpo. Robinson will need to be alert and the US will have to figure out a way to pin the Dutch back to keep Dumfries occupied in defense.
- Memphis Depay - ST?: Depay has generally started on the bench but is one of the first names Louis van Gaal looks for to provide a spark. Extremely quick and skilled on the ball, he may be a tough test for our physical, but not especially quick CBs. Like Gakpo, he is not a natural striker, but they'll play him there anyway.
Summary
Crucially, no US players picked up a second yellow card against Iran, so there are no suspensions for the US. However, Christian Pulisic and Josh Sargent are injury doubts after being subbed off with pelvic and ankle injuries, respectively. They are listed as day-to-day by the US medical staff. EDIT: Pulisic has been cleared to play. If they can't go, I would expect Brenden Aaronson to get the start at LW. Not sure what would happen at ST. Haji Wright has looked unconvincing and Berhalter doesn't seem to trust Ferreira at this level (maybe we should have brought Pepi?!). Perhaps Tim Weah gets a look at ST with Gio Reyna or Aaronson slotting in at RW (if Pulisic is healthy). The Netherlands has their full squad available, although Mathias de Ligt and Nathan Ake are both on a yellow.
This has the makings of a low scoring affair, and whoever is able to provide that moment of attacking brilliance could be the difference. Once again, our midfield will be the key to victory. The Dutch midfield looked all sorts of lost against Ecuador and they, like at striker, are still trying to figure out who should start next to Frenkie de Jong. Maybe they should have worked on that before the tournament? Subs will be key as the game could extend into extra time for the first time in this tournament (2 15 minute halves followed by a penalty shootout if the score is still level). Berhalter will need to get those right.
Predicted 11:
Turner
Dest - Carter-Vickers - Ream - Robinson
Musah - Adams - McKennie
Weah - Sargent - Pulisic
I'm not saying they're definitely going to win. But I'm not NOT saying they're going to win. And if they do win, they will face the winner of Australia-Argentina. A semifinal berth is not crazy...just saying.
USA 2-1 NED The Dutch score first but we battle back to level it with a Weah goal. Jordan Morris comes on in the 99'. Twitter is furious. Berhalter accidentally subs Reyna on and he delivers a corner that Morris scores to win the game. Twitter remains furious.
Comments
I'd be perfectly fine with having our CB head to warm weather training as well as celebrating a US win. No more Germany, so US is all I have left. Come on Yanks!
Appreciate the write up, well done and thank you. First paragraph, clever haha.
You think CCV over Zimmerman?
I thought CCV getting the nod was an indication the Gregg was worried about Zims passing. The distribution was a little shaky against England. But I saw one of the beat writers point out that CCV is more familiar dealing with low blocks since Celtic face one every week in Scotland. That might just be a nice way of distracting from Zims demotion, but it could be legit?
Idk, I thought CCV played extremely well, especially for someone with so few caps with the group and never having played with Ream. He's more athletic than Zim and that could be important with Gakpo. I won't be mad either way.
The US has a good chance against Netherlands. They have defended well, played well in the midfield and have created opportunities. They just aren't finishing them. The Dutch are similar but without as much strength in the midfield, IMO. If the US can finish in front of the goal they can advance. Netherlands won the weakest group by far, but not very convincingly. The US won when they had to in a much more difficult group and played their best full game against the best team they've played yet (England). With or without Pulisic, I think the US will win 1-0
It wasn't a great game by the US. They could have played better. The Netherlands took advantage of defensive miscues and I think that shook the team's confidence. The biggest, most glaring issue I see is a significant lack of quality in front of goal in the final third. The US desperately needs to find a couple quality finishers before 2026
Nah, that is completely fair. It's been a rough first couple of months. Hopefully the US win so he can get a breather and come back strong.
Good info, makes me wonder we gets the nod at striker if Sargent can't go. Leg for your thoughts?
Would like to see Weah with Reyna/Aaronson on the right, but I just don't think Reyna's fit to start and indications from Berhalter are that he likes what Weah brings on the wing (I don't disagree, but think those things would be beneficial at ST as well).
With that said, I guess Wright? I would prefer to see Ferreira if Sargent can't go and Weah isn't an option, but it just seems unlikely given the minutes given so far. I don't think we're going to get a lot of chances for our striker in this match so I'm not worried about "finishing" but Ferreira makes the whole attack work better than Wright.
So my choice would be Sargent, Weah, Ferreira, Wright. But my prediction is Sargent, Wright, Ferreira, Weah (emergency).
Yeah, I'm guessing he goes with Wright since we've seen him in all 3 games so far.
Barring that, I'd say Jordan has a good shot at getting the nod with possibly 60 minutes for him, then bring Ferreira in...
Morris at striker? Would be a curveball for sure. He just doesn't have the technical ability to hold up or link play at all, I would be pretty surprised.
Morris starting with moving Weah up top...just looking at the whole 11.
If de Jong were to miss the match...that would be a huge, huge problem for them.
One article I read said the coach is "confident" that they'll be able to field a team, and that the number of I'll players is less than 15
Yikes
very disappointed, have to catch an 11am flight to germany tomorrow :-( so first half in the airport, and looks like i'll miss the second half.
Gotta get that in-flight WiFi. Or maybe they'll be showing it on the plane.
Watching Netherlands v. Ecuador (1-1 draw). Their goal came early and it was kind of out of nothing. Played it into the middle/attacking third in the center of the pitch and they lost it. Then a bad back pass falls to their attacking midfielder, Klassen who backheels it to Gakpo who scores with a sensational finish.
Outside of that moment of brilliance, I haven't really been impressed with anything they're doing (although some of that is due to Ecuador just being a good team). Ecuador's formation is similar to theirs so there will be some differences when the match up against our 4 at the back system. But, their wing backs are pushing up fairly high defensively. They obviously back their outside CBs to be able to cover the space in behind, but if we can draw them forward with some possession in the middle/defensive third, we might be able to find some space in behind the wingbacks for Weah/Pulisic.
The goal they conceded (also one called back for offside when a deflection following a corner kick) was the result of Ecuador winning the ball high up the pitch. Again, the Netherlands has some very good, technical players and obviously Gakpo in particular can make you pay for the smallest mistake. But, they did not impress me at all. Going to watch the game v. Senegal now to see if they were any better in that one.
I've been telling folks to watch the Ecuador game if you want to break the Dutch down. They owned the middle of the park and dominated them (outside of the score line.)
The Senegal game (2-0 win for NED) obviously took place first, so they might have made adjustments for the Ecuador match. They certainly changed the starting lineup. de Ligt -> Timber at RCB, Berghuis to Koopmeiners at CM, Gakpo -> Klassen at AM, Janssen -> Gakpo at ST (all changes from Senegal to Ecuador). Senegal play a back 4 (4-2-3-1) so their pressing tendencies against Senegal will be maybe closer to what we'll see (Qatar also play a back 3/5 so no valuable info would be gained there). Only had time to watch the first half, but still not seeing anything that is making me sweat. Good players, just a decent team IMO.
- One thing I notice is that when they have possession, Dumfries (the RWB) is pushed up as basically a right winger and the RCB (de Ligt in this match) is playing RB. Potential for space in that area if we can catch them out in possession. Especially as I've noticed de Light following attackers checking back into midfield pretty aggressively several time.
- Another several instances of terrible play out from the back leading to chances for Senegal. We won't be able to sustain heavy pressure the whole match, but if we can pick our moments we should definitely be able to create some stress for them.
- Offensively, they like to get it wide-ish and then play it into a striker posting up, drop it back and then look for a run in behind. They were playing one of their bigger strikers in this game (Janssen) who probably won't start against us so maybe that won't carry over.
- They've had several corners/free kicks with good deliveries. With van Dijk in there we will have to be on top of that.
Have a four hour flight at 10am tomorrow. Here's to hoping that overpriced wifi is decent.
You should be able to check what entertainment options are available on your flight ahead of time. I feel like most domestic flights I've been on recently had access to live TV on their "free" tier WiFi.
If on American you can stream through their app on any device. Delta has the back of the headrest TV's with limited live TV on every flight over two hours I've been on in the last several years. I fly United less, but their big lanes all seem to have it. All I remember about Frontier was saying "never again". Not sure if they did or not.
Pieces from leadup to game.
Apparently De Jong is one that is experiencing symptoms. Gregg stated that the US squad went through this a few weeks ago. Edit: Can't drink at work, just saw it posted above.
Crack a window. Smells like BS in here
Wow, he's shorter than I thought, or is that guy behind him really tall.
I
I BELIEVE
I BELIEVE THAT
I BELIEVE THAT WE
I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL
I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN
I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN 🥳🥳
Some nice analysis of the two sides by (I believe) an English/based tactics account in this thread. Some of you might not like what he has to say though 😂
Nice breakdown. It's been interesting watching how Gregg has altered things for these 3 games since it's been different than what he's rolled out in the past. Yes, this is THE time it matters, and we are playing how we all know they can play. It just hasn't been there before. Frustrating, but making it to the knockout round can basically be forgiven.
And he's been keeping Dest shorter on the pitch, and he's played great. Allowing Robinson to go up has allowed Pulisic to overload the wing or creep inside, where he's extremely dangerous and effective. It's been how Pep plays, which is fun as heck to watch. (Just tighten up all of the crossing and get more straight at it!)
Appreciate the write up and analysis. Of everything said it remains certain that twitter will indeed be furious.
Zimmerman comes back in, presumably to help deal with the very real threat of van Dijk on set pieces. Ferreira gets the start at striker, hopefully Sargent has some sun minutes in him. Ferreira will press hard and help the other attackers thrive, so I like it.
Apparently Sargent is listed as out, so never mind. Ferreira should be fresh though so he should be able to go at least 90.
Im kind of feeling this lineup. Jesus has always seemed more of a goal threat to me than Sargent.
Dutch lineup unchanged from their final group match against Qatar:
30 minutes. I like starting Ferreira up too. Let's do this!
USA! USA! USA!
🇺🇸⚽️🇺🇸⚽️🇺🇸⚽️
First real counterattack and Netherlands buries it
Damn
They are up the midfield like nothing
Made that look way too easy.
If that's how we are going to defend today, it's gonna be a long game. That Pulisic miss at the start looms large right now.
Brutal, esp after the miss by Pulisic
Adams didn't track back quickly enough. He should have sprinted back to put pressure on Depay but he surprisingly jogged back instead.
Does it feel like we're doing way too many passes when standing in the box with the ball? Other teams are shooting it when they snag it in the box and we try and pass it off way too much instead of ripping it
My biggest gripe is the passes keep going to no one. If you are going to waste the pass anyway, take the shot instead
Tall teams, short passes. Its how you gotta roll if the Dutch team are tall like the Dutch people. (the team may not be that tall, i dunno)
Can we please stop passing to the guys in orange. Holy crap they could not have asked for a better setup there
The passing in this game is head scratching so far
Holy crap, what a series at the end of the half here
How were they not offside there?
Edit: Because our defenders were just standing around with their thumbs up their asses, that's why
CB's were set deep and kept everyone onside.
Wow
And that probably shoves the knife in, to be honest
Well that sucked. Can we have Reyna and Aaronson in the second half please?
Musah sucks.
He's played his nuts off and is definitely tired also very young against some very good wiser guys for dutch. Ease up son he's the future
Weah and dest finally started taking some shots and looked like we turned a corner...then that happens
They need to keep that up in the second half. Best area we have the left side against Dumfries and timber is not ideal right side is the area to push.
Just not taking our chances and the dutch are absolutely clinical in the box. Need to try and exploit the left side of the dutch defense. Need reyna and Aaronson in the second half. Frustrating half considering the play at times.
Welp
Jesus experiment failed up front if Aaronson and Reyna aren't on at the half I will be pissed. Haji wright ain't the solution you need pace and skill
He didn't do much but Netherlands are absolutely packing the middle of the field. There's no room to pass into there unless others make runs and drag the defenders out of there.
Yeah, Jesus was playing with lead boots. I'm not sure he did a single constructive thing.
Team looks tired. Just switched off twice and paid for it twice. That's how it goes sometimes, but it doesn't make it hurt any less.
Gotta come out and keep pushing and try some incisive passes in the final third. Keep pushing.
Could get ugly though as we open up at the back even more.
Halftime analysis: Surprise surprise, passes to nobody aren't as good as passes to your own team
Source??
In other news dicking around with possession and no clear strategy doesn't lead to quality chances or goals
Big, if true
This is what happens when you face a team with top level talent. You can control the game and the ball but if you can't give it away in bad areas like that and if you do you definitely can't just not track runners into the box. Two of our best players (Adams and Dest) just...not marking players making runs into the box when the ball is out wide. Can't do that against this level of opposition.
Such an infuriating end to the half. I'd rather see them lose 5 nil but playing their nuts off trying to tie than ride out a 2 nil loss at this point.
Gregg's idea of starting Ferreria is baffling too.
Need to see some urgency here
Edit: so far, they are showing it. Just need to finish
Should be a caution for Van Dijk there. Referee has done well, just surprised not to see a caution there.
So we've got some real football this afternoon. Hope Clemson wins by 50. And go Horny Frogs!
How many chances we have had Jesus
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL
Get another!
Let's fn go!
This is most intense soccer at I can remember in a loooong time
No defense wtf
Son of a bitch
We can't fuckin mark. I've seen U10 teams with better marking, dammit!
Lots of standing around in the box by our defenders again
Welp. Good to see some fight, but Turner had no chance
Task No. 1 for the next four years:
Learn how to defend against a cross
Task 1.b: learn to finish chances
Learn to make corners an advantage
Dutch people are giants. LOL punch them in the balls and jump on their backs... or play the ball short or pre-planned caroms
FIRE GB
Reyna been a bit charmin soft imo
I expect nothing and I'm still let down.
We are definitely not the better team; however, had we'd taken a few more shots when the chances were there, maybe it'd be tied up right now.
This is the correct take. The Netherlands is a more established, talented team. We are capable of beating them, and easily could have today, but they converted their chances, and we didn't. The game was pretty even on the whole.
You're going to see a lot of people here, and everywhere saying, "Man, the U.S. sucks", but that's not true. We made the round of 16, and came up against a good team that we could have beaten, but didn't, and we move on.
Really like some of the stuff we saw from this team but the defending tonight was horrid. Midfield looked gassed and failed to track runs in the box.
Forward play left alot to be desired and man do we suck at taking the gimmes. The dutch game is many chances and we scuppered all of them.
The fact we went up against england and the dutch and played full games was impressive I feel good going into 2026.
Kinda got worked by a better team. They definitely missed some good chances, but the entirety of the first half was enough to end the run. It's not surprising that Netherlands immediately scored after we cut it to 1, they are that much better.
I'm torn on feeling good about the run, or being frustrated that US soccer is still showing that it's so far away from being a serious contender on the big stage. A country with the population and resources we have really should be better than peaking at the round of 16. But... That's kind of the reality, so... Blah. Feel good for the players right now, but frustrated with the USSF.
We're getting there. The fact we just out possessed the dutch and played toe to toe with both them and england are steps in the right direction. Sucks when we had the chances but we just need to be more clinical. From not qualifying to playing like we did this tourney I'll take it. Learn and move forward
For this team to achieve what they did without a real goal scoring threat is remarkable. We have a player legit in the mix for Best XI in Adams. 2nd youngest team in the tournament, with ONE player that had WC experience. Won one of the most politically charged matches of all time.
SUCKS to have the dream end, but lots to be proud of and look forward to. 2026 is gonna be lit fam
Impressed by the USA, they showed heart and left it all out there, they're young and a lot of hope for the future
We've come a long way from the Jurgen years and missing 2018 WC. We are young. Talented. Experienced. Hungry. And the home team for 2026! Let's grow on this base, learn to attack thru the middle better, and shock the world in 4 years. If you'd have told me in 2019 we would be in the knockout stage after being in a group w the three lions...I'd have taken that all day long.
Agree. Plus, let's find a quality striker by 2026 WC!!
Wanna shout-out some deserved players who really impressed me this tournament.
Weah, probably our best forward this tournament he's gonna be good
Matt Turner, he's our number one and it isn't close love seeing him take the position.
Tim Team and Zimmerman on a shorter notice did their job when needed they deserve credit.
Fullback play was great until today but dest and Robinson were very good at times just need to learn to mark the back post.
Pulisic put his body on the line and to me played so well
Musah and McKennie were immense hopefully they continue to improve they will be the future.
Man of the tournament is Tyler Adams for me, immense in the midfield and simply put captain of this team so proud of him.
Agree and I'd add Dest to the list for great ball control
Aaronson and Sargent did some good things while they were in
Haji Wright redeemed himself with the soft touch to score
Classic hockey goal by wright he made a good impact in this game.
Dest defended better than I expected but his play going forward was great.
Aaronson or Reyna should have started this game instead of Jesus unfortunately the one bad call by berhalter tonight but the team played some nice stuff. Need to develop a little more depth to be able to make runs going forward.
Agree with almost everything, especially about Ream. I thought he was a massive liability but was brilliant start to finish.
I thought Jedi was absolutely terrible. So many attacks broke down because his touch was abhorrently bad. Wasn't able to find the final ball at all. Marking on the last Dutch goal was pathetic. He's been awesome for us and for Fulham, but man oh man was he terrible for the last two weeks
I wouldnt be as harsh on Robinson I thought he played well at times, yes his touch can be heavy at times but he's young and still learning the game as well. His defending today was poor but I thought at times the backline struggled to communicate or see the back post run and that's something they need to communicate better. Ideally it would have been miles Robinson alongside him on the left but injuries made it tougher. This is the pain that comes with a young team we will make mistakes.
The bad:
1. Man marking, man marking, man marking. Play bad defense, win bad prizes (getting knocked out). 2 of those goals could've been stopped with proper man tracking. That one on the back post was comical. Dumfries had hours back there to decide how he'd finish. I was sick to my stomach seeing that.
2. Our front line literally charges towards the opposing goal, there aren't enough creative runs to find space. If you're playing the crosses into the box, there has to be offset runs to provide options and to force the defensive into bad spacing. Running full speed inches in front of the goal isn't the best strategy. Netherlands first goal was a perfect example of that, Depay played an overlapping run into the middle that was delayed, and thus he had a wide open opportunity to pick his corner to shoot towards. We need to work on this tactic or our finishing will continue to suffer.
3. Gio, Gio, Gio! He looked electric. The runs were incredible, the link up place was sublime, and he found pockets of space that no other player could. I know he wasn't 100%, but moving forward, he HAS to be on the pitch. The kid is ultra talented. I counted 4 opportunities he created as soon as he came on.
The good:
1. We have our future #1 keeper, that one double save from Turner was Ministry of Defense levels. His backline failed him today, he was incredible. Distribution, ball control, played great the whole tournament.
2. Gio! See above.
3. The fight. We have the youngest squad in the knockout rounds. We shouldn't have seen the fight that we saw today, but those kids gave their all for the patch and I appreciated that. Murica!
4. Gregg made changes that were necessary. Maybe later than expected, but he made them rather than sticking with an inept attack.
5. Robinson's track back pace is incredible. Great on ball skills too. We have our RB for the next 1-2 WC's.
6. Tyler and Weston are great in the mid, but I think we're one defensive midfielder away from being a great ball control team.
7. Weah was awesome, love that kid. We have solidified one of our front 3. Pulisic played decent, think he was trying too hard. If we find a legit 9 (over the next 4 years), we can really have a great spearhead at the top of the pitch
All in all, a good tournament, 4 years removed from missing out on the tournament all together, we showed promise. I'm hopeful for the future. I think we could do better than Gregg, but I think we could do worse too. Onto the Americas in 26'.
Final comments on this will be Pulisic needs to get the hell out of Chelsea and go somewhere to play and develop. He's gone nowhere since leaving dortmund and needs to go somewhere he can get better.
Newcastle United on line 1...
Klopp on Line 2...
🤣
I'd prefer somewhere he would be getting more starts dunno if it would happen at Liverpool but having klopp coach him would be a nice upgrade on what he's had at Chelsea.
I'd be fine with that move, Newcastle or even Leeds somewhere he would be a starter and get propper coaching would be nice.
A tough way to go out. I think overall we should be proud of what we showed at the tournament. We played good soccer and went toe to toe with two of the best teams in the world. Soccer is an unforgiving sport. They created good chances and finished them. We had our chance to take the lead quickly and didn't take it. Goals change games and our mistakes allowed them to play the way they wanted to play. We fought hard to get back in it in the second but once you go down two you have to open up and they will hit on the counter. Some other thoughts:
- Reyna was clearly not 100%. Still looked decent, but it's clear why he didn't play more. Same with Robinson after he needed treatment. He should've come off right away.
- The whole team just looked tired. Our lack of depth hurt us here big time. That's the difference between the good teams and the great. Look at the B teams France and Brazil put out in their last games.
- The Netherlands have very good players and van Gaal is a good coach. It's hard to overcome both of those at once. Their CBs start for Liverpool, Man City, and Ajax. And they brought on another from Bayern as a sub.
- I encourage people to have some perspective about this game. Could we have won? Of course, I said as much beforehand. But we needed everything to go right and it didn't. We made defensive lapses today that we didn't in the group and we were punished ruthlessly. This doesn't mean the team is bad.
- Berhalter didn't make every choice correctly but guys, he's not the reason we lost this game. He's just not. He might be back or he might not, but sometimes the other team is just better and luckier.
- This team is going to be very good and much deeper in 2026. Look forward to it and enjoy it when it comes.
- If you enjoyed watching this team, I encourage you to keep watching soccer! Most of these guys okay on teams that you can watch on TV every weekend. You can follow the US player or you can choose a club to support. I promise you, the soccer at club level is actually way better!
- Thanks to all who followed along with me for the past year plus. Thanks for your comments, your questions, your discussions and your kind words. I enjoyed writing them and I hope you all enjoyed reading them.
Well said.
My three initial thoughts
.
All very good points. It's hard to find a quality striker in the international game. Have to get a bit lucky. I think we have a few prospects who look promising. Plus the guys who were here are still pretty young themselves. Sargent is 22, Ferreira is 21. Still pretty young for strikers, plenty of time to develop.
Really disheartening knowing we very well could have advanced. But we continue to choke on easy chance goals and had just a terrible defensive effort.
First of all, huge thanks to jgladish for all his USMNT posts this year! Because of him TKP has literally been the best place for me to keep up with the team's qualifying schedule, updates, news, and match reactions. Seriously, many times I've gone to ESPN and found nothing useful, and then come here and found everything I could ask for neatly summarized.
I watched several qualifying matches this year, but made the choice not to watch any WC matches due to the Qatar thing. Even if I had watched all 4 matches, I'd still be no expert on personnel and strategy. But it seems to me that with the team we had, this was about as good of a result as we could have hoped for. So I think as fans of the USMNT we should be fairly proud of the team's effort and final result.
The 2026 WC should be a blast. However, if we are going to ever be more than a 50/50 threat to get out of the first round, I think the talent level of the team needs to dramatically increase. Before the World Cup, ESPN made a list of The 50 best footballers of Qatar 2022. We didn't have a single player on that list. Can that change between now and 2026? If not, I think this is our ceiling.
It appears that Reyna was almost sent home by a 13/12 vote. Link
If this story is true, kudos for Gregg standing his ground against the youngster, hopefully Gio has learned his lesson.
We talked about it a bit in the knockout thread. Taylor Twellman says his sources say the vote is false but he was close to being sent home. Sounds like a bit of a mess and something that probably shouldn't have come out.
Thanks for the heads up, couldn't find the best threat to put it in, so I went with the latest WC thread.