Topic: Soccer Discussion: 1.67% Chance of Being the Best Thread on the NWR Forums

[NWR_insanolord]

Josh Sargent is a fantastic talent. He's young enough that he'll be playing in the U17 World Cup later this summer, but he scored a pair against a very good Ecuador team in the opener of the U20 World Cup today, which combined with Luca de la Torre's 94th minute equalizer made for an exciting 3-3 draw. Everybody knows Sargent's heading to Europe when he turns 18 next February, and if he keeps performing as he has at the youth level he's going to have a lot of offers.

[NWR_insanolord]

I know the post right above this was all about Josh Sargent hype, but the kid just put on an absolute clinic against Senegal, scoring the lone goal in a 1-0 victory and so much more. It was a fantastic team performance overall, but he, Tyler Adams, and the finally healthy first choice CB pairing of Erik Palmer-Brown and Cameron Carter-Vickers put it away.

[NWR_insanolord]

A couple big pieces of news today. First off, Alphonso Davies officially got his Canadian citizenship and was immediately named to Canada's provisional roster for the upcoming Gold Cup, which would tie him to Les Rouges forever.

I've mentioned him in this thread before, he's 16 years old and one of the most exciting young players in MLS, getting regular playing time for the Vancouver Whitecaps. He's lived in Canada since he was 5 years old when he moved there from Liberia. Canadian fans, weary from a history of losing talent to other national teams, were worried he might not choose to play for them, but it seems to be happening. Now if they could get Tabla to pick Canada over the Ivory Coast they'd really be in business.

The other news is that David Beckham's Miami MLS bid took a huge step forward today with the county giving them official authorization to buy the land for their planned stadium. Just a few months ago the bid looked dead in the water, but now that the league set a deadline things seem to finally be moving forward after years and years of delays and empty statements.

[NWR_insanolord]

Christian Pulisic is just amazing. That's really all there is to say. This kid is the real deal, worthy of every bit of praise he gets.

[NWR_insanolord]

Fantastic performance by the USMNT tonight in Mexico City, earning only their third point all time at Estadio Azteca and generally outplaying Mexico for most of the match. They had a plan with what amounted to a 3-6-1, and they executed it masterfully. If only Bobby Wood could have converted in the 6 yard box with an open goal to shoot at, this could have been one for the ages.

Kellyn Acosta needs to be in the starting XI for the U.S. going forward. The three man back line of Cameron, Gonzalez, and Tim Ream played exceptionally well. DaMarcus Beasley, at 35 years old and in his fifth cycle of World Cup qualifying, put in a great shift, almost as good as his counterpart on the right hand side DeAndre Yedlin, who was fantastic in both these qualifiers.

I can't really complain about earning a point at Azteca, but they had the better of the chances and could have easily taken all three points. Wood missed a beauty of a chance, as did Christian Pulisic, and Michael Bradley, emboldened by his early goal, nearly had a second from just as far out, this one glancing off the crossbar.

Still, though, this goal will be remembered for a long, long time:

[NWR_insanolord]

Seven years ago today, this happened:

That World Cup was my first real exposure to soccer, and that moment was when I truly fell in love with the sport.

[NWR_insanolord]

Strong showing today from the U.S. B team in their warm-up friendly before the Gold Cup against Ghana (though they're probably a better team than anybody we'll face in said Gold Cup; group stage matches against Nicaragua and Martinique in particular are likely to get very ugly), but the big story today is the Chicago Fire. The team that finished dead last in MLS the previous two seasons is now in sole possession of first place in the Supporters Shield race more than halfway through the season.

[NWR_insanolord]

What a night for the U.S. national team. It was a complete performance from the team for the first time in this Gold Cup, in a game where they really needed it, going up against their first real quality opponent in this tournament in Costa Rica.

Lots of strong performances all around, particularly guys like Darlington Nagbe and Matt Besler, but none bigger than Clint Dempsey. Deuce came on in the 66th minute and finished with an assist and a goal in the 2-0 win, the goal being particularly meaningful as it was the 57th of his international career, tying him with Landon Donovan for most all time for the United States.

[NWR_insanolord]

In the last two years Jordan Morris has won the College Cup, the Hermann Trophy for best player in college soccer, MLS Cup, MLS Rookie of the Year, and scored an 88th minute goal that won the United States a continental championship in the Gold Cup.

[NWR_insanolord]

Darlington Nagbe can't be a box to box central midfielder in a 4-4-2, Geoff Cameron picked a really bad time to have his worst ever performance for the United States, Keylor Navas is very, very good, and the Americans have suddenly found themselves in a very tight spot. We really need a good result down in Honduras on Tuesday or else we're in danger of missing the World Cup for the first time since 1986.

[NWR_insanolord]

And the game tonight in Honduras turned out to be one of the ugliest games of soccer I've ever seen. Total peak CONCACAF with a shitty pitch and terrible officiating, and a completely dreadful performance by the USMNT for the first 85 minutes, with one beautiful Kellyn Acosta free kick pinging around the box long enough for Bobby Wood to knock it home and salvage a draw we in no way deserved.

We still control our own destiny for automatic World Cup qualification, and have what looks to be a very favorable remaining schedule, with the final two games being at home against Panama and on the road at last place Trinidad and Tobago.

[NWR_insanolord]

Christian Pulisic is just amazing. Put us ahead in the 8th minute, put one on a platter for Jozy to make it 2-0 in the 18th. He's got 8 goals in 19 appearances, tied with guys like Claudio Reyna and Eddie Pope in a fraction of the time. We beat Panama, a team that had given up 5 goals in the 8 games of the Hex up to this point, 4-0, erasing almost all doubt that we'll make it to Russia.

[Shaymin]

Uh, about that...

[NWR_insanolord]

Yeah, they had it all but wrapped up, and then the worst case scenario happened, including the most peak CONCACAF thing I've ever seen, a goal that shouldn't have counted because it never crossed the line scored by who else but Blas fucking Perez. Blame begins and ends with the USMNT, though, who would have been through with even a draw despite all that and played a completely atrocious first half and put themselves in a hole that they couldn't quite dig themselves out of. This is the most embarrassing night in the history of U.S. Soccer..

[ShyGuy]

Somebody is getting fired.

[NWR_insanolord]

Somebody is getting fired.

Bruce Arena was always a short-term hire, so he's just going to be gone now instead of a year from now. U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati was already about to be up for re-election, and this will almost certainly prevent him from winning another term.

[pokepal148]

Damn it insanolord. You jinxed it.

[ShyGuy]

I think if a certain soccer game by the name of Super Sidekicks had scored a little bit higher, our whole organization would be doing much better.

[NWR_insanolord]

The United States, Italy, the Netherlands, Chile, Ivory Coast, and Ghana need to get together and have their own World Cup next summer. Who needs all the rest of those countries?

[Soren]

LOL at the NIT of Soccer...

[Shaymin]

The World Crap sounds like a righteous sideshow.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm personally partial to calling it the Blackjack and Hookers Cup.

[NWR_insanolord]

The 2017 MLS Cup final will be a rematch of last year's, ideally with a bit more scoring this time.

Toronto finished with the best regular season record in league history but has cooled off as of late, winning their playoff series against both New York and Columbus by very narrow margins. Seattle, on the other hand, is in their best form of the season, outscoring their opponents in the playoffs to this point 7-0 and riding a postseason shutout streak that goes all the way back to last year's conference finals.

Both teams have added major pieces since last year's final, and the Sounders got Clint Dempsey back from injury, so this is shaping up to be a very interesting final. The game will be next Saturday, December 9, at 4:00 pm Eastern on ESPN.

[Shaymin]

There were two goals in the MLS Cup final this year; both of them to Toronto FC who follow up the best season in league history of 69 nice points with a 2-0 win in the final.

Jozy Altidore is game MVP following the goal he couldn't get in Trinidad.

[NWR_insanolord]

Toronto played a great game. They'd been in poor form the entire playoffs up to this point but they unfortunately turned it on when they really needed it. Vanney's tactical switch turned out to be brilliant, perfectly taking advantage of the space created by Joevin Jones moving back to left back.

This Toronto team has fully taken claim of the title of best team in the history of MLS, and I look forward to inevitably facing off against them in the CONCACAF Champions League in a few months.