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

[NWR_insanolord]

The coaching change at Bayern seems to be the main reason Julian Green is in the position he's in. Ancelotti seems to like him a lot. He gave Green a lot of time in the preseason, which he made the most of, especially the game where he scored a hat trick, and it's sounding like he's being given his chance to play real minutes with the first team this year.

If I were picking a team I'd probably go with Hertha Berlin. Not only do they have one of the best U.S. players in Brooks, they're a great story, just a few years removed from playing in the 2nd division, and were in 3rd place most of last season until falling off a bit due to injuries.

[NWR_insanolord]

Most people are going to focus on Brazil winning Olympic gold, finally capturing the only major trophy that nation had never won, but the real soccer story of today is THE CHICAGO FIRE WON A ROAD GAME! Not just a win, but a 3-0 thumping in Montreal!

Chicago hadn't won on the road in over two years. Chivas USA, a team that folded at the end of the 2014 season due to how much of a train wreck the entire organization was, had done so more recently until tonight.

[NWR_insanolord]

The Seattle Sounders are for real. 3-0-1 in the Brian Schmetzer/Nicolas Lodeiro era, going from being en route to their worst season ever to looking as dangerous as anybody in the league. It's no longer about "Can they make the playoffs?", it's "How far will they go?",

[Wah]

Not to take away from soccer, but it looks like America's only threat to basketball in the Olympics this year, is Australia believe it or not.

[rygar]

Lol at the soccer gods giving us a Barca-City matchup in Group C. Looks like Pep can't change City's luck with them getting yet another brutal draw. If they can somehow win this group, the hype train will be unstoppable, but that seems unlikely with how damn good Barca is.

Group D gives us another all-star clash with a Bayern-Atleti rematch from last year. If this were a ko match, I'd go with Atleti, but I expect Bayern's attack to be too strong for Atleti to keep up with over the mini-league. I didn't look in depth at the schedule, but that long trip to Russia could be a factor depending on how it fits in with their respective domestic campaigns.

Groups A, H, F are all deep, but I'd go PSG/Arsenal, Madrid/Dortmund, Juve/Sevilla without much worry. However, I wonder if gunners fans are sweating the fact that Basel dumped out United and Liverpool in 2 of the last 4 years. Obviously, this Basel is a different team, but it should help their confidence regardless. Wenger is already under immense pressure and it's only week 3.

Groups B,E, and G lack the star power of the others, but that could just mean it will be more competitive. Both Premier League teams were very lucky. Tottenham for drawing out of the 3rd pot a group they are favored to win, and Leicester for the rule change in which they were seeded over Arsenal and City (I like the rule change personally). I think Leicester would have nearly no shot of winning either A or C, and could have difficulty even qualifying for the ko round. This isn't a vintage Porto team, so they have a great chance at the group, and should qualify regardless. However, I think Spurs and especially Leicester really need to win their groups to proceed past R16.

[Soren]

Porto just destroyed Roma. I'm sure they can handle Leicester just fine.

[rygar]

I'm not sure how much to read into that. Roma had a pretty tumultuous off season, and the tie was 1-1 after the first leg in Porto. Roma had bookended straight reds on either side of halftime in Rome.

[NWR_insanolord]

Beating a country of barely 100,000 people whose team is mostly guys who aren't actually professional soccer players should be a given, but nonetheless it was a solid performance by the U.S. in a 6-0 win over St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Christian Pulisic became the youngest American to ever score in a World Cup qualifier, and then 20 minutes later became the second-youngest. Sacha Kljestan made the most of his return to the USMNT after years away with a goal and two assists, and Matt Besler scored his first international goal on the same day he first became a father.

The U.S. are now all but in the Hex, with Guatemala's late equalizer against Trinidad and Tobago delaying truly clinching it until Tuesday. A win or draw against T&T then will put them through, or even any loss that doesn't involve Guatemala making up their deficit of 12 in goal differential.

[rygar]

I missed this yesterday with college football starting, but I'm looking forward to the hex. I love the home-and-away league structure. I'm hoping to see a lot of Pusilic when Madrid and Dortmund play on 9.27.

[NWR_insanolord]

The U.S. made it look easy tonight in Jacksonville, cruising to a 4-0 win over a solid Trinidad and Tobago team to win their qualifying group and clinch their spot in the Hex.

Christian Pulisic got his first USMNT start, went the full 90, and was the best player on the pitch. Jozy Altidore continued his recent run of great form, scoring two and executing masterful holdup play. Sacha "Porn Stache" Kljestan had another big game and another big goal, his second in these two matches after only having 4 in his previous 46 appearances. Klinsmann gave him a shot to revive his international career after years away, and he's made the most of it.

Winning the group means the U.S. begins Hexagonal play November 11th at home against Mexico. Here's hoping for a cold and snowy Columbus night, and another Dos A Cero performance.

[rygar]

Between Jets-Bills and remontada it's been a glorious two days of football. I didn't see Dortmund but apparently Pulisic looked very good. Madrid has a couple tricky La Liga games before, so I shouldn't look ahead, but part of me is already focused on 9.27. Dortmund is one of the best atmospheres in sport, Zidane's men are fearless, and the Pulisic hype is real. I can't wait.

[NWR_insanolord]

Christian Pulisic scored a goal and two assists today for Dortmund on the day before his 18th birthday. I think this kid may be for real.

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And then Jordan Morris all but locks up the MLS Rookie of the Year award with his 10th goal of the season, and the most important of all of them, the late winner over Vancouver to keep the Sounders' playoff hopes alive.

[NWR_insanolord]

The LA Galaxy hadn't lost at home in over a year. The Seattle Sounders hadn't won in LA since 2009. But even after going down 1-0 early in the first half, the Sounders rallied back for the mother of all statement wins, 4-2, on the back of a pair of spectacular goals by inevitable Rookie of the Year Jordan Morris. This team that was dead in the water and had fired its coach two months ago now sits 3 points out of a playoff spot, two games in hand, with a month left in the regular season.

[rygar]

Casemiro and Marcelo are out for Tuesday (1-2 mons/3 weeks respectively). Ronaldo, Bale, and Benzema look 70% at most. Madrid don't have another DM, or LB other than Coentrão, who himself hasn't played for a long time due to injury. Navas should finally play though. It will be interesting to see Zidane's line-up. Pulisic will definitely get some opportunities.

[NWR_insanolord]

I just entered the lottery to get a ticket for the USA-Mexico World Cup qualifier in Columbus in November. There's a bus going down from here and I really hope I can go, it should be a crazy atmosphere.

[rygar]

That's cool, good luck. I had a blast in Columbus a few years ago and have wanted to make a return trip since.

It's tough for me to fit MLS into my already incredibly crowded sports schedule. I'm ostensibly a NYCFC fan, but I've only really followed them on paper outside a few games on tv here-and-there. I don't live in the city anymore, and haven't used one of my trips back to go to a game. I was a huge admirer of Patrick Vieira when he was a player, so I'm glad to see him doing well as a coach.

[NWR_insanolord]

They're having a really good year. Good mix of high profile, big name veterans like Villa (who has to be the favorite for league MVP), Pirlo, and Lampard, as well as lesser known but very good younger guys like Jack Harrison and Tommy McNamara. I don't think they're strong enough in the back and especially in goal to really challenge Toronto or the Red Bulls in the playoffs in the East, but they've done really well, especially considering how last year went.

[NWR_insanolord]

It was just announced that Clint Dempsey will be out for at least the rest of 2016 due to the irregular heartbeat that's kept him out of recent matches. That affects any playoff run the Sounders make, as well as the World Cup Qualifiers against Mexico and Costa Rica in November.

[NWR_insanolord]

New Jersey native and former NCAA, MLS, and USMNT coach Bob Bradley has just been hired by Swansea City to be the first American to manage in the Premier League.

[Soren]

Thanks to Carmelo Anthony I finally have a home club I can root for again, even if it's 2nd division. And now that it seems like we've passed the initial expansion club woes, we've been dropping some absolutely filthy goals.

If YouTube doesn't auto-play skip ahead to the times I've typed.

First Goal

Skip to 1:03

Skip to 1:33

[NWR_insanolord]

Hopefully for you the NASL isn't about to collapse like it appears to be on the verge of doing.

[NWR_insanolord]

I was successful in the ticket lottery, so I'm officially going to the USA-Mexico World Cup qualifying match in Columbus next month! I'm extremely excited!

[Soren]

Hopefully for you the NASL isn't about to collapse like it appears to be on the verge of doing.

Ehhh I'll wait until February before making that call.

[NWR_insanolord]

First things first, everybody admire Shkelzen Gashi's spectacular goal in Colorado's PK victory over the LA Galaxy earlier this afternoon to advance to the conference finals:

Now, let's get to the big news of the USMNT squad for the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers against Mexico and Costa Rica.

Goalkeepers
Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, Ethan Horvath, William Yarbrough

Defenders
Matt Besler, Steve Birnbaum, John Brooks, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Timmy Chandler, Omar Gonzalez, Fabian Johnson, Michael Orozco, DeAndre Yedlin

Midfielders
Alejandro Bedoya, Michael Bradley, Lynden Gooch, Julian Green, Jermaine Jones, Sacha Kljestan, Christian Pulisic, Caleb Stanko, Graham Zusi

Forwards
Jozy Altidore, Jordan Morris, Aron Johannsson, Bobby Wood


Not a ton of surprises, but a few young guys in the mix I wouldn't have figured on seeing. Cameron Carter-Vickers is the big one, as he's still eligible to play for England, but appearing in either of these games would cap-tie him to the United States forever. He wouldn't be anything more than a late sub specifically to tie him, but it's still interesting that he's there.

The big blow to the USMNT is that Geoff Cameron is injured, leaving us without one of our starting center backs. Klinsmann's got several options to replace him, with Besler and Gonzalez there as seasoned veterans, but don't be shocked if relative newcomer Steve Birnbaum gets the nod there.

If I had to guess a formation, I might go with what's at least on paper a 4-3-3:

Pulisic-Altidore-Wood
Bradley-Jones-Kljestan
Johnson-Brooks-Birnbaum-Yedlin

Klinsmann has already announced that Tim Howard will start in goal against Mexico, no real shock given Howard's strong performance down the stretch with the Colorado Rapids (including two saves in the penalty shootout today) and Brad Guzan's lack of recent playing time.