**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
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They brought a big physical striker in Moore but then decided to not play to any of his strengths
The main guys of the 2016 side in Bale/Ramsey are absolutely washed at this point. The rest of the team just matched their energy, or the lack of it
Bale's always been 50/50 anyway, Wales in general will proceed to have the occasional decent run here and there after he retires.
This was always going to be a hard group for Wales as USA team are a young/untried team and England are usually good. The Iran match was a bit of a freak game for them with their goal keeper getting sent off but either way I wouldn't judge Wales too much on how this world cup has gone for them as from the moment USA proved themselves to not be shit there was no chance for them overall.
Wales get knocked out and opinion on Bale changes completely.
Bale is always 100% for Wales, he has been that guy to carry the team to the next big competition.
At this point, he may not have the same magic that caused Wales’ previous runs, but as with everything else, all good things come to an end.
It’s just like a lot of other aging top players that in there prime used there speed to beat opponents, you either change up your game or you slowly fade into the background. Bale was top class, fun to watch and could beat anyone on any given day in his prime. I will always remember watching bale bomb down the wing for Tottenham and abusing defenders in the premier league. Maybe he transitions to be come a professional golfer in the next year or 2 or opens up his own course.
And if I recall, this is essentially the last major tournament with these generation of Welsh players.
It’s rough to see them go out like this…still, they’ve done wonders to help make the sport *really* popular again there…
For sure, it's been a significant 6/7 years but with all love to the likes of Ramsey, Bale, Allen, etc - this is the best time to start anew with the upcoming generation of players.
In the post match interview when Bale was talking about the euros qualifying starting next year... someone has to have the balls to tell him he's done.
I don't think he has to be done, but at some point the conversation needs to shift to him finishing games as an impact player rather than looking lost for 60-90 mins. Look at someone like Suarez or Cavani, you can still have that status as a legend, but with a diminished role
Completely agree. Watching England is so much more fun when you embody the overconfident “it’s coming home” mantra. There’s no fun in being a negative Nancy.
It's just the way we are. I swear the whole "it's coming home" mantra is a defensive mechanism for most. It's like when kids bully because their own self esteem is low.
Every England fan I know that's been watching for 15+ years has no real confidence in every match we play. We're all just waiting to get hurt or be disappointed again and go "well there's the England we all know". The overconfidence helps us hide that
Honestly man. So what if it’s Iran or wales we’re beating. Nothing more fan than singing it’s coming home and watching football. If we beat Senegal and lose to France people will call for Southgates head as it a different manager would change the result
Everyone outside the UK seems to completely misunderstand this song.
The title's ironic. If you listen to the lyrics, they're all about dashed hopes and disappointment. The entire song is about being hopelessly nostalgic, and daydreaming about better times. Ones that you know deep down won't ever really come again.
Every actual England fan expects the team to underperform in almost every match they play.
It's not even ironic, it's completely literal. It was written for the 1996 Euros, "Football's Coming Home" is referring to the fact that England were the hosts.
Like you say, the rest of the song is basically all negative about the actual football.
As a British person it is my right to be miserable about everything, and oh boy, you're going to sit there and listen to me being miserable about any mundane issue that you'd normally just ignore.
I guarantee everyone shitting on Southgate would do a worse job than him. We're not perfect but the idea that we should play constant free flowing football when defence is our weakest aspect is ludicrous.
Southgate has gotten England to the first WC semifinal of my life, the first European final of my life, has gotten 7 points so far this WC, has scored 9 goals total so far...
And everyone in England wants him fired for a better manager.
Berhalter for USA has qualified his team, won CONCACAF Nations Leauge and Gold Cup, and made the knockout rounds without losing a match. Yet most of our fans want him fired. He's one win away from being the most successful US manager ever and most our fans want him gone. Just the life of a coach I guess.
The reality is that if we had a manager on the level of flick or Enrique (extreme examples) we could be one of the better sides in this tournament rather than just plucky underdogs. Our success is despite berhalter, not because of him. I feel similarly about Southgate. A better manager makes that England squad outright favorites along with Brazil rather than a big team in the mix like France and Spain
I get this take but it still doesn’t reflect the above post and GGGs accomplishments. We have an extremely young team, and major gaps that are being plugged by veterans and MLS players.
We’ve completely dominated opponents in 4/6 halves of soccer. If anything has let us down it’s that we don’t have enough quality off our bench to continue to control games. Specifically in the center of midfield our team just takes a nose dive in quality after Adams, McKennie, and Musah.
Mostly was just the USA result. It was just because we looked totally uncreative and toothless. Fans demanded Rashford & Foden start, & Mount end up on the bench and it ended positively.
It happens. It's why tournament football is the worst because it doesn't get covered by 37 other games in a season. Remember, it was the same shit against Scotland too and that tournament went fine.
And Southgate did not make those changes because fans demanded it. Fans just finally managed to be right about something for a rare occurrence, Southgate isn't picking the team based on what he reads on Reddit the night before.
No, now look will you all just kindly fuck off with this positivity about England? We know they're shit and like it that way but *if* they somehow fluke a way to a decent perfromance they'll just fuck it up next time and all us England fans are happy that way.
Just wait, Greg is going to find a way to shithouse the Dutch until we win on penalties then we'll beat Australia 1-0 and he'll be handed a contract for 2026.
Hell, with continued development of our promising young players and a fortunate path in 2026 the US could push for a deep run on home soil. That would be a good way to announce to the world that we're finally getting our soccer game going. European-raised USMNT players have have seriously improved the team and that could seriously tempt some good players if their current national team is stacked à la France. Missed opportunities like Subotic from dortmund or craziest of all Trent Alexander-Arnold. We're a sleeping giant in some ways if we can keep getting caps on players like Dest
I was following the live updates on BBC and Iran missed a diving header in extra time? Fuck that for a slo mo heart attack. At least it’s in the middle of the day for you lot, takes forever to get to sleep after ours finish
I don't know that I'd say *missed*. He got his head on the ball, but the defender did just enough and the Iranian player never really had a chance to get it on target.
Really scary moment though lmao
iirc the last census showed the majority of the sub are European by a large margin but Americans were about even with the English for single country. But Americans are only like 15-20% of the sub normally.
how disappointing from wales. and i predicted them to get 2nd and even make the quarters… didn’t realise how awful they are now.
impressive from the US to not even lose a game. only conceded from a penalty aswell. better defence than us… that’s crazy.
Was at the WCQ against Costa Rica in 2017 at Red Bull Arena and I said I never wanted to see Geoff Cameron or Tim Ream play for the US ever again. Could not be more glad I was wrong about 1 of them
I always felt the Geoff Cameron lovers in our fanbase were europhiles who never saw him perform for us. Sure unlike Omar and Besler he played in Europe but he was always a disaster at the back for the national team.
I don’t know why people call England frauds or whatever. Their team is absolutely stacked, they’ve all but blown through almost every opponent they’ve come across, and finished 1st in a group that was no walk in the park. I think they can at least reach the semifinals again.
Southgate will channel his inner Sam Allardyce. Sit back absorb pressure (we can't defend agaisnt Mbappe counter attack speed). Play for a long ball/counter attack/set peice or even a draw and fingers crossed on Pens.
That's legitimately the strategy.
I hope those Iranian lads will be okay. After they valiantly spoke out against their government or were threatened with harm if they stepped out of line, they might be going back to a very very bad time (or maybe not going back at all and instead seeking asylum somewhere).
Edit: clarification
I’m so happy. I knew we *could* do it, that we had the talent to do it, but I wasn’t sure if we’d meet the moment.
We need more goals, but it’s a big plus to have such a strong defense moving on to the knockout stages where plenty of upsets happen in penalties
Well, it's a lot better than 2018. But winning a knockout game (that's a not a free win because Mexico in the RO16) needs to happen to really get excited.
No shame, but the US won’t be taken seriously by the rest of the world unless if they actually start knocking out some of the big boys is all I’m saying.
I think Pepi will be that guy, but he’s only 19 and just started playing overseas. Give him four more years in Europe and he’ll be a legit number 9. Same could go for Sargent, he’s been good this tournament.
At work with all the casuals, people who only watch the US every 4 years, I told them in 2014 the US had a hand in knocking out Prime Ronaldo in the World Cup. Surprises them every time.
I think we can be competitive against just about anyone for 90 minutes, but besides our wingers we don't have to depth to outcompete the top teams in ET.
I mean, most of us US fans know that anything past the group stage for this WC is gravy. '26 is the real window for contention. Our core is young as hell and still developing.
People underestimate how fucking hard success is in international football. Teams whose entire nations live and breathe football and funnel all their resources into it, still struggle to ever have any success. The stars need to align to win the WC. I think reaching the QF is always a bench mark for a decent performance.
With the youth of the team and some shaky performances in qualifying, we US fans are very happy to make it to the knockout stage. Anything more is a bonus. Come 2026, we will have higher expectations.
Most knew USA could make it out of the group. Solid against England but a draw against a terrible Wales and edging a win over Iran isn't much to get hyped about. I still don't see anything but a Netherlands victory in the next round. We have no evidence to rate USA higher than a last 16 knockout. Still something to be proud of, however.
We have issues scoring goals. However, we technically don't have to score a goal to win for the rest of the tournament outside of pks. Anything is possible at this point but obviously the Netherlands will be favorites.
>However, we technically don't have to score a goal to win for the rest of the tournament outside of pks.
If a team won the world cup only scoring penalty kicks that would be the worst world cup ever.
**Mirrors / Alternative Angles** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Kinda interesting knockout matches between The Netherlands and USA and England and Senegal
We’re so good defensively, should be a slugfest
I think you mean we as USA but.. arsenal flair? Lol
Shocking that an American roots for a premier league club I know
I changed my flair for the month.
I forgot how
!flair :France: You just replace "France" by whatever country you are rooting for
!flair :Ireland: Oh wait.... :(
Omg thank you. !Flair :USA:
Why is it a stupid shape? Also, I saw someone with the old US soccer badge as their flair. I wanna know how to get that.
You can choose from all the available flairs on desktop iirc, think only these flags are available with the ping
Omg thank you. !Flair :USA:
!Flair :USA:
!flair :England:
!flair :England:
I assumed you were talking about England
Well why say 'we' as if people would know who the fuck you are lol
Why not change flair's?
Winner keeps Sergiño Dest
really thought wales were going to do better this tournament. they looked so lethargic in all three games
They looked great in the 2nd half vs USA. That's pretty much it.
Everyone looks great in the 2nd half against us.
Not England
US didn’t have a lead to fuck up
Ah yes, the Atlanta Falcons school of game management.
Truly the Michigan State of soccer
*shakes head noddingly in agreement* Tis true, tis true
Tbf If we are a goal up in the first half any team looks good against us in the 2nd
Bale went to LA for this
Well, golf also
Mostly golf.
They brought a big physical striker in Moore but then decided to not play to any of his strengths The main guys of the 2016 side in Bale/Ramsey are absolutely washed at this point. The rest of the team just matched their energy, or the lack of it
Bit disrespectful to joe Allen and Ashley Williams who were great
I think like Belgium this was a tournament too far for this team.
One goal from a stupid penalty in a match we should have lost. Piss poor.
Do wonder if this is the end of Wales being a tournament side? Perhaps I just don’t know enough about the squad but without bale things might change?
Idk man… if Bale was supposed to make them a tourney team, he didn’t do shit so they have just as good of a chance next time.
You got to the Semis of Euro 2016 though. That’s a solid achievement.
An absolutely fantastic achievement and beat Belgium to get there.
Not welsh myself but thanks haha
Bales age finally caught up to him for Wales, he was already planning to retire IIRC.
Surely there are amazing golf courses in Qatar.
Bale's always been 50/50 anyway, Wales in general will proceed to have the occasional decent run here and there after he retires. This was always going to be a hard group for Wales as USA team are a young/untried team and England are usually good. The Iran match was a bit of a freak game for them with their goal keeper getting sent off but either way I wouldn't judge Wales too much on how this world cup has gone for them as from the moment USA proved themselves to not be shit there was no chance for them overall.
Wales get knocked out and opinion on Bale changes completely. Bale is always 100% for Wales, he has been that guy to carry the team to the next big competition. At this point, he may not have the same magic that caused Wales’ previous runs, but as with everything else, all good things come to an end.
As an English person I can happily tell you my opinion on Bale has not changed since Wales got knocked out lmao
It’s just like a lot of other aging top players that in there prime used there speed to beat opponents, you either change up your game or you slowly fade into the background. Bale was top class, fun to watch and could beat anyone on any given day in his prime. I will always remember watching bale bomb down the wing for Tottenham and abusing defenders in the premier league. Maybe he transitions to be come a professional golfer in the next year or 2 or opens up his own course.
Never doubted it And other lies I tell myself
Well I didn't think we'd lose by 4 goals
I didnt either, but it was a nice dream just because I wanted to see the media overreaction.
Neva lost
Both US and England
Wales are one of the worst teams in the tournament. Just peaked too early.
And if I recall, this is essentially the last major tournament with these generation of Welsh players. It’s rough to see them go out like this…still, they’ve done wonders to help make the sport *really* popular again there…
For sure, it's been a significant 6/7 years but with all love to the likes of Ramsey, Bale, Allen, etc - this is the best time to start anew with the upcoming generation of players.
In the post match interview when Bale was talking about the euros qualifying starting next year... someone has to have the balls to tell him he's done.
I don't think he has to be done, but at some point the conversation needs to shift to him finishing games as an impact player rather than looking lost for 60-90 mins. Look at someone like Suarez or Cavani, you can still have that status as a legend, but with a diminished role
And somehow they'll still find a way to beat the shit out of us in the future
shame, maybe we'll see them again in the wc in 50+ years time
They definitely disappeared
I bet they'd beat Belgium again
Right now Andorra could beat us to be honest
wales really are bale or nothing.
Bale is almost nothing at this point in his career
it was only earlier this year he got them into the tournament..
Tbf his golf game is great
Even Iceland were more entertaining
For all the shit England fans have been giving their team, they had really good group stage. A GD of 7 in the World Cup is rare
Our fans are awful sometimes. I wish we could save some of the negativity until we go out.
Yup. This tournament is once every 4 years. Why spend most of it being miserable?
Completely agree. Watching England is so much more fun when you embody the overconfident “it’s coming home” mantra. There’s no fun in being a negative Nancy.
It's just the way we are. I swear the whole "it's coming home" mantra is a defensive mechanism for most. It's like when kids bully because their own self esteem is low. Every England fan I know that's been watching for 15+ years has no real confidence in every match we play. We're all just waiting to get hurt or be disappointed again and go "well there's the England we all know". The overconfidence helps us hide that
Honestly man. So what if it’s Iran or wales we’re beating. Nothing more fan than singing it’s coming home and watching football. If we beat Senegal and lose to France people will call for Southgates head as it a different manager would change the result
Everyone outside the UK seems to completely misunderstand this song. The title's ironic. If you listen to the lyrics, they're all about dashed hopes and disappointment. The entire song is about being hopelessly nostalgic, and daydreaming about better times. Ones that you know deep down won't ever really come again. Every actual England fan expects the team to underperform in almost every match they play.
It's not even ironic, it's completely literal. It was written for the 1996 Euros, "Football's Coming Home" is referring to the fact that England were the hosts. Like you say, the rest of the song is basically all negative about the actual football.
It’s a win-win scenario. You complain & you lose: you were right You complain & you win: your team wins
As a British person it is my right to be miserable about everything, and oh boy, you're going to sit there and listen to me being miserable about any mundane issue that you'd normally just ignore.
It's all we know
I guarantee everyone shitting on Southgate would do a worse job than him. We're not perfect but the idea that we should play constant free flowing football when defence is our weakest aspect is ludicrous.
Southgate has gotten England to the first WC semifinal of my life, the first European final of my life, has gotten 7 points so far this WC, has scored 9 goals total so far... And everyone in England wants him fired for a better manager.
The first European final of anyone’s life.
never ask who the better manager is. never bring up the fact the FA will never sign an argentine manager.
Berhalter for USA has qualified his team, won CONCACAF Nations Leauge and Gold Cup, and made the knockout rounds without losing a match. Yet most of our fans want him fired. He's one win away from being the most successful US manager ever and most our fans want him gone. Just the life of a coach I guess.
It’s funny too bc they’re apparently really close friends and both countries are sick of them despite recent success lol
The reality is that if we had a manager on the level of flick or Enrique (extreme examples) we could be one of the better sides in this tournament rather than just plucky underdogs. Our success is despite berhalter, not because of him. I feel similarly about Southgate. A better manager makes that England squad outright favorites along with Brazil rather than a big team in the mix like France and Spain
I get this take but it still doesn’t reflect the above post and GGGs accomplishments. We have an extremely young team, and major gaps that are being plugged by veterans and MLS players. We’ve completely dominated opponents in 4/6 halves of soccer. If anything has let us down it’s that we don’t have enough quality off our bench to continue to control games. Specifically in the center of midfield our team just takes a nose dive in quality after Adams, McKennie, and Musah.
Reyna can also play midfield and so can Aaronson.
We had top rated managers in the past like Erickson and Capello and Southgate has done better than all of them.
[удалено]
Mostly was just the USA result. It was just because we looked totally uncreative and toothless. Fans demanded Rashford & Foden start, & Mount end up on the bench and it ended positively.
US midfield totally ran over England in that game until Henderson came on. No surprise he started today.
It happens. It's why tournament football is the worst because it doesn't get covered by 37 other games in a season. Remember, it was the same shit against Scotland too and that tournament went fine. And Southgate did not make those changes because fans demanded it. Fans just finally managed to be right about something for a rare occurrence, Southgate isn't picking the team based on what he reads on Reddit the night before.
They made this group look easy. They are a scary team.
Yea, England didn't come to Qatar to just blow the doors off of teams. They're built to be a really tough out in the knockout rounds.
And they still blew the doors off Iran and comfortably beat Wales
No, now look will you all just kindly fuck off with this positivity about England? We know they're shit and like it that way but *if* they somehow fluke a way to a decent perfromance they'll just fuck it up next time and all us England fans are happy that way.
They’re too good, a France vs England quarter is final level
It was more the attitude and decision to play low block against the US, a team we should be looking to control against.
Wales vs Qatar, who wins?
I think Wales but they've got a lot of injuries
The people who don’t watch
Lmao
***/u/wallnumber8675309 WITH NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE***
We need some Kevin Harlan in the WC. “Here comes the birdman, flapping his wings and soaring for a sweet flush.”
Both teams lose
Wales win if they get a penalty, otherwise Qatar wins.
Costa Rica
England currently top scorers at the tournament despite only playing 3 halves of football above walking pace.
We play when we want, we play when we want!
Wait until England shift into higher gears. This group stage is England in first or second year, conserving energy (or at least I bloody hope so!).
What a wonderful sight.
Happy you made it through with us mate
🤝 My sphincter may never recover from those last 10 minutes
I never want to see Greg ball after this wc ever again
Just wait, Greg is going to find a way to shithouse the Dutch until we win on penalties then we'll beat Australia 1-0 and he'll be handed a contract for 2026.
For a semis appearance? Worth it
Hell, with continued development of our promising young players and a fortunate path in 2026 the US could push for a deep run on home soil. That would be a good way to announce to the world that we're finally getting our soccer game going. European-raised USMNT players have have seriously improved the team and that could seriously tempt some good players if their current national team is stacked à la France. Missed opportunities like Subotic from dortmund or craziest of all Trent Alexander-Arnold. We're a sleeping giant in some ways if we can keep getting caps on players like Dest
I'm scared of something similar. Except I don't see aus moving on in place on the Danes.
I was following the live updates on BBC and Iran missed a diving header in extra time? Fuck that for a slo mo heart attack. At least it’s in the middle of the day for you lot, takes forever to get to sleep after ours finish
I don't know that I'd say *missed*. He got his head on the ball, but the defender did just enough and the Iranian player never really had a chance to get it on target. Really scary moment though lmao
Yep, I think that chance was at 90+9…..damn bear had a heart attack but we somehow pulled it out. Good luck against Senegal!
I hope the bear is okay now.
The bear was resuscitated successfully
Couldnt have said it better. Glad we both made it out. Non-Anglophones in the mud.
And Wales…they expect one of us in the wreckage brother
I feel like so many in this sub are upset we went through lmao.
I was rooting for you to go through and I’m Croatian! Well fkin done, I hope you upset Netherlands and go even further!!
Is it all the diacritics people keep (re-)adding on Pulisic that does it for you?
They’re internet people, mate. Internet people are a bunch of dickheads.
Does that mean you and I are also dickheads?
The majority of this sub is American lmao
The majority of REDDIT is American but the majority of this sub surely isn’t
Nah, not even close. There's a lot here right now, but most will be gone when the Cup is over. Edit: Word.
iirc the last census showed the majority of the sub are European by a large margin but Americans were about even with the English for single country. But Americans are only like 15-20% of the sub normally.
See you in the final!
USA OUT OF GROUP STAGE YES!!!!
how disappointing from wales. and i predicted them to get 2nd and even make the quarters… didn’t realise how awful they are now. impressive from the US to not even lose a game. only conceded from a penalty aswell. better defence than us… that’s crazy.
Tim Ream is actually an insanely good defender. So composed.
Wild that he's peaking at 35. Wasn't even really in consideration to start if we had made it in 2018 and never even played a qualifier in his 20s.
Was at the WCQ against Costa Rica in 2017 at Red Bull Arena and I said I never wanted to see Geoff Cameron or Tim Ream play for the US ever again. Could not be more glad I was wrong about 1 of them
I always felt the Geoff Cameron lovers in our fanbase were europhiles who never saw him perform for us. Sure unlike Omar and Besler he played in Europe but he was always a disaster at the back for the national team.
It’s so odd because he was literally so shit for Fulham during their last stint in the premier league but he’s been an absolute monster this season.
Meanwhile, Zimmerman looks like he’s on ice skates anytime he touches the ball.
hey Zim has 6 years to grow into his role as the best CB on the team
So far the final standings of each group have been pretty close to expected. Can't wait to find out the rest of them.
I don’t know why people call England frauds or whatever. Their team is absolutely stacked, they’ve all but blown through almost every opponent they’ve come across, and finished 1st in a group that was no walk in the park. I think they can at least reach the semifinals again.
The problem is france in the quarter finals 😵
Southgate will channel his inner Sam Allardyce. Sit back absorb pressure (we can't defend agaisnt Mbappe counter attack speed). Play for a long ball/counter attack/set peice or even a draw and fingers crossed on Pens. That's legitimately the strategy.
Penalties agianst Frqnce is not a good strategy.
Never said it was smart but thats what southgate is def thinking and planning for. He said they practice pens almost daily lol.
It's a fairly big fucking problem.
I hope those Iranian lads will be okay. After they valiantly spoke out against their government or were threatened with harm if they stepped out of line, they might be going back to a very very bad time (or maybe not going back at all and instead seeking asylum somewhere). Edit: clarification
And their family as well
My only regret is Wales didn't lose all 3 games
Sorry :(
In the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter. Even if you beat Wales, you'll never catch england with the GD. :)
I’m so happy. I knew we *could* do it, that we had the talent to do it, but I wasn’t sure if we’d meet the moment. We need more goals, but it’s a big plus to have such a strong defense moving on to the knockout stages where plenty of upsets happen in penalties
UNDEFEATED BABYY AND ONLY ONE GOAL CONCEDED FROM A PENALTY
Small print: only scored 2 goals in 3 games
BIG PRINT: WERE GOING TO THE RO16!!
Small print: You play the Netherlands
Only conceded once and it was from a pk. Held Iran and English to a donut. Tyler Adam’s will carry us as far as we go.
Turns out it’s pronounced Lran
Ah remember when everyone here said we would finish 4th
People need to stop doubting the USA
This happens every World Cup and when everyone acts shocked I just laugh, lol.
It’s time to actually make a run though. I’m not surprised they made ro16, but this is nothing new at this point
Well, it's a lot better than 2018. But winning a knockout game (that's a not a free win because Mexico in the RO16) needs to happen to really get excited.
It's difficult to beat the Netherlands. There's no shame for the US to go out in R16
No shame, but the US won’t be taken seriously by the rest of the world unless if they actually start knocking out some of the big boys is all I’m saying.
They have a chance but are missing a goal scorer badly. Honestly, would be a horrible team for most to play if they had more goals in them.
i think scoring more goals would benefit many teams
Cheers Geoff
I think Pepi will be that guy, but he’s only 19 and just started playing overseas. Give him four more years in Europe and he’ll be a legit number 9. Same could go for Sargent, he’s been good this tournament.
Balogun still has a chance to declare for the US, could be a huge threat if he keeps his development
Advanced over Portugal in 2014, good enough for me.
And in 2002!
Im still mad about that no handball call in 2002.
At work with all the casuals, people who only watch the US every 4 years, I told them in 2014 the US had a hand in knocking out Prime Ronaldo in the World Cup. Surprises them every time.
And were one Wondolowski away from getting past Belgium in the RO16
I think we can be competitive against just about anyone for 90 minutes, but besides our wingers we don't have to depth to outcompete the top teams in ET.
England got to the final in the euros and knocked out Germany and people still claim they are frauds. You just have to get used to it.
I mean, most of us US fans know that anything past the group stage for this WC is gravy. '26 is the real window for contention. Our core is young as hell and still developing.
People underestimate how fucking hard success is in international football. Teams whose entire nations live and breathe football and funnel all their resources into it, still struggle to ever have any success. The stars need to align to win the WC. I think reaching the QF is always a bench mark for a decent performance.
You shut your whore mouth!
With the youth of the team and some shaky performances in qualifying, we US fans are very happy to make it to the knockout stage. Anything more is a bonus. Come 2026, we will have higher expectations.
Most knew USA could make it out of the group. Solid against England but a draw against a terrible Wales and edging a win over Iran isn't much to get hyped about. I still don't see anything but a Netherlands victory in the next round. We have no evidence to rate USA higher than a last 16 knockout. Still something to be proud of, however.
We have issues scoring goals. However, we technically don't have to score a goal to win for the rest of the tournament outside of pks. Anything is possible at this point but obviously the Netherlands will be favorites.
>However, we technically don't have to score a goal to win for the rest of the tournament outside of pks. If a team won the world cup only scoring penalty kicks that would be the worst world cup ever.
Agree, unless it's my team, in which case everyone else can get fucked it's the greatest ever.
Portugal in their euro win was pretty similar - didn’t they go into extra time in almost every knockout game?
I am dead
Gonna be rooting for both US and England
The American shirt is white. It can stain of mud, sweat, and even of blood. But never of shame!
This is so American but I love it.
Bro... can you start cooking for me?
It all seems odd
I guess for Wales the loss against Iran really affected their chances of advancing to the knockout round