The Official 2022 FIFA World Cup Thread

[TripleThreat]

YOUNG AMERICANS
The USMNT was by far the youngest team to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, garnering valuable experience going through the rigors of World Cup qualifying. Through 14 qualifiers, the USA Starting XI came in at an average of 23.82, almost two years younger than the next closest team, Ghana at 25.67. Together, the other 31 participating teams averaged a Starting XI age of 27.5 through qualifying, nearly four full years older than the U.S. Sources say this is one of the youngest, but most talented teams the U.S. has ever fielded. While they may not win the world cup this year, they may garner the experience needed to make a serious run on home soil in the year 2026 when the World Cup comes back to North America.

2022 USA World Cup Roster

FORWARDS
Jesús Ferreira (FC Dallas)
Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders)
Christian Pulisic (Chelsea)
Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund)
Josh Sargent (Norwich City)
Timothy Weah (Lille)
Haji Wright (Antalyaspor)

MIDFIELDERS
Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United)
Kellyn Acosta (LAFC)
Tyler Adams (Leeds United)
Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo)
Weston McKennie (Juventus)
Yunus Musah (Valencia)
Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders)

DEFENDERS
Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic)
Sergiño Dest (AC Milan)
Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls)
Shaq Moore (Nashville SC)
Tim Ream (Fulham)
Antonee Robinson (Fulham)
Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach)
DeAndre Yedlin (Inter Miami)
Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC)

GOALKEEPERS
Ethan Horvath (Luton Town)
Sean Johnson (NYCFC)
Matt Turner (Arsenal)

[New World Order]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Who is the best player in the world at this point? I think it’s gotta be Erling, Mbappe or Lewondowski right?

Not sure Messi and Ronaldo are anymore due to age

Messi for sure.

[penguinz]

Originally Posted by New World Order

Messi for sure.

Messi chokes on PKs and then cries and retires from national team. Being the best is mental as well. Messi is great but not the best.

[carlos3652]

Also don’t forget Salah was also on a tear…

The crazy part is that Messi is considered a winger / attacking mid (like Neymar and salah) and Mbappe is a true forward (like Haaland)

[carlos3652]

Originally Posted by penguinz

Messi chokes on PKs and then cries and retires from national team. Being the best is mental as well. Messi is great but not the best.

Lol - Mbappe has an 81% pk make rate and Messi has a 77% make rate. With 100 more penalties taken …

What?

[New World Order]

Originally Posted by penguinz

Messi chokes on PKs and then cries and retires from national team. Being the best is mental as well. Messi is great but not the best.

Messi can do it all. He can create for himself and as well as his teammates and is a goal scoring phenom. He's easily the most complete player.

I will agree though that those moments are holding him back from being the greatest ever.

[penguinz]

Originally Posted by carlos3652

Also don’t forget Salah was also on a tear…

The crazy part is that Messi is considered a winger / attacking mid (like Neymar and salah) and Mbappe is a true forward (like Haaland)

Argentina puts their best at an attacking mid. Maradona was a magician.

[carlos3652]

Also I understand you might call Messi weak mentally but no one would survive the argentina press when you lose 3 finals in a row and everyone blames you when there is no on else on the team - messidependencia was real.

[penguinz]

Originally Posted by New World Order

Messi can do it all. He can create for himself and as well as his teammates and is a goal scoring phenom. He's easily the most complete player.

I will agree though that those moments are holding him back from being the greatest ever.

No denying his skills. It is just the mental part for me. How can you be the best and be around 75% effective at something that tends to be deciding factor in all major championships. Seems more often than not these big games end in Shots From the mark.

[carlos3652]

Think about what he has done at Barcelona with a supporting cast. I wouldn’t want to play on the national team if all they do is wine and complain and it was all corrupt at different levels inside AFA

[Baby Lee]

I miss peak Zlatan. That guy had the craziest skillset

[penguinz]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

I miss peak Zlatan. That guy had the craziest skillset

Imagine if the USA could ever develop a player like him!

Berhalter would probably only use him as a sub.

[TripleThreat]

Originally Posted by penguinz

Are you that insecure that you have to get so pissy because someone corrected you?

Lmao - you’ve been a participant of this thread since day 1 and you have constantly corrected people about the smallest shit that didn’t matter. Or when you do you have this entitled tone behind your posts.

Literally the point was how we damn near won the game but got scored on in the 95th minute by Ronaldo, but because it was Ronaldo who made the assist and not the goal you felt the need to quote and reply to that tiny mistake.

If you were a bro, or a cool person, your response would have been “I believe it was Ronaldo who made the assist, not the score but yeah”. Instead you have some entitled tone behind your post that really doesn’t correct the point of the post just the smallest body part of it.

[penguinz]

Originally Posted by TripleThreat

Lmao - you’ve been a participant of this thread since day 1 and you have constantly corrected people about the smallest shit that didn’t matter. Or when you do you have this entitled tone behind your posts.

Literally the point was how we damn near won the game but got scored on in the 95th minute by Ronaldo, but because it was Ronaldo who made the assist and not the goal you felt the need to quote and reply to that tiny mistake.

If you were a bro, or a cool person, your response would have been “I believe it was Ronaldo who made the assist, not the score but yeah”. Instead you have some entitled tone behind your post that really doesn’t correct the point of the post just the smallest body part of it.

So you got upset because you misinterpreted the tone. Got it .

[Gary Cooper]

Originally Posted by penguinz

Messi chokes on PKs and then cries and retires from national team. Being the best is mental as well. Messi is great but not the best.

Oh please. The best penalty takers aren't necessarily the top 50 players in history. Guys like Le Tissier, Brehme, Shearer were awesome penalty takers, but they're not on Messi's level as players. Messi is the best player of our generation, along with Ronaldo. He's decent at penalties but not great. There's other things he's not great at offensively (headers). I wouldn't call him a choker or question his mental fortitude. He's been playing under immense pressure for over a decade now and delivering unlike anyone else.

[Gary Cooper]

Originally Posted by penguinz

No denying his skills. It is just the mental part for me. How can you be the best and be around 75% effective at something that tends to be deciding factor in all major championships. Seems more often than not these big games end in Shots From the mark.

Because there's more to soccer besides penalties. Messi is about 80% from penalties in his career (at least he was recently). Ronaldo around 85%. I haven't seen the recent stats but I wouldn't put too much stock in penalties in deciding who the best players are.