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)

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish

Still disappointing. And using Yedlin? The guy is 175 years old (in soccer years) and he played very MLS-y.

I hope now they're ready for the style of WC play. It was obvious they were not ready for the 6'5" wing who came in after halftime. He really used his size to bump and cajole and frustrate our back line.

Yea the Moore substitution changed the entire match

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish

Still disappointing. And using Yedlin? The guy is 175 years old (in soccer years) and he played very MLS-y.

I hope now they're ready for the style of WC play. It was obvious they were not ready for the 6'5" wing who came in after halftime. He really used his size to bump and cajole and frustrate our back line.

I’m guessing England has taken note that we weren’t able to deal with the physicality of some of the Welsh players, we’d better be ready for that.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

So....is USA actually good?

I keep seeing people say "Hey, show FIFA what's up and win this thing!"

Is that even a remotely legit possibility? Because this team seems about like every other USMNT.

I'm no soccer expert, but Canada finished higher than them in the CONCACAF qualifying. I would suspect that means nobody in CONCACAF has a chance of doing much of anything in this tournament.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat

I hate John Oliver. I hate him so so much.

[BWillie]

I don't understand why there isn't just a UK soccer team instead of Wales, England, Scotland etc. Dont they want to win?

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

I'm no soccer expert, but Canada finished higher than them in the CONCACAF qualifying. I would suspect that means nobody in CONCACAF has a chance of doing much of anything in this tournament.

It’s hard to think of an analogue for what it would be for the US to win.It might be like Villanova winning the NCAA tournament as an 8 seed back in the 80s, beating a whole string of 1 and 2 seeds along the way. Even that seems like it would be less surprising.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Razaele

It’s hard to think of an analogue for what it would be for the US to win.It might be like Villanova winning the NCAA tournament as an 8 seed back in the 80s, beating a whole string of 1 and 2 seeds along the way. Even that seems like it would be less surprising.

I would say the NCAA tournament is much more of a crapshoot (lending to the possibility of an underseeded team advancing deep like that Villanova team or like UNC last year) than the World Cup given the countries that usually win this tournament.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

I would say the NCAA tournament is much more of a crapshoot (lending to the possibility of an underseeded team advancing deep like that Villanova team or like UNC last year) than the World Cup given the countries that usually win this tournament.

Yeah, I agree and it’s hard to think of what the chances really are, of any way to quantify them with an analogy from another sport.

The US was ranked 16th going in, though today we saw them play well for a half but come away looking inferior to Wales, who was 18th I think.

If we managed to advance to the knockout stages we’d need to win four games in a row against teams that would probably be greatly superior to Wales.

[MarkDavis'Haircut]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I don't understand why there isn't just a UK soccer team instead of Wales, England, Scotland etc. Dont they want to win?

Cultural pride for those regions.

[Womble]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I don't understand why there isn't just a UK soccer team instead of Wales, England, Scotland etc. Dont they want to win?

If we had a combined UK squad there would be a place as a starter for Scotland's Andy Robertson at left back and a place on the bench for Wales's Gareth Bale and no Northern Ireland players. It really wouldn't make much difference and it would deny those Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland players the opportunity to play international football and represent their country within the union.

[TripleThreat]

Originally Posted by Razaele

Yeah, I agree and it’s hard to think of what the chances really are, of any way to quantify them with an analogy from another sport.

The US was ranked 16th going in, though today we saw them play well for a half but come away looking inferior to Wales, who was 18th I think.

If we managed to advance to the knockout stages we’d need to win four games in a row against teams that would probably be greatly superior to Wales.

It honestly just depends... It would be shocking to see USA win the whole thing, especially seeing how much this young group needs to improve, mentally.

However, it's not really that weird if we were to beat England on Friday. Surprising? Sure, but I don't see it more surprising than NCAA 16 seeds taking out #1 seeds... USA has always had England's number especially recently whether England fans would admit it or not, the statistics of our past games don't lie.

The problem is winning consistently. Brazil, Belgium, France, they are true contenders because they are consistently good throughout the full 90 but this USA team if on the right day could beat any of the three.

[TripleThreat]

[|Zach|]

We got here on the shoulders of MLS players having said that I am not a fan of Jordan Morris at all and love Gio. Getting to see him when he is healthy from watching Dortmund week in and week out is so much fun.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by TripleThreat

It honestly just depends... It would be shocking to see USA win the whole thing, especially seeing how much this young group needs to improve, mentally.

However, it's not really that weird if we were to beat England on Friday. Surprising? Sure, but I don't see it more surprising than NCAA 16 seeds taking out #1 seeds... USA has always had England's number especially recently whether England fans would admit it or not, the statistics of our past games don't lie.

The problem is winning consistently. Brazil, Belgium, France, they are true contenders because they are consistently good throughout the full 90 but this USA team if on the right day could beat any of the three.

Eh, saying the US “has England’s number” is a bridge too far.

[louie aguiar]

It looked like they ran out of gas in the second half.