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)

[TripleThreat]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Chances of Australia beating Argentina - perhaps you can illustrate this to me as an NCAA Basketball tournament upset. Is that like a 15 beating a 2 or something?

a 1 beating a 16 imo. 15 and 2 is too generous but we've seen 1's beat 16's before.

I'd say Australia is the worst team to be in the round of 16 as of yet for this tournament.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

So is Germany being eliminated as surprising as I think it is? Because I feel like Germany's pretty much always good.

I don't know about surprising, but their elimination is convoluted and a tad unfair.

They are even in points with Spain, but Costa Rica surrendered a shit ton of goals in the opening game, meaning that Spain didn't have to win their final game with their massive goal differential advantage. They lost to the same team [Japan] by the same score. So basically Japan overachieved massively and Germany's fate ended up in Costa Rica's hands.

[SithCeNtZ]

Originally Posted by Gary Cooper

No. Defensive systems have made soccer powerhouses vulnerable to teams that defend most of the game and get lucky on a few counterattacks. Japan and Costa Rica have ZERO talent compared to Spain/Germany, and that's not even getting into the depth of their rosters. It's just the way the game has become. I expected this after the last World Cup.

In the 1970s and 80s, the powerhouse teams would just roll opponents over. Defensive strategies weren't as good as today.

I don't think any grand strategy is it, just that training(and money) are getting better for all countries. The gap in talent isn't nearly as big as it was in say 1990 between the good and the bad teams. You are seeing this in all big sports like basketball. The US could just send whoever and win the Olympic gold by 45 points a game. Now you can't do that. Upsets happen far more in college football and basketball. As training becomes more even and more money flows in, the talent from the worst teams will get better. That's what's happening in soccer both in the men's game and the women's game, where the US women can't just win every game 10-0 anymore by showing up.

[TripleThreat]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

I don't know about surprising, but their elimination is convoluted and a tad unfair.

They are even in points with Spain, but Costa Rica surrendered a shit ton of goals in the opening game, meaning that Spain didn't have to win their final game with their massive goal differential advantage. They lost to the same team [Japan] by the same score. So basically Japan overachieved massively and Germany's fate ended up in Costa Rica's hands.

No way, Germany's fate ended up in Spain's hands 100%.

Spain beating Costa Rica 7-0, and then Spain losing to Japan 2-1 sealed Germanys fate.

If Spain wins that game, Germany advances. Looking at GD, at first glance it even looks like if Spain ties it 2-2 there, Japan goes from +1 GD back to 0, and Germany advances with their +1 GD...

[TripleThreat]

Originally Posted by Gary Cooper

No. Defensive systems have made soccer powerhouses vulnerable to teams that defend most of the game and get lucky on a few counterattacks. Japan and Costa Rica have ZERO talent compared to Spain/Germany, and that's not even getting into the depth of their rosters. It's just the way the game has become. I expected this after the last World Cup.

In the 1970s and 80s, the powerhouse teams would just roll opponents over. Defensive strategies weren't as good as today.

ZERO talent? Costa Rica's Goal Keeper is the starting goal keeper for Paris Saint Germaine, you know, the team MBappe and Messi play for lol.

[Hark Clunt]

i don't think it's unfair germany went out. even if this were the euros, where head-to-head is first tiebreaker, they still would go out because they only drew with spain.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by TripleThreat

No way, Germany's fate ended up in Spain's hands 100%.

Spain beating Costa Rica 7-0, and then Spain losing to Japan 2-1 sealed Germanys fate.

If Spain wins that game, Germany advances. Looking at GD, at first glance it even looks like if Spain ties it 2-2 there, Japan goes from +1 GD back to 0, and Germany advances with their +1 GD...

Goal differential is such a bad way to do things....buuuuuut....I can't think of a better one so I'll just stay over here in the corner and shut up.

Just seems odd that beating the brakes off a team, in a 3-game sample size, should carry that much weight.

I almost think I'd rather just see the higher seed advance - if you played well enough getting into the Cup that you got the higher seed in it, that should mean more than beating some rummy of a squad worse than the other guys did.

[Hark Clunt]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Goal differential is such a bad way to do things....buuuuuut....I can't think of a better one so I'll just stay over here in the corner and shut up.

Just seems odd that beating the brakes off a team, in a 3-game sample size, should carry that much weight.

I almost think I'd rather just see the higher seed advance - if you played well enough getting into the Cup that you got the higher seed in it, that should mean more than beating some rummy of a squad worse than the other guys did.

in some tournaments, head-to-head is the first tiebreaker. i tend to prefer that for short run tournements. i think goal differential makes more sense for league play, which is usually 38 games.

[TripleThreat]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Goal differential is such a bad way to do things....buuuuuut....I can't think of a better one so I'll just stay over here in the corner and shut up.

Just seems odd that beating the brakes off a team, in a 3-game sample size, should carry that much weight.

I almost think I'd rather just see the higher seed advance - if you played well enough getting into the Cup that you got the higher seed in it, that should mean more than beating some rummy of a squad worse than the other guys did.

There are other tie-breakers but GD is usually what's used in most scenarios. I think GD is fair in some sense because if you noticed, if Costa Rica won that game, they advanced along with Japan.... So even though Costa Rica lost 7-0 to Spain, they would have still advanced over a team that smashed them.

Germany themselves lost to Japan and is what ultimately lost them this cup, and then prayed Spain could do what they couldn't.

[Eleazar]

If you’re mad that you think another team was sandbagging to knock you out, don’t leave yourself in a position where you’re at their mercy. You can hardly complain about Japan advancing when you lost to them.

[Danguardace]

Originally Posted by Hark Clunt

in some tournaments, head-to-head is the first tiebreaker. i tend to prefer that for short run tournements. i think goal differential makes more sense for league play, which is usually 38 games.

Yeah I dont understand not using Head to Head so in that respect I have no sympathy for the Germans. Also in this type of tournament you could be playing a team in the 3rd game who is already eliminated

[ChiefBlueCFC]

I love the World Cup and soccer, man. ****ing love it!!

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Hark Clunt

in some tournaments, head-to-head is the first tiebreaker. i tend to prefer that for short run tournements. i think goal differential makes more sense for league play, which is usually 38 games.

Yeah, I don't have a problem with goal differential over a large sample size at all. Because I do think there's a lot of merit to it over large enough sample sizes.

Good teams beat teams badly; less good teams still win, but not by as much. It's pretty much universal across all sports.

But in a 3 game sample size, it just doesn't mean a hell of a lot. It means Costa Rica played like shit in the opening round of the World Cup - it happens.

I would also prefer H2H as the 1st tiebreaker - that makes all the sense in the world. But as the 2nd tie-breaker I think I'd just have them advance on seeding and get rid of all the rest of this shit like Fair Play rules and what not.

But hey, it clearly creates drama.

[Baby Lee]

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

I gotta admit, they video-reviewed it and decided that wasn't out. Happy for Japan, but that may not sit well for some people.