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)

[loochy]

Weird. Wahl was not at all old...

[tk13]

Yeah suspicious doesn't even do it justice. One of the most prominent American soccer journalists who had written many articles about the treatment of migrant workers leading up to this event mysteriously dies. You don't need to be a detective to ask questions about that. Shame because today's matches were incredible and now this is likely what this event will always be remembered for in the US, if not in the entire western world.

[FloridaMan88]

Healthy 48 year old suddenly collapses and dies after writing critical articles about Qatar? Yeah nothing suspicious at all… not.

[Eleazar]

a few crazy uncles in the Twitter thread already. Shame

It does say he’d mentioned being ill, and having been seen for bronchitis while there

[TwistedChief]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

Shocking out of Doha. And suspicious.

Uhhh, very suspicious.

[|Zach|]

Guy paved the way for US soccer writers and fans in so many ways. Was very nice. Hung out with him a bit when he interviewed me for something Sports Illustrated was doing on SKC years back. Just a very sad thing all around. Hard to comprehend.

[loochy]

Apparently he'd been pretty sick for the last week or so:

From the Associated Press:

LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — Grant Wahl, one of the most well-known soccer writers in the United States, died early Saturday while covering the World Cup match between Argentina and the Netherlands.

U.S. media seated near him said Wahl was stricken while in the media tribute at Lusail Iconic Stadium during extra time and could not be revived.

Wahl was covering his eighth World Cup. He wrote Monday that he had visited a hospital while in Qatar.

“My body finally broke down on me. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and lots of work can do that to you,” Wahl wrote. “What had been a cold over the last 10 days turned into something more severe on the night of the USA-Netherlands game, and I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort. I didn’t have Covid (I test regularly here), but I went into the medical clinic at the main media center today, and they said I probably have bronchitis. They gave me a course of antibiotics and some heavy-duty cough syrup, and I’m already feeling a bit better just a few hours later. But still: No bueno.”

Wahl wrote that he had been among 82 journalists honored by FIFA and the international sports press association AIPS for attending eight or more World Cups.

A 1996 graduate of Princeton, Wahl worked for Sports Illustrated from 1996 to 2021, known primarily for his coverage of soccer and college basketball.

[KC_Connection]

Yeah, my gut tells me he pissed off the wrong person these past couple of weeks with his actions/articles and got taken out for it. Doubt we'll ever get any kind of confirmation on that though. I was actually kind of worried about what might happen to him when I saw the rainbow shirt thing a few weeks back (Qatar is most certainly not a country to mess around with stunts like that, even during the World Cup), but I never imagined anything like this.

In addition to his soccer specialty, he was a great sportswriter in general. I remember when he wrote about college basketball and KU years and year ago. Sad stuff man.

[KC_Connection]

By Grant Wahl pic.twitter.com/Bl6L4AvW1l

— Mike Vernon (@M_Vernon) December 10, 2022

[RollChiefsRoll]

This is ****ed up, bro.

[TripleThreat]

Just jumping in briefly, haven’t gone past a page, but my son is having 103.5 temperatures and my fiancé whose a nurse is so alarmed by the new flu spreading she’s stayed home to monitor him. Also her grandpa was in the hospital a month back when visiting past relatives for thanksgiving and one of my sons friends age 7 died from this flu. Are we sure this isn’t the cause? This shit is nasty, my VP was out all week cause of the flu.

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by TripleThreat

Just jumping in briefly, haven’t gone past a page, but my son is having 103.5 temperatures and my fiancé whose a nurse is so alarmed by the new flu spreading she’s stayed home to monitor him. Also her grandpa was in the hospital a month back when visiting past relatives for thanksgiving and one of my sons friends age 7 died from this flu. Are we sure this isn’t the cause? This shit is nasty, my VP was out all week cause of the flu.

I have a friend that had a 104-105 degree fever for 4 straight days because of the flu. She was going to go to the ER if it lasted another day but the fever broke just in time. Have another friend that got a bad case of the flu as well. I got my flu shot a week ago.

[Hark Clunt]

i understand why people may suspect foul play, but they probably shouldn't be taking a shocked and grieving brother's words as 100% fact and amplifying him for retweets. pretty ghoulish tbh.

[jettio]

Originally Posted by loochy

Apparently he'd been pretty sick for the last week or so:

The way he says his upper chest felt pressure and discomfort, he may have been having a mild heart attack for a couple days.

Sad news.

[MMXcalibur]

Originally Posted by loochy

Apparently he'd been pretty sick for the last week or so:

Oh man, what a gut punch.

I remember reading his articles in SI back when I was in high school in the late 90s.