USMNT 2022 World Cup Qualifying Thread

Tom McAndrew

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Final, 0-0, USA vs. Mexico. Not a bad effort by the USMNT, but two beautiful scoring chances that they did not convert.
 

Erial_Lion

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Nov 1, 2021
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Draw in either of the last two will mean no worse than 4th (which is a 90% chance of qualifying)…but would be nice to seal the deal on sunday
 

Tom McAndrew

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This was the sickest sequence in the USA - Mexico match. Nice to see Reyna back in form. He held the ball too long, but he didn't have any passing options, so he just took it to them.

 

RyanSnyder

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This was the sickest sequence in the USA - Mexico match. Nice to see Reyna back in form. He held the ball too long, but he didn't have any passing options, so he just took it to them.



It really was. If Messi or Neymar do that, it goes viral all over the world. That was some beautiful dribbling.
 

Woodpecker

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Oct 7, 2021
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Some really sloppy/lazy passes that need to be cleaned up. I'm amazed that players can't get up for these matches. I realize that they are playing at altitude but c'mon. BTW, why train in Houston?
 

Erial_Lion

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Some really sloppy/lazy passes that need to be cleaned up. I'm amazed that players can't get up for these matches. I realize that they are playing at altitude but c'mon. BTW, why train in Houston?
I doubt that motivation was a factor in any way, shape, or form…and Houston helps cut down on travel. Would having camp in Denver for a couple of days really change anything.
 

Woodpecker

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I doubt that motivation was a factor in any way, shape, or form…and Houston helps cut down on travel. Would having camp in Denver for a couple of days really change anything.
I don't know; probably not but it wouldn't hurt. I'm just trying to understand why passes (and shots) were made that I swear that I could have done.
 

CyphaPSU

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It really was. If Messi or Neymar do that, it goes viral all over the world. That was some beautiful dribbling.
Those two players would also have had a teammate or two who would have made themselves available to pass to. I get it, our guys were gassed, but the manager should have probably done something about that a little sooner. To not get any support in that moment when Gio is doing precisely what he was brought on to do was frustrating.
 
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udsig91

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Draw in either of the last two will mean no worse than 4th (which is a 90% chance of qualifying)…but would be nice to seal the deal on sunday
We had that same chance last time and we all know how that worked out...Win and you control your destiny.
 

Tom McAndrew

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^^ this is the play for which after the ref checked VAR, a PK was awarded. IMHO, the PK should have been awarded.
 

Tom McAndrew

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GOOOOAAALLLLLLL, USA

Pulisic with his 2nd, on a PK, during stoppage time at the end of the 1st half.

4-0, USA


 

Lane

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Oct 12, 2021
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Why did the announcer say that Costa Rica would need to win by 6 in the next game? We currently have a 10 goal advantage in that department over them. Can he just not count? Or was he looking at the stats before the match?
 

Tom McAndrew

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But why no card?

Honestly, I thought the first one deserved a yellow, and the second one was cleaner. But one yellow between the two of them seems right.

well, it's not a sequence or action which is a mandatory card. So then it becomes a ref's preference for how to best manage the situation.

A few reasons you wouldn't give a card:
- it's early in the match, and the play of the two teams was not of a nature characterized by a lot of nasty fouls which needed to be controlled
- Panama was being penalized enough, so to speak, with the awarding of the PK
- because the PK was awarded due to VAR and not as a result of an observation by the ref in real time, it's a little easier to manage the situation by not issuing the yellow

While the above reasons are valid and part of match management, as @Erial_Lion pointed out, the 1st foul was pretty blatant and easy to call, and also more worthy of a yellow card. The 2nd foul for which a PK was also awarded was kind of soft or iffy, and not nearly as worthy of a card.

Another thing that refs try to keep in mind is the number of the player that commit fouls. I believe that both fouls were called on the same Panama player (20, or 22??). If a player has committed too many similar fouls, a ref will issue a card after the 2nd or 3rd incident to indicate that their repeated violations need to stop. When the card is issued after the weakest of the repeated fouls, the optics don't look great, and the player, captain, or coach will often complain that the play didn't warrant a card, but the ref simply explains that the card is for repeated infractions -- something that the fans don't hear.
 
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