U.S. & International Soccer

Playing the qualifier games in northern climates is really good prep for games in Qatar.

How hard would it be to play this at US Bank? That said it’s not they’re playing baseball.

Thor scores!

2-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The cold is working. #ColdGoals

How old are some of these city shots they’re showing coming back from commercials? Is there still snow on the streets on Hennepin?

The announcers say welcome to St. Paul and they show that.

Mrs. GE was offended. ?

Reminds me of the time I was at a work conference in Miami, Florida and they were advertising that the next conference was scheduled for July in Minnesota and then showed slides of people stuck in the snow. The northerns at the conference got the joke. The southerns were looking at each other like does that really happen in Minnesota in July.

Not sure its a good idea to bring in Pulisic in these conditions.

Apparently he has ice in his veins cause that was stone cold

The early analysis suggests this post isn’t aging well

Haha - I think I was a bit premature on that one.

Pulisic tells [mention]Slap Shot[/mention]

Oh, I am all about these USA jerseys! I might have to get one.

This Honduran goalie is quite the drama queen

Pulisic in postgame interview “yeah I’m pretty disappointed that second one didn’t count as I wanted to stick it to [mention]SlapShot[/mention] ”

Nice work tonight, great game.

McKennie and Acosta were both excellent.

I think Weston McKennie is the most important USMNT player. Pulisic is obviously great when he's on, but McKennie is just the motor of the team.

Aren’t most to all soccer players drama queens?!?!?!

The Hondurans and their fans are BIG mad about the game being in those conditions.

I can't quite muster up enough f*cks to give.

Because none of the Central American teams play in the jungle where it’s 90 degrees with 80% humidity on a surface that would make concrete feel like rubber

Players yes, goalies oddly not so much.

I grew up in Florida and spent glorious days in Mexico….it ain’t like this bro.

Get up tomorrow morning and walk outside for 30 seconds….this isn’t for everyone

Oh, it's cold as hell. No debating there.

San Pedro Sula at 3:00 pm in the middle of July ain't all that comfortable either, though.

Agreed. I can handle 0 degrees way better than that. Just a matter of adding layers to get warmer.

When it's ridiculously hot and humid like Honduras in July, even if I'm going around in just a speedo (and NOBODY wants to see that) I'm still going to be barely functional.

The US has played on some crap fields in CONCACAF. Some look like cow pastures. Some barely have enough grass on them to be considered a pitch. Unless CONCACAF steps in and sets regulations for playing conditions, this will still be the norm. Usually the US is the one complaining and no one listens. Funny one game like this and all this whining coming from it.

McKennie is out 8 weeks which means he's out for their final 3 qualifiers barring a miracle.

It should not be devastating enough to prevent them from getting through but I really want to see a win at Azteca and I do believe the higher the finish the better chance for a favorable WC pod.

That is a big blow to the team. He has been their best player recently. I don't see them moving a lot in the rankings between now and the final draw, so if they qualify they will likely be in pot 2 whether they finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in CONCACAF. There just are not enough games to cause any drastic rankings movement.

Looks like Gio Reyna's injury isn't as serious as first believed. Missing him and McKennie for the final qualifiers would have been less than ideal.

Massive game tonight for USMNT at El Azteca. A win would be absolutely huge. Draw would be a solid result. A loss, depending on results elsewhere, and things could start looking dicey.

Thanks for the heads up!!!

WOW, North Macedonia beats Italy. Italy misses out on their second straight World Cup.

World Cup 2018: Failed To Qualify

Euro 2020: Champions

World Cup 2022: Failed To Qualify

Wtf... They are 6 in the current rankings

Did you see the shot chart from the match? They got one good attempt and buried it.

It’s like outshooting a team in hockey 45-5 and losing by a goal

They got FM'd :biggrin2:

Wow, Azteca looks empty

Do they still have penalties for the fans using slurs as chants?

They mentioned Mexico City has some covid mandates so I believe that's what the lower attendance is for. But still, they said 50k could be there. Didn't look like 50k at kickoff.

Pulisic... That HAS to be a goal

Yep... cannot miss that.

Panama drew 1-1 at home against Honduras. This definitely improves our chances of clinching a spot in the World Cup.

Positive subs from Berhalter, he's going for it

Pefok....

Golden chance. On an absolute platter.

Draw, I'll take it.

4 in a row unbeaten against Mexico for the first time in our history

Coming out of Azteca with a point? Damn right I'll take it.

Oleee, Ooole, Ole, Oolee....

Sorry I thought I was in Mankato.

I read this from Grant Wahl today and thought... oh boy... this kind of feels familiar somehow...

The biggest surprise was that the notorious Estadio Azteca mystique had disappeared. The nighttime crowd, limited to 40,000 by Covid regulations and the threat of homophobic chant punishments, was strangely muted from the start. During the middle of play, a desperate stadium PA announcer repeatedly tried starting MAY-HEE-CO chants and The Wave, but almost nobody joined in. On the one occasion when El Tri fans began their trademark O-LÉ chant on every pass, Mexico comically lost possession on an unpressured misfire out of play.

At times, the 1,000 U.S. fans in an upper stadium corner drowned out the Mexico supporters, except when they were whistling and booing their own coach, Tata Martino.

You kind of felt embarrassed for the hosts.

A longtime fan writes: “I’ve been following the [USMNT] since 1994, I’ve been deep in BigSoccer forums for decades, and from everything I see, the fans are demonstrably less fun and more awful than they have ever been. Win or lose, it’s just generally much more unpleasant than in years past. Are these my fellow travelers now? Miserable, angry people who have absolutely zero sense of proportion or enjoyment?”...

So let in a full crowd at more reasonable prices and get horrible chants?

So let in a full crowd at more reasonable prices and get beers thrown on the ice?

Ya sounds familiar

I think the fan thing was partially due to the fact they were perilously close to getting kicked out of the WC qualifying if their fans went overboard. I could be wrong about that but I read something to that effect on another board.

The PbP woman said traffic was an issue before the game. That game was boring as hell though which also prob didn’t help the crowd’s engagement.

https://twitter.com/GrantWahl/status/1507391381899255832

Win tonight and US is in the World Cup. Loss or tie is trouble.