2022 FIFA World Cup Official Thread

[PAOBoston]

America has the same soccer problem it has had for ever i.e. the best athletes just don't grow up playing soccer.  That is why most of the best players the US has have dual citizenship and don't grow up in the states.

Yes and no. You don’t necessarily need to be an uber athlete to be a great soccer player. It really comes down to youth development in terms of skill and tactics and that is where the US is lacking. Think the talent pool is pretty good. The advantage the dual nationals on the team have is that their skills at a youth age were developed in other countries, not that they are great athletes. Look at Yedlin, great athlete and physical characteristics but has zero footballing IQ and the touch of donkey. Athleticism ain’t gonna fix that.

[Sophomore]

America has the same soccer problem it has had for ever i.e. the best athletes just don't grow up playing soccer.  That is why most of the best players the US has have dual citizenship and don't grow up in the states.

Yes and no. You don’t necessarily need to be an uber athlete to be a great soccer player. It really comes down to youth development in terms of skill and tactics and that is where the US is lacking. Think the talent pool is pretty good. The advantage the dual nationals on the team have is that their skills at a youth age were developed in other countries, not that they are great athletes. Look at Yedlin, great athlete and physical characteristics but has zero footballing IQ and the touch of donkey. Athleticism ain’t gonna fix that.

Don’t the best have both? Awesome field vision and visual processing, elite core strength, balance, quickness, and whatever the foot equivalent is to hand-eye coordination. If Chris Paul, Steph Curry, Donovan Mitchell, and Ja Morant grew up in Brazil, what kind of soccer players might they be?

[hpantazo]

America has the same soccer problem it has had for ever i.e. the best athletes just don't grow up playing soccer.  That is why most of the best players the US has have dual citizenship and don't grow up in the states.

Yes and no. You don’t necessarily need to be an uber athlete to be a great soccer player. It really comes down to youth development in terms of skill and tactics and that is where the US is lacking. Think the talent pool is pretty good. The advantage the dual nationals on the team have is that their skills at a youth age were developed in other countries, not that they are great athletes. Look at Yedlin, great athlete and physical characteristics but has zero footballing IQ and the touch of donkey. Athleticism ain’t gonna fix that.

Don’t the best have both? Awesome field vision and visual processing, elite core strength, balance, quickness, and whatever the foot equivalent is to hand-eye coordination. If Chris Paul, Steph Curry, Donovan Mitchell, and Ja Morant grew up in Brazil, what kind of soccer players might they be?

It's an interesting question. Some people with amazing hand-eye coordination don't have very good foot-eye coordination and vice versa. It also doesn't seem to correspond always to which country you grew up in and what sports were popular there. I know several people who grew up playing both sports but just can't dribble a soccer ball well despite having a great basketball handle or vice versa.

[Sophomore]

America has the same soccer problem it has had for ever i.e. the best athletes just don't grow up playing soccer.  That is why most of the best players the US has have dual citizenship and don't grow up in the states.

Yes and no. You don’t necessarily need to be an uber athlete to be a great soccer player. It really comes down to youth development in terms of skill and tactics and that is where the US is lacking. Think the talent pool is pretty good. The advantage the dual nationals on the team have is that their skills at a youth age were developed in other countries, not that they are great athletes. Look at Yedlin, great athlete and physical characteristics but has zero footballing IQ and the touch of donkey. Athleticism ain’t gonna fix that.

Don’t the best have both? Awesome field vision and visual processing, elite core strength, balance, quickness, and whatever the foot equivalent is to hand-eye coordination. If Chris Paul, Steph Curry, Donovan Mitchell, and Ja Morant grew up in Brazil, what kind of soccer players might they be?

It's an interesting question. Some people with amazing hand-eye coordination don't have very good foot-eye coordination and vice versa. It also doesn't seem to correspond always to which country you grew up in and what sports were popular there. I know several people who grew up playing both sports but just can't dribble a soccer ball well despite having a great basketball handle or vice versa.

Yeah, for sure foot-eye I had to guess at. Some of those guys have elite footwork, for hoop players, would it translate? Don’t know.

When I was 20 I spent a summer teaching basketball at a camp. Near the end of the year we had a soccer game against the foreign staff, most of whom were Brits. As the bball guy I played goal. Good news: I probably had 20+ saves. Bad news: we still lost 6-0. Best thing I can say is that nobody thought of trying a basketball game; would have been even more lopsided.

[Phantom255x]

Soccer really is a cruel game.

Felt like Senegal was doing well and they had some golden chances early, but instead it's now 2-0 England at halftime

[RodyTur10]

Soccer really is a cruel game.

Felt like Senegal was doing well and they had some golden chances early, but instead it's now 2-0 England at halftime

It sometimes is. You can be the better team and have the better chances and one mistake or unlucky moment can change the whole game. In a span of a few minutes Senegal collapsed. In basketball generally the scoreline reflects the level and momentum of play of both teams. In soccer that's not always the case.

And with that comes the willingness to come up with a narrative for analysts, coaches, players and fans to explain the scoreline which often is incorrect and opportunistic because of the 'luck' factor. There are thousands of soccer analysts, commentators, coaches and writers and very very few have a real grasp of what's happening beyond the obvious.

In the Netherlands we have had two icons who could do that. One was the late Johan Cruijff and the other is the current coach Louis van Gaal. That's why the latter is the X-factor for our team. Van Gaal sees himself as a halfgod, but he knows his stuff. Fun fact is that Cruijff and Van Gaal had opposite views despite their similar ability to create a soccer vision. Cruijff believed in selecting a system to suit his players, while Van Gaal believes in selecting players to suit his system.

In basketball there are a lot of statistics that explain to some degree how well players and teams are doing. However in soccer it's hard to find relevant statistics due to the lack of data (less touches per player) and the less similar play situations. Statistics like ball possession and pass accuracy may not mean much in a different playing style.

[Who]

Disappointed to see England get two late first half goals. I was hoping Senegal could give them a shock. It'll be hard for them to get back in this.

[Moranis]

America has the same soccer problem it has had for ever i.e. the best athletes just don't grow up playing soccer.  That is why most of the best players the US has have dual citizenship and don't grow up in the states.

Yes and no. You don’t necessarily need to be an uber athlete to be a great soccer player. It really comes down to youth development in terms of skill and tactics and that is where the US is lacking. Think the talent pool is pretty good. The advantage the dual nationals on the team have is that their skills at a youth age were developed in other countries, not that they are great athletes. Look at Yedlin, great athlete and physical characteristics but has zero footballing IQ and the touch of donkey. Athleticism ain’t gonna fix that.

Yedlin is 5'7".  He is very small.  That is what you get in America the best athletes are too small to play basketball or football, so they play soccer (or go into combat sports a bit later in their youth). 

A guy like Gakpo is 6'4" and all of the same athletic skill as Yedlin, but in America Gakpo is a WR (or LB or RB or etc.) or in basketball a PG or SG.  Guys like Gakpo don't play soccer in the U.S.  Now sure DePay is only 5'10", but still the DePay's of the world play football as kids in the US, not soccer. 

The US can build all the infrastructure it wants, but if the youth don't want to play soccer it doesn't matter.  If the guys 5'11 to 6'4" don't want to play, then the US is always going to be behind the 8-ball. 

[Who]

Ooh, England vs France in the next round. That will be good.

[RodyTur10]

Ooh, England vs France in the next round. That will be good.

The big countries take care of business during the knock-out stage.
Playtime is over.

[Phantom255x]

Argentina vs. Netherlands

England vs. France

Amazing games coming up later this week. And we'll see what the other two games are pending the results of the next few games

[Moranis]

Japan v. Croatia seems like the most interesting game to me of the 4 remaining.  I'd be outright stunned if Brazil loses to South Korea and would be mildly surprised if Spain loses to Morocco or Portugal loses to Switzerland.

That said there always seems to be a surprise or two in the round of 16, so we will have to see what happens when they actually play the games.

[Phantom255x]

Japan v. Croatia seems like the most interesting game to me of the 4 remaining.  I'd be outright stunned if Brazil loses to South Korea and would be mildly surprised if Spain loses to Morocco or Portugal loses to Switzerland.

That said there always seems to be a surprise or two in the round of 16, so we will have to see what happens when they actually play the games.

Yeah Japan vs. Croatia to me was the toughest to pick this round. Still is. I lean Croatia personally

Next round though? Boy it's tough, lot of great games and great squads.

[Who]

I'm not sure whether Japan are any good or not; whether they have just been lucky defending in numbers and scraping by the skin on their teeth with counter attacking goals. Those two results against Spain and Germany had an awful lot of luck in them.

I am looking forward to seeing how they do against Croatia. Were those results just luck? Or are Japan serious?

[Who]

Gabriel Jesus is a big loss [injury] for Brazil. They have no alternatives up front now. Completely dependent on Richarlison.

Richarlison has been very inconsistent in England for Watford, Everton and Tottenham but has been inspired and far more consistent for Brazil.

I do not trust Pedro. He was unconvincing in his cameo in the third group game. Too limited. Brazil are going to regret not taking Firmino instead. I believe they took Pedro because he is a true #9 whereas Firmino is a false #9 / #10 type player. Jesus was also a combo like this as is Richarlison. That type of forward does so much to make their offensive setup work. I don't think Pedro can be an adequate fill-in for those guys.

An off-game from the oft-inconsistent Richarlison or worse, a supsension or injury could derail Brazil's bid for the World Cup.