This was about what I expected and typical for a concacaf world cup qualifier. Long travel, hot and humid, hostile environment, highly motivated opponent, less than ideal pitch, poor referee, US players flying in from all over the globe and training with each other for 2 days before a match. Qualifiers are not the way to go to gain interest in the sport. Take the draws on the road and win at home and you'll qualify easily.
US vs El Salvador - World Cup Qualifying
- Thread starter shagcarpetjesus
- Start date
I agree with all this. Most teams the US will play (apart from Mexico) are going to set up to do everything to make the game an ugly **** show. From their tactical setup, aggressiveness, field conditions, etc. It’s just the way it is in WCQ.
I’d also argue that the challenges of travel and little training time together as a team are massively compounded this qualifying cycle because they are cramming an extra match into these international windows. Instead of playing 2 games in a 12 day window, we’re now playing 3. That’s not just an extra game, that’s extra travel, that’s another day of recovery for the players. There’s just not going to be a ton of time to drill the squad and get them looking like a well oiled machine. Add in the fact that there’s going to be a lot of rotation in and out of the starting 11 all cycle long and I think we can probably expect to see a lot of disjointed, ugly soccer from everybody in the final 8.
Talent and skill, plain and simple. First touches, shots, passing, etc are all skills and we aren’t talented enough or deep enough at them to be consistent.
US Soccer just won't be relevant until we can consistently win games against 3rd world countries who need armed guard on the pitch
Kids in these other countries grow up with only soccer. No other sport, no video games, no nothing. Just a soccer ball. Sometimes not even fields. That’s why they are better for the most part. Our women are good because it’s probably either the top women’s sport or close second in the United States. Men’s soccer in the United States is way behind because of football and basketball
Isn't this only a small part of the story though? Ok, so soccer is the main sport in some of these other countries. But your thought here discounts the considerable importance of resources, coaching, facilities, etc.
Even if soccer isn't top dog here there's a large enough pool of young people who are devoted totally to soccer that with our resources we should be able to develop them into top players in the world. I think that's what you are starting to see with the Pulisic, McKinnie, Reyna's, etc.
I wasn’t able to watch the game but, from comments here, it seems like a typical CONCACAF qualifier. Even if you have a better squad, a team can always park the bus and make it difficult to score. It’s not a fun game to watch as the “better” team, but it is interesting from a strategy perspective. If the US got an early goal, the whole game is opened up.
