2026 FIFA World Cup

[buddha]

On 6/12/2026 at 10:25 AM, buddha said:

There are lots of weak parts to the US team.  i would put central defense at the top of the list if Richard can't play.  i would also say this doesnt seem to be a vintage US keeper class.  there are no Friedels or Howards, or even Kellers here anymore.  

I was encouraged by the Germany performance even though they lost and the Senegal performance.  Pulicic played well in both games and he's the key to their offense.  we'll see if paraguay does the usual south american thing and beats the living **** out of him all game.

US is playing at home and should advance.  after that its a crap shoot depending on matchups.  they have a decent squad, but ultimately not the type of talent that would trouble the better sides in the world.

welp, richards played and wasnt very good.  at least he was better than tim ream.  a small bar to clear.

once again - just like in every tournament - concacaf teams lose the moment they play a good european team.

 

[buddha]

3 minutes ago, DTroppens said:

With a ridiculously easy group and a very winnable first game in the round of 32, this team did nothing more than it ever does, basically losing in the round of 16 at home. And looking crazily outclassed doing it.

 

(because theyre not that good...)

every four years the US gets overrated.  at least it doesnt consume our soul like it does in mexico when they overrate their team and lose every year.

[buddha]

balogun and tillman had good tournaments.  balogun probably made himself some money this summer and might end up in england rather than monaco.

i'm not sure anyone else did themselves any favors.  pulisic was a big nothing burger.  mckennie and adams were...fine.  until belgium ran them off the park when they needed to score.  the fullbacks offered nothing.  

the central defense folded the minute they played a real team.  and since when does thw US have **** keepers?  that's the one area were always good at!

ah well.  at least birthright citizenship got some shouts out.

[Hongbit]

This is really tough.   They laid a giant egg on the biggest stage.

 I’m not sure where they go from here.  I am not ready to call this a lost  generation but I have real concerns if Pulisic and Adams are the leaders that can ever step up in the future.  Pulisic is maybe our most talented player ever but he needs to get tougher in every possible way.  They need to stop calling him Captain America.  It’s a bad reflection.  Not sure what Pochettino is going to do.  I think he was a positive even though the results were the same.   He will have club options that may interest him more.  Once again back to the drawing board for USMNT and the quest to find better players. 

[buddha]

landon donovan

clint dempsey

flo balogun

claudio reyna

pulisic

(excluding goalies)

[RedTeamGo!]

I think Tillman is pretty clearly better than Pulisic at this point 

[buddha]

mckennie has carved out a nice career for himself in europe.  adams too, even if he's at a lesser club than juve.  we'll see where balogun and tillman end up.  robinson is decent for fulham.  pepi is still at psv if i'm not mistaken.

joe scally's at atletico.  not bad.

dest was at barca for a bit (on the injured list but that's still a great accomplishment)

[buddha]

4 minutes ago, RedTeamGo! said:

I think Tillman is pretty clearly better than Pulisic at this point 

now?  yes.

all time?  not yet.  pulisic played at chelsea and milan.  and played well at milan in spurts.  that's big time.

[DTroppens]

7 minutes ago, RedTeamGo! said:

I think Tillman is pretty clearly better than Pulisic at this point 

Production matters. 

So many stars were stars in this WC. Pulisic - he led the WC with two injuries.

Edited July 7 by DTroppens

[Hongbit]

 

[Hongbit]

 

[Hongbit]

Our team was 💩 but the memes are so good.

 

 

Edited July 7 by Hongbit

[RedTeamGo!]

38 minutes ago, buddha said:

now?  yes.

all time?  not yet.  pulisic played at chelsea and milan.  and played well at milan in spurts.  that's big time.

Yeah I meant now

[RedTeamGo!]

40 minutes ago, buddha said:

mckennie has carved out a nice career for himself in europe.  adams too, even if he's at a lesser club than juve.  we'll see where balogun and tillman end up.  robinson is decent for fulham.  pepi is still at psv if i'm not mistaken.

joe scally's at atletico.  not bad.

dest was at barca for a bit (on the injured list but that's still a great accomplishment)

Dest actually made 51 appearances at Barca shockingly. You can see the ability sometimes, like against Paraguay first match, and then there are games like tonight where he looks like a fraud. 
 

I think Balogun is going to a big club in a week or two and will be interesting to see where. 

[Hongbit]

The future rests around how good Cavan Sullivan can become.  Hopefully he will have taken the EPL by storm at Man City when the next cup rolls around.  That’s a ton of pressure for a kid but I have faith that he’s not going to be the next Freddy Adu.  

[lordstanley]

Toronto radio host. Used to be an intern at WDFN years ago. 

 

[buddha]

6 hours ago, lordstanley said:

Toronto radio host. Used to be an intern at WDFN years ago. 

 

concacaf sucks.  only asia is worse.  

[DTroppens]

A player like Tim Ream symbolically is the problem with the USMNT. 

 

He's 38. I get it Ronaldo and Messi are old. There are a few others that are playing that are near this age or older. But Tim Ream isn't the Messi of his position. He's Tim Ream at 38 and he's captaining the squad and playing complete games when anyone between the ages of 20 to 35 could've won the position from him but couldn't.  He was still the best option. 

 

Not hating on Ream.  But somebody somewhere should be beating at Tim Ream if you are a country with legit Talent and depth. It's not his fault no one (or at least five guys)  can push him out. But here we have Tim Ream anchoring the defense. The guy had a fine career. He played in the EPL, but he's 38 and he shouldn't have a vital role on a World Cup team at this time in his career.

Edited July 7 by DTroppens

[buddha]

Richard didnt play much better.

again, people got a little ahead of themselves in the group stage/"round of 32" phase.  this world cup is HEAVILY watered down.  The US is better than it was 30 years ago, but its still a mid-major when it comes to soccer.  nothing wrong with that, not many countries are elite.

i still wonder why they played so passive in this game.  were they scared belgium would destroy their press?  they didnt look like the same team.  and when belgium had time on the ball - and even when they didnt - they took advantage of the US's huge weakness in defense.

you'd think a country where 6'3-6'5 athletes grow on trees would be able to develop one or two world class center backs.  Richard is a good player and was coming off an injury, but no one else is better than tim ream?

[DTroppens]

54 minutes ago, buddha said:

Richard didnt play much better.

again, people got a little ahead of themselves in the group stage/"round of 32" phase.  this world cup is HEAVILY watered down.  The US is better than it was 30 years ago, but its still a mid-major when it comes to soccer.  nothing wrong with that, not many countries are elite.

i still wonder why they played so passive in this game.  were they scared belgium would destroy their press?  they didnt look like the same team.  and when belgium had time on the ball - and even when they didnt - they took advantage of the US's huge weakness in defense.

you'd think a country where 6'3-6'5 athletes grow on trees would be able to develop one or two world class center backs.  Richard is a good player and was coming off an injury, but no one else is better than tim ream?

Richards is the type of player that should be helping weed out the Reams of the world. He's young. Him playing at Crystal Palace now is kind of like Ream playing at Fulham earlier in his career, actually from a professional club standpoint. But there should be at least a few more Richards, even if they aren't playing at a mid- to lower-tier EPL team. We should have four players that can weed out a guy who is 38 and finishing off his career in the MLS.  I'm only picking on Ream because I opened my phone this morning and saw a headline that was something like "Reamed out" or something silly like. It made me think," yeah he didn't play well, but why is this 38 year old even still playing such a vital role?" With a deep organization, he wouldn't.

Also, nothing is going to change with the USMNT when the game isn't truly a priority among your country, and (even more important) we stop limiting who can progress in the sport through the current pay-to-play development we currently embrace.  If you are at least middle class but really more upper middle class that can afford to follow the pay-to-play ladder toward progressing in soccer in this country your chances of succeeding in soccer are basically dead before you even start. We have no serious measures involved to find the players from lesser economic demographics - and that's silly when we are talking about a sport that needs a ball and anything for a field/pitch.  US soccer needs to legitimately find ways to find those type of athletes. And when you do, in general they are going to be more focused and passioned about moving forward because they understand adversity and understand this is their chance. I'm not saying anything that everybody already knows.  You basically have to be part of the pay to play system to even get a look, something most families and athletes can't afford. It's up to US Soccer to create these avenues and be serious about it.

Edited July 7 by DTroppens

[GalagaGuy]

Holy crap, what a comeback from Argentina.   

[buddha]

one day argentina might have to play a good team.

[RedTeamGo!]

29 minutes ago, buddha said:

one day argentina might have to play a good team.

I mean, I would argue Egypt is better than Paraguay....

[buddha]

30 minutes ago, RedTeamGo! said:

I mean, I would argue Egypt is better than Paraguay....

one day france will have to play a good team too.

[buddha]

although france played senegal.  i think senegal is a decent side.  better than egypt.

france would have played a decent team in norway but norway rested all their good players, so it turnes out to be a dud game.