USMNT World Cup Qualifying

BigRedBuster said:
This was clearly a team the US over powered. I’m assuming Costa Rica should be the same.  
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We have never won a WC qualifying game in San Jose, Costa Rica. That place is a nightmare to play at.

Costa Rica despises the USA(mad we made them play in the snow in Colorado) and the crow is super hostile. They have gone as far as to not allow any soccer programs near by rent their fields out to practice on. Government has made it a pain to get through customs.

We have more talent then them but it is a pain to play there. 

That being said, they might rest some guys who are on yellow cards so they can play in the playoff game.(CR is going to most likely finish 4th)

 
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default_28 said:
We have more talent than we’ve ever had. Guys like Pulisic, McKinnie, Reyna and Dest that play for some of the biggest clubs in the world. Ten years ago we only had goalies playing meaningful minutes in Europe, now we have guys in England, Germany and Spain and young guys coming up in Portugal and Holland. That said, we don’t have elite CBs or Striker yet, so it’s hard to say how far this team can go. But the World Cup is still eight months away or whatever so a lot can change. But definitely getting better.
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The leadership of Berhalter has been good so far, and it's interesting how much MLS experience he's willing to lean on too (read: I don't think it's a bad thing like some pundits believe). 

And teams like Costa Rica are like Texass--if they can't beat you on the field straight up, they'll beat you with politics and in the backroom to weaken you so they can beat you on the field. I wouldn't be shocked if we have one or more players have a problem getting through to play at Costa Rica, if for nothing else, as a nice f*** you for the whole cold weather ordeal. 

Having said that...it would take a colossal collapse to finish outside the top 3. But the USMNT has come up with bigger failures before...so...here's hoping they don't disappoint. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 
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default_28 said:
We have more talent than we’ve ever had. Guys like Pulisic, McKinnie, Reyna and Dest that play for some of the biggest clubs in the world. Ten years ago we only had goalies playing meaningful minutes in Europe, now we have guys in England, Germany and Spain and young guys coming up in Portugal and Holland. That said, we don’t have elite CBs or Striker yet, so it’s hard to say how far this team can go. But the World Cup is still eight months away or whatever so a lot can change. But definitely getting better.
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Thank you for the post.

 
BigRedBuster said:
Ok, so now over summer there’s a CONCACAF league not related to the World Cup, but, the USMNT will get more preparation for the WC. 
 

Have I mentioned I’m a total novice to soccer?
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To draw a bad comparison to college athletics, think of CONCACAF as a conference, like the SEC.   The top three teams at the end of the regular season qualify for the playoffs (World Cup).  This second drawing is more for the CONCACAF tournament, there is no seeding, but within CONCACAF there are 3 tiers (think Divisions based on how good you are) (12 teams in the top and 16 in the middle and 13 in the bottom tier) and based on how you do in this tournament, you can move up or down tiers and qualify you for other tournaments being held.  This is done to make the competition a little bit more fair for this tournament.

 
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sho said:
To draw a bad comparison to college athletics, think of CONCACAF as a conference, like the SEC.   The top three teams at the end of the regular season qualify for the playoffs (World Cup).  This second drawing is more for the CONCACAF tournament, there is no seeding, but within CONCACAF there are 3 tiers (think Divisions based on how good you are) (12 teams in the top and 16 in the middle and 13 in the bottom tier) and based on how you do in this tournament, you can move up or down tiers and qualify you for other tournaments being held.  This is done to make the competition a little bit more fair for this tournament.
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So, this has nothing to do with the WC this year because that's already been set.

 
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