2022 World Cup Qatar

[Iceman]

Well the US started really well but the Dutch score with pretty much their first attack of the game with a great team goal finished by Depay.

 

[BlackFox]

Stunning goal by Holland, total football is back baby! Depay finishes off a move the length of the pitch. 1-0

 

[Iceman]

Daley Blind gets a second for the Dutch. 2-0 just before half-time and it looks hard for the US now.

 

[GothamCity]

Great goal again. Holland plays much better and faster then those 3 previous matches now.

 

[Iceman]

They just showed 21 passes in the build up to the Memphis goal.

 

[BlackFox]

Dutch masterclass at the moment. No sign of an upset here, at the moment its about how many Holland will get, looking really good today much better than the group stages. They have taken it up a notch so far.

 

[GothamCity]

Best team play that leads to a goal ive seen in a long time. Just great.

 

[Iceman]

Yep, they’re on a different level to what they showed throughout the group stage matches. Maybe they have more to offer the later stages of the tournament than we thought.

 

[BlackFox]

Bizzare goal for the USA but suddenly game on with 15 minutes to go.

 

[GothamCity]

Such a weird goal.

 

[Iceman]

US just scored a really weird goal haha . The match needed that.

 

[Another_Fool]

South East Asia FTW (Japan and Korea).

Thanks for the support but just to clarify, Korea and Japan are not in South East Asia. It's just East Asia.

 

[BlackFox]

3-1 Holland - Dumfries with another good team goal. Looks beyond US now.

 

[Iceman]

This World Cup just not giving up on the drama.

 

[Iceman]

Oh Netherlands again!!! 3-1!!

 

[GothamCity]

Yeah its great and just a fantastic match.

 

[Another_Fool]

Damn that's the dagger to end US. Bummer.

 

[Iceman]

If this is the end for the US they have contributed a lot to the tournament.

 

[GothamCity]

US will get better in the future, they learn from this tournament.

 

[Iceman]

3-1 final score. Congrats to Netherlands who have showed a much better side of themselves today and are more of a threat than I thought, and congrats to the US for their showing in this World Cup. They can do a lot more at home in the next tournament once this squad has another 4 years experience.

 

[BlackFox]

Good effort from the USA but the Dutch were far too strong and really showed their class today. A good game at least to kick-off the world cup knockouts.

They have some really good individuals but doesnt all rely on one man, they have a chance to go a long way.

The Dutch goals were real beauties and would beat any side, almost undefendable, so US can hold their heads high after that.

 

[sycamore]

If this is the end for the US they have contributed a lot to the tournament.

Agreed. This is a team in the 1990s who fielded Alexei Lalas and Tony Meola (ie.two absolute nobodies).They have made huge strides since, consistently qualifying for the World Cup and consistently getting to the round of 16. Their next World Cup goal should be getting to the quarterfinals, consistently.

 

[Another_Fool]

Congrats to Netherlands.

Ngl, I'm pretty disappointed. I think this was on paper the best USMNT yet, but history is not going to reflect it because they couldn't go a little deeper. They had incredible chances at scoring but things that have plagued the US like a lack of precision and hyper awareness on the pitch are the things that are preventing them from being on that next level right now. Which is fine. US is still a young country for Football and they're getting better, but they still have a ways to go to be able to compete with the elite teams on a consistent basis. I was just hoping they'd make it to the quarters.

 

[Iceman]

Congrats to Netherlands.

Ngl, I'm pretty disappointed. I think this was on paper the best USMNT yet, but history is not going to reflect it because they couldn't go a little deeper. They had incredible chances at scoring but things that have plagued the US like a lack of precision and hyper awareness on the pitch are the things that are preventing them from being on that next level right now. Which is fine. US is still a young country for Football and they're getting better, but they still have a ways to go to be able to compete with the elite teams on a consistent basis. I was just hoping they'd make it to the quarters.

It’s great progress on past US teams. To be fair without upsets helping other teams, World Cup quarter finals can be tough even for some elite teams to reach. Italy one of the best teams in history and current European champions didn’t even qualify for either of the last World Cups. Both Belgium and Germany didn’t get out of the group stage.

Unlike most international sports there are a lot of countries that can put out teams that can win world tournaments and traditionally Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, England, Netherlands and Portugal are all teams that should expect to get to the quarter finals every time, and that’s more than 8 teams just from the elite, nevermind the next level of top teams like Croatia. Being a regular last 16 team with a good chance at knocking out one of those and progressing is a good target though IMO, and plenty more in a home tournament where you’ll have huge support and be seeded. Maybe football will get much bigger in the US after that tournament and attract much more talent.

 

[Iceman]

Agreed. This is a team in the 1990s who fielded Alexei Lalas and Tony Meola (ie.two absolute nobodies).They have made huge strides since, consistently qualifying for the World Cup and consistently getting to the round of 16. Their next World Cup goal should be getting to the quarterfinals, consistently.

Getting to the quarter finals consistently means you’re close in quality to the winners as that elite group of teams vary in standard over time but there is often not all that much between the winners and the 5th-8th best teams. For eg if Brazil win this year, how much better are they than Portugal?

The luck of the draw will always play a factor until an team actually breaks into the elite group permanently and really has to be ranked above some of them in the lead up to each tournament to get seeded. A team that isn’t seeded would face one of the big nations in the last 16, in the absence of any group stage upsets, and there are more traditional big teams than top seed spots/quarter final spots.

Would be great to see the US catch up over the next 4 years. You have the population and resources to be competitive in any sport once it takes a hold with enough people for a long enough time.