2022 World Cup

[Transmogrified Tiger]

As a goalkeeper the one thing I will say is that it's a little more complex than just putting your foot through the ball. If you telegraph the side you can still beat the keeper(see Bale's PK against Turner), but you're making your window a lot smaller and lowering your odds. And putting your foot through it lowers some of the accuracy of placement and increases the odds that it's at a save-able height. That said I think most of the hopping and super slow run-ups are too clever by half. Start the run-up at pace, sometimes add the last second stutter step to get the keeper to commit, and strike the ball clean.

If I ran the soccer world, the first thing I would change would be PKs. On the whistle all 22 players are live, keeper can rush out, defenders can take the ball off your feet or slide into the path. It'd fix the super slow run ups that bear no resemblance to any soccer play, and it'd lower the odds of successful PKs so they become less overpowered.

[BottenFieldofDreams]

They have to find a better way to settle tournaments. But that might be a bit much, especially on a play like the Suarez one I mentioned. Maybe they could go PK1 or PK2 like basketball flagrants or something.

[BottenFieldofDreams]

Hopefully Seattle introduces their new GM with skydivers as the Timbers players have to watch on the field. Worked well with the Concacaf trophy.

But we have our own far more serious front office issues.

Coach resigned today. Apparently people take the Portland Thorns coaching job to pick up chicks. This team is like the most dysfunctional of Blazers eras, just with championships. But Paulson Jr. is selling, though Thorns only. Hopefully new leadership cleans things up without affecting play on the field, which is a really weird thing to say.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Ferreira?

[BottenFieldofDreams]

Damn. It was just getting good, too.

Get one quick here. Sell out Gregg, I’d rather lose 4-0 then wait until 65 for a sub.

Who plays soccer at 7 am? That’s where the problems started.

[BottenFieldofDreams]

Feels kind of like they beat us on what we couldn’t do—the final pass and seeing out chances. Really though, the defensive focus that has been so good finally failed us. All three goals were easy to hang on our defense.

Look forward to seeing these guys again in four years. In person?

Anyway, I have to go not listen to Memphis’ album.

[thrill]

was a good, not great, Cup while also leaving tons of room for very attainable improvement. I’m satisfied. Improve and mature the existing squad. Find a couple forwards. Build your identity around MMA. 2026 will be fun.

I’m not sad at all. I’ve never felt more confident about the program. WNT is about to go upside the world’s head in a couple years. We got the Olympics, which we will take seriously with the lack of quali and other competitive games. I’m going to build a sports fan religion around Tyler Adams the way I did Deuce (wherever he goes, that’s my club team). I live more US players than ever because we are legit better than ever. Musah’s dev will be fascinating to watch. Reyna’s will be fascinating to watch. New coach probably.

I’ve never been an “it’s only a matter of time” guy when it comes to running a men’s cup, but I am am now. We will win a World Cup in my lifetime.

[BottenFieldofDreams]

Musah had another sequence today of just insane ball handling.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Is it possible to ‘just find a couple forwards’ though?

[BottenFieldofDreams]

There are more midfielders than they can get on the field. Maybe they should play around with false 9 or other fluid formations. But getting a striker with the right ability to find the net on any half chance would be great.