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OT: We may win the World Cup in 2026

They already ruined in 2022 with putting in Winter and 2026 totally gone adding all the new teams and changing format. At least it's in USA 2026 I guess.
Yeah the winter thing sucks for me personally. We usually go to Croatia for a few weeks in the summer and love it when the WC is on. 4 years ago when Croatia made the finals it was especially nuts. It was also cool in 2006 when Italy won it - plenty of Italians vacation on the Dalmatian coast where we spend most of our time there. Euro tourney is also great. These big soccer events are like a country wide celebration. Every, and I mean every, outdoor/indoor cafe/restaurant/bar has tvs, most towns have a square that shows the games on a huge screen. It’s a real shame not this year.
 
Costa Rica - New Zealand on FS2 right now for the last spot in Qatar. 1-0 Costa Rica right before the half. New Zealand is getting a healthy dose of all of the crap that the US puts up with during qualifying and getting pretty pissed off about it. Second half should be intense.
 
England looking like crap. Also heard that Kane may have gotten injured
 
Horvath completely misplayed that goal by El Salvador. It was a great shot, but you simply can't get beat from that far out at that acute of an angle.
 
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Hard to take away much when the field is this horrendous. Very concerned about possible injuries.
 
Arriola with the red card - looking bleak.

And Adams with a ridiculously dumb thrown down for a yellow...

And now a red card on El Salvador for bringing Musah (best player on the field tonight) down on what would've been a breakaway...
 
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Wow, in desperation time, Morris heads one in to tie, seconds after McKennie was robbed by the keeper on a great save and just a couple of minutes after ES should've been called for a hand ball in the box (no VAR). Crazy last 10 minutes.
 
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Good article…

Let the prognostication on roster begin…

So... we're only five months and two friendlies away, and we don't have a single striker who is a lock to MAKE THE TEAM. Not to start, just to make the team.

No bueno.
 
So... we're only five months and two friendlies away, and we don't have a single striker who is a lock to MAKE THE TEAM. Not to start, just to make the team.

No bueno.
I think Ferreira is a lock to make the squad - his hustle and pressure makes him a valuable piece to pick up the energy.

that being said, no Striker has seized the job and I doubt any of us would be surprised if they play with a false 9 with aronson or someone like him in that role.

The 5 offensive roles filled by some combination of Weston M., Reyna, Pulisic, Weah, Aronson, Musa.

can two of the following group emerge and push into the squad and some playing time?

Pepe, Dike, Haji Wright, Sargent, Pefok, Zardes, Tillman.

Tillman may be a dark horse choice as an up and comer…
 
LDLT has been consistently great every time he gets on the field. Saved the game last night. Put him in at the half and we win
It’ll be interesting to see if he holds up and can take a beating against bigger and stronger competition.

the question is where do you play him? Do you take Weston McKennie off the field? Tyler Adams?

DLT has definitely played his way onto the squad.
 
It’ll be interesting to see if he holds up and can take a beating against bigger and stronger competition.

the question is where do you play him? Do you take Weston McKennie off the field? Tyler Adams?
At this point, I think it should be matchup dependent. If a team is parking the bus against us we need Luca's ability to create, break lines, push the ball, pass, dribble.

Adams needs to improve his ability on the ball and not over committing on tackles too often.

Weston just rusty coming off the broken foot.

At minimum LDLT is a spark off the bench to bring in during a tie game or when we are losing.

He deserves a start with the A team at this point though. See what that looks like before the WC
 
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It’ll be interesting to see if he holds up and can take a beating against bigger and stronger competition.

the question is where do you play him? Do you take Weston McKennie off the field? Tyler Adams?

DLT has definitely played his way onto the squad.
Right now I'd play him over Mckennie. Maybe in a few months too.
 
Right now I'd play him over Mckennie. Maybe in a few months too.
A few windows ago, I would've preferred him over Musah, but now Musah was the best of the MMA trio this window (partly due to easing McKennie back). De la Torre is a better metronome than either Musah or Adams. De la Torre seems to keep things circulating much better than anyone else in midfield, while Musah & McKennie are more physical beasts & Adams isn't as penetrative as DLT. Wouldn't mind seeing them go with a 4 man midfield, but that would sacrifice width. Figure he goes in for one of the M's if we're behind, or even a CB with Adams dropping back to cover.

On Musah, that play which caused the El Salvador red card was rather amusing, at least in seeing Musah's reaction. He ate a lot of black mud in that play. Nasty conditions.
 
The Western Region will be made up of the following cities: Vancouver; Seattle, San Francisco (actually Santa Clara, Calif.); Los Angeles (SoFi Stadium in Inglewood); and Guadalajara, Mexico.

Looks like the Rose Bowl has been excluded.
 
The Central Region in its entirety: Kansas City (Arrowhead Stadum); Dallas (AT&T); Atlanta (Mercedes Benz Stadium); Houston (NRG Stadium); and then the second two Mexican cities, Monterrey (Estadio BBVA) and Mexico City (the venerable Estadio Azteca).
 
The final regional groups for 2026. (This matters because, to reduce travel, FIFA plans to group countries by region.)

EAST: Toronto (BMO Field); Boston (Gillette Stadium, Foxborough); Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field); Miami (Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens); and New York/New Jersey (MetLife Stadium.)

CENTRAL: Kansas City (Arrowhead Stadum); Dallas (AT&T Stadium); Atlanta (Mercedes Benz Stadium); Houston (NRG Stadium); Monterrey, Mexico (Estadio BBVA); Mexico City (Estadio Azteca).

WEST: Vancouver (BC Place); Seattle (Lumen Field); San Francisco (Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara); Los Angeles (SoFi Stadium, Inglewood); and Guadalajara, Mexico (Akron Stadium).
 
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Not a single venue from 1994 will be used for 2026. For this reason, I was a little bummed the Rose Bowl wasn't selected (though understand having two stadiums from the same region/county wasn't feasible).
 
Not a single venue from 1994 will be used for 2026. For this reason, I was a little bummed the Rose Bowl wasn't selected (though understand having two stadiums from the same region/county wasn't feasible).
i read somewhere that Sofi isnt quite suitable for futbol in terms of pitch size.
 
Not a single venue from 1994 will be used for 2026. For this reason, I was a little bummed the Rose Bowl wasn't selected (though understand having two stadiums from the same region/county wasn't feasible).
It's simply because of the club boxes those 1994 venues do not have. Why would they pick a 1994 venue? Nostalgia? They are all very outdated.
 
How do we get the finale at MetLife and how do we get tickets?

Going only on memory for 1994 World Cup ... I recall an opportunity to enter a lottery or list for tickets. People had to buy the entire slate of tickets for a given stadium. I was living in NorCal and got tickets to the Stanford Stadium matches - three or four group stage games (Brazil was in two or three), a Round of 16 match (which turned out to be USA-Brazil on July 4th) and a Quarterfinal match. The ticket prices were really expensive. I expect ticket prices to be astronomical.

I'm sure a lot of RU fans will have memories of the 94 World Cup and Italy matches at the Giants Stadium. I had moved to California almost decade prior, so watched the matches at Stanford Stadium. A much different experience than the Meadowlands because Stanford Stadium is a short walk to downtown Palo Alto.

I have some great memories from that WC, especially the first Stanford Stadium match - Brazil-Russia. I went with a buddy, arrive over three hours early on Caltrain. We immediately went to a bar (it was around 10 AM) to see part of the Ireland-Mexico match. Just started to figure out what we were in for when the bar was so packed full of fans, that many were standing and dancing on the tables and chairs. We left for a nearby grocery store to buy some beer. The place was packed full of exuberant Brazilian fans, including a cadre of models/cheerleaders, a couple of guys smashing bongos who were cheered on by a pack of drooling Brazilian dudes who I suspect hadn't slept in three days. Every cash register had a line that went to the back of the store - the store was almost as packed in as the bar. We picked up a six pack (It was about 11 AM by this point) and we stood in line for a while and the line DID NOT MOVE. We drank all the beers, but line still DID NOT MOVE. It was no problem, because the Brazilian fans were so full of infectious joy. By 11:30, we had downed the beers and said, eff it, and left the store.

We arrived at the stadium shortly after. Clarence Clemmons, Bill Weir and Carlos Santana all performed before the match. The game was kind of boring - Brazil just toyed with Russia the entire time. However, the 40 or 50,000 Brazil fans were in ecstasy. A great atmosphere that was like seeing your favorite band play.

After the match, we headed back to University Avenue for a lot of partying. My last recollection was riding Caltrain back to San Francisco and joining a multi-car conga line of Brazilian fans keeping up the celebration.
 
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The final tally of the cities that didn’t make the cut: Cincinnati; Denver; Nashville; Orlando; Pasadena, Calif.; Washington, D.C./Baltimore; Edmonton.
The major city that didn't make it is Chicago, but that is because the city withdrew its name from consideration.
 
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