September 9Sep 9 we have 5 games left best-on-best fifa international match windows remaining, 2 matches allowed in each window (except africa tournament) 10–18 November 2025 2 21 December 2025 – 18 January 2026 2025 Africa Cup of Nations - play until elimnated 23–31 March 2026 2 1–9 June 2026 2 11 June – 19 July 2026 2026 FIFA World Cup us matches: 10 oct ecuador - not fifa window = all mls 14 oct australia - not fifa window = all mls 15 nov paraguay - fifa window = euros available 18 nov uruguay - fifa window = euros available jan 26 - camp cupcake friendlies tbd = all mls 23-31 march - belgium/portugal = euros available 1-9 june - mundial warmups = euros available 12 june - LA 19 june - Seattle 25 june - LA
September 9Sep 9 the nips drew mexico 0-0 in oakland on saturday they started their 3 best prem players across the middle: kaoru mitoma (brighton), endō (pool) and daichi kamada (palace)
September 9Sep 9 scratch that we have 7 best-on-best (including tonight) if you count the warmups regardless poch needs a result tonight badly
September 9Sep 9 Spoiler si.com USMNT Hits Historic Low in ELO World Rankings Amid Rapid Fall Ben Steiner 3–4 minutes When the U.S. men’s national team hired head coach Mauricio Pochettino, the hope was that he would be able to turn the team into a bona fide challenger at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. With nine months to go until the tournament, that idea has fallen well short so far, and the team is amid one of its worst spells in recent history, losing seven of 17 matches since he entered the fold. At the same time, the USMNT have lost seven of their last eight matches against teams ranked within the top 30. Following a 2–0 loss to South Korea on the weekend, the USMNT reached another low point—49th in the world, according to the ELO rankings, the lowest since the turn of the century. The ELO rankings are an alternative ranking to the official FIFA men’s World Ranking and are regularly updated. The system was invented by Hungarian-American statistician Arpad Elo as a way to assess chess players, and has been introduced to several sports including soccer. It takes into consideration more recent results and matchups based statistics, and is often lauded as a more accurate representation of current status than the official rankings. When Pochettino took over, the U.S. ranked 37th in the world, following a loss to Canada. When the USMNT last lifted a trophy at the 2023 Concacaf Nations League, they saw their rating climb as high as 18. The U.S. also cracked the top 15 after beating Portugal in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea, and rose to ninth in 2009 after beating Spain at the 2009 Confederations Cup. Under previous head coach Gregg Berhalter, the USMNT topped out at 15th. The rankings have also seen the U.S. drop to low points after some significant losses, such as falling to 32nd after failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup and dropping to 37th after a group stage exit at the 2024 Copa América, which led to Berhalter’s dismissal. The drop under Pochettino though, has been rapid, and sees the U.S. on the fringes of the top 50, a rank they have not dropped below since May 28, 1995 when they lost 2–1 to Costa Rica in an international friendly. In comparison to other Concacaf nationals, the U.S. sits fifth in ELO rating, behind Mexico in 16th, Canada in 29th, Panama in 35th and Costa Rica in 48th. Meanwhile, the official FIFA rankings currently place the U.S. at 15th, but are projected to fall to at least 16th after the loss to South Korea. Yet, that won’t matter too much to Pochettino and the USMNT as they look to the future with hopes of grabbing a much-needed win when they take on Japan, ranked 13th in the ELO ratings, in Columbus on Tuesday. “We need to start to win when the World Cup starts,” Pochettino said after losing to South Korea. “[There are] too many examples of teams that win during five years [before the tournament] and then arrive at the World Cup and they don’t arrive in the best condition. I was involved in 2002 with Argentina, we were winning [for] years and then at the World Cup, and we were out in the group stage.”
September 9Sep 9 28 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said: scratch that we have 7 best-on-best (including tonight) if you count the warmups regardless poch needs a result tonight badly I don’t think he does. Which is a good thing, because I don’t think that he’s getting one. We’re going to keep on losing while further solidifying which players are not up to World Cup standards. We will likely make the round of 16 due to being in Pot 1 and then it is a coin flip from there, but I don’t expect us to go further. I think that the round of 16 is the 2nd knockout round this tournament, so we will advance one round before being eliminated. ¡Yeah! (?)
September 9Sep 9 Author 1 hour ago, Hagbard Celine said: we have 5 games left best-on-best fifa international match windows remaining, 2 matches allowed in each window (except africa tournament) 10–18 November 2025 2 21 December 2025 – 18 January 2026 2025 Africa Cup of Nations - play until elimnated 23–31 March 2026 2 1–9 June 2026 2 11 June – 19 July 2026 2026 FIFA World Cup us matches: 10 oct ecuador - not fifa window = all mls 14 oct australia - not fifa window = all mls 15 nov paraguay - fifa window = euros available 18 nov uruguay - fifa window = euros available jan 26 - camp cupcake friendlies tbd = all mls 23-31 march - belgium/portugal = euros available 1-9 june - mundial warmups = euros available 12 june - LA 19 june - Seattle 25 june - LA 1 hour ago, Hagbard Celine said: scratch that we have 7 best-on-best (including tonight) if you count the warmups regardless poch needs a result tonight badly Actually I'm looking at this - dont we have 8 Best v Best games? 9 if you count tonight? We have full windows in Oct, Nov, March and June - 2 matches each. Again, it depends on how you view those 2 warm up matches for the World Cup in June. Edited September 9Sep 9 by Captain Ron
September 9Sep 9 1 hour ago, Captain Ron said: Actually I'm looking at this - dont we have 8 Best v Best games? 9 if you count tonight? We have full windows in Oct, Nov, March and June - 2 matches each. Again, it depends on how you view those 2 warm up matches for the World Cup in June. i took the google ai result at it's word - and it was wrong - you are correct - so 9 including tonight
September 9Sep 9 21 hours ago, Ted Lange said: I really mis the Ocho or whatever we deemed concacaf qualification since they changed it from the Hex. No WCQ sucks Yeah but... I'm not so sure we wanted to see a WQ cycle this time - even w/ the added teams.
September 9Sep 9 Uh oh, @ztejas Arfsten and Blackmon starting. Your commentary on Blackmon 3 days ago was cracking me up. Oh, and Roldan. F sakes.
September 9Sep 9 Is it a 3-4-3? Two wingbacks with Adams and Roldan. Ream is going to get eaten up on the left.
September 9Sep 9 Didn't matter, but good save by Freese.I mean... You expect that from a top flight keeper, but still. Give him credit.
September 10Sep 10 What the f is Roldan doing? Granted, I stepped out for a few, so I may have missed something positive. But, I've seen him with the ball three times with three bad turnovers. Edited September 10Sep 10 by Knoxtnhorn
September 10Sep 10 Author 3 minutes ago, RamjetFDO said: 4 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said: Nice Balo finally shooting somewhere other than directly at the keeper. He’s a striker. He will do that, but eventually find his.
September 10Sep 10 Author 3 minutes ago, LurkingHorn said: We might have found something with this 3 back formation. Given how it kind of plays to our strengths and helps our weaknesses I’m shocked we hadn’t tried it before
September 10Sep 10 Author 57 minutes ago, LurkingHorn said: Maybe our most impressive performance under Poch. We needed that.
September 10Sep 10 Roldan doesn't even play the same position for his club now as he did in his previous USMNT stint. He won't make the side, nor should he, but if you're using MLS players this window why not roll him out? This summer alone he's been a stalwart against the UEFA club champs, the CONMEBOL club champs, the CONCACAF club champs, the defending MLS and Liga MX champs, and Inter Messi. He'll go into coaching whenever he hangs it up, and my guess is he adds more to the side off the field than on (Weston McKennie said as much during Roldan's last USMNT appearance). Now, if he appears in many more open (non-MLS only) windows, then we have a problem.
September 10Sep 10 Like I said… 1) We would absolutely get a result tonight! 2) Arfsten is 💯% our best option at LB, and will definitely not be pure trash against quality opponents. 3) Zendejas is plenty big enough against top competition and will never get little bothered when posting up in the box to do a swinging volley for a goal while fighting off a defender.
September 10Sep 10 * “little bothered” should have an “r” after the “b”. El Grande Zendejas will never get “little brothered”… (My phone apparently was unfamiliar with the expression “little brothered” despite the number of times it has heard that term in the soccer podcasts that it has played for me over the years.)
September 16Sep 16 Author They are starting for PSV today in the Champions League. Gladbach fired their coach 1 game into Gio's stint with the team (and 3 into the season). Hope that works out for him.
September 16Sep 16 1 hour ago, Captain Ron said: They are starting for PSV today in the Champions League. Gladbach fired their coach 1 game into Gio's stint with the team (and 3 into the season). Hope that works out for him. Gio has had horrible guidance/ coddling and this has led to horrible decisions. He should have left Dortmund years ago on a permanent move. He should have had people telling him to put in the extra stretching & soft tissue preparation to avoid future injuries. He should have been told to prioritize playing in his late teens & early 20s over having a slightly higher guaranteed contract. Because of his willingness to take slightly more money early, he is going to lose out on 10s of millions of dollars over his career, as well as potentially a spot on next year’s WC roster. Now he moves to a team that dumps their coach 3 games into the season so that he can play with his buddy rather than going to a much more stable situation in Italy. Just a stupid move.
September 20Sep 20 I follow Crystal Palace; Chris Richards has really stepped up his game this year. Had a fucking stellar performance today especially near the penalty area…
September 21Sep 21 9 hours ago, Ignatius said: I follow Crystal Palace; Chris Richards has really stepped up his game this year. Had a fucking stellar performance today especially near the penalty area… He's come a long way for sure. He is by far our best CB going into 2026. I have tended to overly criticize young defenders in our pool - I did it with Antonee and I did it with Chris. I think I am guilty of doing it during games. I need to be more patient with my evals when it comes to those spots. 8 hours ago, Mittens said: Unreal game from THE guy today. Anyone bitching about politics is welcome to shut the fuck up and watch him play soccer. That 2nd goal was sensational. It was so good it has a bunch of people blaming the keeper. And his hand is fucked up. And he's dragging a Serie A side on the road. Edited September 21Sep 21 by ztejas
September 22Sep 22 1 hour ago, Mittens said: Also worth noting that Gio came in at the end of this game for Gladbach.
September 28Sep 28 Pulisic absolutely tearing up Napoli. A goal and an assist in the first 35 minutes.
September 29Sep 29 US is playing New Caledonia in the U20 WC on FS1. It's 7 or 8 to 0 at half. Cremasci (Inter Miami to Parma) has 3 goals and 2 assists.
October 2Oct 2 On 9/30/2025 at 3:23 PM, The Dog said: Milan isn't picking up the phone for less than 75 right now.
October 2Oct 2 1 minute ago, The Dog said: Transfermarkt: Those numbers edge towards being low - especially for premier talents. I looked at Pulisic's page and they last updated it in June. He ain't going for 50. He is arguably the best player in a top 5 league right now and is still well on the right side of 30. (not saying you disagree - just providing commentary) Also - Jonathan David is one of the most overrated CONCACAF guys I can remember. I would be fucking pissed if my club spent 45M on him.
October 2Oct 2 Good to see McKinnie, Robinson, Tillman, and Tessmann back. Sands is also an interesting selection.
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