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  • LurkingHorn
    LurkingHorn

    Just got back. I get the Agyemang hate, I really do. But watching in person gave me a lot of perspective and how much of an absolute handful he is for central defenders to deal with. Haiti was a very

  • Napoleon
    Napoleon

    Berhalter was a worthless piece of shit.  [FULL STOP]

  • LurkingHorn
    LurkingHorn

Posted Images

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

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)

 

scratch that we have 7 best-on-best (including tonight) if you count the warmups

regardless poch needs a result tonight

badly

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.”

 

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! (?)

  • 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 by Captain Ron

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

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.

Uh oh, @ztejas

Arfsten and Blackmon starting.  Your commentary on Blackmon 3 days ago was cracking me up.

Oh, and Roldan.  F sakes.

Is it a 3-4-3? Two wingbacks with Adams and Roldan. Ream is going to get eaten up on the left. 

Didn't matter, but good save by Freese.

I mean... You expect that from a top flight keeper, but still. Give him credit.

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 by Knoxtnhorn

Nice
Balo finally shooting somewhere other than directly at the keeper.
  • 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. 

  • 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 

Just play every game in Columbus and we will be fine

  • Author
57 minutes ago, LurkingHorn said:

Maybe our most impressive performance under Poch. We needed that. 

RwCs6L.gif

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. 

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. 

* “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.)

  • 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.

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.

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…

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 by ztejas

1 hour ago, Mittens said:

 

Also worth noting that Gio came in at the end of this game for Gladbach. 

Pulisic absolutely tearing up Napoli. A goal and an assist in the first 35 minutes. 

Insane game from Pulisic today. 

 

 

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.

On 9/30/2025 at 3:23 PM, The Dog said:

image.thumb.png.d4ba81c95b764296b850826d60f0741e.png

Milan isn't picking up the phone for less than 75 right now. 

1 minute ago, The Dog said:

Transfermarkt:

image.thumb.png.2c89685e48dec57f00810e437c4a20fe.png

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. 

Good to see McKinnie, Robinson, Tillman, and Tessmann back. Sands is also an interesting selection. 

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