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Official US Soccer / World Cup '26 Thread (USA vs. Mexico 3/24 in Dallas)

JuiceCrewAllStar said:
Columbus cold was fine

this is just ridiculous
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A few thoughts now that it is over -

1 - It was dang cold. The temp is dropping another 10 degrees by morning and was dropping during the game. And there was some wind. Definitely felt like at least 10 below in the stadium. But . . .

2 - When I said it would impact both teams equally I think I was wrong. Honduras completely wilted. No fight whatsoever within half an hour of the game starting. You'd see guys go down and be so slow to get up as the play moved away from them. Suspect some of those subs they made were guys just begging off the field. They also just aren't very good anyway and looked like they didn't care all that much. So maybe that was part of it too.

3 - It was a sell out with standing room it was probably closer to 20K than the 19.4K that is official capacity. A few straggled in late due to parking and riding the train. Crowd was top notch too. MN definitely earned more games in the future tonight. Not that I would advise scheduling one in early February ever again.

De La Torre is going to get more looks if Greggggggg remains the coach (which I really don't support). So important to the way he wants to play for guys be fluid and able turn and go with that first touch. And he had that over and over. Sometimes stops being assertive, but that's also Greggg and his "way". But he's an option the way Greggggggg wants them to play.

McK was everywhere. Great performance.

Acosta - if he can earn his way onto the field every game - should be taking all the set pieces.

Time to see if Mexico can do our guys a favor and take all three points.
 
Reports that 2 of Honduras’s halftime subs were hypothermia related, including the GK sub
 
DeacMan said:
I was there. It was more than a sell out. Standing room. Some stragglers due to transportation, but 15-20 minutes in it was past full. Great crowd too, especially given the circumstances.
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I was there too Deacman. Crowd was awesome. What section were you in.
 
Gooner said:
Reports that 2 of Honduras’s halftime subs were hypothermia related, including the GK sub
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If true, that’s pretty shitty and USSF should be ashamed for putting opponents through that for a competitive advantage the USMNT shouldn’t need.
 
Playing in a cold weather locale is a loser mentality. Underdog looking for an edge. We should be better than that. Supposedly we have good talent. Why not let the talent play in good conditions?
 
rjreynolds said:
Playing in a cold weather locale is a loser mentality. Underdog looking for an edge. We should be better than that. Supposedly we have good talent. Why not let the talent play in good conditions?
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Last night was poor for everyone, but generally screw this take. Every country does whatever they can to make things hard in qualifying for their opponents and we should do the same.
 
DeacMan said:
Last night was poor for everyone, but generally screw this take. Every country does whatever they can to make things hard in qualifying for their opponents and we should do the same.
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That’s all well and good. Hooray for gamesmanship. But if we are going to do that, then do not tweet out photos of the “unacceptable playing conditions” in T&T or Jamaica the next time there is a puddle on the pitch.
 
DeacMan said:
Last night was poor for everyone, but generally screw this take. Every country does whatever they can to make things hard in qualifying for their opponents and we should do the same.
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Section 5 - I actually thought from a fans perspective it was pretty enjoyable. Worst part was eating at halftime.
 
PhDeac said:
If true, that’s pretty shitty and USSF should be ashamed for putting opponents through that for a competitive advantage the USMNT shouldn’t need.
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rjreynolds said:
Playing in a cold weather locale is a loser mentality. Underdog looking for an edge. We should be better than that. Supposedly we have good talent. Why not let the talent play in good conditions?
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DeacMan said:
Last night was poor for everyone, but generally screw this take. Every country does whatever they can to make things hard in qualifying for their opponents and we should do the same.
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Yep, this. Stupid, but every country pulls this bs. Honduras usually schedules us for 4pm kickoff in 100 degree weather. I question the decision from the USSF side, as extreme weather brings an increased chance of equalizing talent, but I don't feel sorry for Honduras.
 
Screamindemon3 said:
Yep, this. Stupid, but every country pulls this bs. Honduras usually schedules us for 4pm kickoff in 100 degree weather. I question the decision from the USSF side, as extreme weather brings an increased chance of equalizing talent, but I don't feel sorry for Honduras.
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Every country that is is an underdog pulls that garbage and agree it is bush league. Burley said the same on ESPN on how this approach is a loser mentality and in this new day when we have superior players and if we want to prepare for the Brazils, Germany, etc. that you should play in great conditions and I agree it is a mentality we need to change that we are going to dominate no matter the conditions. Plus I'm not sure the frigid cold actually hurts the favored team as we struggled to get by El Salvador and you could tell our guys were sluggish and hard creating chances. Honduras is just horrible now and wouldn't be surprised if we blew them out more in nice weather.
 
Beat them 4-1 down there and 3-0 up here. Not much difference.
 
CR winning 1-0 at Jamaica last night is not good. You can definitely look at the table and matchups for the final 3 matches and get PTSD from 2018.

I still think we qualify @home with a win vs. Panama, but if we lose to Mexico, CR upsets Canada, and Panama takes care of business at home vs. Honduras, shits gonna get uncomfortable really fast.
 
Costa Rica has both US and Canada @ home and away @ El Salvador, so they could easily get 6 points with an upset @ home against either us or Canada which really would not be much of an upset in that crazy environment. And Canada can basically coast and rest players and let younger players get time.

Panama probably beats the worst team Honduras in their first match of next cycle to get them 3 points to put them @ 20 and potentially only a point or two behind us with a massive game on our soil. If we choke that one to Panama it will be major nail biting time heading to Costa Rica if CR wins either of their first 2 games......
 
saltydeac said:
Every country that is is an underdog pulls that garbage and agree it is bush league. Burley said the same on ESPN on how this approach is a loser mentality and in this new day when we have superior players and if we want to prepare for the Brazils, Germany, etc. that you should play in great conditions and I agree it is a mentality we need to change that we are going to dominate no matter the conditions. Plus I'm not sure the frigid cold actually hurts the favored team as we struggled to get by El Salvador and you could tell our guys were sluggish and hard creating chances. Honduras is just horrible now and wouldn't be surprised if we blew them out more in nice weather.
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Burley? As if Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, etc. all don't pull their own BS for qualifiers? Every nation in this hemisphere pulls some sort of crap depending on the opponent - altitude, heat, camping thousands of people outside the opponents hotel to keep them up all night, etc. Silly.

FWIW, I watched the post game press conference. Loads of questions about the weather and conditions. They noted the US planned this bc they had to play in Canada and didn't want to change climates or travel any huge distances for any of the three games. Based the decision on average temps, which having lived here for more than 25 years is normally around I'd say 20 degrees vs. what we have going on now. But yeah, it was a clear risk. Also said Honduras was provided all the same gear as the US players to help assure player safety (which I think was code for you can lead the horse to water but you can't make him drink - some of our own players weren't smart about it either IMO). Also implied the condition of the field was not an issue (as some have suggested the pitch was awful). That I think is true in terms of the grass being playable and pretty even, although it obviously was more slippery than normal.

A final point they noted was that qualifiers have never historically been played at this time of year but that this was forced via Covid, timing of the WC, etc. I'd never considered this and can't say whether it is true.

As for whether we'd have blown them out worse, seems like it is hard to beat a team more comprehensively than they were beat in terms of possession, chances, etc. Maybe we'd have matched that performance and scored more goals, maybe not. What is clear is they put up no real resistance. How much of that was the weather and how much was falling behind in the 7th minute, I can't say.
 
Wfdeacons99 said:
Section 5 - I actually thought from a fans perspective it was pretty enjoyable. Worst part was eating at halftime.
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I never get food there at the half. Always before. Brassa (not sure if it was running last night) burritos are an awesome choice. You weren't far from it. Imagine you were in some of the colder seats in the house too.
 
Same 3 points and same +3 goal differential. Is the health and safety risk worth it for style points?
 
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