Copa America Centenario

cromulence

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The venue passes are a brilliant, douchey scam. I'm in MD, so the closest games are Philly. There's no way I'm making that drive three separate times, nor am I staying in Philly. So it's either waste tickets or pray some single-game seats come available.
 

nickandemmasuncle

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Jul 15, 2005
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The problem is that the US player pool isn't better than Costa Rica or Paraguay. I know many people don't want to accept this, but it's true. We have more players, but not better players. Joel Campbell would be the best CF on the US national team.
Our pool probably isn't markedly better, but (outside of a couple of big names on the Costa Rican squad) it's not markedly worse, either. Admittedly I'm not an expert on Paraguayan soccer, but I wasn't blown away when I scanned through their squad and saw where their guys are playing their club soccer. I'm sure they'll be tough and defend well, like nearly every Paraguayan team in recent memory, but that's a game we should get 1 or 3 points from. Same goes for Costa Rica, who haven't taken three points off of us in a competitive game in the US in ages.

More generally, whatever difference in quality there is between the US and the other teams in their group, HFA should more than compensate for that difference. Playing at home 20+ years ago with a squad made up largely of quasi-professionals, we finished third on goal difference by one goal in a group with Romania (one of the four or five best teams in the world at the time), Colombia (who had blown the doors off of nearly everyone in CONMEBOL qualifying), and Switzerland (a solid but not great European team).

To fail to make it out of our CA group this year would suggest we've regressed to pre-1994 levels. It may happen, but if it does, it's a pretty big disappointment.

I don't think the MLS vs big 3 European leagues debate is really about which place is better at developing players. It's really about whether the USA is a couple of players away from competing for a World Cup win, or if we are a couple of generations away. I think it's the latter, so I favor long term development through academies, improving the USSF, etc. If you think we are just one or two star players away from winning the World Cup then you probably think we should be sending as many guys to Europe as possible.

I expect, however, a whole lot of angst over the next six years or so for people who expect the USA to be a very strong team. Whether Klinsmann is fired or not.
Agree completely. In 84 years' worth of World Cups, there have been nine countries that have made the final more than once, and nearly all of those countries have an unbroken history of having developed good talent and given a crap about the sport for half a century or more. It's extremely hard to get to a point where you're a consistent contender in international soccer, particularly when you were a backwater for the sport as recently as 30 years ago. People need to accept that it's going to take a decades-long series of small gains for us to get to that point, and just enjoy the ride, and the federation needs to operate with that goal in mind.
 

wilked

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Brasil fans will grab up those 3-packs, and I am sure many of them can't make all 3 games. At a minimum that Bolivia / Chile game should be pretty easy to score tickets. I will be able to make 1 game, and I am not going to battle the local yellow and green for the Brasil game, so it will either be that Chile game or the QF one.
 

Titans Bastard

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I saw some claims that Paraguay hasn't beaten a team in FIFA's top 40 since a win over Chile in February 2012, four years ago. It's laborious to verify that claim, but scanning through their results over that time period, it seems to check out. Costa Rica has talent, but we've handled them on our home turf many times. They didn't win a single game at the Gold Cup, advancing out of their group with three draws against Jamaica, El Salvador, and Canada before losing (controversially) to Mexico. Let's not get carried away with what the US is up against.

The US has the toughest group, but I don't think it's worthy of a "Group of Death" moniker because it's not that bad -- especially since we are at home. We aren't assured of advancement, especially because we played liked dogshit at the Gold Cup last summer and got outplayed by everyone except Cuba, even when we won. Apparently it's because our player pool sucks, even though we struggled at home against teams that use numerous mediocre MLS players (or worse).

Based on our talent and the the fact that we are at home, the expectation should absolutely be that we advance.

@nickandemmasuncle nailed it in that if we fail to advance it will either be Klinsmann's fault because he's a terrible coach or the players' fault because they all suck, depending on one's prior view. The battle lines on JK are pretty firmly drawn at this point.
 

DLew On Roids

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The venue passes are a brilliant, douchey scam. I'm in MD, so the closest games are Philly. There's no way I'm making that drive three separate times, nor am I staying in Philly. So it's either waste tickets or pray some single-game seats come available.
I'm in Northern Virginia, so I'm in the same boat. My bet is that the Tuesday Chile v Panama ticket is going to be cheap on the secondary market. People will come in Thursday afternoon for Uruguay v Venezuela, hang around for the main event on Saturday (USA v Paraguay), then look to dump the third game.
 

wilked

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Single tickets on sale now for all games, and plenty of tickets available. They are not cheap, but I will likely be picking up tix to the QF matchup on Saturday fairly soon
 

chechusma

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Bump for a question

I'd like to bring my Peruvian wife to the July 12 game vs Brasil at Gilette.

Do they do any sort of geographic seating? My last international soccer game was World Cup 94, S. Korea vs Bolivia (only scoreless draw of the tournament!) and they had "sides" for each nationality. I'd obviously like to be with the other Peruvians, regardless of how few there may be.

If they still do this - anyone know how to find out?

Also - any suggestions on best place to sit? For this game, as a gift to the wife, cost is no issue. But I also don't want to end up low/middle and have it be super snobby and stuffy.
 

Ale Xander

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Bump for a question

I'd like to bring my Peruvian wife to the July 12 game vs Brasil at Gilette.

Do they do any sort of geographic seating? My last international soccer game was World Cup 94, S. Korea vs Bolivia (only scoreless draw of the tournament!) and they had "sides" for each nationality. I'd obviously like to be with the other Peruvians, regardless of how few there may be.

If they still do this - anyone know how to find out?

Also - any suggestions on best place to sit? For this game, as a gift to the wife, cost is no issue. But I also don't want to end up low/middle and have it be super snobby and stuffy.
Call Gillette

I know you said money is no object but looking at ticketmaster they have entire sections including 100 level unsold. I'd recommend (if you can't get an answer out of Gillette) just buy the cheapest either there or tm or groupon and then go to guest services and see if you can upgrade or better yet just walk around until you see someone you want to sit with
Pretty sure Neymar is not playing so should be a lot of empty seats. Spend the savings at Davios (and parking lol)

Oh and one of those 100 level unsold sections is Peru
 

Titans Bastard

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Keylor Navas is out for Costa Rica. That's a big loss for them.
 

Zososoxfan

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Argentine FA threatening to pull the team out if the government doesn't drop its pesky investigation into the FA and lift its suspension of elections. Likely just posturing since it would be an abject disaster if the team did not actually compete, but with how batshit crazy this country is, not out of the realm of possibility SMH.
 

DJnVa

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Will this be the game thread?

Or should I start a completely jingoistic thread like I did for the World Cup?
 

ThePrideofShiner

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I think you should start a game thread and keep this one for news and notes, so that type of stuff doesn't get buried in a megathread.
 

ThePrideofShiner

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As an aside, what game would you want to go to:

Argentina vs. Bolivia (Messi might not play?)
A quarterfinal that would feature the US if we win our group.

I can get a ticket for about $70, but not sure which game would be better to see.
 

Schnerres

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What is the reason for killing the extra-time in quarter- and semifinal rounds?

Is this some kind of forward thinking, like..if the defensive-minded team (example: USA) keeps a draw for 90mins, let´s go straight to penalties. If the offensive-minded and possession-dominating team (example: Brazil) cannot score in 90, let´s go to penalties earlier - so they have to push for the goal earlier. Is this the thinking behind it? It could make games more attractive, as dominating teams are forced to attack now withing the 90mins. But OTOH, it could destroy games even more, if park-the-bus-teams know, they even have a better chance to park the bus for a shorter time. Or is there another reason (heat? volcanos? Trump´s wax wave curl?) behind this?
 

Phil Plantier

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Nothing says your tournament is a Mickey Mouse money grab like no extra time before the finals.
 

Zososoxfan

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Agreed that it's not ideal. I would think if you're going to allow a 4th sub for the final, why not keep that format for the other knockout rounds. As an aside, not sure where I saw the proposal but I found it interesting - if tied after regulation time, take penalties first as a tie breaker. Then go to extra time and the knowledge of tie breaker makes for more motivated action.
 

SocrManiac

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I'm trying to be optimistic for an event two years away, but Fox's coverage is an absolute disaster. They have no idea what they're doing or who their audience is.

In the studio they've plugged blowhards into the personality roles established for their NFL broadcasts. Their actual game feeds feature awful camera work, poor quality, obscure channels, and just the most uninformed and uninspiring commentary teams. Also, Alexi Lalas.

These guys can't identify tactics, can't interpret their own graphics, and generally do nothing beyond calling a few names (often incorrect), the clock, and the score. This is absolutely awful.
 

Phil Plantier

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Apologies, then. Guess I wasn't paying as much attention last year as I thought.

I thought Michael Davies had good insight about Lalas: as a TV producer, he liked Lalas because you know that Lalas would always say something, and it would be something that would lead to debate. I think Lalas can be an intelligent commentator on football if he's not on TV, but then again I thought the same thing for the longest time about Phil Simms.
 

trekfan55

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Good match between Uruguay and Mexico.

Bunch of Uruguay players are bitching like Buck Showalter with the referee (seems like a he called a foul that eventually led to Mexico goal) 2-1 Mexico with 2 minutes plus stoppage time to go.

And both teams have 10 players.

Edit: Sorry, wrong thread
 
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Titans Bastard

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Tonight's Bolivia-Panama game in Orlando will be refereed by Tropical Storm Colin. Should be interesting.
 

DJnVa

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100% chance of rain and 20+ mph winds throughout the game.

Sweet.
 

Infield Infidel

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Good article on Mexico's coach Juan Carlos Osorio - http://www.espnfc.us/club/mexico/203/blog/post/2888395/osorio-winning-over-mexico-players-and-fans-in-copa-america

I didn't know he wasn't coaching in Mexico. IIRC I remember other posters saying Mexican soccer can be a bit provincial.
Osorio's record early on with Mexico inspires confidence. It has been almost perfect. Eight games in charge have produced eight wins, with just one goal conceded. It culminated with a largely convincing 3-1 victory over Uruguay in El Tri's crucial Group C opener last Sunday.

Yet, despite how positive the results have been, perhaps the biggest success for Osorio so far with Mexico has been the way he's won over the players. Many of them, according to whispers in the Mexican press, were unimpressed that a coach whose most successful period came in Colombia's first division had been hired. After all, his record in Mexico before taking the job was a spell with Liga MX minnow Puebla, with whom he won just two of the 11 games.

"We've found in him a very intelligent person and we have to extract everything and learn as much as possible because it is clear that he has very, very great knowledge," said left-back Miguel Layun after last Sunday's win.
 

Bosoxen

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Thanks for sharing that. It's funny because my dad and I were talking last night about how fresh it is to see that he alters tactics game to game, based on the opponent. The stark contrast between him and Chepo de la Torre - whose tactics were so static that he never even knew how to counter an opponent's changes - really stands out. I had actually forgotten about Miguel Herrera and his incessant use of the 5-3-2 formation. The biggest benefit I've been noticing is that they seem to go through fewer spells where they seem clueless in attack. SSS warning and all that, but scoring three goals on Uruguay is nothing to sneeze at (yes, I know two of them came after they were down to 10 men).

The road ahead isn't exactly easy, since they'd have to go through Argentina or Chile to get to the semis, but I feel a lot better about their chances right now than I did six months ago. Better still, that would make a nice trial by fire for them going into the ramping up of the World Cup cycle. I just hope someone reminds Rafa Marquez to not do anything stupid.
 

Titans Bastard

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Mexico's win over Uruguay moved them up to #6 in the world in the ELO ratings. They've had a nice run of results lately.

The US got a huge swing of 41 points after the win over Costa Rica, moving them from #36 to #21. We're still recovering from the Gold Cup and the WCQ loss to Guatemala.

http://eloratings.net/
 

Titans Bastard

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Some TV numbers:



Per Tannenwald, Univision is averaging 2.7m per game.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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I wonder how many watch Univision in protest of Fox's coverage. My functional comprehension of live, rapid-fire Español is pretty poor but I happily watch without a second thought.
 

swiftaw

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Fox's coverage doesn't bode well for their World Cup coverage in 2 years.
 

allstonite

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The coverage has been awful. There were at least 5 instances in the last US game where the camera lingered on a play for way too long or they showed a replay and we weren't seeing what the announcer was talking about in live play. I think 2-3 of those times there was a scoring chance or at least something building where the announcer raised his voice and we couldn't see it because we had a close up of a face. Plus Lalas. I've been spoiled with NBCs near flawless broadcasts
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Fox's coverage doesn't bode well for their World Cup coverage in 2 years.
Have they been doing the thing where they shrink the screen 25% to have a big thick border of extra advertising often, or was that just for the opener? It made me go damn near blind with irritation in the Colombia game, but I didn't see it in the Costa Rica game.
 

DJnVa

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The coverage has been awful. There were at least 5 instances in the last US game where the camera lingered on a play for way too long or they showed a replay and we weren't seeing what the announcer was talking about in live play. I think 2-3 of those times there was a scoring chance or at least something building where the announcer raised his voice and we couldn't see it because we had a close up of a face. Plus Lalas. I've been spoiled with NBCs near flawless broadcasts

I think Lalas follows the USMNT. We will never get rid of him.
 

SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
Isn't there only one video feed for the World Cup, and each broadcaster uses that same feed with their announcers? If that's the case, directing mishaps where we miss something because of replays or crowd shots won't be because of Fox.
 

Titans Bastard

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Univision has to be loving this tournament:


It'll only go up in the knockout rounds when Mexico plays a sexier opponent.