The Road to World Cup 2026 and UEFA Nations League

[Alan]

No.

Curry sauce with a chinese container full of half fries and half egg fried rice is the bomb.

“Curry sauce” feels like it could mean a lot of things, but fries + fried rice is inspired tbh

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

chip shop curry sauce.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Looks like he's seen enough from Ramsdale, Tomori and DCL. Just sent them home.

I definitely approve in the case of Ramsdale, an awful goalkeeper

 

[Lupo]

I'm surprised there are that many left after Uruguay's antics last night. Dirty bastards especially for a meaningless friendly

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I vividly remember them playing Scotland at Mexico 1986. One of the dirtiest sides I have ever seen.

 

[Alan]

chip shop curry sauce.

Ah that's cleared that up then

 

[Sniffer]

I'm surprised there are that many left after Uruguay's antics last night. Dirty bastards especially for a meaningless friendly

That’s why Santi wasn’t in the matchday squad. Not enough of a nasty streak in him.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

That’s why Santi wasn’t in the matchday squad. Not enough of a nasty streak in him.

He is the least Uruguayan Uruguayan CH I've ever seen

 

[Jack Regan]

He's too slow to be cynical enough to be fair. I'd imagine Paolo Montero would be embarrassed by him being Uruguayan

 

[Lupo]

How Araujo didn't get sent off for the 'tackle' on Foden, not even a card. John Terry made a shit referee

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

@Alan What are your thoughts on the USA's prospects?

Paraguay
Australia
Kosovo or Türkiye

That's a gentle group

 

[Alan]

@Alan What are your thoughts on the USA's prospects?

Paraguay
Australia
Kosovo or Türkiye

That's a gentle group

The wider view here is that anything short of making the Round of 16 (I guess Sweet Sixteen is trademarked; c'mon FIFA) is a failure.

Now, it's generally been true that those sorts of expectations have really been hopes. Soccer culture here is desperate for the high of 2002 again, and that tends to get projected. It was well before I was paying attention (I would have been 10; with apologies for bringing age into it), but the vibe is that the way we played Germany in those quarters meant that we as a country had hit the tipping point. 2006 put paid to that, as you can imagine, and it was an almost traumatic experience for the culture. It's part of why the Donovan winner against Algeria in 2010 has such reverence.

Anyway. My point was that we often expect more than is reasonable. This time, however, I think the expectation is spot on.

I have never been a massive fan of Pochettino and wasn't thrilled with his hiring. The start to his tenure was pretty awful; his selections kept shifting, our performances were generally horrific, and he'd come out in the postgame talking how pleased he was. Any random club sacking their manager would elicit "there's his escape hatch; good riddance" from folks (read: me).

It turns out, though, that he was actually using friendlies for what I think they should be used for: getting as much tinkering and experimentation as possible done before real competition starts. You only have so much time to implement tactical ideas as an international manager, so IMO it's absolutely critical for an international manager to identify the players and relationships that are naturally effective in said tactics, even if they aren't necessarily the "most talented" at the position. By running through the pool and playing so many weird things tactically, he was doing some wild 4-D Chess voodoo.

My favorite thing he's done so far is to have told Christian Pulisic to fuck off for the entire Gold Cup if he didn't want to play in the two "tune-up" friendlies just before. Ballsy. Needed.

So, with those players identified, more or less, we're currently in a 4-3-3 that I really, really like. We're capable of playing some brilliant football, which I think we showed against Belgium yesterday, even as we were undone (I was reminded of the mythic, what was it, 6-0 loss Wolves' suffered once upon a time that everyone recalls we dominated?). Weston McKennie played RW and was magnificent. That's the type of shit we're talking about here. Real lightning in a bottle stuff.

I'll have more concrete opinions about our chances after the final selections are made, obviously, but I believe we are capable of troubling the Quarterfinals if everything goes right.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

6-0 v Southampton. I will never see a more bizarre game. We were great, countless chances. Every shot they hit went in, plus they got at least one goal that wasn't from a shot from them.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

And their keeper was MoM. The crowd reaction after the game was incredible.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Interesting one with Norn Iron.

The squad for a meaningless friendly, managed by Michael O'Neill contains players from Albion and Oxford, who are in a relegation scrap with Blackburn, managed by Michael O'Neill.

 

[Kenny]

Some Uruguay style tackling encouraged in training

 

[Wilf Wolf]

Interesting one with Norn Iron.

The squad for a meaningless friendly, managed by Michael O'Neill contains players from Albion and Oxford, who are in a relegation scrap with Blackburn, managed by Michael O'Neill.

They need the full 90 minutes then!

 

[jlo]

Like we all haven't done the same when dual managing club and country on FM