OT: Discusión del Fútbol (EPL, FIFA, LIGA, USMNT, USWNT, MLS, etc) - Parte Cuatro

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Can’t believe these idiots are actually playing tonight. US Soccer and Gregg Berhalter should be ashamed. Not to mention, it’s f***ing stupid. They are more talented at every position than Honduras so their master plan is to make the players cold and miserable and play on a frozen field with a frozen ball to mitigate their talent advantage? What a small country mindset.

Play the game in SoCal in perfect weather on a nice field and if you’re not good enough to beat the last place team with four points in 10 qualifying matches who has already been eliminated from qualifying then f*** you, go home.

 

[g00n]

Someone is going to get seriously hurt tonight.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I’d be angry playing in these conditions….

 

[g00n]

I’d be angry playing in these conditions….

It's not as bad if you're moving. Coldest I've ever been in my life was a rugby match @ Frostburg. Windchill well below freezing with severe gusts and a flooded pitch for some reason. The guys who got locked up the night before were the lucky ones sitting in a warm jail.

But even in those soaking wet old school nut huggers and tattered rugby shirts, you could still retain some body heat if you kept running and hitting.

The goaltenders tonight will be doing the pee pee dance before long.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

It's not as bad if you're moving. Coldest I've ever been in my life was a rugby match @ Frostburg. Windchill well below freezing with severe gusts and a flooded pitch for some reason. The guys who got locked up the night before were the lucky ones sitting in a warm jail.

But even in those soaking wet old school nut huggers and tattered rugby shirts, you could still retain some body heat if you kept running and hitting.

The goaltenders tonight will be doing the pee pee dance before long.

I can remember getting a ball in the face in a November game in HS….felt like my face was peeling off.

Mckennie shook his head on a typical header…horrid conditions.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Coldest I’ve ever been playing was in CT. Had a night game in winter and the rink is outside and the wind was whipping and I think it was around zero degrees with the windchill. It was brutal.

I was also a lacrosse goalie and getting pegged with that ball during winter ball was also atrocious.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Ok, coast to an injury free 2nd half.

 

[Ajax1995]

I disagree with the complaints about the location of the game.

The field has under soil heating and is fine. Sure it is cold, so what? Are American players more likely to play well in the cold than a Central American team? Absolutely so why not use it as an advantage?

You don’t think Canada couldn’t have picked a grass field but chose an artificial one instead for no reason? You don’t think Mexico knows playing at altitude at the Azteca isn’t a huge advantage and thus always plays there for a reason? They don’t have other nice stadiums in that country?

Plus the location of these games were selected long ago. Nobody had any idea what the table would look like when it was decided where would be. If Honduras was having a great qualifying campaign that would make a difference?

If you aren’t using these things to your advantage you are doing it wrong, IMO. And the next time Craig Burley says anything even remotely intelligent will be the first time…

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

You penalized you’re own team too because that weather isn’t an advantage….haven’t seen anyone credible in the press praising this move yet….


Just lucky it turned out ok. Hell the field wasn’t even ready….partially dormant. Shocking I know for this time of year in the northeast I know lol….nobody could have guessed that.

 

[Ajax1995]

You penalized you’re own team too because that weather isn’t an advantage….haven’t seen anyone credible in the press praising this move yet….

Of course it is an advantage. Our players were cold but not as cold as the Hondurans. You don’t think Canada’s players wouldn’t prefer to play on a grass field but get the artificial turf is an advantage for them? Or that the El Salvador doesn’t know their bumpy piece of crap field isn’t an advantage even though it negatively affects their players also?

Where did this ‘we’re better than that’ sentiment come from? This is US soccer. We are in no way an upper echelon soccer country. We missed the last World Cup. We are not better than that and should be using every advantage we can get. And playing a winter qualifier against anyone but Canada in a cold weather location is an advantage we should be using every campaign IMO.

And the press? Seriously…?

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Why would I take you more seriously than a professional covering the sport lol?

you have some science to back that up? We didn’t field a team from Alaska…you’re overplaying that cold favoring us.


And I’m fine with the gamesmanship aspect…..do what it takes to win within the rules, but you’re giving someone way too much credit for picking this particular venue in early February.

 

[g00n]

Tv crew said field was an injury concern for the team

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Tv crew said field was an injury concern for the team

uneven and dangerous in places was what I remember hearing them say….advantage!

 

[Ajax1995]

Tv crew said field was an injury concern for the team

I only watched the second half. Was the first half full of players on either side struggling with the field? Because the 2nd half didn’t have any. The field may not have looked great on TV but it performed fine.

And I absolutely believe the cold benefited the US team over their opponents. And that we need every advantage we can get, regardless of opponents, in this campaign. The idea that this is some budding version of the Clockwork Orange and they deserve pristine conditions to work their magic is laughable IMO.

 

[g00n]

I only watched the second half. Was the first half full of players on either side struggling with the field? Because the 2nd half didn’t have any. The field may not have looked great on TV but it performed fine.

And I absolutely believe the cold benefited the US team over their opponents. And that we need every advantage we can get, regardless of opponents, in this campaign. The idea that this is some budding version of the Clockwork Orange and they deserve pristine conditions to work their magic is laughable IMO.

Do you think they needed those conditions to beat Honduras? Was the risk worth the reward here?

They talked about the field in the first half and pre-game. Probably stopped once nobody shatterd upon falling.

These were the weather conditions. Consider also the fans:

Also

Is this how we need to win games? Giving the other team hypothermia?

USMNT vs. Honduras played in frigid cold: Reactions to Minnesota weather conditions for soccer World Cup qualifier


Even if the field heating system was working well enough this seems kind of shitty.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Of course it is an advantage. Our players were cold but not as cold as the Hondurans. You don’t think Canada’s players wouldn’t prefer to play on a grass field but get the artificial turf is an advantage for them? Or that the El Salvador doesn’t know their bumpy piece of crap field isn’t an advantage even though it negatively affects their players also?

Where did this ‘we’re better than that’ sentiment come from? This is US soccer. We are in no way an upper echelon soccer country. We missed the last World Cup. We are not better than that and should be using every advantage we can get. And playing a winter qualifier against anyone but Canada in a cold weather location is an advantage we should be using every campaign IMO.

And the press? Seriously…?

Canada wanted an advantage because the US are better and they thought they needed an advantage.

The US are ranked 11th in the world by FIFA sandwiched between the Netherlands and Germany and their program has more players playing in the Champions League and other top six leagues than any other CONCACAF country. They should be better than this. They are more talented up and down the roster than anyone they play in this qualifying cycle. Are Italy and Portugal not upper-echelon soccer countries because one will not make the World Cup this year?

That they feel they have to try and get a weather advantage against a sorry side like Honduras is indicative of a small-minded federation afraid of success. US Soccer isn’t reaching its potential not because the US isn’t talented but because they think they need a weather advantage against sides lkke Honduras and El Salvador and they think a guy like Berhalter, who thought they dominated Canada, is the best choice to maximize the talent.

Good for the guys for winning last night but shame on US Soccer for putting players in danger with that decision.

 

[Ajax1995]

Extreme cold forces Honduras pair off vs. U.S.

Not an advantage my ass…

 

[Ajax1995]

I love how now we are at they hurt your feelings by making Honduras play in the cold.

And the FIFA rankings are a joke and literally everyone who pays the least little attention to the sport knows that.

And the ‘they should be better than that’ argument is absurd IMO because they simply aren’t better than that on the field. They drew with Canada at home, lost at Panama, drew at Jamaica, and lost at Canada. Every single one of those is a game they ‘should’ have gotten a better result out of.

You use every advantage you can to qualify until you get to the point that regular qualification is a formality. That is not the case for the US.

 

[g00n]

How about "play better" instead of "make the other side go to the hospital because of weather"?

Maybe you're OK winning like that but I'm not. It's called sportsmanship and honor and respect. People not used to winning or afraid of the opposition resort to bullshit tricks and "gamesmanship".

 

[g00n]

Also, what's to stop these other countries from escalating next time we have to play on the road? I know about the "Concacaf'd" complaints about trickery and gamesmanship down there. Don't really care. Be better than that.

f*** that kind of bitch move.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I’m torn on this one.

I’m fine with gamesmanship. Home teams have manipulated that advantage since sport began. Whether you’re forcing the opposition to play at altitude, in sweltering heat or cold, setting up the playing field to benefit your team, etc….

I don’t believe the holier than thou “we’re better than this” angle, because we’re not.

We should be, but given the last time we played in a WC, we have to take advantage where we can. Soccer has governing bodies and officials to oversee playing conditions like last night. It was brutal, but it was brutal for both teams.

 

[Ridley Simon]

This is all hyperbole fellas. Home teams get home team advantages. Pretty simple.

not sure why we are gnashing our teeth here.

It’s winter in the US. Team had 3 days before and after a game in Canada (that was outside). Obv they don’t need to be traveling all across the continent when the games are so closely scheduled to each other.

sure, they could have used a dome, but Canada didn’t. Where is the outrage there?

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

This is all hyperbole fellas. Home teams get home team advantages. Pretty simple.

not sure why we are gnashing our teeth here.

It’s winter in the US. Team had 3 days before and after a game in Canada (that was outside). Obv they don’t need to be traveling all across the continent when the games are so closely scheduled to each other.

sure, they could have used a dome, but Canada didn’t. Where is the outrage there?

well they weren’t calling the playing surface unsafe in Canada….small distinction. I mean, unless I missed that.

 

[g00n]

players had to go to the hospital, ffs. including the goaltender DURING the game

that's not normal

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

players had to go to the hospital, ffs. including the goaltender DURING the game

that's not normal

that happens in heated environments across many sports though right? Players getting IVs for dehydration, etc….

The goaltender example is indeed pretty extreme….hate to see that.