Beating Wales 1-0 would still have us finish second in the group.
If there are 3 extra pot 1 teams won’t that make pot 2 stronger than usual?
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There will be more teams per pot since it’s expanding to 48 teams.
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So actually it will be weaker than historical.
Another way to describe it is they played 270 minutes of group football and scored twice and were incredibly fortunate to advance.
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Was there a team in the group unfortunate to not advance?
Expected Goals in Group Games
USA 1.68 / Iran 0.76
USA 1.01 / Wales 1.01
USA 1.07 / England 1.23
I would t say we were lucky to advance based on that.
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Luck or unlucky whatever but this team needs to figure out how to create chances consistently to fulfill its hopes
Hopefully Balogun is the guy
It would be more travel but not drastically more. 80% of the teams would be from the old Concacaf so most of our qualifiers would be against them. But we’d get the chance to play the South American teams now and then.
For the old Conmebol teams, the US and Canada would be far, but that’s only two teams. Going to the Caribbean/Central America isn’t all that far for them.
Dang, that’s right. Forgot England laced up Iran by a bunch.
Good point on the pots, I do think Group A should be significantly easier than years past.
As someone who, at best, could be called a Casual when it comes to even the USMNT (I can probably name more of the women), I still had the idea that it might be fun to pick a European team to follow and root for.
I welcome any arguments for why I should pick your favorite team.
Wolves!
Because
Um
They just sold their best player to Saudi Arabia to skirt the financial fair play regulations
In all honesty if I was telling someone to GET IN now I’d reccomend Brighton. They have a few years of strong play despite bigger clubs poaching their manager, technical director, and players, and aren’t owned by a Gulf State Sovereign Wealth fund (sorry Dylan), or an American d-bag (sorry for Arsenal, Chelsea, and Man U fans) so aren’t breaking the game.
They are basically the “out scout/coach/develop” franchise of the EPL right now, and they’ve played a pretty offensive forward brand of soccer
If you want a monster of European history who is still locally owned and world class, I guess Madrid is the choice
The ascendent team now is clearly Newcastle but they’re owned by Qatar
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Newcastle are owned by Saudi Arabia, not Qatar
If you are into USMNT stuff at all, think about rooting a team that signs a few Americans this year. Bunch of guys are likely going to have new homes.
Problem is that some probably won’t be in the EPL, which is by far the best league to follow from the US as far as coverage, etc.
Pulisic could have a good year coming up if he goes down a level, but that might mean Italy or something.
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Man U will soon be owned by Qatar, though.
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Yeah Leeds has 3 guys but they are getting demoted
Fulham has two defensemen from the US team. They’re a similar small but building team to Brighton
Have a killer striker from Serbia when he’s healthy
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We’ve gotta get you to stop dropping “defensemen” in the soccer thread 
Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, Musah, Balogun, Dest, Weah, Aaronson, Pepi are probably all going to new clubs this year.
As far as the Leeds guys, McKennie was on loan and I’m assuming Adams/Aaronson have relegation clauses. So don’t bother trying to follow Leeds in the Championship.
I can’t do it
Fullback feels like I’m getting shocked
Do you think they all end up in stable situations? Pulisic, Wes and Dest sort of played their way out of their (large) clubs’ plans. I feel like EPL may be a little deep for Aaronsen. Most will end up in first division clubs but I think similar quality to Leeds?
Defender, wingback, anything other than hockey terms will do.
Brighton is definitely the non-big-six team that plays the best football but there aren’t really any US ties or anything like that to keep you interested.
And what you are going to be able to follow as a fan is different from rooting for a team that “best case” scenario is probably cracking Europe.
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Seems like a ton connecting Pulisic to AC Milan or Juventus. Hopefully, AC Milan so he can play in the Champions League.
Not sure who Juventus will sell McKennie to.
Dest’s club situation is a mess.
Adams will go to a solid EPL club I would think.
Everyone will end up somewhere better than the Championship though IMO.
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