I’m enjoying your insight
Concerned that the yanks will struggle to score the ball. Probably bet them getting shut out in all 3 and be sad about it.
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Wouldn’t go that far but u2.5 in their games and most matches is the play imo.
McKennie is the cat I most believe in. Maybe Reyna will create some magic
Dest, too, from distance!
Great OP Krayz
But, Columbia*
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Triggered by people calling out Australia.
I actually think we will go ok. Played a lot of qualifiers in the heat in the Middle East because of Covid restrictions. Expect the heat to get a lot of teams.
Reasonable draw. Get into the last game needing a win vs Denmark (which would happen if we lose to France, draw Tunisia and Denmark beat Tunisia and lose to France) and we aren’t completely dead.
We do have one kid in the squad that has never started a professional game, so that’s a win(Kuol is his name, 18 and has signed a contract with Newcastle for January. /s obv).
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Apparently they are doing signs for all 26 + coach. Really cool
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Something like 25 or 26 of the top 32 squads are from UEFA and CONMEBOL. I know these aren’t the best 32 teams at the World Cup (but at least most of the top 15 is in), but I much prefer seeing Australia, Asian teams, African teams, etc. matched up rather than just taking mostly Euro and S. American teams. Part of the fun is the Cinderella aspect of seeing an African or Asian team make a run into the KO stage.
I think they’ve found a pretty fair balance between taking the best and giving more confederations a chance. Sucks that it will all come crashing down in '26 as we move to an idiotic 48-team format.
I use this usually for “unbiased” rankings. Top 20 are all UEFA/CONMEBOL, after that it tends to start being even with other confeds. Mexico, USA, Japan, Iran, Canada are the only other ones in the top 30.
This is a fun tab for your comment: World Football Elo Ratings
Yah I consulted that site before making my comment. CONMEBOL sometimes has 7-8 in the top 32, they’re a bit down this time, but still have 6/10 in the top 32.
In 2018, for example, they had
1, 6, 11, 13, 16, 17, 25, and 29. Which is pretty nuts for a 10 team confederation.
The only non-UEFA/CON teams in the top 32 would’ve been:
- Iran, 22. Mexico, 23. Korea, and 28. Senegal. Only FOUR teams in the top 32
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Kinda wild how down CAF is, I don’t remember their best team ever being as low as 28 before.
Edit: just looked at the graph, looks like '15-18 was really bad too. World Football Elo Ratings
It’s been pretty dire for CAF it seems. This is their ratings history of all teams. An 1800 rating equates to about the 20th-23rd best team and they are only above that threshold for brief periods:
Still, it’s not quite as dire as AFC. AFC has had 43 World Cup teams, 6 KO stages, and 1 Quarters+ compared to 49, 9, and 3 for CAF.
CONCACAF has been the best non UEFA/CONMEBOL by a decent margin though. 46, 14, and 5.
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Although something to look out for is that AFC and CAF have been more successful at S. Africa and Korea/Japan World Cups, the only 2 not held in the Americas or Europe.
Obviously, Korea and Japan did well at their home WC, but AFC also did well in the S. Africa WC. They had 2 KO stage teams in S. Africa and 2 in Korea/Japan. They’ve only had 2 in every other World Cup combined.
CAF has only had 3 teams advance to the round of 8. Once in S. Africa, once in Korea/Japan.
So it seems that this World Cup in Qatar might be ripe for a (relatively) deep run by a few Asian and African teams.
The Ivory Coast teams were the only recent good ones.
Senegal has some potential but it’s just not great
Yah, that team that shot up to about 1860 rating in 2013 was Ivory Coast. I think that was good for about a 16th ranking. Other than that, not a ton of good teams since the 60s. Shame too b/c there are some phenomenal talents in CAF.
Senegal can go about 16 deep with players who are on a club of Marseille’s level of better + Mané (if he’s healthy). Their group isn’t super easy, but at least they got Qatar from Pot A. The other African teams have pretty brutal groups. Senegal seems the most likely to make some noise. Of course, Mané’s health would be key.
Just rare to get a balanced squad. The money and youth coaching is obviously behind there and it continues to this level.
Their qualification is also silly/brutal.
Senegal seems surprisingly balanced, they’ve got talent at almost every position.
Cameroon has some big holes. 2 MLS fullbacks, Anguissa but not much else in midfield. Aging Choupo-Moting at striker.
Tunisia is just not that good period.
Ghana lacks goalkeeping
Morocco has some interesting options and is probably the #2 here, maybe #1 if Mané is out and you consider that they should be way more acclimated to these conditions than almost any other team.
i mean if that kind of stuff bothers you then you already hate ronaldo