Copa America Other Matches + Group A

[AvroArrow]

Would it be a reach to say that Peru is better than Bolivia and Chile is better than Panama?

[narduch]

6 minutes ago, AvroArrow said:

Would it be a reach to say that Peru is better than Bolivia and Chile is better than Panama?

Not at all.

Plus Argentina is better than Uruguay too.

[theaub]

Definitely not.  Its also not a reach to say the US played three matches at home and we played three defacto away games.

 

[InglewoodJack]

The US isn’t a team prepared to get into a knife fight. They have all these players playing at great clubs, but they don’t have a Richie Laryea, they don’t even have an Alistair Johnston. They can win a million polite concacaf games at home, but when it gets serious with teams that want to play with an edge, they can’t get it done.

I almost feel bad for Berhalter at this point. Not that he shouldn’t be in the hot seat, but I don’t know what he could’ve done to get a result last night that a better coach would’ve done. When you lose to Panama, at home, during Copa, and you can’t even produce a legitimate scoring chance against Uruguay, it’s not the coach, it’s the personnel.

 

Ref was atrocious though. Don’t think it’s why they lost, but that guy should never ref another international game at this level, at least not until he’s grounded through the Caribbean circuit for a few years. 

[InglewoodJack]

9 minutes ago, AvroArrow said:

Would it be a reach to say that Peru is better than Bolivia and Chile is better than Panama?

We would’ve beat Bolivia and Panama, and with how Uruguay played, we’d have parked the bus and drawn. 7 points. We top the group if Larin finally shakes off the slump against Bolivia and we get a good GD. 

[jonovision]

3 minutes ago, theaub said:

Definitely not.  Its also not a reach to say the US played three matches at home and we played three defacto away games.

 

I think the USA has played something like 75-80% of their matches on home soil over the last 20 years.

[jonovision]

3 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Ref was atrocious though. Don’t think it’s why they lost, but that guy should never ref another international game at this level, at least not until he’s grounded through the Caribbean circuit for a few years. 

Was the ref that bad? The offside/onside goal matter was entirely out of his hands. The yellow card/play on was bizarre and his only consequential error.

[theaub]

1 minute ago, InglewoodJack said:

The US isn’t a team prepared to get into a knife fight. They have all these players playing at great clubs, but they don’t have a Richie Laryea, they don’t even have an Alistair Johnston. They can win a million polite concacaf games at home, but when it gets serious with teams that want to play with an edge, they can’t get it done.

Yup - also result of being in a federation that never plays a competitive match outside of home soil besides WC/WCQ

[canadasoccer20]

18 minutes ago, AvroArrow said:

Would it be a reach to say that Peru is better than Bolivia and Chile is better than Panama?

Not at all. Taking out Canada and USA out of this the quality of teams in our and their group would look like this.

1. Argentina (A)

2. Uruguay (C)

3. Chile/Peru (A)

4. Chile/Peru (A)

5. Panama (C)

6. Bolivia (C)

The fact the US couldn't get out of their group at HOME is embarrasing.

[rightback]

I kind of wish we were up against Uruguay...it'd be a hell of a learning experience. Venezuela and then possibly Argentina again will have to do 🙂

 

[InglewoodJack]

3 minutes ago, jonovision said:

Was the ref that bad? The offside/onside goal matter was entirely out of his hands. The yellow card/play on was bizarre and his only consequential error.

I’m thinking of the yellow/quick start, but also the play where the US gets fouled, ref lets play continue, ball goes out to Pulisic who starts a run and once he’s free they call it back.

Not consequential calls, just a ref who seemed like he was afraid to be decisive. 
 

8 minutes ago, theaub said:

Yup - also result of being in a federation that never plays a competitive match outside of home soil besides WC/WCQ

With the WC in 2026, I assume they’re not going to play many games away from home for the foreseeable future. With how rough the weather has been for Copa, wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of European teams run camps in the US to get acclimated.

The US are diet Belgium- win a ton of meaningless games, reach late stages of some smaller tournaments and get this great FIFA ranking. They better hope that they get invited to the next Copa hosted in South America or that the Euros offer them an invite at some point, because barring either of those things happening, this group won’t have many chances to play abroad, not during this iteration of the national team. 

[CanadaFan123]

15 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

The US isn’t a team prepared to get into a knife fight. They have all these players playing at great clubs, but they don’t have a Richie Laryea, they don’t even have an Alistair Johnston. They can win a million polite concacaf games at home, but when it gets serious with teams that want to play with an edge, they can’t get it done.

I almost feel bad for Berhalter at this point. Not that he shouldn’t be in the hot seat, but I don’t know what he could’ve done to get a result last night that a better coach would’ve done. When you lose to Panama, at home, during Copa, and you can’t even produce a legitimate scoring chance against Uruguay, it’s not the coach, it’s the personnel.

 

Ref was atrocious though. Don’t think it’s why they lost, but that guy should never ref another international game at this level, at least not until he’s grounded through the Caribbean circuit for a few years. 

Unless they’re playing Mexico?

[InglewoodJack]

Just now, CanadaFan123 said:

Unless they’re playing Mexico?

The US playing edgy against Mexico is like us saying we’re a scoring powerhouse because we can pile them on against St. Vincent. We’re both beyond talking about concacaf minnows. Us more than them though it seems. 

[SpursFlu]

Terrible showing by the US & Mexico

It's quickly turned from Copa America to Cope America for their media

Edited Tuesday at 01:52 PM by SpursFlu

[mpg_29]

10 minutes ago, theaub said:

Yup - also result of being in a federation that never plays a competitive match outside of home soil besides WC/WCQ

We are basically the reverse. All our matches this year have been away games. In contrast all the US games this year have been home games.

[narduch]

2 minutes ago, rightback said:

I kind of wish we were up against Uruguay...it'd be a hell of a learning experience. Venezuela and then possibly Argentina again will have to do 🙂

 

We could still possibly play them.

If we can get by Venezuela we are guaranteed of at least playing in the 3rd place game.

The opponent for that game will probably be one of Brazil, Colombia or Uruguay 

[vancanman]

15 minutes ago, canadasoccer20 said:

Not at all. Taking out Canada and USA out of this the quality of teams in our and their group would look like this.

1. Argentina (A)

2. Uruguay (C)

3. Chile/Peru (A)

4. Chile/Peru (A)

5. Panama (C)

6. Bolivia (C)

The fact the US couldn't get out of their group at HOME is embarrassing.

I would call it hilarious.

[vancanman]

28 minutes ago, jonovision said:

I think the USA has played something like 75-80% of their matches on home soil over the last 20 years.

I don't know how far back this goes, although we can guess by the total number of matches.  

[mpg_29]

10 minutes ago, narduch said:

We could still possibly play them.

If we can get by Venezuela we are guaranteed of at least playing in the 3rd place game.

The opponent for that game will probably be one of Brazil, Colombia or Uruguay 

Beating Venezuela would pay a lot of dividends for us in terms of the financials and that you are guaranteed two more games(semi+final/3rd place game) against top teams. Which for us is another benefit. Though I guess 3rd place games are not treated as seriously.

[Treppy2]

Serious question (that requires a BIG leap of faith): If Canada were to win this tournament, would we be invited to the next edition of Copa America as defending champion?

[vancanman]

Is anyone else having any problems reacting to or quoting other posts?   Every time I try, the forum gods sign me out.

 

EDIT:  It seems to have sorted itself out.   

Edited Tuesday at 02:21 PM by vancanman

[jonovision]

11 minutes ago, vancanman said:

I don't know how far back this goes, although we can guess by the total number of matches.  

I think those numbers are all-time. I haven't found a good source for the last twenty years or so with a summary so I don't have to count the home and away matches.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

I think the ref was quite poor, not biased but out of his depth on a number of things. 

 

The whole handshake thing is symptomatic.  I get that he is upset that Pulisic is accusing him of being biased but he's supposed to be an unbiased professional and paid to not let things like that bother him.  His assistants were okay and he should have faced worse and not let it bother him.  

[vancanman]

11 hours ago, Macksam said:

I'm not able to edit my previous post so I had to re quote this.

CONMEBOL had a tough time getting Ecuador to host so the USSF stepped up to finance this whole shindig, and a strategic partnership was formed with CONCACAF, we get the elevated level of play from South American participation while they get access to the lucrative North American marketing machine. I would be shocked if this doesn't become a permanent thing. CONMEBOL wants to compete with UEFA and they need the USA on their side to do that. I expect the CONCACAF Champions League to be the next thing to go with Copa Libertadores expanding to our region in its place. 

This is a good thing to. Clearly the officiating needs improve a little bit after what we're seeing in this USA Uruguay game, but that'll come with time. 

You're not suggesting that getting CONCACRAP involved will improve officiating, are you?

[jonovision]

5 minutes ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

I think the ref was quite poor, not biased but out of his depth on a number of things. 

 

The whole handshake thing is symptomatic.  I get that he is upset that Pulisic is accusing him of being biased but he's supposed to be an unbiased professional and paid to not let things like that bother him.  His assistants were okay and he should have faced worse and not let it bother him.  

I really don't understand Pulisic in that situation. A handshake is usually meant to be, at minimum, a sign of respect. Why go in for one when your comments and demeanor suggest the exact opposite?