The cost of going into cardiac arrest if the GD gets to -4 or so adds significant juice to the wager imo

North Macedonia beats Portugal, Germany beats Netherlands in their friendly? and we can get pot 1 still I think

costa rica to concacaf: "What's the going rate for red cards? Asking for a friend"

I think Qatar takes a slot and even if Portugal loses the USA will miss out. Even one behind Mexico in last rankings.

I’m not that familiar with the process. There are no new rankings before April 1?

In general friendlies don’t impact rankings much

I think we have a zero chance at Pot 1

I do know that if USA went 3-0-0 here they would have pot 1 with a Portugal loss. I believe a USA win, Mexico loss/draw, Portugal loss, Germany win puts USA in pot 1.

obviously, it's just pot 2 which we're happy with anyway

here found this on reddit

Cool find, thanks

Pot 1 would be nice but probably an underdog to most teams in 2 anyway. Big difference between 2 and 3 though

I honestly think I would rather be in Pot 2 and have the Qatar out because we can't draw Mexico(worst Pot 2 team) as Pot 1 anyway

If my calculations (and the website below) are correct, we still have a chance, but it's a long-shot:

If Portugal qualifies, Pot 1 is:
Qatar - Belgium - Brazil - France - Argentina - England - Spain -Portugal

If Portugal falters, Netherlands, with a win over Germany, would have a minimum of 1659.94 points, and finish in pot 1

If Netherlands draws or loses, they would have (at most) 1658.69 points. Then things could get REALLY ugly, because the team with the next-best chance is actually....Mexico. With a win over El Salvador, Mexico would have 1658.83 points, to finish ahead of NED and be in Pot 1.

We would need Portugal out, Netherlands with a draw or loss, Mexico with a draw or loss. THEN the US, with a win over Costa Rica, would finish with 1658.71 points and be in pot 1.

https://football-ranking.com/fifa_rankings

ETA: I hate it when I take too long to write my post

dogshit mexico gonna sneak pot 1 somehow lmao

Nice yeah, it’s like flopping a set

Sad thing is, a win against Mexico would've been worth something like 16 points. We finish either of those chances, and we'd be one win away from a guaranteed Pot 1.

we would still need Portugal to lose and they likely aren't

I'm totally fine with Pot 2. The chance of binking Qatar make it very worth it. Pot 3 would be a disaster

Qatar, USA, Morocco, Scotland

Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Canada

It really is hard to get a bad draw from pot 2 this cycle. Something like France/Wales/Tunisia would be worst case and... meh, I feel like we aren't worse than +150 to get through that.

Think we can beat anyone except for top European teams and Brazil

Maybe I'm a little drunk on the 5-1, but love how the team has evolved. Our lineup is now more or less clear cut, players have been improving and stepping up, and we have never come close to best lineup being intact.

Reyna might become our best player and never really has been available. Pulisic was injured earlier, even benched for beginning of a game and has gotten healthy and stepped it up. McKennie got suspended, redeemed himself completely and then got injured. De Torre was not a part of the original lineup but now fully entrenched and is either starting in a strong midfield or provides a valuable backup. Aaronson was injured this window.

Obvious weak point is no striker, and RB might be a little weak

And people would have slammed Gregg had all of this not worked out but things overall has gone well and thus should get props. He's put his neck on the line in several spots and the bets got through. Got heat for suspending McKennie but he has re emerged a better leader and player. Ditched Brooks, and now our D is solid. Took a chance on Pepi and he saved our azz in Honduras. Started out with some old guard MLS types who had international experience and slowly merged our younger international talent into the lineup. CONCACAF is tough, need some experience and not all youngsters right from start. Put a strong lineup out in Mexico and now because of the tie there we only have to avoid losing by 6 goals as opposed to having a tie. Deserves at least a B+ imo

For our Canadian visitors: There are a small number of pretty specific scenarios in which the Canadian National Team could possibly end up in Pot 3.

It basically involves the following: having every team still in a confederation playoff that is current ranked below you knocking out some higher ranked teams on their way to qualifying (see the 4 teams from Africa and 2 from UEFA in pot 4). There is even one scenario where the Ticos could finish Pot 3 as well. It is posted below - Feel free to adjust your rooting interests accordingly.



(FYI: This is based on current point standings. Canada cannot catch Poland, but both CR and Algeria could still pass Canada in the rankings, if you draw or lose to Panama)

Pot 1: Belgium/Brazil/France
Pot 2: USA
Pot 3: Sweden/Columbia/Peru
Pot 4: Egypt

None of those combinations would make me happy. But yea, we should still be favorites to get out of the group stage, regardless of the draw.

The lineup we still have yet to see:

Back line:
Robinson - Robinson - Zimmerman - Dest

Midfield:
Adams - McKennie - Musah

Forwards:
Pulisic - Reyna - Weah

I thought our defense was bad last night. I'm still not convinced Brooks isn't at least a top 4 option.

Canada is 100% getting Group of Death for their fans being obnoxious pissants all year

In last night's World Cup qualifier vs Panama, #USMNT center-back Miles Robinson posted 100% success rates for tackles, aerial duels and ground duels