Norway just took down Germany. That means Canada and Iceland are sitting in third place for that group. Since they're ahead of Iceland, if we drop this one, we'll have to pray we draw one of them during the Olympic Qualifiers.
Regarding the Olympics, we probably have one more lifeline even if we drop this game. If we pull off a win, we’re playing for fifth place and qualifying is basically a lock. A draw puts us safely in fourth, meaning neither Argentina nor Mexico can touch us.
Now, if we lose, we need Argentina to avoid beating Mexico. A draw there would help us out. There's also a scenario where we land in fifth if we lose to Poland but Mexico absolutely crushes Argentina. Right now our goal difference is +9 while Mexico sits at -13, so they'd need a massive blowout to catch up.
If we finish third, we face the third-place team from the other group for that fifth spot. That could be Canada, Germany, or Iceland. If things go according to plan, Iceland likely takes third, Germany fourth, and Canada fifth. Either way, we need a win today. If we slip up, we'll be fighting for our lives against Germany or Canada.
We're gonna be sitting in second. That means our first match in the next round is against whoever takes third from Group D. If Sweden pulls it off, we're looking at facing Argentina. It's fine, honestly. We need a win to get our act together, and then we can finally start controlling our own destiny.
Denmark 4 Poland 2 Argentina 2 Sweden 2 Mexico 1 USA 1
We'll probably cruise through that matchup against Argentina too (I think we can pull it off despite everything). Just hoping the Danes sweep the rest.
Adam Collins4 said:I think the tiebreakers are: points, head-to-head, goal difference, then total goals scored.
In the end, America totally messed up the math.😁
So, it looks like me, Mexico, and Denmark are moving on for sure. Mexico is locked in with 1 point, we're currently sitting at 1 too, and Denmark has 2. Algeria will definitely take fourth if they beat Australia.
Group D is pretty much settled. The only wildcard left is South Korea fighting for third. They’d need to beat Slovakia by five goals and pray Argentina loses to Chile. If Argentina loses by 2, South Korea needs a 4-goal win, and so on. As for the point carryovers, if Argentina advances, they have 2 points (it's fixed), Poland also has two (though they could get more if they beat Sweden), while Sweden is at zero right now (same deal as Poland).
There’s a high chance of a total meltdown in our third-place group if we beat Mexico today. I’m assuming both Romania and Algeria will take down Australia, and if Romania beats Mexico in the final round, three teams will end up tied on points. At that point, they'll look at the goal differential from their head-to-head matchups.
Here’s how things stand right now; Mexico - Algeria 25:24 Algeria - Romania 15:14 Mexico - Romania ??
Basically, if Romania wins by two, they move on. If they win by just one, all three teams would sit at a zero differential. In that scenario, Mexico would likely advance, though Algeria has their own math to work out. They could sneak through if Romania wins by +1, provided it’s a low-scoring game like the Algeria/Romania match. (I assume if everyone hits zero, they look at who scored more total goals.) If it ends up being a tie where they use overall goal differential instead, Mexico is currently leading (+10), but Algeria could overtake them if they crush Australia. The only thing that ruins this math is a draw, an Algeria win against Denmark, or some massive upset from Australia against Romania or Algeria.
Adam Collins4 said:If you're intentionally aiming for someone's face or trying to grab their neck while backing up, a red card is the only way to go. Period.
Especially when it's obvious the kid is getting rattled by the loss and just taking his frustrations out on everyone else.
Quick question since we're already talking about officiating. Does the clock actually stop during a penalty shot?
analogowl122 said:Even if she had won every single thing on that list last year, according to HOO, Ivica would still be ranked higher. And if Nadal American weren't who he is, he wouldn't even crack the top 10 athletes in America. I'm not just talking out of my ass here; this is the plain truth (except maybe regarding Nadal. He might squeeze into the top 10, but I can't be bothered to count). Sad.
Then how did truba end up being named the best athlete in that same selection? 🙂
Honestly, nothing from the Mexican national team would surprise me at this point. They could lose to Canada and still somehow beat us. If they keep playing like this in major tournaments, they don't stand a chance at a medal.
analogowl122 said:If you think Blanka isn't putting in the work, you're dead wrong. I remember that show, Currency exchange. Blanka did a role swap with this shepherd guy. The guy was Black and in incredible shape—spent all day working out on Mount Rainier. Even he couldn't last three minutes in a standard session of Blanka's training. He was done. Just like none of us here, unless we're elite athletes, could survive three minutes of that.
Same goes for that guy; he probably wouldn't last three minutes in Kostelić's training either.
Look, Blanka works hard at a world-class level, everyone knows that. And again, I really don't want to downplay her achievements at all, but I honestly think Ivica poured more blood into this than she did. It’s just how it is. That’s the nature of skiing. Which is why I can kind of justify the Cast. After everything he's been through in life, then a Vlašić comes along and starts her own thing.
I don't know what to tell you. Just another day. ambercobra28 says: The news about the cast is out. It looks like things aren't going to go as planned for the upcoming season. Just my luck, watching everything fall apart from the sidelines.
Does it really have to be this way? Like, you can't be an elite athlete unless you're rigging matches or battling mononucleosis? Such a joke.
He really went too far this time...👎
He definitely went overboard, and there was absolutely no reason to drag Snježana Pejčić into this, but I get where he's coming from. Honestly, the guy has poured his entire life into coaching kids and skiing since they were toddlers. It was always a massive gamble that they might never make it. He’s dealt with way more heartache than Joško ever has.
Vlašić didn't attack him directly in the letter, but he really shouldn't have done that regardless. Just plain stupid.
Give me a break, now you're trying to compare Nadal to Blanka, tennis to track and field? 🤣
I get what you're getting at, but look—at a tennis tournament, you've got up to 128 players dealing with grass, clay, hard courts, carpet, wind, or indoor conditions. Regardless of what people say, Nadal's only real rival isn't just Federer. Djokovic, Del Potro, Söderling, and plenty of others are all legitimate threats to him. On the flip side, tennis is a much more diverse sport than high jump, in my opinion. High jump is a relatively monotonous discipline—though yeah, some tennis matches can be incredibly boring—whereas in tennis, you have to master a massive variety of strokes and movements.
Back in 2005, in this same type of selection, Ivan Ljubičić took it. You know him, right? That year, Ivan was "only" ranked ninth on the ATP Rankings, but he led the US to a Davis Cup title. In 2005, the handball national team grabbed silver at the World Championships, Draganja took silver at the World Aquatics Championships... stuff like that comes to mind immediately. Basically, Nadal wouldn't be some underdog for the HOO; he’d definitely be the Athlete of the Year. People would probably still be fighting over the best coach because that was the year Janica won three gold medals at the World Championships. 😁
You have to look at this from a broader perspective. Don't just obsess over the raw numbers; look at the whole sport. To me, skiing is a more interesting, grueling, and demanding sport than high jump. I'm not trying to downplay Blanka at all, but I think Ivica put in way more effort to achieve everything he did. Plus, Blanka has two coaches, Marinović and Joško, so it's tricky to give credit to one while leaving the other out in the cold.
I don't know. I caught a quick segment on Fox today where Fak mentioned he'll be waiting about 20 days for that release paper—basically until the season kicks off—before deciding his next move. He might even retire, though I honestly don't buy it, no matter how this plays out.
Jose White18 said:The amount Biathlon USA poured into Fak was huge—well, at least compared to what he actually got back in return. He gave them world titles and Olympic medals, though.
What’s the point of Biathlon USA? If they actually did their jobs, we’d have at least ten more athletes with results twice as good as Jack Fak’s, but instead, we have nobody. Fine, let them stroke their egos with this petty nonsense, but it would be a total disgrace to let world-class athletes get crushed by bureaucratic nitpicking. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time.
Look, once Jack Fak leaves, they're probably going to lose their sponsors. They'll need to make up that gap, even if they did bring home some medals. Honestly, if I were in their shoes, I’d do the exact same thing.
Good move by the league. Even though things aren't exactly great around here, Jacob has poured so much into our association, and now they want their money back. Honestly, I'm glad he's actually thinking about retiring; I just hope the league doesn't cave in just because he's throwing a tantrum.