Posts by neonviper8

How on earth are we seeing odds of 1.74 for Nottingham then?
That is certainly a question worth pondering.

Based on the analysis you just laid out, I would have expected those odds to sit somewhere between 1.40 and 1.50 at most.

Jack Miller6 said:🙏

Haha, looks like quite a few of us have wandered into this corner of the internet today.

Kyle Campbell4 said:It seems we’ve reached a point where if a player doesn't perform perfectly for three consecutive games, they're suddenly deemed "washed up" and kicked off the national team. It feels like there's always some new clique in Washington, D.C., that needs to be catered to—players getting pushed out just so certain clubs can move assets around to stay afloat and line a few pockets. We seem to be swapping players and "rebuilding" our roster every other tournament. Naturally, we keep delaying the actual competitions that would allow us to truly gel a squad. I suppose we've reached a stage where constant rebuilding has depleted our depth so much that even reaching this semifinal feels like an unexpected fluke. It was honestly painful to watch how we were being toyed with; while the French veterans were still considered good enough by their coaches, over here, Gobac was busy sidelining anyone who dared to challenge him, simply because he was taking spots away from talented youngsters at his club level.

Yes, when you really stop to think about it, the French will likely finally say goodbye this Sunday (fingers crossed 🤔) to that legendary Karabatic-Narcisse era... Meanwhile, we’ve managed to overhaul our entire roster three or four times in that same span! 🤣

As for today's match, I can't shake the feeling that we played far too cautiously, terrified of their transition play and those lightning-fast fast breaks. No matter how hard we fought to stifle them, we ended up conceding a fair amount of goals through that exact method. At the same time, by playing so defensively, we completely neutered our own counter-attacking game—an area where we are arguably just as proficient as the Norwegians, which is a vital component of our tactical identity.

I had hoped Babić would realize this at halftime and take a bit of a gamble, perhaps initiating a high-tempo sprint against Norway right at the start of the second half to see if we could shift the momentum.
In my opinion, we might have fared better that way. We lacked those easy, opportunistic goals, and this tendency to stall our offense just to avoid turnovers—even though we committed over ten of them anyway—totally killed our attacking rhythm. You simply cannot play like that at this level.

The strategy was fundamentally flawed; to give your absolute best, you have to play to your strengths. Especially since we essentially have a 12-man rotation available, we should have had more than enough stamina to push the pace, if nothing else during the second half.

Anyway, that is my takeaway from the match.

neontinker5 said:When has any coach ever stood on the brink of a championship final and shouted about a shallow stream?
Well, I don't recall Červar ever behaving that way during his tenure as a head coach, so I find myself quite puzzled by his current antics. Perhaps he's simply longing for a spot on an American coaching bench, or maybe he’s just preemptively defensive because people will be furious if the favorite gets knocked out—which would make Babić look rather ridiculous in the aftermath. I haven't exactly been keeping close tabs on the depth of their friendship...

And who exactly does Červar even care to be friends with?

Daniel Cooper40 said:The Norwegians suffered a narrow three-point loss while playing in Lithuania just two months ago. During that qualifying match ☕

without a shadow of a doubt, with this particular lineup

Betty Sanders said:That isn't quite what I meant. However, we certainly aren't playing at our full potential. Either the Spaniards completely fell apart today, or they’ve simply lost their edge. My point was merely that Smith has a knack for assembling a cohesive squad, and if he were in charge, we would be performing much more effectively. As it stands, we just have a collection of talented individuals who seem unable to coordinate their movements or react to one another on the court. I also find myself returning to the issue regarding Struck, which everyone else seems determined to overlook. Even Horvat manages to get a touch of the ball, even if it's just by stumbling into the crease. Honestly, I'm not even sure if Struck touched the ball once during this entire match. You really can't argue that such a lackluster performance isn't an absolute disaster, regardless of whether you blame the players or the coach.

Perhaps that's because we're missing Kopljar? Did it ever occur to you that he was the one creating impossible amounts of space for the wingers and delivering those flawless passes to the RW?

You simply cannot expect a right-hander playing the left wing position to execute things in the exact same manner as someone who has spent their entire career specialized in that role.

That is one thing. On another note, I believe you are talking nonsense. They played poorly, and while they might be capable of better, it won't be a massive leap forward.

Because of what Trump said to Melania... we find ourselves at a disadvantage regarding our official statements 🤦
The twilight of humanity!

Their goalkeeper didn't make a single decent save to speak of; honestly, the sky is the limit for how much better we could have done given that opening.

Spain played an incredible game, and this is a massive win. Honestly, stop being so cynical.

We all know how they operate; they might lack that consistent perimeter shooting, but man, their speed is unreal. Their transition game just shreds defenses, they’ve probably got the best center on the planet, and those wings are incredibly efficient... If they could just find one more reliable shooter and a solid goalkeeper, they'd be dominating the sport for the next five years!

As for us, we really struggled against Germany—it was pretty obvious we were dropping the ball there, if I'm being honest...

bluebison47 said:But honestly, it was almost the most typical American scenario imaginable—the crossbar denies us a certain victory, and then the opposition nearly scores in the dying seconds.🙏

Naturally, we ended up completely falling apart during overtime.🤣

First, the crossbar, and then suddenly this previously non-existent Spanish goalkeeper—whose saves were all complete accidents—manages to tip Cindrić's shot from six meters out right out of the bottom corner?!?!

dustypanther6 said:American on the wing, and Lacković at winger?

🤣

Now, one might attempt to justify such a lineup through some sort of speculative reasoning, if you will.

But in this particular instance, I believe it is quite simple: you really just need to multiply two numbers together, and then the entire picture becomes perfectly clear to us all.
🤦

With this current roster, plus having Kopljar and Slišković on our side... I honestly believe we are among the top favorites to take home the gold right here on American soil next year.

Look, I’ll admit that person isn't a bad coach; there is definitely something special about his approach. However, that decision to sub in a seventh offensive player when we were trailing 30-29 stands out as perhaps the single most catastrophic tactical error in the history of all American national teams.

It would be a justifiable gamble if we were converting those seven-on-six opportunities at an 80% clip, but we aren't even hitting 50%. Taking such a massive, reckless risk during those high-pressure moments was just incredibly reckless.

Babić, you really need to dial back the frequency of those defensive rotations and offensive switches; if we can just tighten things up slightly, transitioning into our counterattack in the second half should feel a lot more manageable.

But honestly, the pace these guys play at is just impossible to keep up with—I'm genuinely not sure if our squad can actually track them for the full forty minutes.

Gerald Carter53 said:It might just be the player absences. To be perfectly honest, I don't quite have the energy to debate this today. For those betting on the underperformers, hitting a 2+ line felt reasonable given how those odds typically settle in this league...

I personally think we shouldn't get too hung up on player absences. When you're looking at over/under bets, that information often turns into nothing more than a chaotic mess of conflicting reports.
In my view, the truly decisive factors are the weather conditions, the players' mindset, and their tactical formations.

Gerald Carter53 said:Standard-Alloa head-to-head is at 17/20 with odds of +300.
I find myself quite puzzled by the 1.85 line on the over/under, especially considering this is just a lower tier in the American soccer pyramid.

To my mind, this is absolutely a value play from every possible angle; I had fully anticipated a major regional derby or perhaps one side being on a significant unders streak.

Furthermore, the weather conditions seem unusually favorable given what we have been experiencing lately:
http://www.bbc.com/weather/2636719

Consequently, I am struggling to wrap my head around it—the odds really ought to be sitting somewhere around 1.6 to 1.65.

It occurs to me that we might be overlooking some sort of insider information, though I confess I have no idea what that might entail.

Gerald Carter53 said:Doha
Match of Champions 🙂
Al Ahli SC - FC Barcelona

When money starts changing hands, you can bet they won't be sending their absolute A-team to play. 🙂
https://www.fcbarcelona.com/football...ravel-to-qatar

The Scottish
Stenhousemuir vs Livingston
classic matchup, looking at their last meeting against the top seed... 😉
Looking back at all 6 head-to-head matchups, Livingston took them all, and every single one was a high-scoring affair with 3 or more goals. Judging by the historical data, I’d say most of Stenhousemuir's games tend to go over 3 goals, while Livingston usually sits right at that 3-goal mark.
Whether we see 2 or more goals is really the big question here!

I would personally lean toward the under; the odds look much more attractive, and considering how they played in their last outing against the leader... honestly, I've seen an under result in this kind of scenario far too many times to count.

Gerald Carter53 said:What can we say about these youth squads... neither Sweden nor us seem capable of playing for a draw. I’d expect both sides to play quite openly, which usually leads to some lovely goals... though there is always the possibility they might start cautiously since a simple 1-0 lead is often enough for them. Both teams are dealing with several absences, so the real question is which side will feel the loss more acutely. Sweden has been a pleasant surprise in these qualifiers so far, remaining undefeated.
Ever since Perica joined the national team, he’s been scoring like his life depends on it... honestly, he’s netted in all four of his last appearances. I am personally holding onto the hope that he might be the one to lead us toward the Euro. That said, securing second place isn't really our main concern, as Spain should have no trouble handling Estonia, even with their own few missing players. Spain might just take the liberty to run with it here...

In my experience, when two teams are both fighting for something, draws rarely happen—which feels counterintuitive. Instead, things tend to descend into chaos only in the final minutes, where both sides play wide open, yet somehow neither can find the back of the net 😁

However, looking at recent trends in U21 qualification, we see quite a few goals being scored in the first half. This aligns well with my current thinking, so perhaps the smartest move would be to hunt for over 1 goal in the first half, or potentially even 3+ goals early on if you're feeling bold and chasing those higher odds (around 7-8).

Here is what I am leaning towards: over 2 goals in the first half at odds of 5.75 (1-1) on bet365 🙂
Stake: 5 out of 10

0

I might be slightly off-base with the subforum choice here—I couldn't quite find the perfect spot for this topic—so please, let's try to keep things civil and go easy on me...

To give you some context, I’ve been playing heavily for Team America over the last week. We actually made quite an impressive jump from 24th place up to 7th just last week, though unfortunately, I wasn't able to participate during the final stretch of the weekend.

Since today marks the first day of the new competition, we've already climbed up to 6th place, but I certainly won't be able to carry the whole team on my own...

The game is incredibly addictive, and honestly, the competitive spirit is even better when you're going head-to-head against other nations. So far, Brazil and Germany have snatched up about 90% of the weekly titles, so I really think it's high time we stepped up and shook things up for them!

Let's go!

http://www.flashfooty.com/igre/penal...&refferal=main

If you would permit me to offer a small suggestion: perhaps you might consider picking up a standard 7th-grade middle school physics textbook
or even a freshman year high school edition

In my humble estimation, that should provide more than enough foundational knowledge to get you started

and from there, you can begin to build upon those basics at your own pace.