Posts by Chris Lopez59

Adam Collins4 said:Maybe he was caught off guard, so that's why...

From what I saw, he wasn't... that Danish guy was just stuck deep in the goalie's crease...

It’s pretty clear the Danes didn't exactly play out of their minds either. But honestly, that doesn't change the fact that the officiating totally skewed the result and screwed over the Norwegians. Look, I’m not even talking about Americans here; I'm talking about the Danes. The Norwegians actually had a real shot at the semifinals! It looks like those Danish officials have quite a bit of influence on things, doesn't it?

I don't know if you guys caught the game, but the refs absolutely screwed over the Norwegians—they wiped two goals right off the board. That second one was especially nonsensical; they were practically scoring on the line before the foul even happened, but instead, the ref cancels the goal and hands them a penalty that the Norwegians end up missing. And this happens just one Minute before the whistle. If they had converted that, there’s a massive chance Norway would have walked away with the win. You could tell they were just standing there in total shock. Honestly, the officials basically handed it to the Danes on a silver platter. It’s a complete disgrace 👎

Joshua Gomez54 said:Honestly, we should have seen this coming just like we saw that defeat for the Americans against the Danes yesterday, so everything else was really just us being stupidly optimistic, because let's be real—there’s no way those heavy-handed Americans can keep up with a fast-paced squad like Iceland or Denmark.

But hey, there's still some time left on the clock, maybe they'll pull something together at the last second.😁

They aren't exactly "heavy-handed," though; they didn't play like that against us, but it looks like they're basically playing with only seven or eight guys out there and they just ran out of steam, plus they lost their drive and clearly just hit a wall because of the whole situation.

Gregory Ramos3 said:15-6

They’re absolutely getting fleeced 🤦

I mean, what did you expect? You really thought some unmotivated Russians were just going to hand over a motivated Iceland?

Our best shot is the Norwegians; honestly, just forget about the Russians...

Terry Fisher2 said:It's a 5-1 blowout for Iceland🤮

Cheers!🙂 🙂

swiftbison2 said:I had the exact same impression, like they were actually talking about Austria 😬

😁

Yeah, fair enough—now that I'm actually looking at it, once you lose track of which part of the sentence is the subject and which is the object, everything just gets flipped on its head 😉

vividbadger182 said:Even Iceland didn't beat them

(Who didn't Iceland beat? Austria)

vividbadger182 said:,but based on how they've played so far, they deserve a semifinal spot more than Denmark, Norway... or even us

😁

vividbadger182 said:A headwind hitting Iceland? 🙄
In my book, Iceland was one of the standout teams in this whole tournament, and they honestly deserve a spot in the semifinals; I’m really hoping they join the rest of us there.

Sorry about that, I have no clue why I thought you were talking about Austria... 😁🤣

Yeah, Iceland is looking good, and right now, things are leaning heavily in their favor. If Denmark doesn't pull an upset against Norway, Iceland is cruising straight into the semifinals. My gut tells me they’ll take down Russia because, frankly, they’re just playing better and seem way more driven, plus if Norway doesn't beat Denmark, they won't be playing with anything to lose, so they might even just let Iceland slide past them out of some weird sense of solidarity. Now, if the Norwegians actually win, they’re going to have a total bloodbath on their hands in the final round, but even then, they’d probably only need a single point to clinch that semifinal spot. All in all, if things shake out just right for them, they’ll end up facing two unmotivated opponents in their next matches.

vividbadger182 said:Even if they didn't actually beat Iceland, looking at how they've played so far, they deserve a semifinal spot way more than Denmark, Norway... or even us.

Maybe take another look at the standings, factor in the massive headwind they got from the referees, and then give what you wrote a second read.

Look, Karabatić is just being sentimental about the whole history they share... and yeah, Nok is definitely a top-tier coach, but calling him 'the best coach in the world' is purely subjective. It’s honestly like me saying Mourinho is the greatest football manager on the planet. That’s just my take, but I know plenty of people would jump in with their own subjective or objective arguments to prove me wrong.

briskcrane5 said:But what if we end up being ten steps behind the Danes later on? 🤣

Well, then I guess we'll have had it coming, man...

I mean, let's go ahead and pick a fight with the Austrians first, and then once we've beaten those sleepy Danes, we can just shove a Budweiser right up their backsides... 🤣

I don't know the first thing about this whole case, but if it helps anyone out—and I mean totally unrelated to you—I’ve noticed before that Florence has this distinct way of treating her inner circle versus everyone else. It just took me a minute to wrap my head around the punchline, mostly because nobody bothers to list "friend of Florinin" in their profile bios, 😉

Ethan Baker43 said:I’m just praying we aren't sitting here having this exact same meltdown tomorrow night around 8 PM. 🙂

Look, let's just be real for a second: if we can't take down Austria—regardless of whether they're playing on home turf or not—then we haven't earned a spot in the semifinals. Fair enough?

Jose Booth48 said:It’s pretty straightforward if you look at it—once we get our points and Iceland folds under the Russians, we’re golden... 😁

The Russians are basically a lost cause at this point, but I wouldn't count the Norwegians out; they'll probably snatch some points away from us easily enough. It’s a real shame Norway isn't playing Iceland in the next round, because if they were, things would actually start making sense.

boldhound8 said:Honestly, he isn't even that bad, he just gets squeezed out there too much. 😉 Every single team we face plays him like a fiddle, sending two or even three guys to smother him. I guess that's supposed to be a good thing because it opens up space for everyone else, but let's be real—we aren't doing a damn thing with that extra room. We're just lacking that veteran presence on the perimeter, that chemistry, that seasoned instinct...

Sadly, you're spot on... 😢

boldhound8 said:No matter how you slice it, the reality is that whenever he’s sitting on the bench, we look completely lost... when he's out of the rotation, it feels like we're playing with an entirely different team altogether.

And about that back issue, I told you once before, and I'm telling you again... his back has been acting up since he started playing professionally.😉 So I honestly don't get why we keep bringing it up during this tournament, especially because he looks better prepared than he did during the last couple of big events. You could almost argue he wasn't even this ready back during the Athens games; the only real thing is, well, damn, he's getting older... If our star player was in the same shape he was in last year, things would be a lot easier, but right now, whether we want to admit it or not, we're just totally dependent on him.

Yeah, I believe you, but man, back a few years ago—when he was barely even playing and only getting minutes thanks to some younger guys stepping up—he really took a hit, and he just hasn't been quite the same since.

boldhound8 said:Buntić is the perfect example of a guy who just doesn't have the guts to take a shot when things get intense—actually, it’s worse than that, he doesn't have the guts to play any real offense at all; everything just boils down to dumping the ball to Balić and praying he pulls some kind of magic trick out of his hat this time.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not even expecting much from Buntić since he's still a total rookie, which is why I say Balić is really our only option—and I'm not even counting the wings because, honestly, they can't play solo—simply because we don't have Metla or Laco, though even Lac... well, he'll probably just stay quiet while he's on the court, and once he misses two shots, there's no way in hell he's shooting again, which is such a waste because the guy has an incredible vertical and a leap that could give any goalkeeper nightmares and score ten goals a game if he actually tried...

I guess we see things differently. To me, it feels like he actually had plenty of nerve—maybe even too much—because he kept charging in for those forced shots. He plays with this reckless, zero-respect sort of attitude. But maybe there's a grain of truth in what was said toward the end of the game; I'll make sure to keep a closer eye on him next time.

Anyway, nobody really respects him right now, but given how he's playing, it's probably smart that he finally slowed down and held onto the ball a bit; unfortunately, this first game was the wake-up call he needed... so, yeah, whatever.

But then again, if it wasn't for Ivan, someone would have had to step up eventually. That reliance on Balić used to be a massive bottleneck for us. I think we just don't have that luxury anymore; you can tell Balić isn't that unstoppable force who can drop ten points and carry the whole perimeter by himself like he used to. Sadly, age has caught up with him. He'll still pull off something brilliant every now and then, but it's clearly not enough to single-handedly win games like he did back in the day, and everyone sees that now, so they're learning to take some responsibility, which is actually a good thing.

Ashley Carter95 said:Always rooting for the Poles, but man, the semifinals are still a lifetime away, let's just take it slow. 🤷

It’s not even that much of an exaggeration; the USA national team carries a certain level of authority, just like the French, and everyone knows who we are and what our track record looks like, so people are honestly intimidated by us. It usually ends up being that in those final ten minutes, the opponent basically plays against themselves, and we help them out because we tend to completely burn out during that last stretch—there's no sugarcoating it, we play at maximum intensity until we just hit a wall. Basically, if we enter the final ten minutes tied or only down by a single goal, we’re walking away with the win, but if they manage to push a five-goal lead on us in that window, then well, it is what it is...

Now, the Danes don't carry quite as much weight as we do since they've managed to absolutely dismantle us a few times before, but Iceland definitely does; on the flip side, Denmark is clearly struggling with their rhythm in this tournament, so their lack of quality might actually work in our favor, giving us a solid shot at taking down both teams.

It's high time Vori and Dule start finding those passing lanes like they usually do; we're going to need every bit of that magic.

Adam Collins4 said:Honestly, forget about those Poles; that guy Wenta is just plain unpleasant, acting like some high-brow academic whenever he starts lecturing about Linek... I mean, what are we even supposed to do if everything starts going south?😍

Thank God we've got Balić calling the shots for us... honestly, I can't even begin to imagine the absolute disaster we'd be facing if Lino a was the one running things. 😱 🙂 😂

Adam Collins4 said:Look, there’s definitely a pattern here... Červar is just busy crafting whatever alibi makes him look good in the moment...

You said it yourself regarding Nora—whenever the US team is playing well, some people act like Nora is the sole reason for the success, but the second things fall apart, suddenly it’s all the players' fault and somehow Nora is off the hook...

And honestly, that’s exactly what I see some of you folks on this forum doing too...

Because really, is it even remotely okay for a national team coach to have that kind of attitude? To act like he’s never the one at fault, it’s always the players... unless, of course, they actually win a game...

I get it, and I actually agree with everything you're saying, but I honestly have no idea why you're telling me all this.🙂