2021/22 Soccer Thread: It's Euro 2020 until it becomes 2021

Non-expensive places are going to be in central US. The coasts are more expensive.

Most expensive places are going to be:
Miami
New York
Boston
Los Angeles

A great option would be Seattle as it's a truly unique city in America. (I'm biased, tho.)

Another good option could be Dallas. Big city, cheaper than LA. It would give you a very American experience.

One of the most beautiful options would be Vancouver, BC, in Canada.

Also: are groups going to be playing in a single city OR are they going to be traveling all around the continent?

G1= Guadalajara
G2= Toronto
G3= Vancouver

Vancouver and Seattle are relatively close together, so you could get a 2 for 1.

I am close to DC, so also disappointed, but maybe I can make one if I start planning now.

I think the hard part is going to be ticket lotteries. There are only so many games and so many seats. And the whole world wants tickets.

Top_Shelf wrote:

I think the hard part is going to be ticket lotteries. There are only so many games and so many seats. And the whole world wants tickets.

Yeah, this will probably be a lot different than it was back in 1994. Then, we ordered tickets only a couple of weeks before the games and got them in the mail.

Of course they may have been "late-release" tickets, because for at least one match our tickets said "FIFA Observer" on them.

Top_Shelf wrote:

Also: are groups going to be playing in a single city OR are they going to be traveling all around the continent?

I think that in 1994 they moved around a little, although maybe that was only for games involving the USA? We played Switzerland in Pontiac Silverdome, Colombia at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and also Romania at the Rose Bowl. Another of our group games (SUI v COL) was in Palo Alto.

Naturally there are no guarantees that they'll organize 2026 in a similar fashion.

Top_Shelf wrote:

Non-expensive places are going to be in central US. The coasts are more expensive.

Most expensive places are going to be:
Miami
New York
Boston
Los Angeles

A great option would be Seattle as it's a truly unique city in America. (I'm biased, tho.)

Another good option could be Dallas. Big city, cheaper than LA. It would give you a very American experience.

I agree about Seattle being a cool and unique city, but Dallas is boring. It's just a huge concrete city, filled with chain restaurants. It's like one gigantic, upper middle class suburb.

Houston, while more humid, also happens to be the most diverse city in the US, and has just about every kind of food under the sun (except good Detroit-style pizza, have to drive to Austin for that). We also have a lot of great soccer pubs like Pitch 25 and The Phoenix.

Anyone visiting Texas needs to get Texas BBQ. I'm happy to give tips on places to go, because going to a local fast-food BBQ place is not the full experience (although the food may still be very enjoyable).

I stand corrected by the Texan!

Top_Shelf wrote:

I stand corrected by the Texan!

It's just a huge concrete city, filled with chain restaurants. It's like one gigantic, upper middle class suburb.

I dunno. That sounds a lot like "the American experience."

LilCodger wrote:
Top_Shelf wrote:

I stand corrected by the Texan!

It's just a huge concrete city, filled with chain restaurants. It's like one gigantic, upper middle class suburb.

I dunno. That sounds a lot like "the American experience."

There are a lot of words I'd use about Philly, and "a gigantic upper-middle-class suburb" is none of them. They killed a robot!

This is one of the most patently insane things I've ever seen and explains a frustrating amount about the technical qualities of U.S. soccer players raised in the states vs. overseas.

This explains why, for years, "playing tough" was our only skill. Meanwhile the ball looks like it's velcroed to a South American's foot.

A bunch of coaches whose only reference for futbol is football, so they think all the same rules apply.

As someone said in the thread, if you are a soccer player, and you're running non-stop for 90 minutes, or even a mile in a single go, you and your team are terrible.

Bayern confirm Mane signing for 3-years and a $43 million xfer fee.

Desperately hoping this is true just because of how angry it'd make Madrid.

Also this is a really neat idea:

This turned up in my feed today, and while I of course knew the Champions League goals, I now 100% get how Origi became a cult figure. He scored in practically every Merseyside Derby, the beauty of the unimportant goals, the timing of the goals - often saving Liverpool from defeat. You couldn't make it up honestly.

Another "On this day," for my fellow Americans.

Prederick wrote:

Another "On this day," for my fellow Americans.

The day the USMNT tops that moment will have to be truly amazing.

Happened upon a GQ article about the most stylish PL players and...

IMAGE(https://media.gq-magazine.co.uk/photos/62aca3702da9f5f89888ebb8/master/w_1920%2Cc_limit/1205834248)

THE GAME'S GONE

That's Everton's Tom Davies, if you didn't know (I sure as sh*t didn't).

I feel like if someone shows this to Graeme Souness and Roy Keane, they'll both begin vibrating before the sheer energy of their rage causes them to shift into another dimension.

Was he auditioning for Dr. Who or Arthur Dent?

I thought he was Hugh Hefner for a Halloween party.

Tom Davies and Dominic Calvert Lewin both really enjoy fashion, and more power to them.

(Tom unfortunately hasn't really kicked on from the season he broke into the first team, but that has nothing to do with his sartorial choices).

Prederick wrote:

Another "On this day," for my fellow Americans.

This is my favourite American cheese.

Football lives in that moment between the "Noooo!" of Dempsey's shot and the "Yessss!" of Donovan's.

Also, this guy filming from inside the stadium.

Is it churlish of me to remind you all that the U.S. got knocked out in the very next round?

Does it matter?

England got absolutely pumped in the next round 4-1, with that Lampard "goal" that lead to goalline technology, so I remember the last 16 pretty well.

Also, the US losing to Ghana meant we got the Luis Suarez super-villain moment at the end of the subsequent Quarter Final which I wouldn't be without.

Tasty Pudding wrote:

Is it churlish of me to remind you all that the U.S. got knocked out in the very next round?

Yes, about as churlish as it is for me to recall that this one goal pushed England to second in the EASY Group C, giving them the opportunity to get knocked out by Germany in the next round.

EDIT: I should have put a winky face on my last comment. Sorry, I was trying to joke around, not be an ass!

Mr Bismarck wrote:

Does it matter?

Not really, actually. England fans do the same thing - glorifying Beckham's goal against Greece in 2001, Platt against Belgium in 1990, beating the Netherlands in 1996, etc.

And, oh my God, England were terrible in that tournament (and in many other tournaments), and I'm not offended by anyone pointing it out.

My favourite memory of that World Cup was watching U.S. vs England in a bar in Philly. I looked around before kick off and thought there were one or two other England fans there (one guy was wearing a Beckham shirt), but, even so, I decided I'd keep things low key, because I didn't want to get the sh*t kicked out of me for openly cheering against the U.S.

So. Game kicks off, England score after two minutes, and I was so taken by surprise that I went absolutely berserk - jumping around and screaming. And then I realized I was the only person making any noise, and everyone was staring at me.

I sat down and resolved to be very quiet for the rest of the game...

Anyway, the Americans got their revenge when Rob Green fumbled the ball into his own goal 15 minutes later. So they all got to laugh at me, and everyone felt better about the whole thing.

Quote is not edit.

Tasty Pudding wrote:

Not really, actually. England fans do the same thing - glorifying Beckham's goal against Greece in 2001, Platt against Belgium in 1990, beating the Netherlands in 1996, etc.

Yeah, I should point out I live in the US, but I'm English. The only good thing to say about the 2010 world cup for the English is that it was better than the 2014 World Cup.

I tested the waters on the move to the US in the summer of 2006 and it has been interesting watching the tournament grow in importance here from then to now.

The primary thing I remember about the '06 tournament is that coming off the back of a 2002 Quarter Finals appearance the US was 5th in FIFA's meaningless rankings and so everyone I spoke to was convinced this guaranteed the team would make another deep run.

The 3-0 opening game defeat to the Czechs caused people to short circuit, but after a draw with Italy it was "we'll beat Ghana and go from there." Not realising that was about to be the start of a three-World Cup-run with the Ghanians.

In 2010 there were some screens in the cafeteria in the office and there would be a handful of people come down to watch and lots of questions about other teams and the tournament structure.

In 2014 we had our first "watch party" with big screens and food laid out for the Germany game and an absolutely jam packed room for the Belgium game and then that ramped up more in 2018, even though the US didn't qualify.

It's a shame we have practically no office presence now, post-covid, because I would have enjoyed seeing how the journey continued this year, with games around Thanksgiving and England and the US back in the same group again.

Tasty Pudding wrote:

EDIT: I should have put a winky face on my last comment. Sorry, I was trying to joke around, not be an ass!

No worries here, I saw the implied smiley.

Tasty Pudding wrote:

My favourite memory of that World Cup was watching U.S. vs England in a bar in Philly. I looked around before kick off and thought there were one or two other England fans there (one guy was wearing a Beckham shirt), but, even so, I decided I'd keep things low key, because I didn't want to get the sh*t kicked out of me for openly cheering against the U.S.

I'm not sure why you would worry about that. We Philadelphia fans are recognized world-wide for our courteous treatment of opposing fans

IMAGE(https://globalnews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/vlcsnap-2015-08-03-10h25m58.jpg?quality=85&strip=all)

EDIT: Also, Kalvin Phillips to City!

Leeds is really going to have to recruit well, as I'd argue losing Phillips and Raphina are going to do more to send them down next season than anything.