Petru Darida

@KalamCenter 721?

Interesting puzzle here. What do you think?

@Peter_Bukowski because while americans invest similar resources into both men and women's football, the rest of the world does not. Also, women's football is more recent and the US got into at the "ground floor". The men's game is where the US is decades away from being competitive.

What’s the best explanation you’ve heard for why the US women kick ass in soccer and the US men, well … don’t?

@MattCouture5 Cause you see... the issue is not athleticism... LeBron James would suck at football, so would most NFL RBs... cause it requires a different type of athletic qualities. It requires a certain type of passion from the public to compete in a game that is popular everywhere else.

@MattCouture5 Your argument is moronic and shows how little you understand of football. If US culture would focus on football then given population size and available resources that are being poured into sports in the US, you would be a solid top 5 to top 10 team. There, I fixed it.

Soccer is America’s like 5th prioritized sport… if the top athletes in the country focused on soccer, USA would be the best team in the world

@wwalsh @JurgensF_MX Also, seeing Tim Ream defend De Ketelaere on that 2-1 header makes the "worthless" eval look pretty solid :))) getting outmuscled like that by a player like De Ketelaere is not a good look for a team captain :))

I am glad you brought up the player values. Who cares that Belgium has "valuable players" sitting on the bench? What matters is the players on the pitch. The US Team has more valuable players at 5 positions. The Belgians have more valuable players at 4 positions. The other two are ties. The Belgians have 4 players worth less than 10 million. The US have 3. The truth is that this is a goofy way to look at it, Petru. Do you really think that Doku is 9X as good as De Bruyne? Of course not. But Doku is 24 years old, and that gives him extra value. Pulisic is 27. He was worth 60 million 6 months ago. Now he is 40 million. Ignoring the drop, he would be worth 60-70 million right now if he was 24 years old...playing exactly as he is now. So, the market value isn't great for assessing how good a player actually is right now. Tim Ream, the US captain and defender is worthless according to Transfermarkt...because he is 38 years old.

This is a team that manhandled y’all a couple months away btw Can’t make up this delusion

@wwalsh @JurgensF_MX How we doing big guy? Came a long way from that 5-2... 4-1 is a much different result. With these 2 results you d think those blokes from Transfermarkt weren t that far off. But look on the bright side, maybe you learned some new things about "soccer".

@offshoreinsider @piersmorgan @stoolpresidente Some decisions are debateable and since you say former players are split yhst tells you all you need to know. It wasn t a wrong call, it was just a controversial. Clearly not enough to overturn the suspension. Belgium also just trashed you. Cause they are far better.

Been listening to SportTalk and international media. Former players are split on whether it was a red card. In the USA, we are not used to refs essentially suspending a player. NFL, NBA, NHL, college sports, there is a process and an appeal if wanted. We are into due process here. It's what makes us better.

Americans like @stoolpresidente furiously defending this outrageous Balogun scandal would be saying the complete opposite if it was Belgium who’d done this to them. And they know it.

@offshoreinsider @piersmorgan @stoolpresidente Nothing questionable about it... decision was well within the rules... rules which american fans are choosing to ignore as ignorance is a state of being for them since birth. Messi's challenge is in no way worse. About 3 or 4 similar ones at this WC alone with the same outcome

@piersmorgan @stoolpresidente Can't speak for him, but I wouldn't want to beat Belgian because of a highly questionable red card, especially in lieu of what Messi got away with. So my guess is you are wrong. In the US, even murderers get appeals. We live in a country where we can right a wrong.

@FB_FilmAnalysis The narrative that US "pundits"/fans are pushing, saying it wasn't a red card just goes to show how little understanding you have of the rules. Then this "scared to compete" narrative... US seem the ones scared to compete by the rules of the game to me... sad.

I’d understand if Balogun actually deserved a red card but this is just pathetic and a scared-to-compete move

@stoolpresidente 0 for 2 big guy... You should really stick to pizza reviews.

Davey Pitch Knows All!!!! #dkpartner

@heykayadams The problem is a clueless, spineless coach... But if you think Robaldo is anything other than a net negative at this point for this team, can't really help ya... Maybe stick to the NFL i guess

If you think Ronaldo is the problem here on this team right now.. I can't help ya.

@hugoknowsbaII Lampard goal v Germany far better

@ChasingSnyder Appeal what? It s covered by the rule book as a red card

The fact that you can’t appeal a red card for the next game is what makes it that much more infuriating. Especially when you can appeal in every other sport/league. It’s a call that can turn people away from the sport, especially here in America. Total shame

@Connor_J_Hughes Beat Belgium and you cand have that convo.

So are we legit at soccer now?

@zanon_julian @jmazpiroz Even if they were lucky on pk, they were losing against France easily, so yeah, not far off.

@PetruDarida @jmazpiroz Bueno, tampoco erré tanto al final 😉

Hemos visto a la 1/2 de los equipos del Mundial. Mi impresión hasta ahora: El mejor futbol: Sorprendentemente 🇺🇸 Los mejores equipos: 🇺🇸 🇲🇦 🇩🇪 Después: 🇳🇱 🇯🇵 🇰🇷 Bastante más atrás: 🇧🇷 🇲🇽 🇦🇺 🇸🇪 Lamentables: 🇵🇾🇨🇭🇹🇷 🇪🇨 🇹🇳 El peor: 🇿🇦 Van a mejorar: 🇪🇨 🇧🇷 🇹🇷 (y confío en que 🇲🇽) El ganador del corazón del público: 🇨🇼 💙💛

@waszlaw @theoldzealand Did Germany play poorly and deserved to go home? Yes. Should that goal have stood? Also, yes.

@theoldzealand Man, it was a foul given a strict interpretation of the rules. Marginal? Yes. Foul? Yes.

Maybe the most shameless flop in history right there

@wwalsh @JurgensF_MX But arguing bench players don't matter in a game that is supposed to be a tight affair is laughable. Belgium is the better team however you look at it. Can the US win? Sure, it's not France or Spain, but I'd suggest focusing on Bosnia first, which will not be a cakewalk.

@wwalsh @JurgensF_MX You may find it "goofy" but it sure is a better way than betting odds. The difference in market values is not small in this case, it's close to 50% in Belgium's favor. And as you point out, both teams have outliers due to age. The US have a younger squad which favors them.

@MadesGloves @wwalsh @JurgensF_MX Yet he played mostly there at Marseille in a fluid system that much like what many bug clubs do starts out 4-2-3-1 and turns into 3-4-2-1 in transition or some variation of that with 3 at the back.

@PetruDarida @wwalsh @JurgensF_MX Tim Weah playing as a fullback should never happen. Full stop

@wwalsh @JurgensF_MX Bettors are before anything average folk and average folks are susceptible to emotion. That s why sportsbooks make so much goddamn money... Transfermarkt on the other hand have the Belgium NT valued at 547 mil euro, while the US NT is valued at 385 mil euro.

The bettors disagree with you, Petru. And, as you probably know, these aren’t Americans doing the betting here. Actually, no team has risen as much in the odds since the tournament began as the US team. Re players playing multiple positions - of course they can do it. But the fact that the manager held many top players out and experimented with formation shows you how he viewed the game. Funny to read your “don’t know ball” comments. Kind of cute. Like a cute little baby.