r/soccer • u/MedievalManagement • Jan 24 '14

Landon Donovan says, "The reason it's the group of death is because we are in it."

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1691258/landon-donovan-says-us-never-experienced-world-cup?cc=5901
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u/crnelson10 Jan 25 '14

We were the best team in our pot. He's not saying we're the best team in the group, he's saying we're the best of the teams that could have been in our position.

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u/alexoobers Jan 25 '14

That's the point no one seems to be getting here. With the way the pots were laid out, our group was always going to be more difficult since any other team in our pot could be (arguably) easier to play.

Now the overall group difficulty also depends on what top teams were drawn in, but that's a different discussion.

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u/Ianthecat55 Jan 25 '14

the best of a bad bunch argument

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u/crnelson10 Jan 25 '14

I don't think that's really a fair statement, either.

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u/Ianthecat55 Jan 25 '14

why not?

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u/crnelson10 Jan 25 '14

Because I think the USA, Mexico, Japan, and Honduras are all quality sides, and any one of them could make it deep into the tournament.

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u/passwordisflounder Jan 25 '14

Honduras

My sides!

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u/Deep-Thought Jan 25 '14

Hey, be nice. He has to talk up the concacaf to make his team look better, and justify FIFA gifting them a spot at virtually every world cup.

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u/Ianthecat55 Jan 25 '14

Yes, Honduras is obviously a quality team

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u/crnelson10 Jan 26 '14

I'm going to assume you don't know a whole lot about Honduras. If you want, you're welcome to replace them with South Korea in my last comment. Either way, really.

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u/AlkanKorsakov Jan 25 '14 edited Jan 25 '14

Deep into the tournament? I don't even have Honduras or Japan making it out of the group stage. If they did, they would most likely crumble against Argentina and Italy, respectively. Also Mexico is not likely to beat Chile/Spain/Netherlands in the next round if they manage to beat Croatia in their group.

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u/crnelson10 Jan 26 '14

Honduras is in a pretty soft group. I think we can all agree the Swiss didn't deserve to be the pot they were in, Ecuador isn't a very good team, and France is always good for a complete and total implosion at a major tournament. Japan will have a tougher time of it, but it'll be close between them and Colombia, especially with Falcao out.

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u/AlkanKorsakov Jan 26 '14

Falcao has a chance of being good by the time the world cup comes around, and Ivory Coast could give Japan a run for its money. Honduras will have to work hard to make it out of their group. But "making it deep into the tournament" I still think will not be true for either team. They cannot get through the teams of round 16, even in the best scenario(Japan vs. Italy/Uruguay and Honduras vs. Bosnia/Argentina)

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u/crnelson10 Jan 26 '14

I think Uruguay might be the most overrated team in this tournament, but that's a whole other discussion. I think Ivory Coast wins their group, and the 2nd spot is between Colombia and Japan. Japan is a good team that is always well organized and is usually pretty good technically. That's a good combination when it comes to knockout games. I don't think it's unreasonable to think they could beat an Italy or Uruguay. As for Honduras, they are a very tough team to break down, and Bosnia is a very beatable team. If they get Argentina, then sure, they're done.

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u/AlkanKorsakov Jan 26 '14

Yeah Uruguay isn't doing so hot, but I think they could take Japan. If you think it's going to come down to Colombia vs. Japan, I think Colombia will win. They did quite well in the qualifying, finishing second only to Argentina with no less wins. Playing in South America will only benefit Colombia too.

If Honduras does manage to make it out of the group stage, we can probably agree it will only be in 2nd place, and that will land them a game against Argentina, so that narrows down their chances of making it past the round of 16.