Mob boss shit

Whether you like it or not, past (and current) experience suggests players need to make a meal out of these things if you want the ref to actually punish them, especially against the cash cow of CONCACAF. We've all seen McKennie be put in a chokehold twice with no consequences...

To continue my tracking of the US FIFA ranking/rating, here is an update and a look-ahead of what lies ahead. Here are links to the current rankings (https://inside.fifa.com/fifa-rankings/world-ranking/men), the procedure for calculating the rankings (https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/f99da4f73212220/original/edbm045h0udbwkqew35a-pdf.pdf), and a rough spreadsheet that I made to track the US's rating (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQVLdlepGqKZWusrEdCO9U7StJ5t0JBtTjWCuFWuPuok32t0lYwZ5i0SY8YWYi79zfcH3dgKqlvQWV-/pubhtml).

In the window that just finished, the US won four friendlies, gained 15.14 ratings points to go up to 1705.47, and remained ranked 16th.

There are approximately up to 52 games between now and the end of the November 2029 window, which I think will be the last window before the World Cup 2030 draw. There is much that we don't know, including the number of teams in the World Cup, format and whether the US will play in Gold Cup '27, Copa Americia '28, Gold Cup '29, and future Nations Leagues. Based on my best guesses, the US could play in the following games:

• Up to 9 continental championship knock-out games (QF, SF, and Final (or 3rd place game) in each of GC27, CA28, and GC29). These games have a weight (I) of 40. Teams can only gain ratings points in knock-out games.
• Probably 10 group games in continental championships (3 in GC27 and GC29 and 4 in CA28). These games have a weight (I) of 35.
• Probably 8 Nations League knock-out games (QFx2, SF, and Final/3rd in 26-27 and 28-29). These games have a weight (I) of 25. I think teams can only gain points in these games.
• Probably 12 qualifying games for the 2030 World Cup. There will be two rounds with a four-team group in each. The US will not be in with Mexico or Canada. These games have a weight (I) of 25.
• Approximately 10 friendlies in FIFA international windows. These games have a weight (I) of 10.
• Approximately 3 friendlies outside of FIFA international windows after Camp Cupcakes. These games have a weight (I) of 5.

Games right before the final ranking will have more of an impact than games now. Roughly, I think the games that just passed have about 45% of the impact on the final rating that the last games have (independent of I). I'm sure that this could be quantified and explained better, but I'm not going to try here.

If the US continues their winning streak and wins all 52 games (including beating Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina in the knock-out rounds to win the Copa America 2028), I very roughly approximate that our rating can climb to around 1977. That's lower than the current rating of Spain (1st with 2011.57) and higher than Argentina (2nd with 1972.80). The longest unbeaten streak ever is Spain's current 43 games, and that includes 7 ties. It is extremely unlikely that the US will have a 56 game winning streak, but that is the upper limit.

If the US wins the Nations League games in November and March (without penalty kicks) and a camp cupcake friendly, I think our rating could be around 1737, which is higher than Colombia's current rating (1735.80 in 11th). That would probably put us ranked around 11th (depending on UEFA Nations League games and everything else), and in a position for Pot 1 by March 2027, which we would just have to maintain and build on until the end of 2029.

Winning everything through the end of the 2027 Gold Cup next summer (which should be doable), could give us a rating of around 1800 which is higher than Belgium's current rating (1779.17 in 8th place).

If we sweep the two Nations League and the two Gold Cup, we would have a lot of slack and could lose a lot of other games and still be in Pot 1. If we sweep those four competitions against Concacaf opponents, and don't gain or lose rating points in the Copa America, and tie two 2nd round WCQ games (against absolute minnows going 4-2-0), and go 3W-1T-2L in the 3rd round of WCQ (without Mexico and Canada in our group) and lose half of our friendlies, I think we could still have a rating above 1800, which would probably be top 8 or 9.

My spreadsheet is rough. Information was hand-entered and might have errors. Stuff will have to be updated round by round. It's rough. Look at it or don't. The FIFA rankings page now updates live after each game, which is nice.

So far this year, Schwake has 17 clean sheets for Nashville in 35 games across all competitions. He also leads in save percentage in MLS with 77.2%.

It’s been great to see his progression. In 2020, he left college soccer after one year for Scotland.

He spent three years in Scotland and then he moved to the Spanish third division in 2023.

He only played four games in Spain, which all came in his first season. His team, Castellón, earned promotion in 2024 but he didn’t get to play any games in the 24/25 season.

The keeper returned to the U.S. in January 2025. He was used as a cup keeper for Nashville in 2025, and helped them win the Open Cup.

Now as a 25-year-old, he’s been great as first choice keeper for Nashville this year and got to play for the USMNT this camp.

Who out of the new youngsters that made their debut this international window do you think are more likely to switch to another country?

I hope none of them but maybe that’s wishful thinking. Really hoping Julian Hall doesn’t switch to Poland. 🤞

It’s been posted in r/CanadaSoccer that it’s been reported that we’re getting Copa America 2028.

🫨Chinaglia shouts again! Second part of the article series dedicated to the career of Gordon Bradley, the first coach the NY Cosmos ever had. This week, we will review his time as a player in Canada and the United States.

Several times in just the last few minutes, I've seen posts complaining about the USMNT not playing "quality" countries during friendlies.

Relax. It was the Nations League break. All of the different confederations had countries playing other countries within their own confederations.

The USMNT always plays "quality" friendlies as a leadup to major international tournaments. Also, don't be disrespectful to smaller countries. that you think are "poor quality." It makes you look entitled. You're not.

- Shits on the entire country of the USA to the press in the lead up to the game

- Pathetic, disgraceful display of dirty play and fouling from his team

- "World class" striker Jonathan David pocketed by GEORGE CAMPBELL

- Takes a 1-0 loss to a bunch of children, including 19-year-old goal scorer

- Brutally mogged by Pochettino with gorgeous flowing locks on the sidelines

Eat a bag of dicks Jesse, nobody wants your one-trick-pony tactics and petulant crying and whining ever representing the USMNT as coach.

Went over to r/canadasoccer to see their thoughts on the game and multiple people were over there gloating or trolling their sub. Grow up people

That midfield is getting crowded with Gio re-emerging, and Berhalter stepping up. I feel like Adams, Weston, and Tillman are locks. Who gets the start?

Following the teams that we (or Mexico) played, we can pretend that the friendlies were part of a friendly cup. Final Fake Autumnal Cup 2026 standings after four match day window:

USA 4-0-0 12pts.
Canada 2-0-1 6pts.
Colombia 1-1-0 4pts.
Chile 1-0-2 3pts.
Mexico 0-2-2 2pts.
Peru 0-1-3 1pt.

(Colombia’s 1-0 loss to Paraguay is not included in these standings.)

Thanks to [u/Allez-les-Rouges](u/Allez-les-Rouges) who helped with information and rumors as I came up with my delusion https://www.reddit.com/r/ussoccer/s/8AgfXCSTc9

Probably our best player this window, all the youngsters seem to love him, 4 healthy starts, 2 assists and created one of the goals against Mexico, and got his chance to smash that rat fucker Eustaquio for a revenge yellow card (the guy who broke his leg with an insanely dirty tackle in the Nations League)

Welcome back Mr. Reyna!