From what I’ve read, the answer is something like #2 and #5 - nodes in outer rings remain allocated once you rotate the ring, and might well form new connections if you’ve built the inner tree right, but if they’re disconnected from the centre they’re disabled.

For what it’s worth - all the other entities - the clubs, La Liga, UEFA, the stadium-owners, the city of Miami - had no qualms about this letting go ahead

Though I would argue that the gap of talent, experience and skill has closed between US and Canada. But Canada needs to do that against ALL Concocaf foes. To and extent I feel that Canada is plagued with the same problem that US is.

I absolutely agree that Canada’s defense is...hmm, let’s just say shaky (that is a big part of why I did not expect this result). The thing is that the US couldn’t create BECAUSE they lost the midfield battle, and they lost the midfield battle in part because the talent disparity wasn’t big enough to cover the…

Yeah, the McKennie comparison is the weakest part of my point (none of those guys have his ceiling IMO) but I figured that was balanced out by all three of our backup forwards being at least as good as Jordan Morris (seriously what the fuck was he doing in that sentence?). Pulisic may be further along in his career…

A man can dream, eh? 

Oh, I’m not saying “you all should have expected last night to go like it did” because basically nobody did (I sure didn’t). Canadian soccer has an impressive track record of futility but once you go far enough back it’s just a prologue, not anything useful you can rationally derive much from when evaluating an…

But c’mon, this is Canada.

The thread is broken for some reason, but Kastner’s timeline still has the subsequent tweets that explain why he thinks it’s Robinson.

I’m mostly just responding in order to figure out how you came across this article without seeing the word “soccer” right above the headline / cover image. 

Probably because they don’t have enough homegrown players. The CL squad has 8 spots reserved for locally (as in, within your country) trained players, 4 of which are reserved for players trained specifically by your team, and if you don’t have those players you can’t use those spots - so a 22 man roster likely means…

Well, at the time Infantino said the aim was to give league winners “an additional award”, and that “people had difficulties in understanding how the champion of a country is in a lower pot than the third-ranked in that country.”, and on their website UEFA called it a “Champions’ bonus for the group stage draw.”

(so,…

Eredivisie are currently ranked 11th in the UEFA league rankings: Ajax showed well last year but Dutch teams have had some rough times in Europe in the previous few years and have lost some spots as a result.

Referees still have discretion to make calls, though? In the places where the rules have always given them that discretion (stuff like “is that contact you saw a foul” or “is that offside player you saw interfering with play?”), VAR can’t overrule them and they always get the final call. VAR exists to clarify facts…

I mean, yeah, but there are 6 free spots in Pot 1 and (at most) five good leagues in Europe, so somebody’s going to get it and Benfica/Porto/Sporting keep shitting the bed at every opportunity, so it’s going to be the Russians for a while.

I am ASTONISHED that the first USWNT star to try to pivot to the NFL was Lloyd and not, say, Hope Solo.

I agree that something like 50+1 would be ideal from a fan/community power perspective. The problem with 50+1 (at least in Germany) is that, combined with those same Euroball premises I laid out, it limits anyone’s ability to compete with a big team like Bayern (or even Bayern’s ability to compete with PSG or City or…

No amount of oversight of purchases is going to change the fact that most lower-level EFL teams are money pits that sane, honest people avoid buying into, so you’re left with a preponderance of gamblers, fraudsters, and very very occasionally someone extremely rich and/or motivated by a deep love of the sport, the…

Yeah, I’m definitely not a #ProRelForUSA type but you’re right that the actual problems in European soccer, at both domestic and continental levels, are a) the huge income disparities between leagues and between teams and b) the fact that spending more money (generally on player salaries and transfers) is the best way…

I wish Man U or City had stepped in with a lifeline of sorts to save a beloved piece of the community, albeit with a smaller fanbase.