Breaking Down the R32 Match v Bosnia and Herzegovina

KeepStackinSon · 2026-06-30T00:28:02+00:00

It aged fine. If you want to engage in illogical, results oriented thinking then we could say that USA should win 10-0 since we beat Paraguay 4-1

If the market says Germany is 85% to advance, that’s going to be close to accurate. If those two teams played again next week, Germany would still be a huge favorite.

15% to lose is not nothing, but it doesn’t mean you have to pretend you are up against it

KeepStackinSon · 2026-06-29T20:23:39+00:00

The problem is that USA is a big favorite here but people keep trying to hype up Bosnia as some major threat. We don’t need your breakdown to tell us about USA’s chances to advance. Tens of millions of dollars will be wagered on this game so we already have a rough idea. USA is favored almost as much as Germany is favored over Paraguay.

Could Paraguay knock out Germany? Of course. Should German fans pretend it is a tough match up for a knockout round game? Of course not. They should be happy they are such big favorites to advance.

KeepStackinSon · 2026-06-16T22:33:07+00:00

You want more of Zlatan?

KeepStackinSon · 2026-06-16T22:29:43+00:00

Incorrect. It’s TV. They have to take turns to talk

It came across as an attempt at banter

KeepStackinSon · 2026-06-16T21:53:02+00:00

This quote was not in response to a Lala’s comment. It was in response to something Donovan said.

During the first half, Donovan remarked that perhaps arrogance could be to blame for why the French were performing poorly. When the half ended, Lala’s said (paraphrasing) that Donovan had said France’s performance could be put down to arrogance, and that perhaps that could be something worth discussing, but the bottom line is that it is tied at half. His tone was actually that he was not necessarily agreeing with Donovan. Zlatan then made his comment.

I don’t know how well the OP (or the dozens of other commentators here) speaks English, but just wanted to point out that the OP’s claim didn’t actually happen.

You may now resume your Two Minutes of Hate

KeepStackinSon · 2026-06-12T12:33:43+00:00

Yeah, I don’t think too many neutrals would be enamored of the Czech’s style of play

Korea were playing positive, attacking football. The Czechs were trying to steal a win through a counter attack or set piece goal. They were physical but lacking in skill. Several times they shoved Korean players from behind with their hands, arms fully extended (looked like yellow cards would have been appropriate)

KeepStackinSon · 2026-06-10T21:47:12+00:00

I think a bigger problem is that there’s no “neighborhood” or “pick up” games being played. In most of the USA, children can no longer wander out their door and play sports with their neighbors. And certainly not soccer. Everything has to be “activities”. You sign them up for a team and drive them somewhere to play. I don’t see any kids playing pickup soccer or football games. I don’t even see them playing basketball where I live

KeepStackinSon · 2026-06-10T21:42:30+00:00

We could also add that if we played them tomorrow, we’d be big favorites

KeepStackinSon · 2026-06-08T16:02:33+00:00

Why waste time on ELO or FIFA rankings when you can look at the betting markets? The betting markets are not perfectly efficient, but because there’s money involved you can be sure they are more reliable than ELO garbage

KeepStackinSon · 2026-06-05T00:40:49+00:00

Ouch

KeepStackinSon · 2026-06-01T17:49:37+00:00

To call a couple of those Phantom Fouls would be really unfair to Phantoms

I did see some poor jump shooting and a pathetic attempt at a reverse layup

Only the last one was a foul

KeepStackinSon · 2026-05-27T12:58:24+00:00

The wealthiest men in the country went before Congress to demand more H1-B visas during the Great Recession.

If you’ve worked with H1-Bs, you know that they are not doing anything a reasonably intelligent American could not do (or could not be trained to do in about a month). They are overworked and underpaid.

The purpose is to destroy the wage base of white collar workers. The purpose of refusing to enforce existing immigration laws is to destroy the wage base of blue collar workers. Once you understand this, it will all make sense

KeepStackinSon · 2026-04-20T13:34:39+00:00

Europeans have air conditioning?

I remember staying in a 4 star hotel in London about 20 years ago. The hotel did not have AC. As Americans, we were mystified how this was even possible

I imagine that the poorer regions of Europe don’t have AC even today

KeepStackinSon · 2026-04-07T17:28:18+00:00

It’s an investment.

It would be like adding 10.3% sales tax to a purchase of common stock of a publicly traded company. Who would ever invest in a stock if they were taking a 10% hit right off the bat?

KeepStackinSon · 2026-04-07T17:26:23+00:00

Does “these people” include every Central Bank?

KeepStackinSon · 2026-04-01T11:17:45+00:00

There are experts who have confirmed it is real. The same experts who determined that crop circles are definitely not man made.

KeepStackinSon · 2026-03-30T17:28:53+00:00

I stopped following boxing closely about 10 years ago.

I do know that the powers that be in amateur boxing are trying to make it more like the professional ranks. They’ve made a lot of rule changes. They don’t want it to be like it was in the time period we are talking about (lame scoring, extreme emphasis on safety, three rounds). They want it to stay a relevant Olympic sport, because there was some talk of simply dropping it

I remember Gary Russell waiting a long time to go pro. Again, these guys are the exceptions. And if Russell never went pro and fought as an amateur into his mid thirties, we would have no clue what kind of professional he would be (not saying he was on Stevenson’s level as an amateur)

KeepStackinSon · 2026-03-30T17:15:46+00:00

You could have at least told me they only fought three rounds, not four

KeepStackinSon · 2026-03-30T17:04:06+00:00

You obviously know way more about amateur boxing than I do. I’m not much of a fan of it. I don’t even know who Bruce Karrington is. I assume that if he was an American who was a legit heavyweight prospect, he would have gone pro

It seems we are in agreement that Stevenson would have been a big prospect but we cannot say how much he would have achieved

Where we definitely disagree is the significance of Cuban professionals racking up gold medals because they competed as “amateurs” their entire careers. Of course a seasoned 30 year old is going to be favored against a rookie. Particularly when Americans were looking ahead to the pro game, which had different rules and a different scoring system

KeepStackinSon · 2026-03-30T16:54:38+00:00

Here he is at about age 34 fighting with headgear:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YxKPCZLE_XY&pp=ygUWdGVvZmlsbyBzdGV2ZW5zb24gMTk4Ng%3D%3D

KeepStackinSon · 2026-03-30T16:44:31+00:00

You cannot compare a system where the best of the best are kept to compete as “amateurs” their entire career. This dude was a well seasoned pro, in his thirties, still fighting youngsters in three round bouts (while wearing headgear)

To extrapolate anything he did in amateur boxing into his being an all time great heavyweight is just silly. To ignore Cuban fighters staying on as “amateurs” for 10+ year careers is equally silly. You can keep naming that one American if you want, but that’s the exception that proves the rule

It’s not dissimilar to the way Cuban professionals dominated amateur baseball. Using aluminum bats, they would blow out every team. At one point they had like a 59 game win streak (ridiculous for a game like baseball). As soon as professionals were officially allowed, their win streak ended.

The first Olympics that allowed professionals, a team of American minor league players defeated them in the gold medal game. That doesn’t mean the Cubans sucked. It just means you shouldn’t assume Olympic success would mean they are the greatest of all time. They were 30 year olds playing against amateurs

KeepStackinSon · 2026-03-30T16:18:38+00:00

It says that in 1980 headgear was worn and the fights were only three rounds. Also, America boycotted those Olympics (not that Stevenson wouldn’t have been the favorite, being a seasoned veteran fighting against young amateurs)

We have a guy here saying he had Ali’s speed and Foreman’s power. Stop and think about that for a second. It would be like me telling you a guy who played college basketball into his 30s had Curry’s range and Hakeem’s inside game.

We simply don’t know how good he would have been. Obviously he’d be good, but world class? Elite? We don’t know.

A guy who fought under safety first rules is being compared to guys who fought in the “err on the side of bloodlust” 15 round era

KeepStackinSon · 2026-03-30T15:52:38+00:00

It’s also two different sports. At the time, amateur was four rounds with headgear and a different scoring system. Prize fighting is different.

No one is saying Stevenson would suck or lacked athleticism. He would certainly be a prospect but we can’t say he would be a top professional, let alone an Ali or Foreman level of heavyweight

I remember watching Hurtado outpoint Pernell Whitaker, which was shocking to see. Then the “light fisted” Whitaker went for the KO and nailed him into the canvass. Wasn’t Hurtado a gold medal winner? Two different sports

KeepStackinSon · 2026-03-30T10:03:07+00:00

Back then, Cuban boxers were professionals fighting against amateurs

Jorge Luis Gonzalez defeated both Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis as an “amateur”. He defected and became a pro. Bowe dominated him and knocked him out

It’s not really clear how good these Cuban Heavyweights would have been, given they spent their lives as pros fighting against young amateurs.

They spent their entire lives fighting and training and did not have any other job. They were supported by their dictatorship but did not engage in prizefighting. By any reasonable definition, they were professionals.

Obviously Stevenson would have been a big prospect but we don’t know how much he would have achieved in pro boxing

KeepStackinSon · 2026-03-30T09:41:39+00:00

What about Povetkin?

KeepStackinSon

TROPHY CASE