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Very tough loss today against Belgium. We were winning for pretty much the entire game, but things fell apart in the final minute or so.

The enthusiasm decision was a tough one. We ended up using normal, and Belgium crunched us. Using a crunch at this stage has a cost, as it results in going to world's with an enthusiasm disadvantage. The teams that already qualified for world's start with 5 enthusiasm, and it isn't ideal to put ourselves in a situation where we start with only 3 or 4 enthusiasm. The idea was to go for a win with a normal, and while we came very close, it didn't work out. Perhaps we should have crunched and taken the enthusiasm hit, but we tried to avoid that, and Belgium ended up taking advantage.

The rest of the season, we will be playing the consolation round. The highest finishing team from the Americas will host the continental qualifiers next season. There is a lot of competition for us this season, as all the teams from the Americas lost in the repechage just now; Brasil, Chile, and Uruguay are joining us. We all have default 0-2 records (due to playing in the repechage). Some other good teams, like Peru, have a head start on us, and are 2-0 at the moment.

The schedule has been set, and ours is fairly difficult, with three tough road games (Israel, Hong Kong, and Latvia). We also play three home games (Bosnia, Iran, Al Jazair). We likely need at least 5 wins to stay in the hunt for home court advantage, and with the schedule we have, it won't be easy.

Next week, we get started with a home game against Bosnia i Hecegovina, which will be played at 7:00 PM EST.

Ok, just trying to further my understanding, looks to be a pretty tough draw in the consolation as well.

I hope that Belgium are looking forward to getting blown out of 4 of their five games at worlds.

I wonder if they just don't understand the enthusiasm reset?

To be fair, I think using a crunch makes some sense for Belgium. They are now in a position to try to beat Misr, TIE the three toughest teams, and throw another crunch at the remaining team. If things break right, they could end up 2-3, and advance to the second round with that record. In the second round, they would likely lose most (or all) of the games, but getting that far would be an achievement for them this season, and if they do it they'll probably be happy with that. Who knows what their plans are though, and we'll have to wait and see.

Yea some countries are just happy to get in, or make it another round, even if it means they will have zero chance at contending. I think you made the right decision Mogul.

Classy... Your country should be so proud of you.

Classy... Your country should be so proud of you.

I don't understand what about that message wasn't classy. He came on here, probably felt a little bad, and wanted to explain his rationale for using CT and if they understood their enthusiasm wouldn't reset. If people don't like the fact they CT'ed, it's a problem more of the rules as they stand now rather than the decision the Belgian coach made. His goal was to advance, and he sacrificed success at the next level to do so, the fact that you could do that doesn't mean it was classless or had no integrity as far as I'm concerned. I mean, he even complimented our roster and said 'sorry' at the end because their success had to come at our failure.

Last edited by Fresh24 at 2/2/2011 11:16:19 AM

I don't understand what about that message wasn't classy.

+1

if their goal was to make it to the worlds, then they did what it took to make it
he also said his country has no interest in the consolation tournament, so he did what was best for his country

i dont think he was being cocky or condescending in any way

i congratulate the belgium sqad for a gutsy win

Last edited by zmtomako at 2/2/2011 11:45:52 AM

I read the post different than both of you and find it to be fairly arrogant. It does not seem at all genuine to me, but that is the beauty of our language. Interpretation is huge.

I vote for more :P