Good job winning the first match!

US NT had a frustrating tie in the second match of group play. Despite 23 shots we only put the ball in the net once. Then we gave up an own goal in the 86th minute. Certainly frustrating, but we are in a good position to advance. We are tied with Jamaica on top of the group with 4 points. We only need one point or a tie from the Anguilla/Antigua match to advance to the knockout round.

Congrats on advancing into next stage. So happy Ninis could contribute and end the match.

Thanks Valentine.

The US team really dominated Jamaica. The 1-0 scoreline really doesn't tell the whole story. They played with three forwards, but be outshot them 22-8, as well as having more tackles, possession and pass percentage.

In any event it was a good win against a good team. We are moving on to the knockout stage. I assume winning the group means that we'll play a team who finished second in their group. If the format for the next round is the same as in season 13 we will play the #2 team from group 1, which is Curacao. It also means that we avoid Canada and Jamaica (ranked #1 and #3 in North America) until the final. If the pattern holds, we will also avoid the home team until the final. Curacao has been playing well, but I think this is a favorable draw for the US.

Great job in group play Cdowne! Good luck in the knockouts!

its all over for united state in north American championship as they suffer a 1-0,shock defeat in they hand of well organising curacao.

Really surprising result. None of my simulations had us losing. Some overtime games, but we weren't shut out in any simulation. I'm pretty disappointed, but that is life in the world of Rocking Soccer.

Anyway, onto world cup qualifying. We were drawn into a good group including Montserrat and Cuba. There should be some good games, but I think that the team will be seeking revenge for the disappointed North American Championships.

memphis edge running against cdowne for NT.

It'll be tough to beat those teams and win enough games against them to have a top 6 record among group leaders, but the U.S. has a shot.

One area that could use improvement is goalkeeping. Skidmore, McHugh, and O'Neill are all pretty old, and only Skidmore has great blocking. He could probably stand to redistribute some tactics to blocking - no forwards are going to have that much tactics, and no midfielders or defenders, at least on the strong teams, will likely have tactics that low. Hopefully Cree, or someone else, can develop soon.

My backup keeper, Tsorvas (http://rockingsoccer.com/en/soccer/info/player-728058), has 5.3 blocking and should soon pass the others beyond Skidmore. I would have to spend a season training his speed and special attributes for him to be a viable candidate, if there are no better options. He is a determined supertalent. I wasn't planning to develop him since he's older than my future core, but I suppose keepers probably take longer to develop.

other than moraccini and westerman, its gonna be a good 4+ years till any of my guys see the shortlist.

I should have 5 of them on there though.

Good luck CDowne with another run with the National team. I am going to spend a season or two rebuilding in the 2nd division before I see you guys at the 1st division again, but like Deatrick, I have seom young talent, a ton of money, credits and am about 5 days away from a level 9 scouting building so am planning to have some supertalents a few years down the road for the NT.

Good Luck!

Thanks for re-election all. I'm looking forward to a strong run during world cup qualifying.

It looks like John Leclair's already on the shortlist at 18.

Get that man some xp, he might be the next ninis

I am pretty disappointed to draw 0-0 in Nicaragua during world cup qualifying. Scoring a goal would have given us an important win while trying to keep pace with Guatemala, who is playing very well. Both teams packed it in defensively, but I would have thought that we would sneak at least one goal on 11 shots, 5 of which missed the goal.

The draw leaves us at 1-2-0 and second place in the group. It will be nice to play at home again. This time against Montserrat on Friday. Guatemala plays away on this day, so hopefully a change to make up some points.