2018 World Championships

[Christopher Moen]

Event begins on Saturday with Freestyle. Team USA is looking to win back to back Freestyle World Championships as Russia wants revenge. Here's a good video from UWW that features Team USA and a small bit at the end of Russian coach, Guseinov, trash talking Snyder's chances against Sadulaev.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2v-exuW_k4&feature=youtu.be

[Big Bird]

I'll go on record...I don't think Kyle Snyder wins gold this year.

He's been good this year, but performing at a level lower than we're accustomed to seeing.

I hope I'm wrong

[Christopher Moen]

I'll go on record...I don't think Kyle Snyder wins gold this year.

He's been good this year, but performing at a level lower than we're accustomed to seeing.

I hope I'm wrong

It will be interesting. The Russians made a mistake of challenging Snyder on a personal level, and I have yet to see him fail at answering those challenges.


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[Christopher Moen]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=28&v=BvLLonaN5VI

[Big Bird]

The match I want to see more than any other...is happening in round 1. Olympic gold medalist Hassan Yazdani Cherati vs David Taylor.

I was hoping to get to sleep in a little, but looks like I'll be up at 430 am to catch this one.

Was hoping they'd be split up so that they could meet for a gold, but oh well. At least it is happening again.

[Christopher Moen]

The match I want to see more than any other...is happening in round 1. Olympic gold medalist Hassan Yazdani Cherati vs David Taylor.

I was hoping to get to sleep in a little, but looks like I'll be up at 430 am to catch this one.

Was hoping they'd be split up so that they could meet for a gold, but oh well. At least it is happening again.

As hard as they try, UWW cannot totally rid itself from FILA's stupidity. Seeding this event wouldn't be that difficult, however, due to how the IOC values the importance of medal distribution, they still insist on brackets mostly being a blind draw. This helps small, non-wrestling countries to grab a medal every once in awhile, and therefore, making wrestling look more globally compare to other Olympic sports.

Personally, I don't think the benefit of the system outweighs the bad. The strongest countries are still going to consume most of the medals, and unfortunately, the best matches won't be happening during the Gold Medal rounds.

With that said, Taylor needs to tire Yazdani much quicker than he did two years ago and control the pace. Before Taylor pinned him, Yazdani was horsing him around early in the match.

Looking at the brackets, 74 and 86 KG are ridiculously weighted on one side, which means the Gold Medal matches at those weights will be terrible compared to the QFs and SFs. Gwiazdowski has a good chance at making the finals at the Gold and Silver medalist are on the opposite side, while Joe Colon has chance at medalling depending which Joe Colon shows up.

[Big Bird]

Usa perfect on the day so far. Taylor beat Yazdani and is in the semifinals. Colon, burroughs, and Gwiazdowski all in the quarters an up shortly. Colon will be a significant underdog, but the others are favored

[Big Bird]

Shows what i know...former UNI panther Joe Colon with a dominating tech fall to advance to the world semifinals. He looked fantastic. Team USA rolling so far with two more quarterfinalists to come

[Christopher Moen]

Rough QFs with two last second losses. Fortunately, all four are still in medal contention, but Russia is wrestling with more determination than us after day one.

Going to need Stieber especially to win his first round match against Russia on day two if we want to have any chance at winning the Worlds.


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[Big Bird]

Rough QFs with two last second losses. Fortunately, all four are still in medal contention, but Russia is wrestling with more determination than us after day one.

Going to need Stieber especially to win his first round match against Russia on day two if we want to have any chance at winning the Worlds.


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Gwiaz' loss was awful. Just mind boggling that he would take a (bad) straight on shot vs an opponent who had done nothing and was much bigger than him...especially while LEADING and with less than 20 seconds left. Just terrible mat awareness

[Christopher Moen]

Gwiaz' loss was awful. Just mind boggling that he would take a (bad) straight on shot vs an opponent who had done nothing and was much bigger than him...especially while LEADING and with less than 20 seconds left. Just terrible mat awareness

I have absolutely no reasoning for it. The match was not going to end quicker and there are no extra points for how you win. Hopefully a good lesson learned.


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[Big Bird]

Man, Kyle Dake and David Taylor are incredible. If you're ever trying to turn someone into a wrestling fan, just have them watch those two. Dake just repeatedly throwing the Russian (who has been one of the 5 best wrestlers in the entire world this year at an any weight) like a rag doll was awesome. Taylor with his frenetic pace and ridiculous skill is equally awesome

[Big Bird]

How about former UNI Panther Joe Colon?! Was the American alternate weeks ago. Injury to Garrett gets him in the tournament and he wins Bronze. That is huge for USAs chance at winning the team title again.

[Christopher Moen]

How about former UNI Panther Joe Colon?! Was the American alternate weeks ago. Injury to Garrett gets him in the tournament and he wins Bronze. That is huge for USAs chance at winning the team title again.

Four medals today while two are going for Gold and another for Bronze tomorrow makes our chance of repeating a strong one.

Green at 70 KG is going to need to bring his absolute best as his half bracket is stacked. At 97 KG, Snyder must remain focused as he has a fairly good draw to the Gold match.


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[Big Bird]

We get Snyder Sadulaev #2 again tomorrow for the World Title.

Frankly, Sadulaev has looked like he's on another level and has had to go through a very tough half of the bracket. I hope I'm wrong, but I think Sadulaev wins and wins relatively easily.

My hope is that the USA finishes strong and the team race comes down to the 97kg gold medal match again, just like last year.

[Christopher Moen]

We get Snyder Sadulaev #2 again tomorrow for the World Title.

Frankly, Sadulaev has looked like he's on another level and has had to go through a very tough half of the bracket. I hope I'm wrong, but I think Sadulaev wins and wins relatively easily.

My hope is that the USA finishes strong and the team race comes down to the 97kg gold medal match again, just like last year.

Sadulaev had the same scenario last year and blew everyone away until he matched up with Snyder in the finals. The biggest difference is that instead of wrestling on one day, they have two. Does that help Sadulaev or Snyder more? I’m guessing Snyder since he actually has to cut down a bit to make weight. Either way, it will be fun to watch.

Still fuming over Green’s lost. That’s three top-tier American wrestlers giving up points in the final seconds and costing them and team important points.


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[Big Bird]

IMO, the biggest difference in Snyder vs Sadulaev round 2, is that Snyder hasn't looked invincible all year. Loss to Coon (who is a monster), very poor BTS performance, loss in the run up to Worlds, and even at the World Cup and Trials, he just wasn't his typical dominant self.

J'Den Cox makes it 3 World Champs for Team USA. He still doesn't attack as much as I'd like, and his par terre still isn't great (one leg lace against the best Bison withstanding), but he looks significantly improved to me.

I know this is an unpopular opinion...but Cox will be our 97kg entrant at the Olympics in 2020...Not a slight towards Snyder, but we'll have 2 of the 3 best in the World at 97 kg (Plus Bo Nickal as a third banana), and I think Cox continues to improve.

[Christopher Moen]

IMO, the biggest difference in Snyder vs Sadulaev round 2, is that Snyder hasn't looked invincible all year. Loss to Coon (who is a monster), very poor BTS performance, loss in the run up to Worlds, and even at the World Cup and Trials, he just wasn't his typical dominant self.

J'Den Cox makes it 3 World Champs for Team USA. He still doesn't attack as much as I'd like, and his par terre still isn't great (one leg lace against the best Bison withstanding), but he looks significantly improved to me.

I know this is an unpopular opinion...but Cox will be our 97kg entrant at the Olympics in 2020...Not a slight towards Snyder, but we'll have 2 of the 3 best in the World at 97 kg (Plus Bo Nickal as a third banana), and I think Cox continues to improve.

Got to remember a few things:

1) He avenged his loss to Coon in the NCAA Finals. The fact that he wrestles internationally and collegiately at the same time is crazy. Add in that he wins pretty much every match between the two styles, is unheard of.
2) The BTS performance was bad for a lot our guys due to the condensation on the mats (wrestling on a pier at night wasn't smart). After being down 8-1, he came back against Salas (a five-time World Medalist) to win 9-8.
3) Snyder has dropped a least a match every year.
4) At the World Cup he won all four matches by Technical Superiority - R1 (10-0 over India's Vicky), R2 (10-0 over Japan's Sonoda), R3 (10-0 over Georgia's Matcharashvili) and the 1st Place Round (14-3 over Azerbaijan's Bakirov). At the Final-X, he beat Gadsen (someone who he wrestled numerous times) in straight matches with the results of 9-0 and 9-2.

I'm not sure how much more dominate Kyle could be to make you think he looks any different than in other years past. His style of wrestling is just basic sound skills with little flair.

[Big Bird]

He was outclassed in the first period vs Salas, badly. The mats were bad all night, but he just got handled early in that match...which I hadn't seen before.

His pace hasn't been the same and his attack rate seems lower to me.

He didn't look like himself at Yasar Dogu or throughout parts of the NCAA season (match vs Nevills sticks out).

[Christopher Moen]

He was outclassed in the first period vs Salas, badly. The mats were bad all night, but he just got handled early in that match...which I hadn't seen before.

His pace hasn't been the same and his attack rate seems lower to me.

He didn't look like himself at Yasar Dogu or throughout parts of the NCAA season (match vs Nevills sticks out).

That's the aftermath when other countries get enough footage to scout you. Same thing happens to every USA wrestler. Sanderson's ankle-pick was ineffective pretty quick on the International level and Burroughs blast double is being stopped constantly by ugly tie-ups from his opponents.

Also, we do the exact same thing, except at a much higher level than anyone else. The amount of matches I rip from just about every important International event is somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000. Each of those matches then get dissected into tendencies/skillsets of each wrestler by using programs like Dartfish. By the time the World/Olympics come around, we have every opposing wrestler broken down and a gameplan for each one. Our scouting plan is also helping us build the technique levels of our youth wrestlers through our camps and RTCs.

With that said, watch how Snyder counters Sadulaev's left underhook attacks tomorrow.

[Christopher Moen]

Snyder does not fight well from his back. Brutal way to lose.

[Big Bird]

Hopefully we get a rubber match at the Yarygin

[56BISON73]

He was outclassed in the first period vs Salas, badly. The mats were bad all night, but he just got handled early in that match...which I hadn't seen before.

His pace hasn't been the same and his attack rate seems lower to me.

He didn't look like himself at Yasar Dogu or throughout parts of the NCAA season (match vs Nevills sticks out).

What do you mean by---"The mats were bad all night," ??

[Christopher Moen]

What do you mean by---"The mats were bad all night," ??

The event was wrestled outdoors during the evening on a pier. The event is great fundraiser, but a bit of a black-eye for the New York Beat the Streets program due to where they chose to hold it (usually, it's at Times Square).

Here's the match featuring Snyder and Salas:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKYo-useYIo

[Christopher Moen]

That leg-lace Adeline Gray had on Turkey's Adar for the Gold Medal was painfully tight. Watching it in slow-motion made it even more painful to watch. Nice comeback for the Colorado native after the 2016 Olympics.

[Christopher Moen]

Hold the press - we got a finalist in Greco-Roman! Coon takes on the Russian tomorrow for the Gold.


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