The Official World Cup Thread

[Marco4]

:oops: - Anonymous except for the shot off the post.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I wonder what would have happened in the game had Reyna's shot gone in and made the score 1-1. I wonder if that would have given the team a much needed energy boost.

 

Seeing that on replay just killed me. It was on the inside of the post too, but there was enough spin to counter the round post and send it back.

[Outshined_One]

Watching the Australia/Japan replay (hooray for ten Spanish language channels!), I'm impressed that Japan's first goal stood. They absolutely mugged Australia's goalie on that play.

[USSoccer]

I'm so angry I waited however many hours to watch that joke.

 

Bruce Arena coached that game like it was a CONCACAF qualifier, or a Gold Cup game. Inexcusable lineup, idiotic substitutions. To not start Dempsey was bad enough, but to never bring him on when it was clear that your team suffers from some sort of brain freeze when it comes to breaking down a packed attacking third is just insane. Just freakin' idiotic. You don't leave your most creative offensive player on the bench the entire game when you managed to get ONE shot on goal and ONE other pseudo opportunity. You can't play the Czechs without your best players on the field.

 

Josh Wolff must be like the Neifi Perez of the National Team. He's done nothing since 2001, but somehow stays on the roster and got in the game ahead of far more deserving players.

 

Eddie Pope is fulfilling my Jeff Agoos comparision, but both Pope and Gooch sucked today. Gooch gave up on Rosicky's 3rd goal, and both of them needed to be slapped after Koller's. Just crap. The defense needed to be much sharper, and they incomprehensibly looked a step slow the entire time. We were lucky not to lose by 4 or 5.

 

Beasley needs to be benched, and not play again this WC. I'm dead serious. He hasn't done a thing in a year now, and between he and Convey our wings were useless. Our attack was far slower than it needed to be given our incapability to break down their defense (thank you Reyna for slowing our offense down). I'd take my chances with Dempsey and a 80% O'Brien over Beasley and Convey any day.

 

We looked terrible. Just terrible. I could have lived with a loss, but that was pathetic. We looked the worst we've looked in at least 6 years, and at the worst possible time. No one played well at all, and Arena didn't coach well.

 

Now we have to beat Italy and Ghana if we want to guarantee an advance, which means we just screwed ourselves, because the way we looked today we're going home in 10 days.

 

This is the most dissapointed I've been since September of 2004.

[lowest]

I'm so angry I waited however many hours to watch that joke.

 

Bruce Arena coached that game like it was a CONCACAF qualifier, or a Gold Cup game. Inexcusable lineup, idiotic substitutions. To not start Dempsey was bad enough, but to never bring him on when it was clear that your team suffers from some sort of brain freeze when it comes to breaking down a packed attacking third is just insane. Just freakin' idiotic. You don't leave your most creative offensive player on the bench the entire game when you managed to get ONE shot on goal and ONE other pseudo opportunity. You can't play the Czechs without your best players on the field.

 

bruce's quotes after the game (speaking of, i dunno if anyone read beasleys, but im even more pissed with him after reading those) were criticizing landon and others for not being aggressive enough, and said something to the extent of "at least convey tried to run at defenders". it makes it even harder to understand why he didnt put clint in. hes the only one bold enough to try stuff, but he'll still run his socks off if it doesnt work. i wonder about bruce's sanity if the first name that comes to mind when someone says "fearless creative attacking flair" is josh friggin wolff. he has to put faith in clint- hell, he cant do much worse than dmb or convey. if dempsey doesnt start after arenas comments, i will be completely baffled.

[USSoccer]

I'm so angry I waited however many hours to watch that joke.

 

Bruce Arena coached that game like it was a CONCACAF qualifier, or a Gold Cup game. Inexcusable lineup, idiotic substitutions. To not start Dempsey was bad enough, but to never bring him on when it was clear that your team suffers from some sort of brain freeze when it comes to breaking down a packed attacking third is just insane. Just freakin' idiotic. You don't leave your most creative offensive player on the bench the entire game when you managed to get ONE shot on goal and ONE other pseudo opportunity. You can't play the Czechs without your best players on the field.

 

bruce's quotes after the game (speaking of, i dunno if anyone read beasleys, but im even more pissed with him after reading those) were criticizing landon and others for not being aggressive enough, and said something to the extent of "at least convey tried to run at defenders". it makes it even harder to understand why he didnt put clint in. hes the only one bold enough to try stuff, but he'll still run his socks off if it doesnt work. i wonder about bruce's sanity if the first name that comes to mind when someone says "fearless creative attacking flair" is josh friggin wolff. he has to put faith in clint- hell, he cant do much worse than dmb or convey. if dempsey doesnt start after arenas comments, i will be completely baffled.

 

Praising Convey's game is a joke. It's not like he was creating any problems for the Czechs today. EVERYONE sucked. It was as if they time warped back to 1998.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Glad I didn't get to watch that traveshamockery of a game.

 

How bad was Totti's re-injury?

[adamb0719]

Beasley has 45 minutes to get it going before Dempsey begins to get loose. Hope he breaks out like he is more than capable of.

 

I missed the game today. How did Beasley do?

Read the last two pages. dmb = DeMarcus Beasley = not exactly collecting the compliments

 

I played HS soccer with him, and really wanted to see him play today

So did the rest of America.

Yea, I saw all of that after I posted my question. Didn't have time to go back and edit my original post.

 

The rest of America played their youth soccer with him as well, or they all wanted to see him play?

[Outshined_One]

Ahhhhhh, the wonders of having 10 Spanish language channels at your disposal.

 

That Italy-Ghana was even worse than I originally thought. Italy was shoving Ghana's guys all over the pitch and they did it in an annoying, yet somewhat clever way. When they go to throw up their arms to show they weren't engaging in handplay, on the way up they give guys a shove in the back, letting the opposing guy's momentum take care of itself.

 

It's kind of sneaky, but if the refs even bother to watch the games, they will get nailed more and more for it as the tournament goes on.

[Guest]

One of the things I absolutely love and hate about soccer:

 

Guys who get stretchered off the field...then roll right off the stretcher and go running back onto the field full speed within a matter of moments.

Yeah, I just watched part of the replay of today's US game and it's the first soccer game I've ever really watched. I've gotta ask: how much time a game does each player spend writhing on the ground in "pain" trying to draw a foul, only to pop back up like nothing happened when none is called? (Or even if it is called.) I think I've seen less hammy performances in pro wrestling matches.

[sethuel1]

One of the things I absolutely love and hate about soccer:

 

Guys who get stretchered off the field...then roll right off the stretcher and go running back onto the field full speed within a matter of moments.

Yeah, I just watched part of the replay of today's US game and it's the first soccer game I've ever really watched. I've gotta ask: how much time a game does each player spend writhing on the ground in "pain" trying to draw a foul, only to pop back up like nothing happened when none is called? (Or even if it is called.) I think I've seen less hammy performances in pro wrestling matches.

 

Um, there's a lot of that. Especially when pavel nedved is playing.

[sethuel1]

OK, I'm not going to rehash my thoughts on the game that much, since everyone else pretty much said what needed to be said. Just a couple things:

 

Lewis and Convey on the left obviously provides no defensive coverage whatsoever.

 

Gooch was immasculated by the early yellow card and was tentative for the rest of the game.

 

Landon Donovan sucks. Beasley hasn't played well since the qualifier vs. Mexico last September.

 

I was pleasantly surprised with EJ.

 

The fact that Bruce lumped Wolff in with EJ as "doing well" in the press conference makes me want to vomit.

 

 

 

Now, looking forward to Italy...

 

Did you guys see the midfield play in the Italy-Ghana game? We're gonna get eaten alive by both midfields unless somone plays way over their head. And italy was missing Gattuso, too. Could be even worse.

 

Toni is just a fantastic striker. Didn't score today, but generated a number of scoring chances, including the one he put off the bar where he created a chance out of thin air, really. And he's always, ALWAYS available. He's got an amazing workrate.

 

Totti is fine, and he's gonna be a huge handful. Our defense doesn't have good recovery speed, and his threaded passes are going to create big problems.

 

I was at least happy that Gilardino was looking like crap, because we'd only have one in-form striker to deal with. Then Iaquinta stepped up and looked pretty good. I didn't think his one run was offside, either, so he could've easily had 2. He'll probably start against us.

 

And one more thing about Ghana: they'll never get the penalty calls with those ridiculous pirouette-type dives in the box.

[soccer10k]

Now we have to beat Italy and Ghana if we want to guarantee an advance, which means we just screwed ourselves, because the way we looked today we're going home in 10 days.

 

Not to burst your bubble, but even if we beat Italy and Ghana, we might not advance. Let's just say that everybody in the group beats Ghana. If we beat Italy but Italy beats Czech Republic, all three would end up with 6 points. Then it would come down to goal differential. Considering the fact that we are already -3 on GD, we are in some serious trouble.

[Outshined_One]

One of the things I absolutely love and hate about soccer:

 

Guys who get stretchered off the field...then roll right off the stretcher and go running back onto the field full speed within a matter of moments.

Yeah, I just watched part of the replay of today's US game and it's the first soccer game I've ever really watched. I've gotta ask: how much time a game does each player spend writhing on the ground in "pain" trying to draw a foul, only to pop back up like nothing happened when none is called? (Or even if it is called.) I think I've seen less hammy performances in pro wrestling matches.

 

The Columbians have it down to an artform. In this tournament, Argentina and Italy have been quite good at it thus far.

[USSoccer]

Now we have to beat Italy and Ghana if we want to guarantee an advance, which means we just screwed ourselves, because the way we looked today we're going home in 10 days.

 

Not to burst your bubble, but even if we beat Italy and Ghana, we might not advance. Let's just say that everybody in the group beats Ghana. If we beat Italy but Italy beats Czech Republic, all three would end up with 6 points. Then it would come down to goal differential. Considering the fact that we are already -3 on GD, we are in some serious trouble.

 

If we win our remaining games the GD is sure to change to at least -1. If Italy beats the Czech Republic theirs is sure to change as well.

 

Best Case=US wins out, Ghana beats Czechs and loses to the US, Italy loses to us and beats the Czechs. Italy 6, US 6, Ghana 3, Czech 3.

 

Middle Case=US wins out, Czechs win out. US & CZR both with 6, Italy with 3, Ghana with 0.

 

Uh-Oh=US wins out, Italy loses to the US but beats CZR, Ghana lose out. We must win both games by 2+ and Czechs must lose to Italy by 2+ OR if US beat ITA by 2 or more, ITA must beat Czechs by no more than 1, then US finish 2nd due to head to head vs ITA because goal differental is +1 for both, assuming the US don't beat Ghana by more than 2.

 

Worst Case: US tie ITA and beat Ghana, CZR win out. US must beat Ghana by at least 4 and ITA must lose to CZR by at least 2.

 

Super Choke Job Case: US lose out. USSoccer is depressed.

 

Basically, we no longer can win the group-and we no longer control our destiny-unless we absolutely go on a scoring rampage, which is unlikely.

 

The most optimistic I can be is that since the Czechs lost at least 1 player for the rest of the Cup yesterday, they may be vulnerable, so it's not out of the question that they could lose out. What may be out of the question is out ability to win out. Best I can see is us scratcing a 1 goal win against Italy and going into the Ghana game needed to win by at least2 and possibly more, depending on the Ghana-CZR game.

 

What a nightmare start. Losing by 3 really puts us in a bind.

[UMFan83]

Man I hate how ESPN Radio reports World Cup games - "Togo leads Korea 1-0 with 3 minutes remaining in the first half" How bout saying it the correct way, in the 43rd minute.

[sethuel1]

The entire ESPN/ABC coverage has been a joke in every way.

[Banedon]

Man I hate how ESPN Radio reports World Cup games - "Togo leads Korea 1-0 with 3 minutes remaining in the first half" How bout saying it the correct way, in the 43rd minute.

 

Because most US people don't follow sports that way. I'm far from a soccer buff, and if you told me that it was the 43rd minute, I'd say "So how long do they play again?"

[USSoccer]

The best thing that might come out of the US v CZR game:

 

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=370957&cc=5901

 

 

The United States' disappointing 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic on Monday in their World Cup opener might have cost them the services of defender Eddie Pope, too.

 

 

Pope might have broken his left hand during the second half, according to a report in The Dallas Morning News. Pope hurt his hand or thumb while challenging the Czech Republic's Pavel Nedved.

 

As bas as he looked, I can't say this is a bad thing.

[Jon]

Pope is supposed to play regardless, I believe.

 

If those cheese heads were French fans, I'm really rooting against them.

[Marco4]

I'm torn.

 

I'm a massive Frank Ribery fan, but I like a few of the Swiss players, too - Daniel Gygax especially.

 

However, as Gygax doesn't start, I'll go France.... for now.

[USSoccer]

FWIW, Arena said he's going to make "tactical" changes for Saturday. I can only hope that means that Dempsey starts on the same side as Cherundolo, and O'Brien starts on the same side as Lewis.

 

In fact, I'd play a 3-5-2 with Reyna, Mastro, Donovan, Dempsey & O'Brien in the middle and EJ and McBride up front.

 

Certainly, though, as Seth mentioned Arena can't have Lewis and Convey on the same side. Defensively they were atrocious, which is hilarious since the only possible explanation behind Convey over Dempsey is defense.

 

Also, set pieces have to be better. How many times did they play a set piece short only to have it played eventually all the way back? I'd much rather see every single set piece within 35 yards of goal go goalwards. Make opposing defenses defend McBride and Johnson in the 18.

 

Italy can be beaten. Maybe this beatdown by the Czechs wakes our guys up, and they rally and play with a bit of inspiration, since they're playing for their tournament lives.

[Jon]

Wow.

 

Perfectly timed, though.

[soccer10k]

Wow.

 

Perfectly timed, though.

 

Are you referring to the Swiss set piece where the deflection went off the post? That was so close. Should've had a goal there though.

[Marco4]

#-o - Ribery? Any confidence?