2010 World Cup Thread

[USSoccer]

Oh, and maybe I'm wrong here, but did Howard make a single good save during the World Cup? Against England, maybe, but that's 3 games in a row where he had to deal with 1-2 good chances and couldn't make the difference in either of them.

 

No, I thought he was average. Maybe Heskey hurt him worse than they let on, but he was pedestrian. The first goal today-Demerit took away the far post, he just didn't position himself well. The 2nd Slovenian goal, he didn't make himself very big.

 

Ghana had three opportunities today, and Howard made one save on the counter in the 1st half. That was it.

 

With our backline leaking goals, we needed him to be better, and he wasn't up to the task.

 

Also, a healthy Gooch deals with that cheap ass long ball that led to the winner. So frustrating.

 

Finally, out of pure spite I want England and Mexico both to lose, and lose badly tomorrow.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The Throw absolves Howard of a lot, imo.

[Guest]

Finally, out of pure spite I want England and Mexico both to lose, and lose badly tomorrow.

 

God yes. Especially Mexico (probably because I live in LA).

[bukie]

There's a halfway decent chance all 4 of the semifinalists will be South American teams between Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay (granted, Paraguay would have to beat Japan and upset Spain, but Spain hasn't exactly looked amazing the last week).

[Guest]

Sigh...nope, still pissed about soccer. *expletive*.

 

Same here. It's not necessarily that they lost in the second round. That's where I expected them to go out (albeit against Germany). It's not even so much how they lost (though that's bothering me quite a bit). It's that they're likely to never have an easier group, and really really likely to never have an easier path to the semifinals. Just can't help but feel they let a golden opportunity pass by.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

We might have gotten boned over by the refs and had two goals disallowed but that was made up for by the fact that everything that possibly could have gone right for us in terms of the draw, did.

[Guest]

How much of an impact do you guys expect Landon (at 32) and Clint (at 31) to have in the 2014 Cup? I don't know very much about the youth we have coming up to know whether those two could or would get passed up by 2014, as it's highly unlikely either will be better in 2014 than they are now.

[wolf stansson]

How much of an impact do you guys expect Landon (at 32) and Clint (at 31) to have in the 2014 Cup? I don't know very much about the youth we have coming up to know whether those two could or would get passed up by 2014, as it's highly unlikely either will be better in 2014 than they are now.

Impossible to tell. There are plenty of great players at that age like Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack etc that make up for physical deterioration with experience and mental mastery. Because of that I think Clint will still be effective enough to be a key player near what he is now. Landon I'm not as sure because of his size. By then Stuart Holden will be in his prime and serving in killer crosses from the right wing and taking all the dead balls. Who knows what will happen in four years.

[wvcbxl]

Also, the finishing again was atrocious.

 

ghana had maybe 3 or 4 good chances and potted two of them

 

That was exactly the problem with the US performance - at this level, you need to put away a higher % of the chances that you get.

 

And as far as the time wasting goes: yes, it annoys me to no end, and some teams (like Ghana) go way over the top, but it's a stretch to say that the US team wouldn't waste time if they needed to hang on to a lead. Of course, that's impossible to tell one way or the other based on this WC.

[USSoccer]

How much of an impact do you guys expect Landon (at 32) and Clint (at 31) to have in the 2014 Cup? I don't know very much about the youth we have coming up to know whether those two could or would get passed up by 2014, as it's highly unlikely either will be better in 2014 than they are now.

Impossible to tell. There are plenty of great players at that age like Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack etc that make up for physical deterioration with experience and mental mastery. Because of that I think Clint will still be effective enough to be a key player near what he is now. Landon I'm not as sure because of his size. By then Stuart Holden will be in his prime and serving in killer crosses from the right wing and taking all the dead balls. Who knows what will happen in four years.

 

Voros McCracken over at BigSoccer does a top100 list at the end/beginning of every cycle. Here are his top 33 midfielders for 2014:

 

1. Landon Donovan, 32, Los Angeles Galaxy

2. Michael Bradley, 27, Borussia Munchengladbach

3. Clint Dempsey, 31, Fulham

4. Jose Torres, 27, Pachuca

5. Maurice Edu, 28, Rangers

6. Stuart Holden, 29, Bolton Wanderers

7. Benny Feilhaber, 29, AGF Aarhus

8. Freddy Adu, 25, Benfica

9. Alejandro Bedoya, 27, Orebro SK

10. Geoff Cameron, 29, Houston Dynamo

11. Ricardo Clark, 31, Eintracht Frankfurt

12. Sebastian Lletget, 22, West Ham United

13. Luis Gil, 21, Real Salt Lake

14. Michael Stephens, 25, Los Angeles Galaxy

15. Sacha Kljestan, 29, Anderlecht

16. Jermaine Jones, 33, FC Schalke

17. Robbie Rogers, 27, Columbus Crew

18. Brad Evans, 29, Seattle Sounders

19. DaMarcus Beasley, 32, No Club

20. Michael Hoyos, 23, Estudiantes La Plata

21. Alex Zahavi, 23, Sporting Lisbon

22. Dax McCarty, 27, FC Dallas

23. Eddie Gaven, 28, Columbus Crew

24. Mikkel Diskerud, 24, Stabaek

25. Danny Cruz, 23, Houston Dynamo

26. Marco Vidal, 28, Pachuca

27. Blair Gavin, 25, Chivas USA

28. Lester Dewee, 22, Olympique de Marseilles

29. Brad Davis, 33, Houston Dynamo

30. Jared Jeffrey, 24, FSV Mainz

31. Baggio Husidic, 27, Chicago Fire

32. Sal Zizzo, 27, Hannover 96

33. Andrew Oliver, 20, Westside United

 

Remember that some guys will come out of nowhere and some guys will fall off a cliff. Our midfield will be ok. Its our backline and keepers that are concerning.

[TruffleShuffle]

wretched coverage downfield by england

[USSoccer]

hahahaha suck it John Terry

[Guest]

wretched coverage downfield by england

 

If James stays out like he was originally, he could have easily picked up the ball before Klose got there also.

[Billy_Buck]

vertical game

[Butterscup1679666578]

Man Klose just finds ways to get the ball in the net. What a stud.

[TruffleShuffle]

lollllllll

[Butterscup1679666578]

that was pretty. great extra pass

[Guest]

Considering how horrible England has looked in the tournament, this isn't too surprising.

 

If you can't beat Algeria, how the hell are you going to beat Germany?

[Billy_Buck]

LOL!

 

England's response to the first goal showing what they're made of, indeed.

[OleMissCub]

http://www.mediaite.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/front062710.jpg

[Butterscup1679666578]

[expletive]

[Butterscup1679666578]

holy crap

[Guest]

That ball looked like it was in.

 

It was. Easily.

Edited June 27, 2010 by soccer10k

[Butterscup1679666578]

clearly in. wow

[hawkeyecub]

I can't recall ever seeing the U.S. score a goal in the World Cup through a series of awesome passes and movement like Germany's 2nd goal.

[Guest]

Hey FIFA, it sure is a good thing we don't have those two officials standing on the goal like like the Europa League did this year, isn't it? It's not like that would have mattered or anything.