THE REVENGE MATCH: U.S.A. v. Ghana

Discussion in 'Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International' started by WhitesBhoy, Jun 23, 2010.

  1. BC

    BC New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2006
    Location:
    Decatur, IL
    Just think though, if our defending were just a little better in the first 15 minutes, we'd be 4-0 and in a semifinal. We were very close to unprecedented success in the World Cup.
     
    #41
  2. SteveM19

    SteveM19 New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2007
    Location:
    Cleveland OH
    Posted about 2 paragraphs and lost it :oops: but damn, all I can say now is that just sucked.
     
    #42
  3. WhitesBhoy

    WhitesBhoy Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2008
    Location:
    The Beach, For Now
    And if a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump it's ass a hoppin'!
     
    #43
  4. FulhamAg

    FulhamAg New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2008
    Location:
    San Antonio, Texas
    For England, you are right. For our talent and experience (in many critical positions) it's not bad. Especially considering it should have been 2 wins, 1 draw and a loss. And that loss was in Africa, against the lone remaining African team, and wasn't lost until extra time.
     
    #44
  5. Lyle

    Lyle New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2007
    I hope Bob Bradley stays on as coach. He had a great World Cup and qualifying campaign.

    We had what looked like a nice path to the semis. I think we could have handled Uruguay or Korea. Ghana was not a team I was real happy to be playing. Obviously they have some serious talent that can damage you... and they did. Good effort from our guys though. They can fly home with pride. If England, France, and Italy had only half the character of the American players... they'd win more World Cups probably.
     
    #45
  6. sullytex

    sullytex Member

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2008
    Location:
    Houston, TX
    All in all it the American performance in this WC was positive, likely because my expectations are fairly low. Our defense is weak and we don't have any quality scorers up front and that is were we got exposed and why we lost to Ghana. There were two instance I think in the Germany/England game that were similar to the US one v one's and the difference... the Germans got two goals.

    The goal that was scored after Rico was dispossessed was just horrible. You can't let a guy walk right into the penalty box and get a shot off, period. Someone should have met him a few yards earlier and if it looked like he was going to get around you, time for a professional foul. The second on the long ball in, the dude from Ghana wanted it more, he got it, and then stuck it in the net. It was poorly defended all the way around. On a very good Tim Howard day, he stops both of those but we can't rely on Timmy having a monster game every game.

    What irked me the most and left a bad taste in my mouth was after the second Ghana goal they lost the plot. What was with the long ball? We had 25 minutes left and they were acting like there was 2. If they would have played smart soccer up to the end, then it would have been a bit easier to swallow. Just hate that we finished that way. We did not have a good game and Ghana deserved to move on. We had patches were we looked good but for only about 20-25 minutes.

    Thank God we won the group. Would have hated to see what ZGermans would have done to us.

    I think the team has heart, they overcame some horrible refereeing to win the group (and basically guarantee an early England exit), and basically played their asses off. I do feel that this was a huge opportunity to make a run at the quarters. Lets hope that the talent gap continues to close and next time, we prevent one of those goals and/or convert one of the opportunities.
     
    #46
  7. pettyfog

    pettyfog Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2005
    C'mon... you cant posit that if the US had got GER that we would have lost bigger than ENG did. OR that ENG would have beat Ghana.

    Doing that suggests that ENG is on about the same level as Australia. But then how woould they beat Ghana"

    Each game stands alone.
    Actually I believe that, on intangibles, we would have kept a lower scoreline against Ger and held on to the end.
     
    #47
  8. sullytex

    sullytex Member

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2008
    Location:
    Houston, TX
    Well Petty we can agree to disagree. England got exposed at the front and the back which is what I think our main problems are and last I checked, the Germans are much more talented than Ghana. I don't know what the final score would be, maybe not a 4 - 1 drubbing, but I am sure they would have easily handled the US. That is my posit and I am sticking to it.
     
    #48
  9. Lyle

    Lyle New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2007
    I think we could have beaten the Germans actually. I wouldn't have minded playing them. Better team to eliminate from the tournament as well.

    I think the last 25 minutes was simply too much for our guys. They were running on fumes and didn't have it in them to play the way they wanted to play. They are only human after all.
     
    #49
  10. sullytex

    sullytex Member

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2008
    Location:
    Houston, TX
    Lyle, agree to disagree as well. I could maybe understand the last 10 minutes or so of running out of gas. But they resorted to the long ball more or less immediately after the goal and there was a lot of soccer yet to be played.

    Let me ask you this question, would you have rather played Germany or Ghana? For me, there was no way I wanted any part of Germany in this round. And I am not implying that I thought Ghana wasn't a strong opponent. It doesn't really matter I guess, the US are on a plane home.
     
    #50
  11. BarryP

    BarryP New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 20, 2007
    Location:
    Evansville, Indiana
    I agree with that 100%.
     
    #51
  12. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2006
    Location:
    Peoples Republic of South Texas
    well, I just finished watching the match -- my DVR cut off right after what turned out to be the winning goal. Here's some observations.

    If the match had ended at 90 minutes, I don't think any neutral observer would have thought anything but that a draw was deserved. Ghana looked very sharp and it wasn't until Feilhaber came on at half time for Findley that we looked like we belonged with them. The second half was ours, but it's a measure of how good Ghana is that both Dempsey and Donovan had excellent performances and we still lost.

    Barry, et. al. I didn't see the last 25 minutes of extra time, so I can't comment on that stretch, but here's some impressions.

    Howard had an average day. He had one good distribution, and I thought that -- on most days -- there's no need for extra time because he handles Boateng's first half strike pretty easily.

    The back four did another good job. Bornstein had two solid defensive matches in a row. I am officially getting off his back with this post. It's amazing how some players can turn in their best efforts when the pressure is really on, and Jonathan did that in South Africa. Boca had a good tourney, Demerit gave us every limited thing he had, and Cherundolo was our most consistently quality performer over the four matches.

    Edu and Bradley are, by far, our best central partnership -- I felt that during qualification, and I'm sure of it now. Now that he makes his living in Europe, I think that Ricardo won't get many more starts. Feilhaber and Holden look to be jousting for the Second-half-sub-when-Dempsey-becomes-the-second-striker position. They're both very talented, but it was a case of horses for courses. If we had a striker who was dominant in the air -- like McBride, for instance -- I think that you'd have seen more of HOlden and less of Feilhaber.

    Special note for Dempsey and Donovan -- I think both have stepped up into World Class status with this tourney. There's going to be a lot of money waved at these guys, and they deserved it. Clint, by the way, was the best player on the pitch Saturday for my money. Class for the 95 minutes I watched.

    Jozy had another monster 2nd half, and almost converted a great goal. Similarly, his layoff earlier showed that he has developed some maturity. Given a partner he could work off -- Charlie Davies is that man -- he might have been Golden Boot material. But here's the thing, the raw kid with the stone body and stone feet who didn't demonstrate any ability to lay off the ball or involve his teammates, is now the man who is a complete striker. He didn't score, but he scared the crap out of everyone.

    As for the other strikers: Findley had the most opportunities and made the least of them. He made some penetrating runs about midway through the first half and then faded again. If he's our #1 replacement for CD9, we're in trouble. Gomez impressed me in all his performances. He could easily have scored twice in his one start, and shook things up in his late closer role twice. I'd like to think he'd be in any squad claled up in fall 2010 and beyond. Buddle? I don't know what happened in the locker room or on the training pitch, but Bob brought the guy to SA because he was THE in-form striker ... he scored twice in our last warmup, and then hardly played at all.

    Speaking of Bob. Once again, his substitutions turned the game around. I don't understand why he didn't start Buddle and Edu instead of Findley and Clark, but if Robbie had converted one of those two chances, and had Howard saved Boateng's shot, neither would have been that big a thing. I think he's the best national team coach we've had, PERIOD. I believe we should keep him if he wants to stay.

    A good match and a good tournement.

    Go Black Stars and John Paintsil
     
    #52
  13. FulhamAg

    FulhamAg New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2008
    Location:
    San Antonio, Texas
    Complete striker is overstated as he still has a ways to go, especially in regard to finishing. But he's what, 20? He's made some good progress and should be a beast in the future. Hopefully this World Cup improves where he lands this season.
     
    #53
  14. EricD

    EricD New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2007
    Location:
    Newport Beach, CA
    Once I saw Clark in the starting lineup, I sort of mailed it in. I can recall telling my friend about Clark on the phone before he came over, and he did not believe me. Then the lineup was came on the screen for him to see, and he said, "No no no no no no no no! WHY???!!!!" I just shook my head.

    I am still bummed overall though. It is pretty amazing that so many were thinking that starting Findley and Clark was a bad idea once the lineup was released, and unfortunately we were right.

    Overall, I thought Coach BB did a much better job in this WC than he has in all the matches leading up to this tournament (although I still do not understand the Rico start again, and I probably never will no matter what is told to me). He actually used his subs in meaningful points of the different matches. It was driving me nuts when a clear change needed to be made (prior to the WC), and he was waiting until the 78th minute. So, I was happy about that.
     
    #54
Similar Threads: REVENGE MATCH
Forum Title Date
Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International Revenge: Guatemala sticks it to Mexico, then breaks it off Mar 17, 2008
Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International Pulisic's last match May 18, 2019
Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International Budweiser Man of the Match award Jun 18, 2010
Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International First 16 Matches Awards Jun 16, 2010
Prem talk, Those Other Leagues, and International WC: All but US matches Jun 12, 2010

Share This Page