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

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.

 

Posted about 2 paragraphs and lost it but damn, all I can say now is that just sucked.

 

And if a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump it's ass a hoppin'!

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

I agree with that 100%.

 

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.

 

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.