US v Portugal

Dempsey to the front. Zusi for Altidore. The rest of the lineup:

Tim Howard
D: Fabian Johnson, Geoff Cameron, Matt Besler, DaMarcus Beasley
Mid: Kyle Beckerman, Jermaine Jones, Michael Bradley, Alejandro Bedoya, Graham Zusi
F: Clint Dempsey

 

Pretty good one from The Guardian's Graham Parker before this one kicks off:

 

Da-yum. We can still qualify but that hurts. :angry-banghead:

 

I think I'm gonna be sick....again.

 

The match was there for the taking. The tactics were good and the US should have advanced today so I sincerely hope they can recover from the last second gut punch to get a result against Germany. I truly believe we will need one more point because I think Ghana is going to rip Portugal's defense apart when Portugal are forced to press forward trying to make up their negative goal differential.

Overall I thought the performance, minus three glaring errors, was terrific.

Dempsey, Jones, Beckerman, Howard, Johnson, Beasley and Besler were outstanding.

Bradley could have been man of the match but for missed opportunities.

Cameron began and ended the match terribly but played well in between.

Zusi had a luke warm performance and Bedoya put in the most invisible performance I can recall from him.

Wondo and Yedlin were great in thier substitution roles but if Gonzalez was subbed in to deal with aerial threats why wasn't he even in the picture on the last cross or did I just miss him?

 

I understand why you would bring Gonzalez on in that situation. But the problem is..is the back line 100% sure of their responsibilities? You've got Besler and Cameron out there for 90 minutes knowing where the other guy is going to be, and then you bring in a third CB. That's just asking for confusion.

 

I dont usually press on post mortems.. but, Well, shit happens. Looked at it a couple times..
{I have a niece who's played all her life, including college, and she blames the breakdown in midfield!!!} What/!!!!

* This is freaking Portugal we were playing, not some team from loser federation!!!
* The way that ball was placed it could have well been an own goal. Coverage was great.
* 4 of 5 times, Tim blocks it, 9 of 10 Friedel would have... ball was headed only place it could have been, given it was by a skilled player.

just bad luck in a way, In a way Portugal got a break.. the kind you get by being a really good team

 

I'm very concerned that this scenario would result in Ghana eliminating us for the third cup in a row.

 

Sac, I'm with you 100%. I'm extremely worried about Thursday still. I'm surprised more people aren't coming down on Cameron. He led directly to both goals. I did have it as 2-2 going into the match, but I was really ok missing that one! Oh well, back on American soil so hopefully Thursday goes just a bit better!

 

It's taken a good 2 days to even want to talk about, but spot on about Cameron. The first was a fluke, but for the life of me I'll never know why he slowed at the top of the box. It will probably haunt his nightmares for years to come.

 

Ok, why the hell do you put in 3 centerbacks and have them all up the pitch in the closing seconds? Why the hell isn't Gonzalez or Besler sitting outside the box to defend against exactly what happened? That is poor organization and tactics. I could keep ranting but I'm more concerned with Ze Germans.