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WC - Round of 16, USA vs Ghana (Sat 2:30 ET, ABC)

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sepia5;1723302; said:
Ok, I'll have a go at it. How about fucking rooting for your country? Seriously, you're post does get under my skin. Whether you like soccer or not, this is the world's sport and our guys--who are not the best athletes this country produces--went out there and fought against the best athletes in the world, overcame adversity, and lost to a team that, in reality, was probably just about as good as any other. We can differ on politics, religion, etc., etc., etc. But at least have a little tact and don't openly gloat about a loss suffered on such a great stage by your fellow countrymen. Your post makes me sick.
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Cry me a fucking river.
 
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sepia5 said:
Ok, I'll have a go at it. How about fucking rooting for your country? Seriously, you're post does get under my skin. Whether you like soccer or not, this is the world's sport and our guys--who are not the best athletes this country produces--went out there and fought against the best athletes in the world, overcame adversity, and lost to a team that, in reality, was probably just about as good as ours, if not better. We can differ on politics, religion, etc., etc., etc. But at least have a little tact and don't openly gloat about a loss suffered on such a great stage by your fellow countrymen. Your post makes me sick.
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tools like him aren't worth it. just leave it alone.

some people get off on their country performing well on sports biggest stage. some people get off on the easier and more pathetic path of annoying other people.
 
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TRON 2.0;1723298; said:
Sorry, but it's fucking soccer. 98% of us could give a shit less and I am glad it is over for America.

I know some you like and play soccer, so rip into my post all you want. :biggrin:

GOOOAAAAALLLLL!
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Yeah, and Olympic hockey is fucking hockey, but I still want the U.S. to kick ass. Pretty sure you can be arrested by Homeland Security right now.
 
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I was really pulling for the team today but this was a big loss for American soccer. It was the first opportunity for the American casual sports fan to watch a game and feel like they were a part of the action and the team lays an egg. Furthermore, the ref played into the angst of the non-soccer fan with allowing the dives and time delays.
To say they played the best athletes in the world is a stretch. I would say US soccer is like northwestern, ghana like purdue, and the best athletes in the world play for football for the likes of Ohio State.....the best athletes in soccer play for spain, brazil, italy.
 
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greyscarlet;1723315; said:
I was really pulling for the team today but this was a big loss for American soccer. It was the first opportunity for the American casual sports fan to watch a game and feel like they were a part of the action and the team lays an egg. Furthermore, the ref played into the angst of the non-soccer fan with allowing the dives and time delays.
To say they played the best athletes in the world is a stretch. I would say US soccer is like northwestern, ghana like purdue, and the best athletes in the world play for football for the likes of Ohio State.....the best athletes in soccer play for spain, brazil, italy.
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I actually think the ref was great today. Yes, there were a few dives he went for at the end, and the biggest mistake, to my mind, was only putting 3 minutes of extra time on the clock at the end, when 4-5 were clearly warranted, but it wasn't a poorly called match.

I think you're selling Ghana short on their talent, to a certain extent. To be sure, they aren't quite on par with some of the traditional and continuing powers you referred to--Spain, Brazil, Argentina, etc.--but they produce a fair amount of talent that plays at the highest level in the best of European professional leagues. They've essentially been the best of a continent in soccer for a while now (though the gap isn't that big between they, Ivory Coast, Egypt and Nigeria). In my opinion, Ghana was the team to beat in our grouping of four in the elimination rounds, though all the teams were pretty evenly matched. Understand that they are a toss-up match away from the semi-finals of the World Cup. That's elite company.

The biggest disappointment to me is once again the way we came out of the gate. It's hard to believe the team we saw in the second half was the same team that was so dominated in the first.
 
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I just read through this whole thread and am a die-hard US soccer fan. I think I've watched every game (qualifier or friendly or WC) the US has played since 2002 and as I look back on this world cup, five things come to mind.

1) Bob Bradley needs to be fired as manager if the US is going to get to the next level. Our lineup in this game was reprehensible and as others have mentioned, he had to use two subs to make up for his own mistakes. Those subs and the awful play of Findley and Clark are why all of the Americans were so gassed at the end of the game - Dempsey, Donovan, and Bradley simply didn't have anything left.

2) I'm stunned that people haven't focused more on the fact that the US is missing two of its 5 best players (Onyewu and Davies). Onyewu clearly was not healthy and not himself. When you don't have a deep team like the US, it is almost impossible to make up for not having both of them.

3) The US has some really good soccer players - Donovan, Dempsey, Howard, Edu, Bradley, Altidore, and even Feilhaber are all really good players. This was by far the best team we have ever fielded, unfortunately we don't have enough good players to really compete at the highest level - see Clark, Bornstein, and Findley.

4) I still don't understand why Feilhaber doesn't start all of the time and why Edson Buddle didn't play more. Buddle was hot and you have to ride your hot players - just like riding a hot goalie.

5) I'd rate the US performance in this world cup as a B because they did win their group and make it out of group play. Everyone who watches a lot of soccer knew that defense was the weak link for the US and crappy defense let us down again and again and again. No matter how resilient you are as a team, you can't keep digging yourself holes when you aren't Brazil or Spain.
 
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DaBears;1723320; said:
2) I'm stunned that people haven't focused more on the fact that the US is missing two of its 5 best players (Onyewu and Davies). Onyewu clearly was not healthy and not himself. When you don't have a deep team like the US, it is almost impossible to make up for not having both of them.
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Amen. We were talking about this at halftime today. Davies had arguably established himself as our best overall player before the accident, and Onyewu was the anchor of our defense before his injury, and our best player out of the air. One of the big differences between us and the Germans, who march on and who I believe will beat the Brits tomorrow, is quality depth.
 
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sepia5;1723319; said:
I actually think the ref was great today. Yes, there were a few dives he went for at the end, and the biggest mistake, to my mind, was only putting 3 minutes of extra time on the clock at the end, when 4-5 were clearly warranted, but it wasn't a poorly called match.

I think you're selling Ghana short on their talent, to a certain extent. To be sure, they aren't quite on par with some of the traditional and continuing powers you referred to--Spain, Brazil, Argentina, etc.--but they produce a fair amount of talent that plays at the highest level in the best of European professional leagues. They've essentially been the best of a continent in soccer for a while now (though the gap isn't that big between they, Ivory Coast, Egypt and Nigeria). In my opinion, Ghana was the team to beat in our grouping of four in the elimination rounds, though all the teams were pretty evenly matched. Understand that they are a toss-up match away from the semi-finals of the World Cup. That's elite company.

The biggest disappointment to me is once again the way we came out of the gate. It's hard to believe the team we saw in the second half was the same team that was so dominated in the first.
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I generally agree the game was well reffed, but great is a stretch in that he didn't penalize ghana for the dives. Not terrible but it falls right into the hands of what non soccer fans dislike about soccer (not that it should impact how the ref calls the game).

We'll have to agree to disagree on who ghana would be in the world of college football. I guess my perspective was that ghana has come nowhere near a cup and generally the best athletes in the world would be able to prove it on a world stage. To say they are elite because they are the best in our grouping of 4 is iffy, as we probably were in the weakest grouping of four.

I was really looking forward to a win and casual fans starting to buy in to the sport. I have a feeling the sport will remain at the same level of interest it has over the last 4 to 12 years in America. A win or two more would have created significant interest.
 
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I'd rate the US performance in this world cup as a B because they did win their group and make it out of group play.
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That's the great thing about group play. Witness this would be commentary in the waning minutes of our game against the weakest team in the group:

"It looks like the US is going home. Oh yes, the US is going home. Certainly the US is going home. Wait.... What's this? They've scored a goal! The US wins the group!"
 
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