World Cup 2006 in Germany

[2GOLD 0]

The slow moving USA left and a surprisingly fast, fundmentally sound team USA showed up to score a goal.

Hopefully that team stays and the turtle speed squad I've seen before this moment will stay gone.

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

USA! USA! Soccer is dead in the USA!

[naiwf 0]

That was a beautiful pass and an even better shot. The defense has been terrible on both goals, and of course the Americans score once that douchebag Reyna isn't on the pitch. He's a bad luck charm.

 

 

That's yet another bullshit call against the Americans.

[naiwf 0]

USA! USA! Soccer is dead in the USA!

 

2-1 Ghana thanks to the refs. We're not getting 2 more goals.

[2GOLD 0]

Questionable call puts Team USA down 2-1 before the break. I have no idea what the guy did to get called for a penalty kick foul but alright.

 

And Team USA needs a defense. They are absolutely horrible at clearing the ball.

[mike546 0]

It was only a penalty shot because it was a penalty in the box.

 

Still a bullshit call.

[Gert T 0]

Like Dave O'Brien said though, why was the ball not cleared out? Terrible call though.

[2GOLD 0]

Like Dave O'Brien said though, why was the ball not cleared out? Terrible call though.

 

Team USA is just not that good. The announcers can pretend they are, but they just aren't. They are slow, they make horrible decisions on defense, and they usually blow wide open shots when they get them.

 

Team USA deserves to be in the round 16 but as much as Easter Island.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

I say the penalty was a make up call

 

Dempsey was offsides on the goal

[mike546 0]

What the fuck is it with "make up calls"?

 

Alright, the ref MIGHT have made a mistake, but its ridiculous to "make up" that "supposed" mistake by making ANOTHER bad call, that hurts the U.S, when they really did nothing wrong.

[Stephen Joseph 0]

If that was a makeup call, it must have made up for alot of calls. You dont call a makeup penalty IN THE BOX!

[naiwf 0]

So, when an American kicks a dude in the stomach there's not even a whistle, but when nothing happens in the box it's a penalty kick? I can't begin to fathom how this is the most popular game in the world after watching the last two USA matches.

[CanadianChris 0]

So, when an American kicks a dude in the stomach there's not even a whistle, but when nothing happens in the box it's a penalty kick? I can't begin to fathom how this is the most popular game in the world after watching the last two USA matches.

Yeah, it's not like any popular American sport has terrible officiating in the championship round.

 

Oh, wait...

[naiwf 0]

So, when an American kicks a dude in the stomach there's not even a whistle, but when nothing happens in the box it's a penalty kick? I can't begin to fathom how this is the most popular game in the world after watching the last two USA matches.

Yeah, it's not like any popular American sport has terrible officiating in the championship round.

 

Oh, wait...

 

When the NBA Finals are one and done and refs starts making teams play 5 against 4, or 4 against 3, or refs can give a team the equivalent of 40 points because of one infraction, then it would be equal. There's also the matter of this "prestigious" event taking place every 4 years, which makes the horrid officiating that much worse since certain guys will never get a chance to get back.

[naiwf 0]

Ghana deserved to win, but I think once and for all American soccer is dead and will never recover. # 5 in the World my ass. At least we didn't lose 8-0 to Brazil.

[mike546 0]

Landon Donovan is the equivalent of a european hockey player in the NHL whos too scared to go to the net, and be physical, while being soft and is always afraid to shoot the puck.

 

On the otherhand, that Dempsey guy was fucking awesome in all three games.

[2GOLD 0]

Landon Donovan is the equivalent of a european hockey player in the NHL whos too scared to go to the net, and be physical, while being soft and is always afraid to shoot the puck.

 

He got way overhyped. I'm sure he's a good player somewhere, but this year in the World Cup he was nothing. And the announcers shouldn't have been kind to Team USA with that "showing courage" bull. They played way too timid in that second half, they didn't attack strong, they didn't take advantage of the flops when they were given them and just overall didn't play like a team that needed to win to advance. Doing the "good football thing" of kicking the ball out is nice and all, but not when down a goal with five minutes left in a game you must win.

 

So the #2 and the #5 in the World are out.

 

I'm excited about Ghana though, I just love the way they play.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

Well, I guess America can go back to not giving a shit about soccer for another 4 years. Personally, I guess I go with the family roots and start pulling for the Dutch.

[Broward83 0]

Yeah, I agree with CV... being 25% German, I guess I have to root for Germany to hold court and win at home.

 

I fell asleep during the 2nd half of this game, the first half I was up, yelling at the TV and just into the flow of the game. That about all ended after the bullshit PK call. (I see that this year's finish is ranked 4th worst all time on ESPN...ooh, Tommy Smyth calling for Bruce's firing...)

 

Where was I? Oh yeah, the 2nd half was just bollocks of a half, he waited too long to make any decent subs and this craptacular 4-5-1 pretty much shot us in the foot from the get go and penalized us.

 

2010, the Cup goes to South Africa, IIRC. I'd hope to see Adu make the next squad and maybe we can get some of our "up and coming" stars make the squad so that younger legs with some "experience" in the MLS can carry us thru some of the sluggish play we've shown.

[Broward83 0]

So, being honest now... what are the views on US Soccer after this relapse of 98?

 

Does this prove just how much of a joke that the MLS is and that we'll just never make it on a world stage due to a lackluster stateside system?

 

Is this Bruce Arena's last game as coach of US Soccer and if so, does this mean that an overhaul of the team is at hand and some of the older "stars" get booted off?

 

If Bruce stays on, what can we expect from him? We've watched him stay stubborn on his strategies and rip in to his players publicly... so does he change his ways or are we just stuck with Bruce?

[razazteca 0]

Its time to steal the German national coach, he does live in California afterall.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Truly Disappointing

 

However sometimes you need luck on your side. Mexico has played as poorly as the USA but advances because they played in a weak ass group.

 

The USA doesn't have the star player that can carry the team. Hopefully Adu or someone else will be that person for 2010

 

The US needs to hire a more offensive minded coach, like Germany's Klinsmann.

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

It's fair to say US didn't deserve to advance at the expence of Czech and Ghana. If they were in Mexico's place, though, they would have gone through.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

So, being honest now... what are the views on US Soccer after this relapse of 98?

 

Does this prove just how much of a joke that the MLS is and that we'll just never make it on a world stage due to a lackluster stateside system?

 

Is this Bruce Arena's last game as coach of US Soccer and if so, does this mean that an overhaul of the team is at hand and some of the older "stars" get booted off?

 

If Bruce stays on, what can we expect from him? We've watched him stay stubborn on his strategies and rip in to his players publicly... so does he change his ways or are we just stuck with Bruce?

A disappointing showing, but I don't think there's really any blame to be handed out. Like I said before, this is NOT a tournament we were expected to dominate. These are extremely tough teams, and let's not forget that Ghana A. were also fighting for their tournament lives and B. beat the Czech Republic as well.

 

Right now U.S. Soccer is middle of the pack. If a bad showing in the 1998 World Cup didn't kill the sport, this one won't either. I think the team needs a change of scenery (Re: Bruce Arena's ouster).

[2GOLD 0]

It's fair to say US didn't deserve to advance at the expence of Czech and Ghana. If they were in Mexico's place, though, they would have gone through.

 

If Team USA was in the Mexico group, they would still have just one point. USA was outplayed in one game, that was against the Czechs and I think most teams in the World Cup could have outplayed them in the first game the way they looked. They look confused and lost.

 

Team USA played poor defense, they had poor execution in every game, and they just looked extremely sluggish and tenative in every game. While every other team was going balls out trying to make it, Team USA was playing like a team that thought the World Cup starts next month.

 

It was another situation of tons of hype to see something very unimpressive.

[naiwf 0]

Right now U.S. Soccer is middle of the pack. If a bad showing in the 1998 World Cup didn't kill the sport, this one won't either. I think the team needs a change of scenery (Re: Bruce Arena's ouster).

 

No one had the expectations that we would make the Quarters or Semis back then. Our inflated "#5" ranking just goes to show that we still suck and that beating up on CONCACAF teams really means fuck all on the top flight international stage. If the World Cup was annual it wouldn't be a big deal, but Americans in general are going to grow impatient with having to wait 4 years to see us "underachieve" relative to our rankings yet again. Aside from Mexico there's really no one we play frequently who is better than us so we'll still have a lofty ranking by 2010, and we'll still shit the bed because we're just not that good.

[Guest]

I'm glad that people are shitting on US Soccer. That's when they do best.

 

They'll be back. No more Reyna and McBride with the national team is a huge plus. Donovan and Beasley were shit. Arena's gone.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

By the way, this may seem like unneeded bitching and homerism, but I think I've found Ghana's (and that guy Pingpong's) next coach, since they seemingly go through them quicker than a banana republic goes through dictators. They wouldn't even have to change strategies, since they have the same philosophy.

 

 

Prince Vultan says "DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!"

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

Japan 1 Brazil 0

Croatia 1 Australia 1

 

Adam's just spilt his coffee.

[Guest]

Fat ass scored, so Japan-Brazil is 1-1.

 

I was thinking about Clint Dempsey and how his performance probably earned him a good spot on a European team. If you've read his life story, not many deserve it more than him.