Wow! in so many ways, this was the greatest victory for the USA in WC history! Wow! So many things happened. I feel like an Argentine! I feel that God is on our side! Evita! Evita! Evita! Che! 1. Captain America (Clint Dempsey) made the sign of the cross after the National Anthem, then scored a goal 30 seconds into the game! 2. Jozy Altidore went down with a hammy pull a few minutes later. Under Klinsmann's plan, Altidore was the ONLY player selected to play the special "target striker" in this offense. 3. Dempsey broke his nose and had trouble breathing. 4. Matt Besler was pulled out with a tight hammy. 5. Alejandro Bedoya was pulled out with what looked like a hip flexor. 6. Michael Bradley was horrible. It was the worst game I've ever seen him play, but he's our only midfielder who knows what he's doing, so we will live or die with him. 7. Tim Howard really is one of the top 5 goalies in the world. Without him, we're Guatemala. 8. Nobody in the world could believe that Rasta-man Kyle Beckerman was selected for the team. Klinsmann started him and I was amazed at how well he did. He's good! He hasn't cut his hair in 9 years and smokes that wacky tobaccy... I don't think he feels pressure like normal folks. 9. Ten minutes into the game I was missing Landon Donovan and right about now I'll bet that Klinsmann is REALLY missing Landon Donovan. 10. With no one who can play offense, the Americans went into their shell and protected the 1-0 lead until there were only 8 minutes left in the game, when Ghana scored to tie it up. 11. Until those final 8 minutes, I along with the rest of Klinsmann's lynch mob was getting the rope ready...when suddenly he turned into a genius! Two of his unknown substitutes saved the game. 12. With only four minutes left, substitute Graham Zusi, sent a perfect corner kick to some guy named John Brooks Jr. who headed in the winner to the shock of the entire world, including himself. Nobody...I mean nobody...could figure out how Brooks made this team. Now he's the greatest thing since sliced bread and he even played well on defense! Klinsmann has pulled the wabbit out of the hat... http://q.usatoday.com/2014/06/16/fifa-world-cup-usa-ghana-clint-dempsey-bradley-beasley-besler-howard/ I don't know how Klinsmann pulled this off. The lynch mob is hereby cancelled for the time being, and Maradonna's "Hand of God" seems to be resting on the Americans.
My name is Zusi... How do you Duesy? Oh...where was I? Iran 0 Nigeria 0 I fell asleep during this fiasco... Germany 4 Portugal 0 Now for the bad news. I had Germany in my final 4 and they may be better than that. They completely destroyed Ronaldo's team and shut him out. Thomas Muller (age 24) had a hat trick for the Huns and they all looked brilliant all day. Portugal disgraced itself even worse than Spain did against Holland. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/sports/worldcup/world-cup-2014-germany-tops-portugal-on-thomas-mullers-hat-trick.html?_r=0 Corey and I were talking on the telephone for Father's Day and we both agreed that Germany was super and Portugal was overrated. This game confirmed our analysis and I think we take down the Portuguese if we can control Ronaldo... OK everyone, get your sharp knives ready. Tomorrow we have Mexico vs. Brazil...
I still don't miss Landon Donovan. I just don't. He has 'Rooney's disease' (the ability to miss a wide open goal and harm someone sitting 4 rows up in the bleachers while doing so). He was a pouter. He was, at times, a quitter. He had some teams he rose to the occasion for, and others in which he no showed or was over matched. There has never been an American who has accomplished or seen what Jurgen Klinsmann has done. The only German who can lay out a similar resume is Franz Beckenbauer... Der Kaiser Beckenbauer was once critical of Klinsmann, but came full circle and his greatest fear came true, they lost him to America. Klinsmann is an interesting guy. One of the world's premier players who had been one of the premier players in the Budasliga, The Premier League, Series A and La Liga who came to America the first time as a teenage boy just bursting out on the national football circuit. On his first trip to the US, he fell in love with the country, the people and met the love of his life. The baker's son has won everywhere he's gone and with everything he's done on a level no American has known. He's affable and rather humble. When he signed with Tottenham Hotspur, the English weren't happy with him because a) He was one of those Germans who broke their heart in the world cup and b) they said he was nothing more than a 'diver.' When he scored his first goal for Hotspur in their opener, he celebrated by taking a head first dive in the corner. That move is actually called 'The Klinsmann' and he's been mimicked ever since. The English loved him as a result. He may fail at this, but it won't be because he doesn't know what he's talking about or because he's playing favorites. As for the USMNT, our midfield was just an awful mess yesterday and the problem was Michael Bradley. He sets the tempo. He's the actual leader of the team. Ghana pushed up all night and our midfield just refused to drop into coverage. Watch the Italians who drop 9 guys behind the ball. Then watch our midfielders sitting 30 yards behind the action watching what's going on waiting for our defense to clear the ball. We have a very young, untested defense. Our experience and leadership is supposed to be in the midfield. They need to step up their game. Regardless of what our idiotic tv coverage guys were babbling about, we won in spite of our midfield. When Ghana scored, take a peek about 15 yards behind the goal scorer and you'll see Bradley who didn't trail the play to double the man... leading to the goal. The upside is that we played terribly and came away with 3 points. Real football nations do that. It's something we've never really done and we did it with kids. Germany. I am sure, there's no one better in the world. Keep in mind, they lost one of their great young players just before the start of this tournament. With Marco Reus, Germany wins this in a walk. Without him, the world has a chance..but that's all. Brazil and Mexico should be fun. it's like going to a cock fight, there's going to be more blood than strutting and there's going to be a lot of strutting.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer. You have to look closely because I don't know how to increase the size.
I hate El Tri. I really do and it kills me to say this, but WOW... Ochoa wasn't just the man of the match, he was the man of the day in all 3 games.
:cry: re: Beckenbauer He has been banned from football all around the world by FIFA. re: Klinsmann He's more American than I am. He married a model and lives in Newport Beach. I'm still part of his lynch mob, but it's hard for me to attack him at the moment. Corey's analysis of Klinsmann's coaching theories are spot-on correct. Hero of the moment John Brooks is a good example. Brooks is one of FIVE young, unknown, substitute players on this team who all have one thing in common: they're Germans. They were born and/or raised in Germany where they learned how to play football and train for football the German way. They require fewer explanations and repetitions than the Americans, because they've grown up with this style. This also explains why he cut Landon Donovan. Klinsmann doesn't want a clubhouse lawyer giving alternative theories about what he's doing. He wants everything to be the German way and so far, it's hard to argue with the results...
Brazil 0 Mexico 0 :x :x :x I hate it when Mexico does well! Their goalie, Ochoa, turned in one of the greatest performances in World Cup history. Famous Brazilians were running through his box all day and he stopped everything they threw at him. They left him off the team four years ago, but they would be nowhere without him now. It appears that Mexico will now join Brazil in the second round... Belgium 2 Algeria 1 This was a good game, with the Algerians failing to hold a 1-0 lead. Belgium got two late goals to save themselves... Russia 1 South Korea 1 What a yawner. I was rooting against both teams. The Russians, for some reason, didn't start their legendary star Alexander Kerzhakov. They finally substituted him into the game at the 71st minute, and he scored the equalizer three minutes later at the 74th minute. That's Russian coaching for you. I always wonder how they win all those wars...
I always enjoy my dad's recaps. Mine are dry and lack real flavor. That being said, boy did the socceroos almost pull one off today and did you see the Aussie goal on the volley by Cahill?! I didn't think there would be a goal to challenge RVP's header, but damn it, that's awfully close if not as good. To anyone who doesn't think it's a big deal, forget trying it at home, you can't. See if your favorite player in the world can strike a volley in midair WITH YOUR OFF FOOT (his right footed) and hit a screaming line drive over the keeper yet just under the cross bar... I'm not saying he could do it twice, but I am saying about 99.9% of the guys who play this game professionally couldn't do it once. Still, The Dutch have just so much fire power. They were not to be denied. Their defense looked suspect. The Croats are stout, but if Cameroon didn't want to be here, we could have at least invited New Zealand or someone who really did want to be here. Jeez.. As for the 'big' game of the day, Chile out classed the Spanish. There wasn't one thing about this game that surprised me in that the better team who played well won. The only thing I took away from this game (aside from the end of Spain's greatest generation) was that the announcers humiliated themselves with their Eurocentric and disparaging commentary during the game. Look, I'm not saying Chile didn't flop a lot. They did. So does Brazil, so do a lot of teams. There's no team that flops more than Spain. Then they went on to mention in a previous tournament that Chile basically humiliated themselves with thuggery. Now this would all be fine and well except that they didn't comment about any of the flops the Spanish took, and worse, no comments about the cheap and outright dirty fouls the Spanish kept committing. It was terrible. My favorite idiotic moment was when the color man went on a small rant about Chile's flops, but then conceded that in each incident, they were actually fouls.... WHAT?! Either it's a dive or a foul. You can't compliment Spain or Brazil for taking 'professional fouls' and then tell me that Chile are a bunch of dirty cheaters who dive all day in the same breath. Jeez, if Robert DeNiro were on the Italian national team, he'd be the 12th best actor on that team.. Call it straight boys are just shut up. Thank God for 6 years of Spanish so I can watch Univision.
I'll go with Corey's recap for today. I didn't get to see all of the games anyway. I've been camped out in my bedroom for two weeks watching these things and Mrs. JO'Co finaly came in to threaten me and to remind me that we needed to get out and buy things like food and clothing so she rousted me outta there... re: Australia The socceroos were the most improved nation in the WC and Cahill certainly is a world-class player. They deserved a better fate. re: Cameroon The "Indominable Lions" were the least motivated WC team I've ever seen. They should have stayed home. re: Espania The worst performance by a defending champion...ever. Their goalie was so bad, it looked as if he had bet on the other team... re: Netherlands The fastest offense on the planet. They have enough offense to beat anybody on a given day. re: Chile Chile finished third in South America and came in as one of the hottest teams. They have more than enough, including great fan support, to make a run at the cup. re: Croatia The Croats have a very talented team and they still have a chance. I would love to see them do it.
Colombia just rolls on today. They are playing such sound football right now. Granted, they've played Greece and the Ivory Coast (who isn't bad) but they're doing this without Falcao who is one of the world's premier strikers who is in his prime. It's a shame he won't play. England.. oh England. Much will be said about this team, and all of it probably true. I actually felt good for Rooney who finally found a World Cup goal he couldn't squander. He missed 3 absolute AYSO level gimme chances earlier, once from about 12 inches on a header (not kidding). Folks will say a lot of things, but this loss was 100% on England's unflappable Captain who somehow escapes all of the blame in their run of turmoil.. Gerrard was flat out responsible for BOTH of Suarez' goals in this game. He was beaten on the 1st. On the 2nd goal, he forced a half-assed push forward and rather than take advantage of both momentum and tactical skill on the field (both of which England held at the time), he resorted to a time honored tradition of the wasted English long ball. The end result was a wasted possession. The goal keeper from Uruguay boots it downfield, Gerrard muffed the header and the ball skipped straight onto the foot of Suarez who buried it in the back of the net. The announcers in this game once again made fools of themselves with their one sided commentary. I know this one will hurt the English badly, but they have an incredible amount of young talent. They need to change their ways to embrace that and stop the time honored English tradition of rewarding seniority over ability. The last game, I'll be honest, I didn't give 2 shits about and didn't watch one second of it. I took care of some stuff for my son and went to his all-star practice. Turns out they tied 0-0. I'm sure it wasn't an exciting 0-0 either.
Colombia 2 Ivory Coast 1 Colombia is good, as Corey said, but they almost fell asleep at the end of this one and Ivory Coast almost caught them. If they do that in the knockout round they'll be on plane back home... Uruguay 2 England 1 This one should have been much worse. Rooney was terrible again, although he finally got a WC goal after more than a decade of trying. Luis Suarez returned for Uruguay and showed the English what a real world-class striker looks like with two goals. The English are just an average football power now. They were never as good as they thought they were, but the distance between them and the real powers (Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Italy) has become a huge gap... Japan 0 Greece 0 Greece played the entire game with 10 players after getting a red card early, but it didn't matter. The Japanese have no way to score. They're only good at sneak attacks. If you see them coming, they get swatted away like flies. What they need is a big striker like Cahill of Australia, but all they have are these small guys who get pushed aside. They have big players in baseball and sumo wrestling. They need to convince some of them to go out for soccer... Tomorrow we find out how good CONCACAF really is: Costa Rica vs. Italy in the morning!
The Brit at the gym said they were screwed by the refs, said the winning goal was offside and that the refs let them foul the Brits with impunity.
I watched the match. I didn't see it that way, but I don't know the game as well as Corey and JO'Co. The refs certainly missed what I thought was a yellow card, maybe red, type of foul on Uruguay in the first half, but I don't think it affected the outcome. IMO Uruguay just plain wanted it more.
the Brits are delusional which is about one-third of their problem. Music, silverware and chimney sweeps is about all they are good at these days. Their best young players are miles better than their vets. The issue is that they're mostly black. The neat thing about technology is it allows you to create these awesome 3D models. On yahoo UKSports, they have a 3D recreation of each goal in the tourney. As you can see, Suarez is clearly onside at the time the ball is played by the keeper. Then you can see that the ball is played back off the head by Gerrard and straight onto Suarez' foot. Re-writing history is an art form to the English, but as always, technology and progress just aren't on their side. https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/video/3d-goal-luis-suarez-2-215250397.html
Costa Rica 1 Italy 0: Costa Rica out played them whistle to whistle. Costa Rica could have, and probably should have, been awarded 2 penalty kicks but Italy always gets away with those fouls in the penalty box. The world is spinning because they can't believe what they are watching. US fans can believe it because Costa Rica finished 2nd in CONCACAF and they were an all around pain in the ass to us throughout the process. They have an incredibly brutal home field environment and they just hate America. To reward their efforts, we made them play in a snow storm in the Colorado now known as 'Snow Clasico.' In Costa Rica, they beat the US 3-1.
I thought that Costa Rica had the best pass and trap fundamentals I've seen in this WC. Their defense was sound. If they had a little more offensive creativity they'd have a shot at making it to the finals.
Thanks to JoCo and Corey for their ongoing commentary on each game. Re Costa Rica, went on vacation there several years ago and thought the Ticos were very hospitable to Americans in contrast to some of the Caribbean and European countries I visited. Guess that hospitality ends on the soccer pitch. Feel a little sorry for the players from England as they are getting toasted in the English papers which make the New Your press seem almost courtly in their treatment of home teams that go belly up.
Well now we have our answer: CONCACAF is for real. The former traditional backwater of international futball has become a major player. CONCACAF includes North America, the Caribbean, and Central America. I doubt that anyone fears playing Costa Rica, the United States or Mexico, but respect has now been earned... Costa Rica 1 Italy 0 As Corey pointed out, this game should have been much worse. Several Costa Rican players were clubbed down in the box and no penalty kicks were awarded. The Italians, meanwhile, could do nothing with the Tico's trapping defense. They attempted to intimidate their opponents physically, even shoving them around in the tunnel at halftime. Nothing worked. The Costa Ricans are used to it. CONCACAF includes such garden spots as Nicaragua; El Salvador; Haiti; the Dominican Republic; Cuba; Guatemala; and Honduras. Mexico is one of the richest nations in CONCACAF. Wherever you go, the team can expect "special" treatment from the hotel to the stadium. We can't even have qualifying games here in SoCal anymore, because the Latin Americans throw fruit and vegetables at our players from the time they get off the bus. The very idea that any of these Central American players could be intimidated by a bunch of Euros is laughable... BTW- I agree with Mike's assertion that Costa Rica has one of the best defenses in this World Cup. It's going to take some special offensive players to break it down... France 5 Swiss Cheese 2 If Costa Rica has one of the best defenses in the world, then the Swiss have the worst. All of the pregame analysts picked France to win this one easily and Alexi Lalas flat-out picked the French to slaughter them. It was actually worse than that. Despite Alexi's well-known hatred of France and their terrible cooking, he was on the mark again. The Swiss couldn't even slow them down. If there was a mercy rule in soccer, this one would have ended in the first half. As Dick Enberg famously said, "If it was a fight, they'd have to stop it." Ecuador 2 Honduras 1 I can't believe that Honduras scored. The last time they scored, I was Corey's age. It was also nice to see that somebody actually won this game. The celebration won't last long in this tournament...