[01LUGrad]

Ghana deserve to win. That is all.

[SuperJon]

This one's on Bob Bradley. He never should've started Clark over Edu.

[thepostman]

the Americans came out flat...other then that I can not give any further explanation because I don't follow soccer and won't watch soccer again for another 4 years, haha

[kingaling42]

This one's on Bob Bradley. He never should've started Clark over Edu.

I agree it was a poor decision to start Clark, but let's not act like that was the game as a whole.. Clark turned it over in the middle at midfield, but the other 2 defenders back & Howard have to stop that first shot- that was a poor sequence.. If you're feel the need to blame Bradley- blame him for not getting the squad to come out of games repetitively at the level needed for this type of competition..

Additionally it seemed like our intensity went down a level after tying the game up- why not keep that intensity going??

We had some chances & didn't capitalize.. you're going to look at player performances at an individual level- what exactly did Altidore do?? I thought he was MIA with the one exception of the breakaway chance he had while falling- otherwise he did not impress me whatsoever..

4 more years..

[01LUGrad]

Maybe Bradley should consider picking the team's pregame iPod playlists next time around. They must be listening to classical or polka before the games.

[4everfsu]

USA players grades

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/ ... 901&ver=us

[flamesbball84]

another pitiful start to another international game that's turned into a very bad habit. team is clearly not mentally prepared to come into games and that falls on bob bradley as far as i'm concerned.

[SuperJon]

This one's on Bob Bradley. He never should've started Clark over Edu.

I agree it was a poor decision to start Clark, but let's not act like that was the game as a whole.. Clark turned it over in the middle at midfield, but the other 2 defenders back & Howard have to stop that first shot- that was a poor sequence..

It wasn't just that goal that made me say that. We played really well against Algeria. What's the point in pulling Edu, who has played very good the entire tournament, and messing up that chemistry for a guy that hasn't looked good at all in South Africa? Yeah, it gave up a goal, but more importantly it messed up the chemistry and flow of the team and forced us to waste a sub 30 minutes into the game. Imagine if we could've used that sub at the 75th minute and brought another set of fresh legs on. Imagine if we started Gomez and he went an hour like against Algeria. Imagine if we still had all three substitutes in the 60th minute. That could've very well been the spark we needed.

We had some chances & didn't capitalize.. you're going to look at player performances at an individual level- what exactly did Altidore do?? I thought he was MIA with the one exception of the breakaway chance he had while falling- otherwise he did not impress me whatsoever..

I think Jozy was forced to play a position he wasn't comfortable with. That's not an excuse for some of the poor play, but hear me out.

Jozy doesn't have great finishing skills...yet.
He doesn't look like a natural goal scorer or that he has a goal scoring mentality...yet.

Right now, he doesn't look ready to be "the" guy up front. He needs another threat up there with him. This worked great when he had Charlie Davies playing next to him. Davies is a great scorer and works well with Jozy's style of play which is one where he uses his body and size to retrieve the ball, gets it to another attacking player, and then makes the run himself. In this tournament he didn't have another forward to pass off to after he had posted a guy up near the edge of the box. Because of this you saw him trying to dribble between guys and doing things he wasn't capable of.

Luckily for us, barring anything catastrophic, we'll have a 24-year old Jozy Altidore and a 27 year old Charlie Davies in Brazil in 2014. Both of those guys should be near the prime of their careers and should be a strong point for us in that tournament. Unfortunately for us though, we lose 3 of our 4 on the back line, possibly our keeper, and three of our top four midfielders will be on their last legs and likely pushed to reserve roles or not on the roster.

[SuperJon]

Oh, as for the game winner, I'm convinced that Bocanegra thought he fouled the Ghana player. If you watch that play, he bumps him pretty hard and then lets up with a look on his face that looked like he was thinking, "Crap, I just fouled him close to the goal." I think he pulled off expecting a whistle.

[NG33]

Oh, as for the game winner, I'm convinced that Bocanegra thought he fouled the Ghana player. If you watch that play, he bumps him pretty hard and then lets up with a look on his face that looked like he was thinking, "Crap, I just fouled him close to the goal." I think he pulled off expecting a whistle.

+1. I thought the exact same thing. For some reason after he bumps the Ghanian player Bocanegra looks like he's rolling his eyes and gives up on the play. Very strange turn of events.

[4everfsu]

You mean to tell me we had no better fowards in America to take to the World Cups. All our goals were scored from our midfielders.

[LUaddict]

In other news, Germany beat the UK 4-1.looks like Germany was a faster and a more
physical team than the Brits. Going to be interesting who wins the match between Argentina and Mexico. I am rooting for Mexico and they have a lot of experience and playmakers. Such as cuathemoc blanco and Raphael Marquez. Both of these guys have been to three world cups besides the 2010 cup. Go Mexico! Btw the Americans played a well fought game and let's see what they bring to 2014 cup.

[olldflame]

I think the Brits could learn a lesson from the US team on how to respond when you are the victim of a bad call. Germany was better, but 4-1 should not have happened with the players GB has.

[SuperJon]

Go Mexico!

I think I just threw up in my mouth.

[Sly Fox]

Pobres Tricolores ... At least I can still cheer on Kaka.

[Sly Fox]

After Team USA loss to Ghana, Bob Bradley's future as coach is in question

By Steven Goff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 28, 2010

IRENE, SOUTH AFRICA -- If the United States had failed to advance to the second stage of the World Cup, U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati's decision about Coach Bob Bradley would have been simple and swift: He's gone.

The verdict would have been just as sure and easy had the Americans reached the quarterfinals: He stays.

But the campaign ended in the round of 16, a 2-1 overtime loss to Ghana on Saturday. And while many factors, including player development, style of play and tactics, will factor in Gulati's verdict, the performance of the national team in the sport's ultimate competition will undoubtedly weigh heavily.

Click Here for Full Story

[From the class of 09]

I’ve always wondered why Americans have never embraced soccer in the same way the rest of the world has and after watching a fair number of world cup games this year I’ve identified three reasons I believe are the primary reasons Americans don’t love the game as others do:

• Lack of premier talent in the US (MLS is nice but as Americans we expect to be able to watch the best and its hard to get excited about a club team playing across the Atlantic) This I realize will not be an overnight fix however it will continue to improve as the bottom line for these clubs does. (On another note do you think it would ever be possible to have a US team qualify for the Champions league? That would be awesome! The whole country would get behind that club team)
• FIFA’s ridiculous refusal to allow limited use of replay (In a game where scoring is so rare why can’t there be a literal 15 sec pause to check and see if a goal should be allowed (in the matches I’ve watched in this world cup I’ve seen 2 US goals along with an English goal that should have counted against Germany and an Argentina goal that obviously was offside by 2 yards). All these goals could be argued changed the game and in the two later examples could’ve changed who advanced.
• Finally the ridiculous flopping and acting done by players. I submit the Ghana player who in extra time kicked the ball got half way up then laid back down as if he was hurt. Along with this you have the Ivory Coast player who grabbed his face and rolled on the ground after Brazil’s Kaka pushed him in the chest. I’m not sure this could be fixed as easy as reviewing goals as it could legitimately cause unnatural pauses in the game. However there usually is a 15-30 sec pause in action when most cards are given out (allowing time for a fourth official to radio to communicate what happened). Or referees could start enforcing this phantom yellow card I’ve heard can be given out to players over acting. I’m not sure why this bothers me so much but surely I’m not alone? (maybe it’s the male egotistical side that says a man should be able to take a little pain and not act like a little girl rolling around on the ground unless something is really wrong… aka torn ACL or achilles tendon type of injury.

Now please let me know why I’m wrong

[4everfsu]

Right on about the flopping

[SuperJon]

(On another note do you think it would ever be possible to have a US team qualify for the Champions league? That would be awesome! The whole country would get behind that club team)

That's impossible. The Champions League is a European club league.

[01LUGrad]

+1 for the diving. Can you imagine what would happen to an NFL player if he tried something as wussy as this stuff?
By the way, the best ones IMO are the last 2 (2:20 or so).

[youtube]

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[4everfsu]

Those guys need to try out for the WWE

[01LUGrad]

Last bit of stupid stuff:
I can't be the only one who sees this, right?

[From the class of 09]

(On another note do you think it would ever be possible to have a US team qualify for the Champions league? That would be awesome! The whole country would get behind that club team)

That's impossible. The Champions League is a European club league.

I understand that it’s a European League (more literally a tournament), but if the US had a more competitive league why wouldn’t they let say the MLS champ enter the qualification rounds? The major European leagues get 4 or more teams in the tournament surely they would let a US team in the early qualification rounds. Of course this couldn’t happen until the US had MLS teams that could at least compete with some of the lesser EU club teams. But the selling point would be pretty easy to the TV networks “so would you like to add 100 million plus households to your viewership?” I would think that would increase the TV revenue available to everybody involved. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out how to make more money out of that tournament and as we’ve seen with CFB expansion dollar bills talk.

PS. I’m well aware that this would involve changes that would take years to happen but change is inevitable. The Champions League has already expanded once in the 90’s so its obvious they aren’t totally opposed to the idea if the $$$ work out right.

[SuperJon]

There's no reason for the Union of European Football Associations to ever allow a team outside of Europe into one of their tournaments. That's why the CONCACAF Champions League was formed in North America and why the Copa Libertadores is there in South America.

FIFA has the Club World Cup which is played every year but no one really pays any attention to that.

[From the class of 09]

There's no reason for the Union of European Football Associations to ever allow a team outside of Europe into one of their tournaments. That's why the CONCACAF Champions League was formed in North America and why the Copa Libertadores is there in South America.

FIFA has the Club World Cup which is played every year but no one really pays any attention to that.

The only reason they need is more $$$

Copa Libertadores and Champions League are the only ones that matter and Champions more than Copa Libertadores. The US has nothing of note to play in.