A Sea Of Red

People here had conniptions about Donovan (rightfully) being left off the US roster,but no thread? Really?
Bring it here.

Brazil (also great movie) are the odds on favorite, but not so fast my friends

The Dutch want revenge and would be who I would root for if they fell inside my soccer cheering matrices. (I do use Ajax on FIFA though)
Since my policy is to only cheer for Countries I've been to, I'm going with Argentina! If Messi wants to surpass Maradona, he needs a World Cup. ( also several hookers and a few kilo's of coke...)
And yes, I was trying to us as many parenthetical phrases as possible ( Cider would be happy if wasn't too hung over from last night.... )

Brazil needs to play much better than they did against the Croats to to win this tourney. I don't follow international soccer closely at all but I did like Uruguay based on the few matches I have caught in the past twelve months before Luis Suarez's knee injury. Now I have no clue.

For the record, Messi is blast to watch even for those of us who are not fanatical about the sport.

Sly Fox wrote:Brazil needs to play much better than they did against the Croats to to win this tourney. I don't follow international soccer closely at all but I did like Uruguay based on the few matches I have caught in the past twelve months before Luis Suarez's knee injury. Now I have no clue.

For the record, Messi is blast to watch even for those of us who are not fanatical about the sport.

As a Liverpool fan I can tell you Suarez's knee is totally fine, they could easily win that group with England's so-so defense and Italy losing their #1 goalie. He outscored entire TEAMS in the Premier League this past season.
And yes Messi is a freak of nature.

JakeP50 wrote:

Sly Fox wrote:Brazil needs to play much better than they did against the Croats to to win this tourney. I don't follow international soccer closely at all but I did like Uruguay based on the few matches I have caught in the past twelve months before Luis Suarez's knee injury. Now I have no clue.

For the record, Messi is blast to watch even for those of us who are not fanatical about the sport.

As a Liverpool fan I can tell you Suarez's knee is totally fine, they could easily win that group with England's so-so defense and Italy losing their #1 goalie. He outscored entire TEAMS in the Premier League this past season.
And yes Messi is a freak of nature.

Costa Rica line 1.

Well Suarez wasn't as healthy as I thought, he's by far their best player and they really took a hit without him. And since it wasn't snowing Costa Rica was a lot better.

As the son of a Dutch immigrant, I am thrilled with the Oranje's spanking of the Spaniards. If USA can't win, and apparently we can't, I say Hup Holland!

I wasn't all that impressed with Argentina yesterday, and thought Bosnia-H outplayed them (though Bosnia is a good team in their own right).

I didn't give England much hope, but man are they playing like a different team. Their front has some serious speed and aggressiveness. And I must say, after just one game, I am a Raheem Sterling fan. That kid is so much fun to watch, very dangerous player. The Sterling/Sturridge/Welbeck combo could really cause some problems for their group.

Now just can't wait to see Germany and Belgium.

We must have been watching a different England team. I thought individually they looked great but there was no coordination in the box at al and I thought their offense was awful
Argentina just looked liked they were on cruise control. Messi getting a goal was huge. Now the burden is off of him and he's ready to claim greatness

With Altidore looking like he may be done for the World Cup, it sure would have been nice to have Donovan right about now.

Beasley has been awful all game. What's wrong with him?

It's been painful to watch this thing and know at some point Ghana would equalized. Hopefully we can hang on for a point. We've got no chance against Germany and hope Portugal self-destructs again.

And just as I said that, thank you Brooks.

Has no one commented on the face palm logo for this world cup? I saw it for the first time today... wow.

Jones had a great game. Bradley and Beasley, not so much.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Duke, Im as much a Landon Donovan fan as anybody, but did Green drop kick your dog and then sideswipe your wife on the way to the airport or something?

Anyway, good for the Yanks to get three points today. If we can get at least 1 against Portugal (I think that is on next Sunday), that probably sets up the match with Germany for a spot in the knockout round (Germany will probably beat Ghana to clinch a spot)

Landon would've been useful tonight but that can't be changed at this point.

We need a better Bradley next game.

Jones played great.

Jozy is probably out for the next two games. That isn't good.

Onto Portugal. Just don't lose.

What a great game from Jones!
What a horrible game from Bradley! Seriously, how many times did he just watch the ball go by?

Hopefully Dempsey can pull his nose out of the back of his head and be ready to go on Sunday.
Jozy looked bad. Note to all soccer players- That is what you look like when you are REALLY hurt, so either pretend better, or get your shorts off of the grass and play on.

Bradley was awful from the word go.
Howard was a stud in net
Donovan would have been no help this game or the Tournament. And even if he was just a little help 1 game his attitude and fitness would have hurt us more the rest of the games. We need him to be more like the guy from Ivory Coast and less like Washington Wizards Jordan
Do we have any 'Physio's'? That's pretty much the coolest name. But we had a bunch of guys come up limp with JA being the most critical. But don't these guys stretch enough? Someone get our physio's on it!
Portugal looked awful

Okay, I admit it--after USA scored its first goal, I turned on ESPN and watched the rest of the game with Mrs. Cider: and we both enjoyed it! To the best of my knowledge, that's the first World Cup game I've ever seen.

Match, not game. HAHA

I was happy to see Bradley come alive with 15 or so minutes to go, but I have no idea what was up before that. Hopefully he's OK from here out, cause we need him to be what he can be. I thought over all the Defense played well, but we couldn't control the ball from the mids forward. Jones was a beast. I did think Beasley was a little off but not as bad as some on here. he was useful here and there.

The big question is if Jozy is out, who will be the striker? Johanson looked lost and over matched.

News flash. Neither Donovan or Green is a striker.

Rooster Cogburn wrote:Match, not game. HAHA

I was happy to see Bradley come alive with 15 or so minutes to go, but I have no idea what was up before that. Hopefully he's OK from here out, cause we need him to be what he can be. I thought over all the Defense played well, but we couldn't control the ball from the mids forward. Jones was a beast. I did think Beasley was a little off but not as bad as some on here. he was useful here and there.

The big question is if Jozy is out, who will be the striker? Johanson looked lost and over matched.

Wondolowski would seem to be the other option. If he doesn't start against Portugal, I think he should at least get a shot as a sub if Johanson continues to struggle.

olldflame wrote:News flash. Neither Donovan or Green is a striker.

News flash: he was in camp as a forward, not a midfielder.

Dempsey's nose is broken. Altidore is getting looked at today. We may be getting reaaaallllyy young up front.

SuperJon wrote:

olldflame wrote:News flash. Neither Donovan or Green is a striker.

News flash: he was in camp as a forward, not a midfielder.

Dempsey's nose is broken. Altidore is getting looked at today. We may be getting reaaaallllyy young up front.

What better time to make a name for yourself! And it was a sub who netted the game winner
I like us to get out of Group Play but after that.....

Did anyone else think our kit looked like the Rocket Pops you buy from the ice cream truck? UGLY

The group schedule has really worked in our favor. Portugal just went through the mechanical skull-crusher, will be minus at least 2 vital starters, and Ronaldo is not making any friends on the team with his play. Germany will fly through Ghana, and if they score mutliple goals again, they may just play for the tie against us.

As for the US team, they look like they've regressed about 10 years. That's how I would expect Iran to play against Brazil, not the US against Ghana.