World Cup 2014 Thread

[sportdan30]

Portugal basically scored with less than 10 seconds left. Wow.....unbelievable.

[RallyMonkey]

Bradley lazy to a loose ball thinking the game was over and it costs the US a win and a trip to the 16. It's not over til it's over in the flesh. What a shame. Still alive though!

[TheTruth]

Bradley lazy to a loose ball thinking the game was over and it costs the US a win and a trip to the 16. It's not over til it's over in the flesh. What a shame. Still alive though!

Before he even received the ball I was yelling just kick it down the field, just kick it! Wow, crazy stuff!

[Inuyasha]

FEels like a loss.

Bradley terrible game. Dont know why ESPN isn't calling him out.

He just needed to make one play at the end and he f's it up.

Sit him out next game.

Man so close.

[dougb]

I'd cut him a little slack - we can't imagine how damned tired and drained he was at the end of a match like that I. Those conditions. A few feet can feel like a hundred yards. Credit to Ronaldo that was an absolutely perfect cross and only perfection leads to that goal.

Doug

[RobVarak]

FEels like a loss.

Bradley terrible game. Dont know why ESPN isn't calling him out.

He just needed to make one play at the end and he f's it up.

Sit him out next game.

That's pretty stupid.

He had a few turnovers again, but playing in that pivot he's got the most responsibility. He also had more than a few brilliant moments both holding up the play and making plays with decisive long balls.

It was a hell of a performance all across the board. Created enough chances for several more goals and dodged a few bullets from Portugal. CR7 was checked well for the most part, but world class means what it says. Brilliant ball on the equalizer.

Squad should draw buckets of confidence from both this performance and the way Ghana handled the Germans.

[ScoopBrady]

Against Ghana they played well enough to lose and they won. Against Portugal they played well enough to win and they tied. Hopefully against Germany they don't play well enough to tie and lose.

[Inuyasha]

FEels like a loss.

Bradley terrible game. Dont know why ESPN isn't calling him out.

He just needed to make one play at the end and he f's it up.

Sit him out next game.

That's pretty stupid.

He had a few turnovers again, but playing in that pivot he's got the most responsibility. He also had more than a few brilliant moments both holding up the play and making plays with decisive long balls.

It was a hell of a performance all across the board. Created enough chances for several more goals and dodged a few bullets from Portugal. CR7 was checked well for the most part, but world class means what it says. Brilliant ball on the equalizer.

Squad should draw buckets of confidence from both this performance and the way Ghana handled the Germans.

wow you must have been watching a different game than me and the rest of america. He totally was f'd up all game. from the first minute. Go look at any social media site. You're f'n blind if you think for one minute he had 'a few turnovers'.

[RallyMonkey]

I'd cut him a little slack - we can't imagine how damned tired and drained he was at the end of a match like that I. Those conditions. A few feet can feel like a hundred yards. Credit to Ronaldo that was an absolutely perfect cross and only perfection leads to that goal.

Doug

I absolutely agree the cross and header were brilliant. But no way Bradley gets a pass. His teammates were running, sliding, diving all over the pitch in the 90th minute trying to hang onto the lead but he can't turn on the jets for 1 second to simply touch the ball down field to space to run off clock? Adrenaline alone would give most athletes the juice in that situation with a trip to the Round of 16 on the line. I'm not in his cleats so no, I don't know for sure, but from my eyes it looked like a guy who figured there was no way Portugal was going to score so he made no move on the ball.

[wco81]

Well if the US still goes through, the last-minute goal will be forgotten.

If OTOH they just barely miss getting out of the group because of those goals ...

[XXXIV]

UN f***in real. Ram jammed the US was there.

Kick Germany ass and no problem.

[RobVarak]

wow you must have been watching a different game than me and the rest of america. He totally was f'd up all game. from the first minute. Go look at any social media site. You're f'n blind if you think for one minute he had 'a few turnovers'.

Social media? Seriously? Has Pinterest concluded he was the reason that we drew?

Let's look at facts: http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/789652 ... A-Portugal

He played 69 passes in the match, most on the team. He was dispossessed once...albeit in spectacular fashion. His passing success rate was 87%, high for a guy who attempted 9 long passes (and completed 5, backing up my observation about important long balls).

[JackB1]

Wow, I don't know where to begin. First off, I am very proud of how the US played today.
They responded to the 1st cheap goal and really took control of the game. They created many really good chances and really took it to Portugal. Defense was soooooo much better than the game against Ghana.
Their passing was sharp and they got so many balls behind the Portugal D with perfectly timed leading passes. Tim Howard was amazing in goal and made several drop dead stops. The late goal was unfortunate, but I think we are in a good position to advance. We will probably have the tiebreaker advantage if we tie Ghana or Portugal somehow. But lets just do it the right way and beat or tie Germany!

GO USA!!!!!!

[Inuyasha]

Varak - again I think u must have watched a different game than the rest if the country

Anyways they're still in a good spot. It would've been nice to wrap it up and get a win vs Portugal.

Thursday is so long away.

[XXXIV]

idiot.

[Danimal]

idiot.

[Inuyasha]

Drunk

And

Internet Bully


Statements of fact!

[Inuyasha]

idiot.

This is funny. Abuser loves to bud his nose in others biz. But when it happens to him he whines like a b$&ch.

Sorry all. Back to wc talk. Sorry some ppl have to derail the thread in personal vendettas.

[XXXIV]

idiot.

[Danimal]

idiot.

This is funny. Abuser loves to bud his nose in others biz. But when it happens to him he whines like a b$&ch.

Sorry all. Back to wc talk. Sorry some ppl have to derail the thread in personal vendettas.

This post brought to you by #jokeofdsp

EDIT: I was told I needed to remove this line or could get banned. LOL

[Zeppo]

Anyone who shits on Bradley for this game is an idiot. Period. Just like all those idiots who used to complain that he was only on the team because his dad was coach. Granted, in the Ghana game he played the worst I have ever seen him play. And just so you know I was watching him at giants stadium when he was 17 playing for Metro. So I've see a lot of not-very-good Bradley. But tonight, he was very, very good.

The only player who played even close to poorly tonight was Cameron, and even he was full of excellent plays with a few numbskull moments that stood out because of how they were punished.

The team went behind and then took control of the game. It was very refreshing to see after how poorly they had played for long stretches vs Ghana. Portugal went into the same shell we had after the early goal in the Ghana game. And despite coming close but not breaking through for so long, this US team kept on fighting. Jones's goal came out of nowhere - it was not nearly the best chance we had created up to that time, but it was an amazing shot, one no one could ever have expected form him, not even Jones himself. And the Dempsey goal coming from Yedlin down the line, all a mess in the box, a pass, a deflection, a shot, a rebound - what a moment!

For ten minutes the dream was real.

Where did 5' of stoppage come from? How did he come up with that amount? And it took all of that for Portugal to get the goal that may save their WC.

But it probably won't.

All we have to do in the next game is kick the ball around for 90' with neither team trying to scor, and we both go through. I hate to say it, but that's what should happen. One of those awful, cynical WC games where neither team tries to score, because if we draw, we both go through. As deflating as that goal was, as much as it made the draw feel like a loss, the reality is that if both the USA and Germany keep their heads together, we will see one awful game of football in Recife and both teams will advance.

[XXXIV]

Anyone who shits on Bradley for this game is an idiot. Period.

You do a much better job than I.

Thanks for that post Zep.

US has this!

[RobVarak]

Anyone who shits on Bradley for this game is an idiot. Period. Just like all those idiots who used to complain that he was only on the team because his dad was coach. Granted, in the Ghana game he played the worst I have ever seen him play. And just so you know I was watching him at giants stadium when he was 17 playing for Metro. So I've see a lot of not-very-good Bradley. But tonight, he was very, very good.

The only player who played even close to poorly tonight was Cameron, and even he was full of excellent plays with a few numbskull moments that stood out because of how they were punished.

The team went behind and then took control of the game. It was very refreshing to see after how poorly they had played for long stretches vs Ghana. Portugal went into the same shell we had after the early goal in the Ghana game. And despite coming close but not breaking through for so long, this US team kept on fighting. Jones's goal came out of nowhere - it was not nearly the best chance we had created up to that time, but it was an amazing shot, one no one could ever have expected form him, not even Jones himself. And the Dempsey goal coming from Yedlin down the line, all a mess in the box, a pass, a deflection, a shot, a rebound - what a moment!

For ten minutes the dream was real.

Where did 5' of stoppage come from? How did he come up with that amount? And it took all of that for Portugal to get the goal that may save their WC.

But it probably won't.

All we have to do in the next game is kick the ball around for 90' with neither team trying to scor, and we both go through. I hate to say it, but that's what should happen. One of those awful, cynical WC games where neither team tries to score, because if we draw, we both go through. As deflating as that goal was, as much as it made the draw feel like a loss, the reality is that if both the USA and Germany keep their heads together, we will see one awful game of football in Recife and both teams will advance.

I think Bedoya was fairly poor as well. Not awful, but never really able to create any space or time with the ball at his feet. He's pacey, but without much technical skill to make an impact on games where the midfield is a battlefield.

I didn't think 5' was out of order. Both teams used all their subs, there were a few injury stoppages and 2 goals. I was prepared for it to be 5' in any event, although that might've been my natural pessimism.

I might leave the door open for a gentlemen's draw, but not with Low and Klinsmann and all their history. Too many people in Germany felt that Low was a Svengali for Klinsmann with die Mannschaft in '06 for Klinsmann not to want to prove himself. But maybe he still has enough friends in the DFB to call in some favors...

FWIW, I didn't particularly rate Klinsmann as a tactician when hired, but he and his staff have really done a bang-up job evaluating the talent at their disposal and putting together tactics that suited them and exploited the opposition. I always thought we'd be getting a great manager without tactical nous, but it seems he's delivering on both fronts so far.

Totally unrelated note. Taylor Twellman has really developed quickly into a fine analyst. Not afraid to state a definitive opinion, quick on his feet and willing to first-guess management decisions with a fairly high level of accuracy. Really enjoying his work. He came a long way very quickly as a broadcaster.

[RallyMonkey]

Anyone who shits on Bradley for this game is an idiot. Period. Just like all those idiots who used to complain that he was only on the team because his dad was coach. Granted, in the Ghana game he played the worst I have ever seen him play. And just so you know I was watching him at giants stadium when he was 17 playing for Metro. So I've see a lot of not-very-good Bradley. But tonight, he was very, very good.

So Cameron played "close to poorly" because he had a few bad moments, which I agree with 100%, but commenting on Bradley's mental error/physical laziness at the most critical point in the match makes me an idiot? Here I was trusting my eyes to tell me what I saw and my mind to analyze it. But only an idiot would interpret BOTH of those things incorrectly right? I was going to try and continue participating in this thread, but instead I think I'll go pet my bunny some more. Duh yup, pet my bunny, duh yup.

[RobVarak]

If Bradley's overall contribution had been minimal or if he made many mistakes, I'd have no problem saddling him with some of the blame for the defeat. He was easily the most disappointing player in the Ghana game, so it's not like I think he's beyond such criticism.

But the objective facts demonstrate that he contributed enormously to a game where the US demonstrated a consistent ability to break down the Portuguese. He was essential to that dominance. He created chances for his teammates and was a consistently effective passer and defender. You can make the argument that the one time he was knocked off the ball should supersede all of those other contributions, but I don't think there are a lot of reasonable people who would find that to be a legitimate argument. And if that's how one is going to measure the performance of a soccer player, it's going to lead to a lot of terrible evaluations.

Let's leave the inaccurate scapegoating to the English. It's all they have, really.