Official World Cup Discussion Thread (No Spoilers)

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 12:53 pm

if the US loses today, do they still have a chance at advancing or is it all over already?

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:01 pm

Well recording the game but maybe this isn't the US playing so badly as much as CR living up to the hype? Which would be more than can be said for other teams -- cough, Holland, cough England.

But it sounds like they've lost Koller, the guy who scored the first goal, for the rest of the WC.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:02 pm

JackB1 wrote:if the US loses today, do they still have a chance at advancing or is it all over already?

As long as they have a better record in thier draw (along with goal differential) than the two lower teams in their draw, then they can move on. However, they also get Italy so two losses would be pretty devastating. They really needed to take out the CR and Ghana.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:14 pm

so the top 2 teams advance and the bottom 2 are out?

dbdynsty25 wrote:
JackB1 wrote:if the US loses today, do they still have a chance at advancing or is it all over already?
As long as they have a better record in thier draw (along with goal differential) than the two lower teams in their draw, then they can move on. However, they also get Italy so two losses would be pretty devastating. They really needed to take out the CR and Ghana.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:16 pm

JackB1 wrote:so the top 2 teams advance and the bottom 2 are out?

Correct, after the group stages.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:17 pm

Double post. Sorry.

jondiehl · Post by **jondiehl** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:17 pm

JackB1 wrote:if the US loses today, do they still have a chance at advancing or is it all over already?

If they don't at least tie today (still 2-0 with ~30min to go), they're pretty much done. This assumes that Ghana loses to CR and Italy, and the US loses to Italy (all of which are safe assumptions).

That would put Italy and CR in 1st/2nd place (depending on the outcome of their game) and the US with only 3pts.

The only hope is that Ghana can get a tie or win against one of the other teams, and the US perhaps can get a tie out of Italy.

Of course, everyone thought the Red Sox were finished aftering going down 0-3 to the Yankees back in 2004, so you never know. Maybe the Americans will beat Italy and shock the World.

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:29 pm

Well the RedSox played like they cared, at least showed it. The US team is playing like they dont even know they're playing in the world cup today.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:48 pm

Inuyasha wrote:Well the RedSox played like they cared, at least showed it. The US team is playing like they dont even know they're playing in the world cup today.

That's a load a bullocks. The US was able to get the ball up and attack, you just saw them outclassed by a superior team. From the touches to the passes you see what European class is and how far the US still has to go.

The US could not create good chances to put the ball on goal. I think the US can spooked early on in the match and couldn't recover.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:56 pm

Pope sucked in the first half. Koller completely outclassed him. Plus Lewis was pretty useless on the left side, as the Czechs rained in too many crosses in the first half from the right side.

And Marcelo Balboa was right: Why the hell did Arena start Beasley on the right when he's clearly so much more comfortable and effective on the left? Yeah, Arena switched sides for Beasley and Convey at halftime, but it was too late.

The U.S. will lose to Ghana and Italy and remain winless on European soil in World Cups if it continues to play like today.

Take care,
PK

sfz_T-car · Post by **sfz_T-car** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:11 pm

All is not lost but the three goal differential hurts a lot.

The US didn't play well in any aspect of the game. The midfield was probably the most disappointing to me. Beasley and Donovan weren't successful beating anybody on the dribble and the forwards didn't get much service (caveat: I wasn't able to watch the entire game). Gooch looked shaky at times and Lewis didn't close on the first goal. If the midfield gives Italy as much space as Nedved was able to create today, Saturday's result could be the same.

3-0 may not have been a fair scoreline but Rosicky's goals just illustrated the gulf in class between the two teams today.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:22 pm

If Italy wins today, the US must beat them on Sat. Bar none.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 4:25 pm

The Czechs are second behind only Brazil in the world by FIFA's much-criticized computer but the Americans created few dangerous scoring chances. Maybe they were disturbed by a pre-game pep talk from President Bush, who called from Camp David before the game and wished them well.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 4:32 pm

Ghana is much closer to tying this game that the Italians going 2-0. And that was a f******g penalty ref.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 4:47 pm

Which one - the number 3 diving over De Rossi ? Get a grip, man, the guy never got near him.

Appaih, on the other hand, can thank the linesman for allowing him to remain on the pitch.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:24 pm

davet010 wrote:Which one - the number 3 diving over De Rossi ? Get a grip, man, the guy never got near him.

No man, that was a clear dive and he should have received a yellow card for the simulation. I was talking about the infraction committed in the penalty area with about 10 minutes left, the score is still 1-0 when the Italian defender pushes the Ghana attacker to the ground.

Italian fans are hoping the F. Totti's injury is not too serious.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:48 pm

What a comprehensive defeat for the US. Outcoached, outhustled, outclassed. If you watched the post-game show I agree with Lalas with 100%. It's not so much that they lost, it's that they didn't even show anything. You can't win them all, but you gotta go out and perform. They just let the game pass them by.

Individually it's hard to point out any positive performances. Convey, Beasley, and Onyewu were the biggest dissapointments. Gooch gets a bad early yellow, makes a bad clear for second goal, and totally misplayed the third goal. Beasley was maybe worst player on the field, but dont blame it on him being on the right. He played only marginally worse than he has the last few months, which have been extremely dissapointing overall.

Reyna looked good in first half, but faded in second. Donovan showed a lot of class on the ball, but floated almost the whole match. McBride was starved for service, but made some horrendous passes when he had his time on the ball. EJ was the only guy that looked like he wanted to win.

Given the goal differential from such a big defeat, Italy is probably a must win. Now I would like to say that this will be a wakeup call for the guys, but didn't we get our wakeup call by being thumped in Germany a few months ago? Or losing 1-0 at home during the sendoff series?

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:58 pm

I think less blame needs to go to the US and more credit given to the Czech Republic. I think you watched an excellent team play a great game.

Call Me crazy but I think the US will fare better against Italy. Italy does play ugly negative ball once they get a lead and were lucky that an obvious penalty was not called.

sfz_T-car · Post by **sfz_T-car** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:00 pm

Arena specifically called out Donovan, Keller and Beasley in his post-game comments. Hopefully this will bring the team together instead of driving them to collapse like Sampson's 98 team.

The US is going to have to wear their magic boots against Italy on Sunday.

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:20 pm

The US played like cowards...extremely timid.

Notice almost every 50-50 ball went to the CR. Notice how many times we pulled up uinstead of challenging loose balls on the ground.

Also, where was the speed? Landycakes and Beasley were abysmal.

4 Years ago they counterattacked to a T against Portugal....great class.

Today, they showed the best way to beat them is to let them have possession, lose it near midfield, and counterattack.

UGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jondiehl · Post by **jondiehl** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:29 pm

fsquid wrote:If Italy wins today, the US must beat them on Sat. Bar none.

Not only that, I think they'll need to be Ghana as well. 4pts isn't going to do it, I think the tiebreaker will get them if they would be lucky enough to be tied for 2nd place with that point total.

Even with 6pts, I think they would need Italy to tie or lose against CR or they'd probably lose the tiebreaker with them if they'd both end up 2-1-0.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:39 pm

Only one team has gotten out of the group stage after losing the first game.

Forget about trying to get to tiebreakers, worry first about scoring a goal or two. Much more revered teams have scored no or zero goals in the group stage.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 8:13 pm

Well, whatever the outcome in this group, finishing second is not a good idea as that team will be facing most likely Brazil (if they win their group) in the second round.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 8:57 pm

pigpen81 wrote:The US played like cowards...extremely timid.

Notice almost every 50-50 ball went to the CR. Notice how many times we pulled up uinstead of challenging loose balls on the ground.

Also, where was the speed? Landycakes and Beasley were abysmal.

4 Years ago they counterattacked to a T against Portugal....great class.

Today, they showed the best way to beat them is to let them have possession, lose it near midfield, and counterattack.

UGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Was Donavon playing ? Beasley was bad ,needs to get a first touch.
When your ranked 5th in the world (what a joke,no offense) along with it is pressure to do well and get results which is why you see England,France Italy choke a lot , the pressure on them to succeed is unfathomable(sp) to a us U.S. crowd i feel.

They will not sneek up on anyone any more so they are gonna have to play out of their skins to get results, Italy played well aginst a very good Ghana side This goup will come down to goal difference i feel with Ghana losing because of the CR result against you lot of no shows.

If Ghana play like they did today against U.S. your looking at 4-1 defeat.
If im right even goal difference will be tied, whats the next tie breaker ?

At least now you know why i was so vinegary Dennis. Vinegar without chips doesnt taste very good does it.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:16 pm

FIFA rankings are silly...evidenced today.