I hope the 'merican fans don’t turn up with ‘Land of the free’ and ‘Liberty’ banners.
That would take cringe worthy to a new level 
US doesn’t advance.
USA!!!
32 secs
Wgat a joke with the Mericans. Portugal better crush them
I don’t think Portugal is winning. Pepe is out, Ronaldo isn’t at full fitness, and after getting pwned 4-0, I doubt they’re in a good mental state right now. Recovering from a big opening defeat is hard.
I’ll go ahead and predict a US win, and then a loss to the Germans.
^
The match was dire apart from the last 10 minutes. No offense to anyone here and i’m sure they’ll be getting drunk but that Ghana team was apalling and USA made them look like Dutch '74.
The Ghanians sent a team that was the youngest in the world cup with an eye out for future ones and to give them experience. They had no experience of playing on such a stage apart from a few like Gyan, Muntari etc. Their midfield was rubbish, they had no ideas and they just kept giving it to the wings and punting it long. They ended the game with 60% possesion, wtf?
USA is going to need a heavy heavy slice of luck to take even a point of Portugal and Germany.
I don’t know, Isildurr. Ghana started with 4 players that had already played a Champions League (US started with 3). If the US manage to take a point from Portugal, they will be practically classified. Also, if Germany beats Ghana (probable), Germany may not take the last match very seriously, so US may have a shot there. US may even lose both games and pass, as long as they don’t get crushed by a wide margin in any of the remaining games.
This may actually make things very hard for Spain as well. What if Netherlands sends a second tier team in the last round against Chile? If Chile beats Netherlands, Spain may be out even if they win the next 2 games.
That wasn’t a red card, it was a yellow… some of you need to watch more La Liga games, or El Clasicos, where that shit happens all the time. If Pepe gets carded, Muller should have received a yellow card for getting in Pepe’s face as well.
for a second i thought depsey got a concussion. and whats up with all the injuries to team USA,?
Did not watch the US game…but they do have a golden oppurtunity to qaulify…given the red card to pepe…injury to coentrao…Portugal down on morale…Jurgen Klinsmann factor…they only need to contain CR9 :p. As for Ghana and Essien…he was never to start the game…the guy is no longer what he used to be and would not last in those conditions.
Nigeria played awful last night, they had the speed to destroy Iran but the finishes were poor and there was an overall lack of effort from a lot of players, pretty embarrassing draw.
the US did well, don’t think anybody was expecting a win for them prior to the game.
I think the US will qualify, Portugal were dreadful and the fact that they fielded the exact same starting 11 that went out of the Euros 2 years ago says it all. Can they really still be deciding between Almeida and Postiga up front? The whole team seems overawed by Ronaldo and constantly looking to play him in when he’s clearly not fully fit.
Muller should be fucking embarrassed. Pepe didn’t need to go and brush his head off him but the way he reacted to that and to the original brush is ridiculous. If fifa really wanted to stop it they should just implement post match punishments for any actions that bring the game into disrepute, he should be banned for as long as Pepe.
There was a similar incident in the USA Ghana game where Muntari lost it. I think Counting Crows did well to difuse the situation and sorted it out with a handshake. His reaction kept Muntari on the pitch and fair play to him for acting like a sportsman instead of a little bitch.
Well, I don’t think Champions league players is a particurly good way to judge a team, after all Djimi Traore has a champions league medal.
I’m not disagreeing with your statement, the Americans could qualify but they struggled to overcome a very mediocre Ghana team and won against the run of play. If they give the kind of space they were giving to Muntari and Gyan to the Portugese then Moutinho and Ronaldo will have a field day.
The American team also has a serious lack of creativity, flair and goals. Jozy Altidore is probably the worst striker in the premiership ( 1 in 30) and he’s their no 1. They scored from a defensive lapse and a set piece and then spent the game camped in their own half. Portugal could suffer from lapses in concentration and gift America those chances but i don’t this they are as naive as the Ghanians when it comes to defending.
This. It was evident to even the lay soccer fan that Ghana kept punching the US in the face.
But hey…I’ll take the three points any way I can get them.
I don’t think we’re seeing the same thing. What I saw was agression in the World Cup. The best player in the world got red carded in a final from doing that. Leonardo got suspended from the whole WC '94 from doing that, and so on… In slow motion, every one of these looks like massages - not so much on actual speed.
Truly, Pepe’s header was less spectacular than Zidane’s and less hurtful than Leonardo’s, but was also by far the most premeditated of all 3.
In La Liga, often both players get a red or a yellow because the refs choke and don’t want to ruin the game. By the rules, I’d say Pepe deserved a red with a 3-game ban. Muller deserved to score 3 goals.
There is no way the US gets through Belgium in R16. I don’t really see a viable path for the Americans past R16 unless something freaky happens and Korea or Russia wins Group H. I think you can write off the Americans against the Germans so they’ll have to draw Portugal and limit goal differential against the Germans. Despite Portugal’s weak showing, I don’t think they’ll be an easy pushover for the US. The yanks didn’t even look that great against Ghana.
I mentioned the Champions League players to point out that Ghana’s team wasn’t that much inexperienced, in my opinion.
US plays ugly and they’re not that talented, but all that focus on tactics and now Klinsmann seem to have made them into a well built team, even though they have limited talent. I think Ghana is better overall and they can score a goal when they do something creative, but US doesn’t make many mistakes. I do like to see more offense, but US did what they had to do.
I think US will be the underdog at every game in the World Cup, but they also have some shot at every game.
Since ´99, Brazil beat Mexico 4 times and lost 7 times. That’s not very comforting for today.
Portugal will punish the US. Im looking for either 3-0 or a 4-1 victory. And isludurr is spot on with his assessment.
Bad day for Africa yesterday. Nigeria played horribly and got a point. Ghana played well and got 0 points.
Man, i’ve bad-mouthed the USMNT for a long time but if there’s one thing they have, it’s an amazing never-say-die attitude. They did what needed to be done and won on the big stage. Nothing better than being outplayed and winning.