The Soccer Thread (Part III)

Or maybe I'm thinking of Golden Boot ... so never mind!

 

Oh, good God.

Here, you lot: http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/footy.html

 

I watched the game yesterday while running around getting our house ready for my son's birthday party. It was simply a fair result. We played great for most of the first half and got killed from the right side in the second half. Once Brazil realized that they were going to have a hard time through the middle, we were under the gun. Our forwards did a crappy job holding the ball and we wasted the few chances that we had to break out in the second half.

 

EnglandEnglandEnglandEnglandEnglandEnglandEnglandEnglandEnglandEnglandEnglandEnglandEnglandEngland
Football, Football
FootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFootyFooty
England, England

Oh gods my brain.

 

I must admit, I always look forward to the England meltdown, and subsequent infinite use of the world "unlucky."

 

Must be a lot of national team players on this thread considering the amount of we's and our's being tossed around here.

 

The end of the first half had me flying. The end of the second half had me drinking a lot quicker. It was still a great time. I don’t feel too bad about the result. The U.S. had them and Brazil being Brazil was just able to come back. It happens sometimes.

By the time that game ended, I was left thinking about the future and the following tournament to come next summer. Currently, the U.S. has some injuries and cards, which prevented them from fielding what would have been their best line-up. (I’m not going to argue that they would win if everyone’s healthy, I’m just trying to see how much better the team would be.)

Bradley was out with a red due to an absurd referee decision. Then you have Maurice Edu, who has been playing phenomenal for Rangers before getting knocked out with an injury. Add in the “best defensive midfielder in the Bundesliga,” Jermaine Jones, which won’t happen until October.

The U.S. could line up a 4-5-1 that rotates to a 4-3-3 with Jones, Edu and Bradley in the middle with Dempsey and Donovan more attacking and Jozy up top (he needs to improve for this to work). Or, you could with a 4-4-2, just like this tournament, only instead of relying on Kljestan to come in and kill a game (sorry, not good enough yet) you will have Edu or Bradley off the bench followed by Rico Clark.

For striking options, Brian Ching, once healthy, would make a great addition to the top as the guy knows how to work. If Freddy Adu gets some time on the pitch (we’ll see him in the Gold Cup), then we can start talking about the attacking options he presents.

Suddenly, the depth of the team is extended. I’m really seeing a lot of positive here.

 

Ching would have helped vs. Brazil, if only coming in as a sub instead of Casey.
Maurice would have helped, because I think he's better than Rico Clark, although Clark played well.
Hejduk would have helped as a sub giving energy. Obviously Cherundolo is a fine RB with loads of experience.

Let's not forget, though, that all the injuries uncovered the potential in several players:
Clark, as mentioned.
DeMerit, who was mammoth vs. Spain.
Spector, whose crosses led directly to two goals and who marked well against some of the great offensive players on the planet.
Davies, whose speed gave the U.S. a new dimension at forward.

The only way this tournament could have played out better is if the U.S. had gotten to minute 60 without conceding against Brazil. At that point, the pressure might have squeezed the Brazilians enough to get the Americans home. But maybe not. All in all, it was the most progress the Americans have made as a soccer nation since Gooch, Beas and Landon graduated from Bradenton.

 

I can hate him twice. Yay!

 

Germany 2-0 up and in complete command of the Euro under-21 final. About 15 minutes to go.

 

So you're saying that you don't want to see the original?

 

3-0 now on a counter. All the set piece chances England have had have been for naught.