But right after that Gooch mugged a Black Star on a head ball and the refs (suspiciously) awarded a penalty kick that became the game winning goal.
The U.S. had several opportunities but they just weren't good enough. The ball was always a few inches (or further) off its target.
Now we can enjoy the rest of the tournament. I hope my readers will continue to watch as this is when the tournament really gets exiciting, when the best teams are competing against each other.
My pre-Cup choice, France is on the ropes today. They have to beat Togo and hope that the match between Switzerland and South Korea is not a tie. If it is, they can still win on goal differential, but that gets a little hairy.
Brazil finally ramped it up, winning 4-1 yesterday, so they are finally rounding into shape.
More analysis to come once the field of 16 is set.
That pass/goal by the US was pretty sick. But then there were the moments like when Landon Donovan had the free kick, you hear the announcers say "this is the best chance they'll get to score"...and then Landon proceeds to just kick it right over everyones head out of bounds...so no one could even make a play on it.
ReplyDeleteI know i barely know anything about soccer, but that was just shitty. I felt like there were time when they could have dropped a few bombs, hopeing for a super lucky shot, or at least a deflection/mistake etc.
Brazil is pretty amazing. The way they play the game makes the US look like a team that was pulled together 5 minutes before the match starts.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with both your assessments. U.S. only had 4 shots on goal. And one of those was Reyna's job off the post. So basically the most goals the U.S. could have had, if opposing team's keepers made zero saves, was 3. They need to be more aggressive.
ReplyDeleteThe Brazilians have great players who make perfect passes every time. The U.S. has the aforementioned Landon Donovan.
Also Brazil has the chick in those shorts. The U.S. has Abe Reiss.
Don't knock Abe's look in tight shorts.
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