World Cup Matches of the Day; [R] 6/22/06

[rabble-rabble]

A disappointing couple of weeks. It's like we never fully recovered from the first Czech goal 5 minutes into the opening match. A lot of US players really played below par. We did show a lot of heart at times in the Italy match, but for the most part we just never seemed to start clicking.

It didn't help that the soccer gods seemed against us with potentially game tying shots banging against the woodwork a couple of times, a few harsh calls, and having to play in what arguably was the toughest group, but championship level teams play through those sort of things and obviously we are still far away from that level. Still, I'll take the performances of the past few years over past decades when we lost non-televised qualifiers against Haiti and home qualifiers were played on a high school field somewhere and not even reported in most newspapers. Hopefully future years will see US Soccer rise to higher levels and see great things, but as fans, we might have to show great patience.

Ah well. Anybody up to raising some hell against the Revs this weekend? I'll be there and in good voice.

[AreliusIV]

Betting trends suggest US soccer team will be crushed by Ghana

[realPDX]

Originally Posted by SoccerPrime

Are you new to following USMNT? These are/were the stalwarts. These guys are US Mens soccer. Its like a generation dying or something. I am sad, I'll leave you to your own opinion I guess.

Its going to take awhile to get the idea of Reyna passing the captain's bad to Donovan and then watch Reyna sulk on the bench and Donovan screw up on the pitch. Sad day, really.

sorry i gotta reply to this but....are you kidding me? reyna did about as much as donovan, in fact he coughed up the ball to give up the first goal. what was he thinking? get that out of there quickly. reyna did VERY little for this team during the WC. all he did was slow down the play and CONSTANTLY turn the ball over to the other teams. pope did a pretty bad job too, horrible mistake on the italy goal that should have gotten him bench, in fact i wish boneheaded arena would have benched him so he could have played in the ghana game. berhalter, lewis and hejduk did NOTHING for this team. lewis was the only one to get any time and his crosses were bad, really bad. hannehman? who would miss him?

from that list, the only players that will be missed are keller, mcbride and mastroeni. poor mastro getting that red really hurt us. he was playing good in the italy game and then the ref had to ruin that game. mcbride was mcbride in the air winning so good headers. too bad arena was such a dumbass to leave him up there on an island all by himself with nobody to head the ball to. what the **** was arena thinking? and keller, keller put in some wonderful years for the USMNT. i think he might even have a year or two left. like they say, a good keeper ages like a fine wine. they only get better.

this game killed me. i place 90% of the blame on Bruce. i nearly **** my pants when i saw 4-5-1. does this guy have any brains what so ever? or does he just have no balls? what a freaking idiot to think of playing with that formation in a must win game. a damn high school coach would not make that mistake. players win games, coaches lose them. the coach DEFINITLY lost this game for the US.

donovan was a joke, i couldnt believe he got the captains armband when reyna left the field. give it to mcbride, he was the only one coming from the top to defend. landycakes just stood there and waited until the recovered the ball. he really had no clue what to do. and his free kicks just plain sucked. that one in the 81st minute that sailed over the bar just did it for me. what a complete hack of a soccer player. beasely was also completely worthless this tournament. besides his one great pass to dempsey, he was a ghost haunting the US. absolutely a no show this WC. gooch played solid, got really screwed on that bogus pk call. nice dive by pinmpong (sp?).

why did arena wait until the 60th minute to sub on johnson? i realize he hasnt done much this cup, but damn, you gotta get an attacking player with some pace on the field. we looked like our cleats were glued to our own side of the field. i was screaming at the tv to get up the field and attack. he should have put GAM on for reyna when reyna came off and moved the formation to a 4-4-2. there was no reason what so ever to have two d-mids with our 4 defenders.

what can i say, everyone played pretty much like ****. dempsey was to lone bright spot this whole WC. he was the only one to play with confidence and pace. he pushed the attack, took on players 1 v 1, and showed some heart in his play. everyone else looked scared and completely outmatched. arena deserves the blame for this failure of a WC finals experience. if there was a grade lower than an F i would give it to him. his 4-5-1 formations were an utter disaster, why did he go with them when we havent played that formation in 8 years? way to choke douche bag. time for him to step down and for the USMNT to get fresh blood and new ideas as a head coach.

the team looked like crap. i hope they are shamed for the lack of effort and heart they put into this. they looked bored and disinterested at time, completely unprepared for what they were doing.

good bye arena.

[Aerick]

Originally Posted by AreliusIV

According to Grant Wahl, this is what was a stake in today's match:

A place in the second round (obviously).
The sanity of US fans.
Landon Donovan’s reputation.
The U.S.’s status as an emerging player on the world soccer stage.
The future of the Bruce Arena era in U.S. soccer.

Look's like we struck out on every one...

Don't forget the potential loss of the casual soccer fans that started to get sucked in from the advertisements and hype, and then noticed how we stunk it up on the field. If this doesn't set the US soccer movement back another 5-10 years, I'll be surprised.

[AreliusIV]

Nostradamus:

In the sixth year,
of the second millenia,
A black star will shine high,
above the kingdom of Teutoni.
Causing a great Eagle to fall.

[AreliusIV]

U.S. Postmortem

[AreliusIV]

Move along folks! There's nothing to see here!

[AreliusIV]

We're sorry, World, but it seems we just don't get it

[AreliusIV]

Living with Elimination: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Brazil

[AreliusIV]

What’s next for U.S.?