Okay, unless if there's a rule I don't know about, tell me how DaMarcus Beasley's goal was considered an offsides? What? Brian McBride just STANDING there is considered offsides? McBride did not touch the ball as it went into the net. I've seen COUNTLESS goals in the past where it went past their own team's player into the goal....and it counted! What the hell kinda call was that? Seriously!!!
This was one of the worst referees (Uruguayan) I've seen EVER for a soccer game. I've seen bad refs but this legitimately topped it. He called EVERY foul in the first 30 minutes of the game to the point where I think both teams racked fouls in the 20+....followed by yellow cards left and right. I mean, there were fouls for simply putting your hand on the back of an opponent. Of course, we come to find out the ref was banned back in 2002 for irregularities. Irregularities for sure....red card on the Italian elbowing McBride to a bloody oblivion is understandable (pretty much the only good call he made in the entire game)....but red card for a Mastroeni slide tackle? Red card on Pope? Historically, the people would get warnings before getting an yellow card! And then if you watched the last 20 minutes of the game, there were ZERO calls? ZERO calls in the last 20. Why not? The bastard did enough damage already. Shit, how did this guy ref again??????
America was robbed. Plain and simple. What a tremendous effort for having only NINE players on the field. At least Ghana beat the overrated Czechs. 2-0. I cheered my head off for the goal after the FIRST MINUTE. Good job Czechs for overlooking your opponents...maybe that #2 ranking is getting to your heads after all. All that's left is Italy to whomp on your asses and US to beat Ghana. Hopefully US has their head into the game vs Ghana. We'll see. After today's effort, I seriously think US can pull it off vs Ghana. Let's hope Italy destroys Czech Rep.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
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AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Dude, I totally agree on the terrible refereeing. However, McBride was offside. FIFA rules states that a player is offside if he affects the play in any way while being in an offside position. McBride was obstructing the keeper's vision.
We were TOTALLY SCREWED when it came to cards (and fouls in general) though. Mastro's card may have been justified (although I saw about a billion T&T tackles that were similar and drew only fouls, not even a yellow) in the context of the referee trying to get control of a very physical and passionate game. Pope's ejection was an absolute atrocity. Terrible.
Somebody lit a fire under their arses. Good move putting Boca in - he had a tremendous game. Keller even rose to the occasion. Gooch was spectacular. Dempsey was dazzling. It seems the US is only good when it is not confident and they know they are playing somebody better than them. Bravo, bravo - we deserved to win.
Czechs looked TERRIBLE. I think they did what we did and let the FIFA ranking go to their head (especially after they whipped us). Ghana looked strong - I soooooo wish that us and Ghana could advance. They had such a great performance.
If we play like we did today, we can beat Ghana easily, probably 2-0, depending on how they play.
Go Italy!
obstructing the keeper's vision.........geez, that's so questionable. That rule should be thrown out - even if it would've affected us instead of the opponents - I find that ludicrous.
The only mistake US made was by Pope by allowing the Italian to run past him to score their one goal. When it comes to set pieces that close, I don't think people should try the offside trap and just get the ball outta there.
Maestroni's foul, IMO, shouldn't have been red. Almost every game in the World Cup had tackles like that with either yellow or no card whatsoever. This referee was WAY too card happy. It's ridiculous and takes away from the game. I know all about the "beautiful game," but since ERIC CANTONA is coining the whole joga bonito term, the man that got ejected more times for Manchester United than any player probably in the history of Earth soccer, him saying that is calling the kettle black. So shut up Cantona. The game is alright the way it is. If defensive players aren't rough, then anyone can get by.
Pope's ejection is understandable, only, and only the fact that it was his second yellow. But! He shouldn't have got the second yellow in the first place.
Honestly, I know you blamed Arena earlier, but I think his criticism was justified. I think it lit a lot of asses on fire to the point that it pissed them off to do well.
Ghana simply schooled Czech Republic. There's no ands ifs or buts about that one and no excuses. It's like the way the Czechs played vs us. Quick goal and all.
And for once, I'm cheering Italy to destroy Czech Republic - in more ways than one. And the US BETTER not let up. Just because they got a point today - they need to keep rolling. IF we get past that stage, we can only hope we play Australia or Croatia in the Rd of 16 instead of Brazil.
Heck, if we play Brazil the way we played Italy - then anything can happen.
Pope should have received a warning for that second foul, and only ejected if it occurred again. The ref knew he had a yellow, and usually it takes something pretty bad to get a second.
Doesn't it seem to you that Italy should change their national sport from soccer to diving? Holy crap, it was like they had Gooch radar and anytime he and the ball were near one of 'em - flop! *grab ankle and scream*
Secretly, I'm kinda glad that Pope can't play in the next game. He's been like an anchor on that back line. He looks old and slow. He's got experience, but Gooch more than held his own back there. One of my favorite parts of the game was when Luca Toni had Gooch in a 1 v 1 situation, and Gooch calmly stuck his foot out and stripped the ball, taking it up the wing for the counter.
Losing Mastro sucks. He's such a vital "unseen" player at defensive mid.
I still blame Arena for that first loss. It's his role as the highly touted "master motivator" to prep the less skilled US for a big game like this. I think the warmup matches contributed to a general sense of complacency that you absolutely cannot have before a World Cup. I don't think he stressed enough to the guys just how good the Czechs were, and an early goal put us down. Props on whatever he said that kept the US from getting down after the first Italian goal. He's back even in my book, although I hope we can get Klinsmann or a Dutchman as our coach after this World Cup.
One more thing that's been really bothering me about this and past US teams, is that we desperately need some skill at finishing. Our best finishers (Lando, McBride) are not that good - McBride had a sure goal put wide in one instance. McBride's skill lies only in the air. We should be giving EJ more minutes, because right now he seems to be our best hope. Most teams have a go-to guy up front, but we usually play a style with a great buildup, but with terrible final 2 or 3 touches. As soon as we get a proven finisher, the world will then worry about playing us.
Well, Japan tied Croatia 0-0, so Japan is still hanging on. Next they have Brazil - kinda unsure about that one *shrugs*
Anyways, anything can happen, that's for sure. What's critical for the US is they need to continue that firepower into the next series of games.
Yeah, I remember seeing Onyewu basically get the ball from Toni pretty simply. In fact, there were many instances in that game where the US defense stripped the ball from them calmly.
Yeah, Bruce Arena is great, but we need a coach that can take the team to the next level. Sure we do good at CONCACAF, but I'm talking World Cup, Olympics, the highest level. Dutch coaches seem to have the magic wand so I wouldn't mind seeing a Guus Hiddink or even a Brazilian/Portuguese coaches.
Eddie Johnson really needs to be a starter. He proved he can do well in the first game. I'm surprised he wasn't playing at all in the Italian game. For me, THE team (starters) for me would be at the backfield: Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, Eddie Pope, Steve Cherundolo, and Kasey Keller. Mid: definitely DaMarcus Beasley, Clint Dempsey, Claudio Reyna and Bobby Convey. Landon Donovan and Pablo Mastroeni are great as well, but I think the 4 mentioned for me have been doing much better. FW: Eddie Johnson and might as well give Brian Ching or Josh Wolff a shot. If not, then Brian McBride
In the future, I really wanna see Freddy Adu, Conor Casey, Eddie Gaven, Cory Gibbs (injured), Santino Quaranta, and Taylor Twellman come on board. Once Keller's gone, they need to develop Tim Howard, Kevin Hartman, and Nick Rimando.
Japan impressed me, showing a lot of spirit. Great save by Kasagawa on that penalty, which was the cheapest PK I've ever seen awarded. Apparently, the Croats have a reputation for diving. I was so hoping for Alex to hit the go ahead, because Japan played quite well and deserved a win. Croatia still looks very strong, so I'm excited to see the Croatia-Aus game.
Aus deserved a draw today. They played Brazil even. Great game. Brazil looks like crap. They better get it together, because they will have to play a good team coming out of our group in the second round.
I think the commentator's wording was dead on. The ref ruined the game. Maybe we would have won the game with a man advantage, maybe we wouldn't have. No one will ever know. The game we saw wasn't the same game that should have been played.
Dangit, I mean Kawaguchi for the keeper.
Dang Japanese names.
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