i would be happy with a top 4 finish. i think we have a chance. it would depend on our group seeding. we definitely have more weapons then we've had in the past, a great goalie and solid defense
That was the best example of "running out of gas" in the history of sports. trust me....if Brazil doesn;t get that go ahead goal...nothing happens in OT and we win on penalties. brazil was about to spit up the bit as well....they were about to drop dead. we need another dynamic forward. that is obvious.
Started around the 67th minute IMO. Doubt it. They had much more energy than the US in the second half IMO.
when shot differential is that skewed, there's just no way you can keep pulling off upsets. the ball barely left our half of the field and last i saw the possession was somewhere around 60/40 against us. really tough to keep going when you're constantly on your heels. I don't like that we never start the ball in our backfield and work it up. We always boot it up to the opposite teams goalie, which leaves the US with the ball seemingly about 5-10% of the time if that. Granted, if our midfielders aren't good enough to keep possession of the ball while working it upfield, then the boot may be the better option. either way though, it seemed like Brazil would take a shot and then immediately start over with the ball again. I know that's how some teams have to play, and I know that's how Italy won a lot of games around last world cup time, but man it has got to be hard on the defensive players.
You guys played a hell of a tournament. Congratulations. Hopefully just a glimpse of things to come. Maybe we'll meet again in '10. Why not? We played in '06 WC and this Confed Cup.
Good Game US. I was "watching" it at work..but i saw some of it. Brazil is Brazil. Enough said, I think that goal that didin't count really set off Brazilians.
Watched the game and no one mentions the Brazil goal that would have made it 2-2 When will FIFA get replay or some other form that shows when a goal is a goal Today it did not matter but one day someone will bite the dust on it
The team that showed me the most this tourney was South Africa. They will be a force in 2010 I say they go farther than the USA
exactly,, it was a good game, though that play could have messed it up US has a well-prepaired smart team,, gonna do some damage in the WC for sure the problem of winning the Conf cup is that's jinxed, everyone that wins it doesn't get to win the WC, I hope we can change that Dunga has his players running for once,, an old problem that Brazil has...star players that doesn't care about the national squad. Now they're putting their lifes into it, I like it.
Thing about this US run in the Confed's cup is that teams in the World Cup will not be taking them as lightly as they have done in the past. In Europe, US soccer is not seen as much of a threat, but after the beating the US gave Spain, teams will be more alert to the possibility of an upset. Being honest, this great run in an International competition has come 12 months too early for the US.
that makes no sense whatsoever. they finished 4th. the US finished 2nd and the US beat Spain ..while SA lost to spain AT HOME. one big......HUH?
Yes and no. The US now has the confidence to play the big boys. They schooled Spain, and lacked the experience to close out the game against Brazil, which they should've won. This Cup will prove usefull for their campaign in '10.
for that to be a factor you would have to assume, teams didn't play their hardest when they played the us. I don't see that happening.
I'm not saying teams have went out with the intention of not playing 100% against the US, but you can be sure they did not go out with the same intensity as they would have against a bigger footballing nation. Players dont always play at the same intensity or focus in all games, not matter how much a manager tries to focus them. Teams can get complacent, especially against sides they may not be familiar with. What I'm trying to say is that teams will be more alive to the threat the US possess now. They are a better side than what we have seen in the past and teams will go out knowing that. Put it this way, the US will not be flying under the radar come 2010, big nations wont want to be humbled like Spain were. I'm not trying to take anything away form what the US did, its just because they shocked Spain and pushed Brazil on a world stage, teams will be more wise to the threat they can cause. I'm not saying thats the case for all teams. I think the US are better than many of the African, Asian and some European and South America teams.
did you watch the 2 USA-Brazil games and the South Africa Brazil game?? South Africa played a better game Yes USA did finish 2nd and they also finished with 2 wins and 3 losses. South Africa played equal if not better football than the US and they get that annoying crowd at home We will see as of right now only 4-5 teams have even qualified
Brazil got completely outplayed by South Africa IMO. Luis Fabiano was completely shut down by Booth (bald white guy on the SA squad) and they picked apart Lucio and Maicon in the middle. I thought Kaka - the African one - played really well coming up too.
First they lose 3-0 and yesterday they lose 3-2 with these stats Outshot 31-9 Possesison 59%-41% They were out classed yesterday and almost won USA played wonderful versus Spain and need to play that football not yesterday's rubbish that almost got them a win USA is a decent team and they should advance out of group stage next year but so will South Africa
Exactly my point. Sometimes the best way to learn is the hard way. The've tallied up some experience, and will be better prepared for '10. Im at work, and won't check, but will venture a guess that those stats you posted are skewed because of the dominant second half Brazil had. The US won one half, and Brazil won the other. They just accomplished more in their winning half. Regardless though, you can't discredit USA's first half win because they only had what, 5-6 shots on goal? Either way, they are a abetter team because of what happened.
1 Spain with the loss to the USA it was there only loss in over 2 years. should still be #1 IMO 2 Netherlands 3 Germany 4 Italy does not deserve to be this high 5 Brazil 6 England has had a great run 7 Argentina way too high for these guys too, going on reputation8 Croatia 9 Russia 10 France 11 Portugal great team that we will probably not see at the World Cup12 Turkey 13 Paraguay 14 USA this is where I would put them, but they will probably move to top 10 15 Czech Republic 16 Switzerland 17 Greece over-rated 17 Uruguay 19 Ukraine 20 Serbia 21 Cameroon 22 Scotland 23 Bulgaria 24 Denmark 25 Israel 26 Mexico too high for them as well...how many coaches have they fired 27 Northern Ireland 28 Romania 29 Australia 30 Nigeria 31 Japan 31 Sweden 33 Bosnia-Herzegovina 34 Republic of Ireland 35 Honduras 36 Ghana 37 Chile 38 Côte d'Ivoire 39 Poland 40 Egypt 41 Costa Rica 42 Slovakia 43 Hungary 44 Ecuador 45 Colombia 46 Korea Republic 47 Norway 48 Gabon 49 Finland 50 Burkina Faso I don't even know where this country is 72 South Africa- they should jump up...this is a good team IMO 83. Canada I wonder if they will ever qualify again for the World Cup, we can't even make the final group in CONCACAF
I just dont see us as top 10...we were a bizarre scenario of goal differential from being on the outside looking in. (13-15 is legit ranking) Love the win vs S.A. and going up 2 goals vs. B......but come on...we lost twice to Brazil (giving up effectively 4 goals in 2nd half) and had more L's than W's in this tourney! I am happy they took advantage of what was in front of them, they played by the rules and earned their way in.....but could have easily been out and this would have been an ugly tourney vs. a positive (yet disapointing finish for them to learn from).
results are results. and a 2-0 win against spain and having a 2-0 LEAD into the 40th minute against brazil in the FINAL is a BIG DEAL. and doing that outside the US puts their accomplishment light years ahead of what SA accomplished considering that SA was afterall...AT HOME.
The win against Spain was no fluke. They were a well organised team. Sure they have no stars, but isnt it a team game ? They looked good against Brazil too for 45 minutes. I would like to see how that Bradley would coach a European team.
Arsenal heavily targeted Felipe Melo and today signed a one year contract extension with Fiorentina today.
Your German? as a gooner wouldn't you want Gibbs and Walcott on the winning side? Then again, another season at Fiorentina wouldn't hurt. Hopefully sort his aggression* out too, in one season he had 17 bookings and 3 reds - he's not going to help us if he's going to spend a quarter of the season suspended! * Don't get me wrong I love to see players showing commitment but not at the expense of stupid yellows that could be avoided.
New world rankings are out. 1 Brazil 1672 4 384 2 Spain 1590 -1 -171 3 Netherlands 1379 -1 -63 4 Italy 1229 0 -63 5 Germany 1207 -2 -171 6 Russia 1161 3 -6 7 England 1135 -1 -90 8 Argentina 1091 -1 -112 9 France 1082 1 15 10 Croatia 1031 -2 -169 11 Greece 1001 6 79 12 USA 983 2 36 13 Switzerland 930 3 -1 14 Serbia 925 6 55 15 Denmark 909 9 73 16 Australia 886 13 107 17 Portugal 879 -6 -125 18 Côte d'Ivoire 874 20 129 19 Ukraine 869 0 -22 20 Uruguay 860 -3 -62 21 Czech Republic 850 -6 -93 22 Paraguay 846 -9 -115 23 Bulgaria 839 0 1 24 Scotland 837 -2 -3 25 Israel 822 0 -5 26 Romania 814 2 24 27 Chile 811 10 65 28 Turkey 809 -16 -155 29 Cameroon 803 -8 -52 30 Costa Rica 789 11 95 30 Gabon 789 18 173 32 Northern Ireland 784 -5 -36 33 Mexico 777 -7 -45 34 Nigeria 773 -4 3 35 Ghana 772 1 22 36 Ecuador 760 8 74 37 Republic of Ireland 758 -3 -4 38 Egypt 754 2 35 39 Honduras 753 -4 -8 40 Japan 722 -9 -44 41 Poland 706 -2 -16 42 Sweden 702 -11 -64 43 Slovakia 687 -1 -6 44 Hungary 681 -1 -6 45 Bosnia-Herzegovina 680 -12 -83 46 Colombia 675 -1 -3 47 Algeria 661 19 171 48 Korea Republic 634 -2 -20 49 Tunisia 614 2 17 50 Norway
You left out Canada...down to 92??????? man we suck Looks like the confed cup did not shake out the way I thought with Italy still at #4
