FIFA, What a Travisty

[saden1]

Penalty my ass. USA is being f'ed over. There is certainly no consistency between calls by they same ref never-mind referees in general.

[JWsleep]

Yeah, the PK was sooooo weak. But we couldn't get a second goal anyway, so that's that. Too bad--it really was the group of death afterall...

[EEich]

Group of Death? Are you kidding me? The US lost to Ghana. We would have got our asses kicked in the Group of Congestion and Sore Throat.

Landon Donovan = Bode Miller minus the booze.

[That Guy]

I don't know how, but I do believe that this is in some way canada's fault.

[JWsleep]

Originally Posted by EEich

Group of Death? Are you kidding me? The US lost to Ghana. We would have got our asses kicked in the Group of Congestion and Sore Throat.

Landon Donovan = Bode Miller minus the booze.

I agree about Landon--he can't play a damn outside of MLS. But I thought Clint Dempsey looked good. That was a great goal. He'll be in Europe soon, IMO.

Yeah, we lost to Ghana(have you seen Essien play at Chelsea? I don't think we have anyone that good on the field...). Ghana beat us AND the Czechs. We tied Italy. The Czechs beat us. Italy beat the Czechs and Ghana. The point is all 4 teams we're good. No Iran or Saudi Arabia, no Togo. Compare our group to Mexico's-they got through beating Iran and tying Angola. The other group that looked like the group of death had Argentina and Holland, but only those two teams played ball. Our group went down to the wire, and could have had other teams going through. So it goes.

We obviously need to replace Reyna and O'Brien in midefield, Pope in the back, and McBride up front. We really need more size and toughness all over the field. BUt I think there are good young players coming up--Jonathan Specter is one; Freddy Adu is another, and Clint, Beasley, Donovan (if he can get some balls out there!) and Eddie Johnson are young. And Tim Howard is the real deal. We have 4 years to build--hopefully a lot of guys will go to Europe to get some seasoning, and the MLS will continue to improve. I thought maybe Arena could have gone younger this time, but I can't see taking McBride off the pitch, and Reyna, when he healthy, can control a game. It would have been nice to pull this one out, but it would have been short lived: For their reward, Ghana get to play Brazil. BUt, hey, you never know in the knockout stages. What an upset that would be.

[NY_Skinsfan]

Originally Posted by JWsleep

BUt I think there are good young players coming up--Jonathan Specter is one; Freddy Adu is another, and Clint, Beasley, Donovan (if he can get some balls out there!) and Eddie Johnson are young. And Tim Howard is the real deal. We have 4 years to build--hopefully a lot of guys will go to Europe to get some seasoning, and the MLS will continue to improve.

I agree with everyone but Beasley. Yeah, he set up that nice goal but he just doesn't look comfortable out there...I think he's one of those players who just never shows up for the big games. What do you think about Twellman? I was listening to someone after the game (can't remember who it was), they said that the reason donovan and beasley did so well in 02 was because they were out there just running like crazy in their first world cup holding nothing back. They didn't play with the same intensity this time and it showed. Look how Convey played when he came in...he was out there playing pretty good. Maybe we need to focus on a young team next time.

[hooskins]

just watched the Portugal Holland game...seriously wtf...the refs are really under pressure by these new FIFA rules, but they are seriously fcking the game up...it really pisses me off....4 reds? are you fckin kidding me?....worst officiating ever..and i thought the US game was bad..this was shit....its time for the players and fans to protest this bullshit....if no one takes action the game will forever be screwed up.....i really think next world cup the rules will go back to what they were...bc this is a terrible experiment.