2006 World Cup

[NEZCardsfan]

Do soccer fans act like hockey fans and yell "Shoot!" whenever their team has possession anywhere near the goal?
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Too much sausage and beer for Ronaldo!

Are you trolling??

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Are you trolling??

No. They said Ronaldo got yanked because he was out of shape.

I am just curious if soccer fans say that because I hate when hockey fans do that.

 

[NEZCardsfan]

No. They said Ronaldo got yanked because he was out of shape.

I am just curious if soccer fans say that because I hate when hockey fans do that.

I can't help you. I'm way too intimidated to post here.

I love the World Cup, and watch a lot of it, but I don't really know the players or how they qualified. I usually go 47 months between soccer viewing.

I need to go start a World Cup LT thread.....where I can feel comfortable.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I can't help you. I'm way too intimidated to post here.

I love the World Cup, and watch a lot of it, but I don't really know the players or how they qualified. I usually go 47 months between soccer viewing.

I need to go start a World Cup LT thread.....where I can feel comfortable.

I am sure that between the two of us we can drag the quality of any thread down a minimum.

 

[Renz]

You mean "Fataldo"? Every year the Spanish press and fans of Real Madrid get on his case for not being in shape.

IMO his form has been going downhill the last few years and he has been getting by on pure ability and reputation. He could be a much better player than he is now if he really wanted to work at it. JMO.

 

[Stout]

1) Put Clint Dempsey and Johnson on the field. Seriosuly, if Dempsey doesn't play next game I'm going to punch Arenas in the head. Dempsey has done nothing but produce of late and McBride was the worst player on the field.

2) Switch up the D, Pope had a good game and Lewis had a decent game but that was it. I would like to see Bocanegra and possibly my boy Albright

3) Donovan is a middy, not a forward. That match removed any doubt I may have had.

4) Time to start O'Brien, he is one of our best, if not our best, when healthy. Sub him out near the end if he is tired, but play him.

5) Beasley is a LMF, that is his spot. He is successsful there, why move him? Seriously, it baffles me.

6) If Keller is a world class keeper, he needs to start playing like one. How many saves did he have, two?


Here is my lineup for next game (as they would face the opponent's goal):

Forward: McBride (ugh, is there anyone else? Ching???) EJ

Middies: Beasley O'Brien Reyna Dempsey

Defense: Lewis Pope Onyewu Bocanegra

Keeper: Keller


Cherundelo is good but the Italians have son giant forwards.

I agree with almost everything, and it is almost all dead on. Two huge points, however...

-#6 is hideously simplistic. Yes, Keller should have had a better clearance before that one goal, but he was put out on an ISLAND for all three shots. He would have pulled off incredible saves you simply cannot fault a keeper for missing on two of them, and nobody in the world saves the other one.

-Donovan must start. As bad as he was, he showed much more than Beasley. Beasley needs to sit.

 

[BigDavis75]

Bocanegra is a natural left footed player and plays better in the central defender role. I wasn't particularly pleased with either of our centerbacks yesterday and if I was making a choice I'd replace Pope due to his age. If you want to replace Cherundolo, Albright would probably be the better choice. Pope will start though no matter what I think

Beasley needs to sit one game. He just seems lost out there maybe he needs a game off to refocus. He is more comfortable on the left but if he is a world class player he should be able to play on either side.

You would sit Donovan? I disagree on Donovan being a better Midfielder. He was a MF yesterday and played horribly. He can at least create his own shots (unlike McBride) and if his responsibility is going forward taking on players and not defending and looking for the square or back pass on every possesion he plays much better.

McBride--where do I start. His prime was 4 years ago, he is a valuable reserve but should not be starting. His strength is in the air and if he isn't getting good service in the air he is completely ineffective--the Czech size obviously had an effect on the game plan none of the US set pieces went in the air--they were all played short making McBride a total non-factor.

Even in a 4-5-1 the US can generate an attack BUT the game plan looked like it was pass it around the midfield, don't take on a player 1 V 1 and hope that a pass will free up a player for a shot. The Czechs figured that out fairly quickly and just clogged up the passing lanes and won possesion quite easily and moved forward quickly getting the US on their heels. It was the game plan and not the lineup that killed any chance of winning. Time to make changes all around.

I've lost some confidence in Arena since we've qualified for the WC, the team hasn't looked much like they care and the attack has been consistently poor in nearly every game leading up to the tournament.

Let me revise my original post, I didn't realize I had left Donovan out for one thing.

I have always thought that Bocanegra was a righty. If he is a lefty, you're probably right. I would put him at left, keep my sweepers and put Cherundolo at right. I opt for Bocanegra in over Albright because of Bocanegra's ability on header's and I think that Cherundolois a more skilled player than Lewis, despite his size.

Beasley has gamebreaker ability but that is at LMF, Arenas is plain dumb for putting him at RMF. Beasley's effort had me angry but he is still a good player.

Donovan was playing forward yesterday, you are wrong about that. In the second half he was moved, but the first half he had 0 impact on the game playing as the second forward, save drawing that yellow.

I agree now on McBride, he is supposed to be great at headers (he stinks at the feeds and play on the ground) and he didn't win a single header in the box, not a single one. That is disgraceful! He needs to sit but Arenas loves him, like you have said.

Here is my revised lineup. Same deal as last time.

Forwards: McBride* EJ

Middies: O'Brien Donovan Reyna Dempsey

Defense: Bocanegra Pope Onyewu Cherundolo

Keeper: Keller

* I can see Wolff or even Dempsey starting up here, if Dempsey plays there then O'Brien will be a sub and Beasley will probably start.

 

[Zeno]

Donovan was playing forward yesterday, you are wrong about that. In the second half he was moved, but the first half he had 0 impact on the game playing as the second forward, save drawing that yellow.

The US came out in a 4-5-1 with the lone forward being McBride. Donovan played in the space between the MF and Forwards but was still tactically considered a MF albeit an attacking one.

The second half the US played a 3-5-2 with Johnson and McBride up front and a back-line of Lewis-Onyewu-Pope and Donovan in a more central MF role.

When he first entered MLS he was a forward. He excelled there with Ching and that Canadian striker (name escapes me). He went to Europe expected to be a MF and he was awful and proved he had no place in the Bundesliga. He is now a MF with the LA Galaxy and he has not been dangerous, why coaches insisted on moving him is beyond me. The best the US Nat'l team ever saw out of Donovan was as a forward (look back at the game versus Germany in the quarterfinals in 2002)...sure he isn't the biggest guy and can't take on the most physical challenges but he has pace and can put some blistering shots on goal. He is the type of forward who needs to be paired with someone who can win balls out of the air and who has the ability to create his own space by moving off the ball--Donovan normally finds them with a good pass in the offensive third.

Off topic but..I was listening to Wynalda today and he brought up something interesting, in Reyna's 9 World Cup starts the US has only won 1 game (Mexico) and in that game he was playing right back...he was out in the Portugal game.

 

[CaptTurbo]

I was very impressed with Croatia in the second half. Its my wife's team so I was pulling for them. They were worn out at half and came back with a great determination and pride.

How do we get a coach like that?

 

[Kel Varnsen]

My team is getting pounded again...Ukraine down 3-0.

 

[CaptTurbo]

My team is getting pounded again...Ukraine down 3-0.

A team that may get beat worse than the US thank god!

 

[Kel Varnsen]

OT, but it's fun to hear John Paul Dellacamera calling some of these games.

I met him when I was a little kid and he was the broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Spirit of the Major Indoor Soccer League.

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[CaptTurbo]

4-0 spain

 

[Kel Varnsen]

A team that may get beat worse than the US thank god!

LOL. All the teams I like suck. Is there a team you want to lose? I will root for them for you.

 

[Djaughe]

A team that may get beat worse than the US thank god!

lol...has the U.S. team fallen that much to say that?

 

[CaptTurbo]

LOL. All the teams I like suck. Is there a team you want to lose? I will root for them for you.

I can handle that myself. Cheering on the US, Serbia, and Croatian teams. After each has played I have a grand total of zero goals to cheer about.

 

[Zeno]

2 GREAT games today.

Tunisia Vs. Saudi and Germany Vs. Poland were awesome games--both with goals scored in injury time!

Wow.

On another note, I expected Ukraine to give Spain a bigger challenge. I still think Ukraine will advance because I think they are better than Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. They just have to shrug off that pasting the Spanish handed them, if they can.

I'd like to see Spain do well but more than likely they will flame out early in the knockout rounds.

One last thing--Eric Wynalda does an excellent job in the studio. He's perfectly suited to give analysis and is always dead on.

 

[arthurracoon]

2 GREAT games today.

Tunisia Vs. Saudi and Germany Vs. Poland were awesome games--both with goals scored in injury time!

Wow.

boy, I would be hating myself right now if I were polish.

 

[Mulli]

Too bad for the Polish goalie. What a fun match to watch despite the 90 minutes without a goal.

Listening to how Poland has never beaten Germany reminded me of geing a Cardinals fan.

 

[Renz]

Tough loss for Poland, even though they probably should have lost by 2 or 3 goals.

 

[Mulli]

Tough loss for Poland, even though they probably should have lost by 2 or 3 goals.

Exactly what I thought.

 

[slinslin]

Extremely deserving for Germany and Poland also got what they deserved for playing the clock, playing for the tie and only defending.

Germany had more corners than Poland had shots on the goal and Germany had like 3 times as many shots on goal.

The ref was bad in this game. Poland played overly agressive and the ref didn't get in under control early enough and later the cheap yellow card on Ballack was a bit out of line with some of the polish fouls.

 

[Mulli]

Thanks for the analysis about the Poles playing the clock. I wondered why they had so few scoring chances.

Was it me or did Ballack grab the wrong side of this head in the first half after he was "hit in the face" by the defender?

Watching these games and how they try to work the refs reminds me of watching Spurs games at times.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Too bad for the Polish goalie. What a fun match to watch despite the 90 minutes without a goal.

Listening to how Poland has never beaten Germany reminded me of geing a Cardinals fan.

Poor Poland. Given the history between these countries, that's really gotta suck.

 

[Djaughe]

Messi suffers new injury setback