May 24, 2013

U.S. can’t hold lead, draws with Guatemala in World Cup qualifier

June 13, 2012 by 9 Comments

Most people I know were following the game on Twitter or looking for illegal feeds that might give them viruses on their computers. Others were at bars that were willing to pay $30 for a non-HD feed that was popping in and out due to technical difficulties. 1 Regardless of all the broadcast troubles, the game did in fact occur. The United States outplayed Guatemala for almost the entirety of the game, but still only came out with one point in the standings as they tied 1-1.

The U.S. started the game in very impressive fashion. They were passing the ball beautifully including a lot of one-touch series that kept Guatemala’s midfield and defenders running. It didn’t last however. As the U.S. does too often, they started to play down to their opponent. They started to play longer balls and seemed to be chasing a little bit too often. [Read more...]

___________________________________

  1. $30 for a crappy feed that looked to be about webcam quality with a halftime show that didn’t last as long as the intermission so they played an un-commented montage of plays from the first half! What a value! [back]

Filed Under: General, USMNT, World Cup Tagged With: , , , , , ,

U.S. Soccer Begins 2014 World Cup Qualification – What Does This All Mean?

June 7, 2012 by 12 Comments

So many times as I’ve watched U.S. Soccer and commented on it on Twitter, I’ve heard detractors say, “So, um, what does this game mean?” It is kind of tough to say when the USMNT is playing a “friendly” that doesn’t have impact on qualification. I mean, I personally never really care, because I love to watch the sport, regardless. That being said, it is a fair point. Unless it is the actual World Cup or the Olympics, what do games really mean? So, I thought I would do a bit of homework to try and bring all the facts together in one place for all those who might need a little context in order to get into the United States’ game tomorrow night against Antigua and Barbuda Friday June 8th at 7 PM in Tampa. 1

The United States will be playing for a chance to be one of 32 teams in the World Cup in 2014. This is their first game of qualifying even though it is the third round in CONCACAF. 2 The United States placed out of the first two rounds.  Overall there were 35 teams vying for three spots and now there are three groups (A, B, C) remaining with four teams each. The United States is the top-ranked team in Group A and will face off against Jamaica, Guatemala and Antigua and Barbuda. [Read more...]

___________________________________

  1. Yes, Antigua and Barbuda is is just one soccer team. [back]
  2. The Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Association of Football – yes, I looked that up. [back]

Filed Under: USMNT Tagged With: , , , , , ,

What Should Bob Bradley’s Future Be?

June 28, 2010 by 21 Comments

Over the weekend, the United States was eliminated by Ghana from the World Cup.  It is always sad to lose, but when we look back on this experience later, I think most of us will appreciate how well the United States did.  They won their group despite some suspect officiating.  They scored a gift of a goal against England in the opener for a fortunate tie.  They should have won the second game against Slovenia if not for a disallowed goal that eventually saw the referee’s dismissal from further World Cup action.  Then they overcame another disallowed goal in beating Algeria to take the group over England.  It showed a lot of heart.  Finally, the United States was not able to beat Ghana on Saturday.  The United States survived another early goal to tie it up and take it into extra time, but the journey ended there.

It was a great showing, but there were definitely some questionable decisions by coach Bob Bradley in the deciding match.  The man who almost single-handedly gave up the early goal, Ricardo Clark, was a controversial choice as starter.  Clark then compounded matters by getting a yellow card and was subsequently replaced at a very early 30 minute mark in the first half.  That used up one of the United States three allowed substitutions with a whole lot of time left on the clock.  Seeing as how the match went into extra time, it was even more.  Now, I can’t blame the loss on the coach.  At the same time, it left many wondering what the future of Bob Bradley should be with the next World Cup heading to Brazil in 2014. [Read more...]

Filed Under: World Cup, World Cup 2010 Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

United States’ World Cup Ends Against Ghana 2-1

June 26, 2010 by 20 Comments

It was a decent showing in the World Cup for the United States, but that is for analysis down the road.  Today, the taste of defeat is still just a little bit too bitter for that viewpoint.  The United States survived the referees and the early goals in the opening round.  The defensive issues proved too much of a deficiency for the United States to continue in the knockout stage, as they lost to Ghana on early goals.

In the 93rd minute (very early on in extra time) the United States’ sloppy play on defense haunted them again.  It was a great finish by Ghana’s Gyan through two U.S. defenders and Tim Howard.  A long ball bounced through, Gyan survived a couple of bumps and blasted a left footed rocket practically through Tim Howard.  The United States would have twenty-some more minutes to answer once to send it to penalty kicks, or twice to win the match outright. [Read more...]

Filed Under: World Cup, World Cup 2010 Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

America Needs You Open Thread

June 26, 2010 by 65 Comments

Guys, I’m not gonna fuddle around with this. The USA is in the elimination round of the World Cup. Awesome, awesome things happened at the end of the Algeria game to make this a possibility. Bro Biden would say that today’s game is a big [something] deal. Chill Clinton stayed in South Africa just for this game. I’m out at the bar with Eli (Pour House, Penn Ave SE DC – Steelers bar yes, but today we’re AMERICANS, folks). Those of you who are around, leave your thoughts here as the game progresses – and even afterwards!

And get pumped. You know, for ‘Merica.

–

Photo Credit: (REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi)

Filed Under: World Cup Tagged With: , , , ,

United States Gets Cheated Against Slovenia, Ties 2-2

June 18, 2010 by 49 Comments

The United States treated their opening game tie versus England as a win.  The United States wasn’t favored in the game and England is considered the class of the opening round group.  Meanwhile, Slovenia won their first game to lead the group with three points after their victory over Algeria.  The plan for both England and the United States was for both of them to beat up on Slovenia and Algeria to advance out of group play.  At the same time, Slovenia is considered somewhat dangerous and would certainly have other ideas.  So, while the United States were favored today, it wasn’t totally inconceivable to have Slovenia score first early, which they did against a notoriously slow-starting United States team. [Read more...]

Filed Under: World Cup, World Cup 2010 Tagged With: , , ,

U.S. World Cup Team Defeats Turkey 2-1

May 30, 2010 by 15 Comments

The United States Men’s National Team was in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday for a World Cup warmup “friendly” against Turkey.  It was one of the team’s last games before World Cup action starts on June 12th against England.  With lots of questions about the team, specifically their defense,the U.S. was looking to find some chemistry and potentially some momentum and confidence. After trailing early, the United States came back and defeated Turkey 2-1.

The United States trailed Turkey 1-0 after a first half of relatively uneven play.  When the U.S. was taking care of the ball, they created opportunities.  They were playing relatively wide open.  Counter-attacking was the story of the half.  When the U.S. drove deep into Turkey’s end, they were quickly barraged right back.  This was the case unfortunately for U.S. defenseman Jonathan Spector.  Spector got caught sleeping on the right side of the back line and nearly single-handedly gave up the lone goal. [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, World Cup, World Cup 2010 Tagged With: , , , , ,

World Cup on WFNY?

May 26, 2010 by 69 Comments

Last night when Rick and I were sitting in the Tribe Social Deck area of the Jake he made an off-hand comment about soccer.  It seems the world’s most popular sport isn’t good enough for at least one of the people who populate the pages here at WFNY.  I like soccer.  I love the World Cup.  I got to thinking about it and I was wondering if there would be any interest amongst our audience of sports fans.

Are you going to be watching it?  Are you all rooting for the U.S.A. or are you clinging to some other part of your heritage?  I grew up with lots of people with last names ending in vowels that preferred to root for Italy over the United States.   [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, World Cup Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

U.S. Executes Improbable Comeback to Tie El Salvador

March 29, 2009 by 11 Comments

We don’t really talk soccer or futbol here much, but I happened to catch last night’s qualifier between the U.S. and El Salvador in an away match last night.  Like all games that the U.S. plays on the road, the environment is terrifying.  Think if you taught Oakland Raiders fans and the Dawg Pound how to coordinate cheers and had them both filling a stadium to root for the same team.  Now put them all in blue and have them screaming, chanting, throwing things, blowing whistles and sounding off police sirens.  That is what the U.S. faced last night in El Salvador.  Combine that with the historically well-known stories of blaring music, firecrackers, and pulled fire alarms at hotels where the U.S. team stays on road trips and you have yourself the daunting task of winning a soccer game.

To be fair, I don’t know if the U.S. had any of those excuses last night in their game against El Salvador.  I should hope that they do though, as the U.S. sleepwalked through the first three fourths of the game.  They seemed lethargic as their counterattacks fell flat and seemed toothless.  Meanwhile, El Salvador seemed to be playing at a different pace.  They were flying to the ball and clogging the midfield and counterattacking at every opportunity.  And it paid off.  They scored their first goal early in the game, and then in the 72nd minute they scored what seemed to be the icing on the cake for El Salvador.  They made the U.S. defense look silly as the left back gave up a run to the end line after getting juked out of his shorts.  A cross and a header later and the U.S. was down by two with about 17 minutes remaining plus or minus injury time.

But the U.S. caught a burst of energy. [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: , , , , , , ,