Kolek planning to go pro
I don't know a great deal about soccer, but this seems to me to be a different US national team than previous World Cup appearances. They are faster and don't seem to settle for home run lobs than previous versions did. Put it this way, when I see this team play, they look a lot more like what I see from EPL teams than what previous national teams did.Even if it doesn't work out for the US, I think Klinnsman has been a breath of fresh air and really knows what he is doing to make the US more competitive on the international stage.
Just on this small sample it goes to show how varied perspectives can be from the play. I thought Bradley played fine yesterday. Not sure where in all the criticism of him people ignore that he was a main cog in a midfield that overran Portugal for nearly 70 minutes. 99 of 100 balls from his spot go in the net. Just happened this one hit Costa's knee (who knew nothing about it). And, sure, Eder muscled him off the ball in Portugal's half but as rightly pointed out above the US was covered so well in the back it never seemed a dangerous moment until the ball was in net. Hell, who in their right mind would think Ronaldo would ever turn down the chance to take a defender (an old converted mid at that) on 1v1 in that spot?Hadn't seen much on the Howard angle which was interesting from mu03eng. But I probably blocked it out because Howard made that game saving double save in the first half to keep it 1-0. For my money if you pin it on one guy, it has to be Cameron. For there to be only one opposition player in the box and a defender not have a clue to find him is nearly inconceivable. Throw in a grade school level clearance in the fifth minute and Cameron should be in hiding.
Didn't miss an open net, was blocked by a defender(by definition not an open net). Bradley struck a one time shot to the heart of the goal on a bouncing ball 10 yards from the goal that came off a deflection and a diving defend managed to get his knee cap on that ball. Could he have done better, yes, but it was a good effort.I'm not going to defend the crap out of Bradley, he's played below his standards but you have to look at the game in total. Go back and watch his distribution. He was absolutely feeding Fabian Johnson and Dempsey to stretch the defense and Portugal had to make a defensive substitution (Williams) to try and limit Bradley's and Jones' possession and creativity. Again if Bradley's give-away happens in the 65th minute this laser focus isn't there.
Lost in the draw is a point I've seen a few folks make. Yesterday was arguably the best performance the US has ever had in a world cup.Sure, the late equalizer is a stomach punch. But screw it... the team played in a way that made me feel proud yesterday.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/world-cup-pass-move-i-cant-believe-that-we-did-draw/An interesting take that Bradley's mistake wasn't so much mental as physical:"Given a difficult ball to trap, Bradley’s first touch isn’t great and the ball gets away from him. He has to try to claim the ball at the second time of asking, at which point the Portuguese midfield has already closed in on him. It would have been exceedingly difficult for Bradley to boot the ball somewhere safe in that moment, and there was no guarantee an attempt to kick the hell out of the ball would have put it anywhere safe, given that he was all but facing the U.S. goal. Attempting to win possession, Bradley got muscled off the ball by a stronger player, which led to a Portuguese counter. It was a disappointing performance at a crucial time, but it was a physical mistake, not a mental one. More than likely, Bradley — who ran 7.6 miles during the match, more than anybody else on the pitch — was gassed." Go look at the gif of it.Would have been real interesting if Bradley would have gone down there, seeing if he could draw a foul.
US loses 2-0. Ghana wins by a goal. Ghana goes through.The margin is razor thin for them. Just have a bad feeling that yesterday was the chance.
So goal differential still matters more than Team USA beating Ghana head-to-head?
Goal differential is tiebreaker #1.Head to head is tiebreaker #2....i think
HtH is the tie breaker after goal differential
[quote author=ChicosBailBonds link=topic=27124.msg633584#msg633584 date=1403536114 As for Howard, always some risk coming off your line and you don't want to get burned by a misjudgment that late in the game. Overall, Howard had a few miscues in this game, the post saved him once. We need to be smarter, understand the point in the game we are in.Are you counting a sniper in the stands as a risk? That was as routine a cross that the keeper should gobble up as you will ever see.
Goals scored is after differential.
I didn't think anything about that cross was routine, in my opinion.
Go back and watch it again....Howard takes at least 3 steps if not 4 before the ball gets to Valera. If those steps are forward(first was) he easily gets to the ball. It was a beautiful cross and if there is a lot of traffic an extremely dangerous one. But a cross from 25 yards to the far post landing around 7 yards from the end line with no traffic in front of the keeper whatsoever....no matter how beautiful the cross it is routine. I could make that play in the clothes I'm wearing right now including my dress shoes.
Lost in the draw is a point I've seen a few folks make. Yesterday was arguably the best performance the US has ever had in a world cup.Sure, the late equalizer is a stomach punch. But screw it... the team played in a way that made me feel proud yesterday.I'm excited to watch the US play against Germany. I'm confident the team is going to play well.
http://www.espnfc.us/video/highlights/114/video/1904113/varela-scores-last-gasp-levellerHere's the play, the ball is curling back. I don't think Howard gets there in time. Too close of a call because if he doesn't get there, he's screwed. That cross gets there in a hurry, has pace on it and curls back. IMO, don't think Howard gets there. IMO