Hmmm. After reading the more positive posts here, I'm actually looking forward to the USA's chances with this draw. We could have it like Mexico (With Brazil, the home team and two other decent(ish) teams, Croatia and Cameroon). Mexicans have a tough time against larger sized, physical players, ). Or even England, which usually struggles anyway, with Italy looming over them and Uruguay (no slouch), but with a winnable Costa Rica. I don't think any team in the WC can walk away today confidently and say, we're gonna advance for sure (except Brazil ). All groups won't be a cake walk. (Will Belgium be the Dark Horse here?) That said, yeah, I'm getting amped up for the WC 2014. Now, which jersey to get.....
Not that much "better" than each other, and I'll agree. "Talent" is difficult to really say, particularly because each of the three teams distribute their talent very differently. FWIW, the SPI index seems to agree with your assertion. Portugal and USA are in a virtual dead-heat for 2nd place (Portugal is ahead of us by less than a 1/10th of a percentage point of likelihood), and Ghana are only around 11 percentage points less likely to advance.
I actually think CR7 does the opposite for the neutral's perception. They assume that since he's so much better than his teammates that they're scrubs. There's a reason Portugal have only lost to Germany or Spain in the past three major tournaments, and it's not just because of Ronaldo. Not even close.
This is true. But I fancy the US's chances against Portugal. If Portugal lose to Germany in the opener, they will come at the US full bore, and this more than plays into the US strategy. While it did suck the USA did get the GOD, I am happy that the US has the easiest schedule in that group. The US must get the monkey off our back and beat Ghana, and I am more than sure we can do that. If everything goes as planned, we can draw or beat Portugal, which leaves us to play a German team that has likely already advanced.
Oh, is that what the 0 next to Serbia and the 1 next to Ghana mean? People always be speakin in Canadian
1. I agree the first game against Ghana is "must win". Unfortunately, it is also "must win" for them. 2. I think there may be two harder groups than ours. Group D with Uruguay, Italy, Costa Rica and England and Group B: Spain, Netherlands, Chile and Australia. 3. Whoever wins our group and the runner's up will have one of the easier knock out matches in the next round. Hopefully, they will be wearing the USA colors. 4. It's nice to be playing the possibly weakest team in the group in our opener. Unfortunately, they looked like wild men on steroids when they faced Egypt in Ghana in that particular first match. 5. Portugal, who knows if they show up. Maybe Germany gives us the blueprint with a 3-0 victory. 6. Germany, as others have noted, they may be resting starters by the time they play us. 7. This is not as bad as I first suspected. We have some intangibles working in our favor, per usual.
A Ronaldo stopper doesn't exist but if I had to put one US player out there against him, it'd be Cameron.
That's the way it was interpreted at the time, but if you watch it again Landon actually does make a strong attacking move into the box, but he's on his weaker foot. He looks to slot the through ball, but nobody makes a diagonal run to the near post and Ghana does incredibly well to push their line up. He should have been more decisive and drove on his right foot (2010 Landon certainly would have been) but to be honest I've always thought that people overestimated how poor 2006 was, especially considering the heroic Italy performance. I was at the Ghana match, so my memories are definitely shaded by being in the arena, but I really believe the US were the better team on the day. Watching it again on YouTube, I still kind of feel that way. They got absolutely jobbed on that PK call. They were by far the more dangerous team in the second half. They hit the post, they just missed on some headers, they had some really bad offside calls go against them, and they also had Ghana taking a bite out of them on every tackle and then flopping around (Pimpong fuuuuu.......). And they did all that with a CM combo of Beasley and Olsen. In 2010 it was an even match. Ghana was more ruthless. They didn't waste chances. We did. That's been the difference. Also, watching this 2006 match again: Brian McBride was an amazing striker 40 yards from goal. Really good in the box too, but holy cow his target play.
You are funny. So, Clint is going to have a breakout-swan song tourney. Between LD, Clint and Jozy, there will be 8 goals, but most of our goals are going to come from people you wouldn't think. This means you're predicting at least 17 goals. That would make the US the second highest goal-scoring side since Brazil had 19 in 1970. They're also second with 18 in 2002. That's an awesome dream.
Like I said, one can dream. 18 goals are possible when we go all the way. And in dreams you don't use analysis; that comes after the fact. Wait... What?
You can't put one player against him, though. I know he has a lot of negatives, but for me, this is a reason to have Jermaine Jones on the field. He's big and physical and not afraid to take a bite out of anyone. He's not fast enough to sprint with Ronaldo (who is?) but he is mobile enough to run him into double teams with speedier defenders.
The good thing about playing Germany is that we did have our A-team play them in the friendly last year. So they won't be phased (even if it was a Germany C team). http://us.soccerway.com/matches/201...ies/united-states-of-america/germany/1459128/
There's only one difference between this Nani and the one now 1-fitness 2- confidence Both which he is slowly regaining after he was injury plagued last season.
How about double-teaming CR? How would that affect the team formation/shape? Oh, I can't even go that far at this point. Too early.
You guys are seriously underestimating Portugal. They have WC players in midfield, defense, and attack. They also have amazing chemistry going into this tournament unlike the last time.
Yes, semi-funny, but the beauty of the World Cup is that every country has hope; there is always that Cinderella team who advances against all odds, the powerhouse team that goes three and out, the mid-level teams that advance due to unforeseen mathematical chances, the eventual dark horse... This is why, at this point, every country in the WC should feel proud, and hopeful, to be there. Oh, Piers...
Not keeping a clean sheet against Germany or Portugal, prob not Ghana either. Not with the defense we have.
http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/...-propose-drinks-breaks-during-manaus-matches/ Drink breaks during the game? Are they proposing orange slices too? Seriously, though, I can't decide whether we have enough of an advantage in humidity that we don't want this or whether we are going to be chasing the game so much that we'll need this.
How I felt watching our draw. https://v.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/C3D1...mp4?versionId=0Ybx2tp7Wm5GpH06hdDVaHETCbG2Xbh.