Ghana coach cautious ahead of USA clash

[mundial]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=371683&cc=5901

[dirtskier]

but can he name a few of our players besides "that one guy who plays for PSV"?

[redtyre]

Heck, if we were not against Ghana, I'd be pulling for them. One thing about the WC; you like some teams, but sometimes, ones you like face each other, then others teams are left then, that one doesn't care for that much.

Lots of Ghanans in the USA; just a few blocks away, I gave them a big wave; Ghana has some real ties to the USA and a Christian nation.

Ghana's coach Radomir had to do his homework vs. the Czechs; he is astute; didn't Black Stars supporters want him out of there after the African Cup?? Course, Nigeria and Cameroon and others did there best there because they were not in the World Cup.

An interesting confrontation of probably 2 great coaches.

Ratomir would be one of my choices for coach of the year. Harder to go against Ghana, because this is one African nation that is excelling in this tournament (unexpectedly), so my hats off to them, but of course, I will be for the USA.

[Wasted]

Theres also a thread in USA Men where the coach supposedly says that we "will suffer". Interesting thought patterns this guy has.

[rollo]

Sounds to me like he is trying to make sure that his team doesn't get too confident and come out flat. They, like the US, went gunning for a win in the second match. Now hopefully, Ghana takes us lightly despite what they say.

Thats said, I think we match up poorly against Ghana. The attributes that the Ghanians showed in the CR match, were speed, great control, mobility, passing, and winning most fifty-fifty ball.

We play the poorest against these type of teams because we have a hard time marking very mobile teams (everone does). Their speed neutralizes ours (they are probably faster on the average), but more importantly, their players are better able to control the ball under pressure. Besides Reyna and JOB (maybe Donovan a little), we do not have players that are good at recieving and controlling the ball under pressure (players with clunky touches like Beasely will be dispossesed a lot!!). We are also not that good at winning 50-50 balls and second balls, and Ghana completely dominated the CR in this category.

Call me meek and foolish, but I think if we play a wide open game with Ghana we will be trounced. We need to play or possesion, but staying compact to guard against the counter. I.e., when we do not have possesion we need to stay comact to get numbers on defense (if we go one and one all over the field their speed and mobility will slice and dice us). When we get the ball we either counter if the opportunity presents itself, or keep the team compact with possesion and try to get set pieces in dangerous positions.

[uclacarlos]

Thats said, I think we match up poorly against Ghana. The attributes that the Ghanians showed in the CR match, were speed, great control, mobility, passing, and winning most fifty-fifty ball.
That was more a function of the poor play of CR.

[rollo]

That was more a function of the poor play of CR.

I won't disagree that perhaps the CR could have done better, but I am talking about the individual skills of the Ghanian players which did not depend on the opponent. I saw many passes that were difficult to control and would have been lost by the majority of our players, routinely trapped and controlled by the Ghanian playerers. Their apparent speed could be artifact of the movement of the CR. However, the creativity in moving the ball was great with much mobility. They won most of the 50-50 challenges and scooped up the balls - while Nedved and Rosicky may not have been as spritely as when they played the US, they were definitely still putting in good effort and were repeatedly beaten.

[Metrogo]

Ghana has some real ties to the USA and a Christian nation.


That's not what we have a common. Remember, we're waging a war against Christmas!

[twh3]

That's not what we have a common. Remember, we're waging a war against Christmas!

Hey! Happy Holidays or nothing! Sorry, but I simply can't let this go unpunished, as it is my job as a liberal to wage a war against "Xmas" and oppress Christian traditions. I live for this! *sigh*

Anyway, I agree that we have our work cut out for us. I hope that Ghana has a bad case of no-finishing because their speed will create chances. This is also why I think Olsen would be a liability for us; he's just too slow, as much as I love his heart.

However, we need a win. Not a draw, a WIN. We simply cannot afford to bunker and counter. We need goals. All or nothing, baby.

[Metrogo]

I am really looking forward to this game. I don't think we should bunker and counter, but i don't think we should be reckless either. Put our best team out there and play "normal", like it's the first game, not the last.

Ghana is very good. I can't think of a more menaingful 50-50 game going into the third round of games.

[VBSoccerFan]

That was more a function of the poor play of CR.

I agree. CR looked very lazy at the beginning of the game, and quite disorganized throughout the game. Also, that striker of theirs is not very good.

[VBSoccerFan]

However, we need a win. Not a draw, a WIN. We simply cannot afford to bunker and counter. We need goals. All or nothing, baby.

We don't need goals. We need one more goal than Ghana. Bunker and counter is a strategy for winning. Deny the enemy scoring chances, get him in your end, then counter quickly into the spaces behind his attack, and steal a goal. 1-0.

Not saying it is what we will do, or advocating it for us, simply making a point. That said, it might be a very sensible strategy for us. It does tend to minimize their midfield strength and isolate our attack on their weakest part -- the back line.

[twh3]

We don't need goals. We need one more goal than Ghana. Bunker and counter is a strategy for winning. Deny the enemy scoring chances, get him in your end, then counter quickly into the spaces behind his attack, and steal a goal. 1-0.

Not saying it is what we will do, or advocating it for us, simply making a point. That said, it might be a very sensible strategy for us. It does tend to minimize their midfield strength and isolate our attack on their weakest part -- the back line.

I don't disagree and I understand the concept of playing cautious, but this team has yet to go forward and score a goal. We are in this situation on an own goal-- a dangerous ball got us that own goal, but just the same. No goals. Would I take 1-0 on another own goal? Certainly. But we have to score and the strategy should be to go out, battle, and grab goals. My two cents anyway.

[Soccer_Lancer]

He should be. I was happy when I saw the quote where they (Ghana) said we will suffer. That means they are taking the US for granted and we do well against teams that take us for granted.

As far as a strategy, I was also thinking that bunker and counter is the strategy we should use. It seems that Ghana thinks that they can come out against us like they did the Chech Republic and get the same effects. Hopefully, this isn't the case and we're ready to handle it.

[voros]

We don't need goals. We need one more goal than Ghana.
We need four more than they do, otherwise we leave ourselves at the mercy of other results.

This assumption that Italy will beat the Czechs is potentially costly.

[encinitas]

We need four more than they do, otherwise we leave ourselves at the mercy of other results.

This assumption that Italy will beat the Czechs is potentially costly.
I agree with you but i think BA has other ideas:mad:

[The Big Ticket]

There's nothing I see in the article that the coach said specifically about our team. He's merely warned his players to curb their enthusiasm after the big victory over the Czechs. Seems pretty normal to me.

[Ghosting]

I think playing Ghana to score on the counter is our best bet. If we try to run with them I think we will give up goals (like the early goal we gave up to the Czechs by pushing Lewis forward). We beat teams by playing disciplined cohesive soccer... we simply don't have the individual talent to match up to their guys.

I was actually confident that we would have a great game against Italy (I know I get know points for saying this after the fact), but I really don't have a strong feeling for how we'll come out against Ghana. If we come out strong, and play conservatively, I think we can beat them. However, if they come out inspired, like they did against the Czechs, we may have a tough time wiht them.

[FirstStar]

Of course he'll take us seriously. He just saw us, man down, draw a team that beat him by 2. He's lost his two goal-scorers. On top of that, he just beat (by 2) a team that beat us by 3, so he's got to scratch his head and wonder just which US team will show up and what we'll do when we get there.

Unless he's an idiot, he's concerned about the total uncertainity of facing the US.

[Bootsy Collins]

We need four more than they do, otherwise we leave ourselves at the mercy of other results.

This assumption that Italy will beat the Czechs is potentially costly.
Our chances of getting 4+ goals on Ghana are 0.0000.