It's not a rivalry until we knock them out of a WC. This was just a win, like the regular season or something I read that at first glance without the "go to"
Apparently there were 3 players wearing tutus at the US WNT watch party...from L to R: Alex Morgan, Sydney Leroux, Kelley O'Hara:
He replaced an injured CB with another CB, an injured forward with another forward and a tired winger with another winger. I'm happy to give the guy credit when it's deserved but it's not like he did something remarkable with those changes. It was hardly a stroke of genius. The trouble is, Klinsmann is being paid a lot of money, has talked incessantly about a change in culture and approach and going back to well before taking on the job, complained about the US style and approach. Yet I just watched the USMNT use exactly the same approach, tactics and attributes that they always did. Not that there's anything necessarily bad in that, but it was hardly a brilliant performance overall and for all the dollars and platitutdes, you have to expect more. Then again, one hallmark of Klinsmann's reign has been in getting some big results in friendlies against tough opposition. Perhaps his preperations will really bear fruit against Portugal and Germany.
I couldn't figure out where else to post this. Since Dempsey's goal was against Ghana, I put it here. I was trolling the Portugal thread regarding the US match. And found this gem..... "that goal Dempsey was rubbish" If we were Mexico, that would go on the gringo wall of shame.
an update on Dempsey's broken nose... Apparently after the game Dempsey was rushed straight to hospital to get his nose diagnosed and treated, without even being able to shower or change or anything like that.... as he was on his way, Klinsmann called Beth Dempsey to give her the news..... "I have some bad news for you" said Klinsi... "Your husband has been rushed to hospital and may have broken his nose."..... "A broken nose?!" replied Bethany... "Oh dear - how is he going to smell?" And Klinsmann replied, "Terrible!" ..... um, kinda like this joke.....
This reminds me.....every 4 years we have a women of the World Cup thread. I'm not one for chauvinism or superfluous threads....buuuuuuut I'm not sayin', just sayin'
True, but the problem was we needed him to hold the ball the times he got possession (which is not his game to begin with). I keep telling folks that just because he is a "9" for AZ he is not a hold up player like Jozy, he needed to change his style for this game and didn't. He did started the sequence where he gave a through ball to Johnson that led to the corner that Brooks scored.
When they don't make it out of the group we will have to claim it is our win that knocked them out. It isn't our fault we played them first
Glad to clarify. Your quote was, "Way to early, need way too many more!" Now that's extraordinarily pessimistic after a goal in the first minute. It turns out we only needed 1 more to win, not many. You were wrong in expectation and also in fact. And that is why you got crap for it. Mystery solved.
Our hopes during that game were to be matched with Germany, not Portugal at the end of the day. The Ghana score was important because Germany won their match big. And Ghana is supposed to be our best chance at a big win. Does anyone expect us to beat Germany or Portugal by multiple goals? No. Would we expect Germany(and Portugal) to win by multiple goals when they face Ghana? Yes. When goal differential is important winning big when your opponents win big is a must. 30 seconds into the match was too early to celebrate the win, when reality dictates we needed to score a few more goals in this game. Edit: A loss to Portugal puts us both at 3 points, with less than a 3 goal differential. We face Germany and they face Ghana. And we will be wishing we scored more than 2-1 in our first game.
Actually, after watching Portugal implode v Germany I don't think this is outside the realm of possibility at all. Granted, it probably won't happen, but stranger things have. My prediction: we draw Portugal and lose to Germany by a goal or two, but Portugal is unable to make up the goal difference and we advance as the #2 seed, where we lose to Belgium.
And I do agree with that analysis, but another point somebody made that worries me was "We are going to face a very mad and desperate Portugal". I'd rather a beaten and broken Portugal. lol
If you watched Portugal play Germany you'll know that this team does not have a lot of heart and tends to go to pieces at the first sign of trouble. I'm more worried by the US's (in)ability to control the ball