So...a team with the majority of its starters from MLS teams that has beat Ghana and tied with Portugal (by a nail) is not BY FAR the BEST TEAM of a group where most of the players from Portugal and Germany play in top leagues? Ghana is comparable to the USA, but they have 1 point, when the USA has 4.... Tied with the Germans for first and could have qualified before any of them if it wasn't for 10 more seconds......do you honestly stand by your point? Because if you do, even though I respect your opinion, I completely disagree and stand by my point.
Yes, I do. I do not think the US is by far the best "TEAM"....from what I have seen, this is very close. And I think it is close because of the way the US plays together as a team. Otherwise, the US could very well be in last place. My thoughts are, it is a lot closer than you think it is. And forget about Portugal...They are shit this time 'round; end of rant.
That's exactly what I mean, individuals aside, the USA is BY FAR the best TEAM of the group, you just proved my point.
Yes, but not by far... That was my point. lol. I actually believe the US to be that good...especially with Bradley, Jones, Howard and Dempsey on the team. These are players that could fit in most NT.
I still think they are the best team. I just hope they make it through because it would just be unfair otherwise, especially because they just played in Manaus against Portugal and play a fresh Germany on Thursday.
I don't really want to stand by my inclusion of Lahm. I'd almost say it has to be Beasley simply by default since Germany isn't playing fullbacks, and Coentrao went down so early.
I think Germany is the best team and Klinsman is getting the most out of his talents. The heat is an edge for us over all but Ghana.
--------------------Howard---------------------- -Johnson---Hummels---Besler---Asamoah- ----------Jones-----------Muntari-------------- --Mueller--------------------------------Ayew-- ----------------------Dempsey------------------- -------------------- Gyan-------------------------- No Portuguese player deserves to be here.
Since watching the world cup as a child I see the world underestimating Germany. Certainly I dont think it is the best team on planet earth but it shows a consistent WC performance like no other. Yes, germany will advance and Germany will end up in the quarter finals. That isnt my conviction or silly patriotism telling me that but pure football history. Any team standing in its way untill reaching this stage will suffer except if there would be a "Italy". And it is the same football history that predicted a draw/loss against Ghana. The US, whether composed of good or bad players, doesnt have such a historical track record. Nothing realy to base a prediction on. Everything is possible. . So those fantasy teams made up of 80% US players is kind of kindergarden nonesense. I rather count on money value and league performance this year. If Ronaldo would have been embedded in a different squad he would have been sharp as a knife. But lets wait for the next match.
We, or at least @zahzah and I (not trying to speak for you zah, but I think it's okay in this instance), are simply basing our fantasy squads on performance in this tournament. It doesn't imply that anyone is "better", just that their performance has been more outstanding over 2 matches. If you think others have performed better through the 2 rounds, play along and make a team. It's a hypothetical discussion. Who would you replace? Besler has cut out so many balls and made big tackles around the box and was excellent against the athletic forwards of Ghana, Jones has covered ground and ripped a great shot, Dempsey has been Dempsey with clever movement and filling in at striker - quite well I might add. Howard or Neuer is probably a toss up, but Howard has made more memorable saves because he's had to. Nevertheless, reasonable folks could disagree for sure. He could have done better a couple of times last night, but he seemingly guessed wrong in tight situations. I wish he'd have gone at Nani and I think he could have cut out the cross. But it's all hindsight. He wasn't wrong, he just chose to play them differently than he might have. It could have worked, it just didn't. No one thinks the US is in any way better than Germany. That's not what the fantasy teams are about. As far the better "team" argument that others were having, I think you might be misunderstanding. The point, I think, is that the US has a lot of grade 5 players that aggregately play like a grade 7 team. Germany has grade 8-9 players all over the pitch and they play as an 8-9 team. Essentially, the "better team" is a misnomer. It's the most synergistic team. Germany is better, has better history and better players. I just hope the US can hang on and go through. It'll be an anxious time for the 3 teams not named Germany come Thursday. I expect the unexpected at this point. Lots of twists and turns still out there.
Yes, this is a best XI on World Cup performance alone. Else omitting Ronaldo would be an obvious travesty. You could argue the inclusion of a few German players like Oezil, but its hard to cut someone. Dempsey, Gyan, Ayew, Mueller have been the best attacking four. That doesn't leave much room for an Oezil, maybe in place of Jones or Muntari.
I agree with this. It's as fair as you can make it through the opening two games, though you can maybe swap Muntari and Goetze but that can go either way in my opinion.
You guys actually think that Bradley has put on an all star performance at this WC? He has been mediocre at best.
--------------------Howard---------------------- -Johnson---Hummels---Besler---Beasley- ----------Jones-----------Goetze---------- --Mueller--------------------------------Ronaldo-- ----------------------Dempsey------------------- -------------------- Gyan------------------------- There it is.
Bradley has been shyt, but to be fair, he has been asked to play at the top of a diamond instead of coming up grom deep midfield which is where he is far more comfortable. Seems he is much better running by people at full speed than anticipating them coming at him quickly from behind. He has never been asked to play midfield this way,so I give him some slack, he is doing what JK says he neefs him to do. My best 11 would include Besler and Jones and Maybe Johnson. The rest are Germans and Gyan.