Match 50 (R16) - United States v Ghana - Post-Match Thread [R]

I don't get this whole thing about calling Ghana "beatable." Any team is beatable, and let's not pretend Uruguay is the most uber team to play soccer. Ghana won. At least show them a little respect for making it this far when no one thought they make it out of the group stage. This is a very tactically-sound Ghana squad. Their only problem has really been in finishing. I think they can be erratic when they have a chance to score. You act like Germany beating Ghana was a given. Germany didn't dominate Ghana the way Ghana dominated the USA. And if Ghana finishes better, they probably win.

 

1) I wonder if the stereotype of African tactical naivety was shattered last night? Ghana were tactically superb.
2) Africa has failed to become a powerhouse in international football despite loads of potential. Hopefully America can turn some of it's potential into results but just because the potential is there, the results do not necessarily follow. Hard work is still required.

 

Suddenly Ghana holding Germany to 0-1 in a match that the Germans needed looks pretty sound considering the blasting they just laid on England.

Granted the match likely would have turned if not for another FIFA miscarriage of justice in that match. This is one area where Sepp Blatter is being unimaginitively stupid. This sport needs replay more than any other and especially on goals. Doesn't tennis even use replay now? Ridiculous. Sepp thanks for bringing the Cup to Africa, but we need REPLAY.

 

I didn't read this thread but wanted to chime in as a huge US fan. I'm still recovering from the loss. I'm still stunned by the tactical decisions and at a loss for words regarding the defensive technical faltering since the group stage. From the gate our men never followed the essential mark, cover balance rule of soccer which is 101. No one ever challenged an attacker and this was a concern from the beginning that was NEVER addressed. I thought after the first couple matches someone would have said, hey defense, please challenge the fuking ball!!! But no, we still have defenders falling back ten yards off the attacker and allowing them so much space they took advantage EVERY time. This was the essential reason we lost this match. Ghana is the one team you can not allow such technical faltering. We SUCKED, period.

Tactically, Bradley made every decision opposite of what I would have made. It was so bizarre that every time I wanted him to do one thing, he went in the opposite direction. His starting line-up was shocking and arrogant, another major reason we lost. I blame him 50%. The rest I blame on a team who bought the hype and forgot to move on to studying Ghana instead of relishing all the headlines. Ghana is NOT a powerhouse, they aren't even a Mexico. They are good, but we should have handled them easily. I'm pissed and not ready to acquiesce to the status quo that keeps pressuring me to pat my boys on the back for a "good effort and run". Bullsh*t! We need to hold them to a higher standard now. We should have made it to the Semi's, period. Anything less considering the path we had is unacceptable and I want heads to roll.

GO USA!

 

Oh, and Ghana will NEVER win the world cup? Ever?
That's just ignorance. Right now, I'd rate Ghana as a top 5 contender for Brazil 2014. The Ghanaian team has experienced success at the youth level, is being tested, and by that time will be entering their peak, they will have Essien (hopefully), and are in the process of gaining valuable experience. The biggest thing people are forgetting is that this Ghana team is 4 years ahead of schedule. They believe in themselves, and above anything else, they are learning how to win under immense pressure.

Right now, Ghana are a top contender Brazil 2014. Mark my words.
It probably goes something like this;
1) Brazil
2) Argentina
3) Germany
4) Ghana
5) ???
(although, tbh, Brazil not winning in 2014 would be shocking.) However, saying Ghana will never win is just ignorant of the state of current football.

 

BTW, 2 for 2 for the Boateng brothers in the round of 16. It would be interesting to see them meet in this Cup again with more on the line.

 

Unak78, my friend, don`t get me wrong about the last thing I said about next champions to come. I really wish to see the USA make the leap that can get it there, since I think that the USA is a great country, and once it puts its mind into something, does whatever it takes to reach that final goal. If the USA achieves this, for the world of Football I`m sure it will be a great asset, but I`m simply trying to lower a little your ambitions in this sense since the road to achieve that glory in Football will be extremely hard and probably very long in time. Football as a sport is probably the most massified sport in the world, and as I said, there are other nations with a long tradition in Football that started their own process to achieve this same goal, and as years go by, they have advanced but they are still years away from the "checkered flag", so if you think that the USA is going to achieve this goal in 20 years, with all the respect and with my best feelings towards you, I`m afraid that you are going to get yourself a very big disappointment.
The other thing, FIFA as a principle doesn`t like to repeat the same place for the organization of a World cup, cause FIFA has members from all over the world. And among its members there is lots of them who want to organize it, many of them have never organized a WC before, so their chances are higher than those who have. Unfortunately, the USA WC, was in 1994, so it is very likely that at least 30 years will pass from then, before the USA can again organize a WC again. In the case of Mexico 1986, only 16 years passed after their first WC, which was in 1970, but it was due to an emergency plan, cause originally that WC of 1986 was going to be held in Colombia, but due to internal problems within Colombia and a lack of a structuralized ordered organization, this WC was in jeopardy and since that year corresponded to America organize it, only Mexico was able to do it, since they already had all the infrastructure required for an event like this among the American nations and so they did it.

 

Howard has been doing that since the second game. The newspapers and commentators have been very kind to him by not calling him out.
Talking about spurning chances. Don't forget the near one on one chance by Findley in the first half.

 

Davies will certainly make the strikers more potent but not to the point that we will advance. Just remember the game against Mexico in Mexico City this year. Manytimes he was alone and creat chance due to his strength, but finishing was still lacking.

 

Very well said..

 

You know, I was thinking the same thing. Ghana played better against Germany than even England did. I'm sure most commentators won't bring that factoid up though. It's not surprising to see England go home though, they struggled to get where they are now.

 

I don't get this reactionary nature to ignore how good teams are simply because they're not international powerhouses. Yes, Ghana has never won a World Cup...they've never even come close. But they're a team on the rise and have the potential to be Africa's first powerhouse. It's a shame no one is really talking about them in that way even after how well they played against the USA. They were underdogs against the USA and won. They'll be underdogs against Uruguay and if they make it to the semis, no matter how well they play they'll still be underdogs.

 

Klinsmann said it well this morning - and it is an observation I've made for years, so maybe that's why I liked what he said:

The US has taken soccer and made it the game of the rich. Our parents pay big $$$ for kids to play the game with the goal not of winning the world cup or going on to be a pro, but to win the college scholarship (at colleges that maybe cost less than we spent on the club soccer). Middle and lower class kids are cut out of the game by club costs and the stupid, useless travel costs. We coach to win games and tournaments, instead of the technical skills and the joy of just playing the game.

We have removed the game from the reach of most of the prospective players in this country by making it too expensive, and too competitive too early (age-wise).

In this light, I give ANY coach that can get US out of group a tremendous amount of credit. Bradley took a team and got more out of it than the individual parts should add up to - unlike England, France, Italy.

And criticizing his decisions from the armchair is easy - we don't see the players train, we don't know the inside that he does. He as much as admitted he had the wrong lineup for yesterday's game (and was very diplomatic, for R Clark had to be devastated at not only giving up the goal but being pulled at 30'), didn't criticize the players, but gave them credit.

Until we have a program in the US that is unified in the vision to develop our WC pool, instead of having all our players (well, most) focused purely on that scholarship to go play that garbage we call NCAA soccer, we will do well to get out of group. Round of 16 is wonderful. Quarters would be miraculous. We can't expect to do it on heart alone at this level, at least not consistently, but must have depth and skill - we aren't close to the top on our roster at either.

And to call this the "easiest" group draw we've had is really skewed - we are one of the best 32 teams in world playing - and in our group were 3 others that are of the best 32 in the world. Rankings should be printed on toilet paper, since after the paper's first use it'd be worth about what the rankings are. NO draw for a squad like team USA would be "easy."

Bradley may not be the ultimate coach, but he did one heck of a great job with what he had. To turn their heads around after two stinking days of recovery would have been a miracle, and physically it was simply too little time between games. I think Bradley should stay - any other coach would have, in my opinion, the same tools to work with and about the same result.

In the end, the team overachieved - the players reached further than they should have given their individual abilities. That is success.

 

The U.S. federation needs to get their heads out of their asses and develop soccer here like the rest of the world. If anyone listened to Jurgen Klinsman's comments today you know what I'm talking about.

 

Bob Bradley should be fired for starting Ricardo Clark in the first place anong other reasons. Edu or Feilhaber should have started and anyone who watched the world cup knows that. Just like the first game primarily responsible for his poor play leading to the goal or though this was worse. Also why did Johnathan Spector not play one minute in the world cup. There is probably a reason he plays in the EPL and Bornstein who Bradley is so in love with because he plays with Chivas is still with Chivas. Further why did Robbie Finley even play in the World Cup. So what if he has speed and can not finish. Edson Buddle earned a starting job by his play in the games before the World Cup. If it had not been for the bonehead move that the Women's Coach made in the Women's World Cup starting Scurry after Solo played so well in goal starting Ricardo Clark in the knock out game would probably been the most bonehead move in US Soccer history. We need a Euro coach like either a Klinesman or some even more veteran Euro coach if we want to go further. Also do you think Capello,Lowe Dinga, or Maradona would have patted Clark on the back for such a sorry performance when he came out like Bradley? Bradley should either had chewed his butt and sent him to the locker room or ignored him.

 

I agree. Well said.

 

I totally agree, and also you have to look at MLS too. You have around 200 pro clubs in the U.S. but none of them will get a chance to play at a higher level unless you have $40 million for expansion fee.

 

And on MLS, unless we got better referee, MLS will always be thug league where players learn to get by mugging each other for the ball instead of skills and tactics. As a result, young players really do not learn the intricacy of soccer, how to string creative passes together.

 

well said.

 

I read the first 15 pages and many of the U.S fans were right on:

1. Bob might need to go, he's a good coach but not at World Cup level. If it weren't for Donovan late goal people would have called him to be fired already. The fact of the matter is you don't sub the player in the 30th minute unless you made mistake. You don't "experience" the player and sub him if he weren't good enough, this is World Cup, not friendly match. You also demoralized the whole team, not just Clark, by telling everyone you made a mistake. Without having a new coach I don't see the U.S will ever reach semi-final in the next 3, 4 world cup.

2. Ghana is a great team, and wasting time is a norm to all the teams in that kind of situation, but doing bicycle kick and lying there is a bit too much, I lost respect for Ghana's players by doing those kind of cheap tactics. Apparently they wouldn't do that to other team, but seeing the U.S has ability to score the last minute, they gotta to make sure.

3. Jozy still needs to improve at a lot. He's fast, strong and did some damages, but his inability to finish and control the ball is there. I really don't see the U.S could go far with this-Jozy in the team, might be that-Jozy when he improves in the future. Actually it's not just Jozy, besides Donovan the rest of the attackers have problem with finishing the ball, including Dempsey.

4. Tim Howard, there was a perfect post in this thread analyze all 3 failed save, including the 1st one by Slovania. I think he's a bit overrated this time. I haven't seen he made any extreme saves. Many of the times I think he stay way too far from his post. If he had injured in the England match and don't think he was 100% (90% is not enough, you have to be at 100% at this level), he should temporary sacrifice the celebrity exposure and give it to someone else for the sake of the team. Our inability to finish score could be offset by preventing one of those saves. I still love Howard, but I think our other GKs are great as well.

5. There is no time for the rest of the team, but overall we're a good team. Sure luck is a factor on soccer (proved by many historical upset), but for a team to really make it far, we need decent talents as well. Like poker, we could make an odd choice and win, but if we keep play following statistic, we'll consistently win more. I was so sad at the lost that I lose 50% appetizer on the watching the rest of the World Cup, but I'm happy as well. We play with our heart, and I believe with the right structure and organization, we'll go much far in the future.

The bottom line, I really would love to see the U.S win this match, that will spark more interested in soccer => produce more talents in the future, but I guess that's good enough. We DID have lots of exposure and lost to only Ghana fair and square, not refs. Overall I'm satisfied 7/10.

 

USSF needs to strike while the iron is still hot from the afterglow of this World Cup. Learn how to develop our young athletes and make soccer more accessible. America is a nation of immigrants, we only need to learn how to develop and find the talent we have. Improve our first touch and we will be a great team. With the rate that the quality of soccer has developed in the US there is no reason why we should not seriously compete for the World Cup in 2022 if (more like when) it comes back to the US.

Now, in regards to the game, it was a botched both tactically and in terms of execution. I have liked Bradley alot, more than most, and gave him leeway when it came to the lineups of the group stage matches, but he deserves much of the blame for the loss against Ghana. Findley clearly, CLEARLY was not a player that should be starting up top, and Clark showed his ineptitude during the first half of the game against England. Bradley should have looked at the second half of the game against Slovenia and the game against Algeria, when the US looked best. Who was on the field? Edu and Feilhaber. It is almost as if Bradley refused to look at was clearly working for his team and went what he thought SHOULD work. This smacks or either arrogance or ineptitude.

Howard

Cherundolo-DeMerit-Bocanegra-Bornstein

Dempsey-Bradley-Edu-Feilhaber-Donovan

Altidore

This was our best and most effective lineup, and Bradley refused to use it until we were in a hole. It gives him many more options in regards to substitutions because he doesn't have to waste two of them putting Edu and Feilhaber in when they should be in their to begin with.

Not all of the blame falls on Bradley, because our best three guys (Dovovan, Dempsey and Howard) had poor to moderate performances at best. Our back line looked almost as bad as England's did today, and Altidore showed that he does not possess the technical ability to create anything up top. Did Buddle cause physical harm to a Bradley family member, because I still cannot figure out why he was not used more during the tournament. We played very poorly.

From now on, getting out of the group is expected of the US team, that is no longer the goal. The goal is to now to advance in the knockout stage, to the quarters and beyond. Right now we have neither the tactical or technical aptitude to do either, but fortunately, these both can be remedied. I doubt Bradley will be around for 2014, because rarely do any coaches for any country stick around for longer than one World Cup. He did well with the group he had, but I don't think he is the right person for the US in the future.

 

U.S. needs more development academies that are run by clubs themselves like Vancouver and Tampa has, instead of drafting players from college soccer.

http://fctampabay.com/page/tbr-academy

http://www.whitecapsfc.com/pdl/info/

 

I understand what you say but you must consider how far the US football program has progressed in just 20 years from completely non-existent, to where it is today. 20 years ago Mexico was light-years ahead of us, today we regularly trade victories with them in important matches. Personally I think that if CONMEBOL would accept the US and Mexico, while we might miss the World Cup for a few years, our players would be given a chance to mature to that next level and that may be what has stunted Mexico's growth and may stunt the US'. Playing Honduras and Costa Rica hardly do anything to aid our growth and experience. I'd like to see us play in the Copa America again in the future. We need that to go to the next level. I cannot agree more with Australia's choice to join the AFC for that same reason, better competition.

 

I have to agree with all of this. Case in point Jorge Flores who probably would have been locked out of professional competition if not for a reality show. Football is in reality a rather cheap sport to play, all you need is a ball, but it is unfortunately skewed here pertaining to the reality.

 

Looking at this Ghana team now, it's remarkable that they can keep this run going without their world famous superstar, Michael Essien. Just think of what they could do with him right now...