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

This is the World Cup and you don't overlook any team. It seems both the US media, fans, and team had booked their ticket to the semi-final, where they would face a biggest challenge. Majority of you knew nothing about the Ghanaian team. They are a solid bunch and even though they are young, they have been in big matches. They were in the African Cup final and won the U20 Fifa World cup as well. They are battle tested and very well organized defensively. Kwadjo Asamoah who is Essien's replacement has held his own in the mid-field. Senior players such as Stephen Appiah and Sulley Muntari are riding the bench. The team is solid and I'm sure the Uruguay team isn't being as arrogant about the match-up as the US team (Donovan: we were a bit naive). Ghana is by far a superior team to the US - both technically and tactically. Best of luck in the next World cup.

 

Thats football put back to bed in the US for another 4 years at least.

Still didnt think they should have won it, Ghana played well and the US was resigned to diving all over the place to try and get free kicks, penalties and the opposition sent off, I guess when you cant compete on skill you have to try and win anyway you can, but last nights display nearly puts the US in the same bucket as France for me, not good.

 

Funny, having read multiple threads, you're the only person I've seen say this. Care to back it up?

 

I was a little disturbed by the way the US media was looking past Ghana too. Make no mistake, I like both teams and was going to be happy no matter who won. But it's very clear the US team was no where near prepared at the start of the game. You're right, Landon Donovan's comments show that they were looking past Ghana. I also think they got caught up in the hype and I was thinking to myself before the game, if Ghana wins, US fans will be distraught and lost. To be fair, some of the criticism's of Ghana were justified. They DID have trouble finishing during the Group phase. But that was really the only criticism of their game that was legit. They have a very solid defense, not the best...but not the worse either (better than England and USA that's for sure). They have a strong midfield even without Essien which is the biggest shock of this 2010 Ghana team. If Ghana finishes, there is a good chance they'll win...even against an international superpower like Germany. Because they definitely create the chances to score.

 

I never underestimated Ghana. I was hoping that Australia was the team that made it out of that group.

The problem with the US team is that somehow their strikers didnt score a goal (over the course of 4 matches) and that lack of goal-scoring was going to make things difficult as we progressed later on in the round, especially against tougher opponents like Ghana.

Thats why that strike by Altidore against England which hit the goal-post was very very crucial. If it had gone in, it would have not only spared USA the whole circus of last minute winners to reach the knockout stage - it would have also improved the confidence of our strikers. (atleast one)

Ghana scored two goals against us - thats good enough to win, especially with the lack of final touch in our team.

 

No, they didn't. The US (media, fans and team) is disappointed with the loss, but they never once acted like they were an elite team that should have won. But it was a winnable game and anyone watching it that isn't being a biased prick would say as much. The US had plenty of chances and a few gaffs. Same with Ghana. It's fair to be disappointed with the loss. Ghana has the US's number. Grats on the win.

 

Until the US developers a world class striker or two this is always going to be the result. The US has the midfield to play with anyone, but the gaffs and the lack of touch in the box is just a killer. Ghana has so much talent up front and it was evident. Ghana could really be a long term player with the generation they have now.

I know I know. I just stated a bunch of the obvious.

 

true, there are other teams that barely make it out of the group stage and they allready talk about winning the world cup. USA is not one of those teams.

 

could not agree with you more. very frustrating knowing that we just don't have the talent. look at the two games today, germany, argentina. you watch their players, their instincts, etc. and it just shows you how far off we are.

 

The US does "well" in internationals because we play a ton together. We're like the anti-England. We play a lot of matches as a national team and it's a big deal.

With England, it's a bigger deal, but EPL is so often the "big picture" it hurts their "team" because a lack of focus on it.

The type of talent it takes to be a world class striker, with a typically small window of a few years, just isn't there. It pains me too, but those talents are playing other sports.

For the US soccer isn't in 4th place or 5th, but more like 60th. Not just because the best are playing football or basketball or whatever, but because the next and the next and the next are playing football or basketball or whatever too. In the midfield where guts and determination can go a long way we're OK. I think we're just in an unlucky down cycle in the back, but overall I'm not worried about that.

Still, we're improving and I wouldn't be surprised if within 20 years we're a solid B team on the world stage. Now were a C team. The US could be a B+ team if it did one simple thing. Change most of soccer in school to a spring sport. Baseball is dying compared to football and even in parts of the country lacrosse. If it were a spring sport the best and most skilled athletes would play it much more because here you can't and won't beat football anytime soon. That one little change would do wonders because the ones that excel at soccer and not football would stick with it as opposed to dropping for football once their 10+ as they do now.

Still here's to a decent run. We're not England and so making this round and losing isn't that bad.

 

For me it was a very equilibrated game, anyone could have won the game, only that Ghana made the goal and afterwards protected it the few minutes left, minutes where any normal athlete as football players are, have already given up all they can. That`s what is so unfair about time extensions, every football player is perfectly prepared for a 90 minute match and for each minute it exceeds the regular time, it is a personal battle only to be able to stand on your feet, don`t ask the players to continue playing as if it was the first minute of the game, they were exhausted by then, both teams my friend. I think that the rule of the golden goal applies better in order to establish who passes and who doesn`t, but what we saw is a complete unnecessary waste of effort, for both teams and an unnecessary suffering for all the fans, specially the USA ones, that expected their team to make another miracle, once Ghana scored in the overtime.

About having to wait for 4 more years, it all depends on what your Federation wishes to do, I think they should apply with the CONMEBOL, in order to play the next America Cup, which is held nearly every 2 years, and also keep on arranging friendly games with other countries that are in a good level, in order to learn from them (a process that should never stop and that is the most important lesson that top world teams regularly do), as a Chilean, I would be happy to see you around here. If your country has the money to play friendlies outside the US frontiers, imho, it is better yet. You will start loosing most of the games, but that teaches the player to form their character, something you never achieve playing with all the support of your local fans. Remember that most WC are held outside our own countries, this goes for everyone, and it is completely diferent to play as visitor than to it as a home team. The best teams usually have a record of wins outside their countries almost as even as those wins obtained inside their own country.

I`m no expert in Footbal, but a regular fan of my team (Chile), and when Mr. Marcelo Bielsa, took over the managing of our team, something as this is what we did, and the results of that process are here at sight in our performance this WC (I am still shocked about it, believe me). Believe me, when Bielsa started I didn`t believe in nothing that he could ever acomplish, and when he started getting defeat after defeat, more I hated his process, but after certain time the most strange thing happened, our performance shifted from being a usually defeated team, to one that was achieving results and what is better yet, we started forming a characteristic style of our own. Now as a fan of my team, I`m more than happy, and I wish Mr. Bielsa never leaves us, since only now I understood what he was up to.

I think I already said it before, but whatever, I think the USA can achieve great things in the future to come in Football, now you guys have yourself a very good team from where to start out from, but it will have to work very hard to reach that level where the world teams that are already there, are the teams that regularly win Championships and are feared and respected by the great majority of the rest of the world. Keep the good spirit up and time will reward you my friends, I humbly guarantee it.....

 

All I can say is - it was a disappointing lose!

 

For a non-soccer country, I'd say we did pretty well.
Seemed a little slow at times, and didn't have that aggressive 'snap' to the ball, especially against Ghana. Not sure if that was an age issue or a fitness issue.
If they want to do better next time, maybe try a young team - average age under 25 - built around maybe 2 or 3 veterans.

 

There are some fine comments and suggestions regarding Team USA's fututre direction. While each and every area is subject to major improvements but I am of the opinion that the entire football program need a fundamental change in philosophy and attitude towards this game and get back to the very basics of the game starting with the youth program. The game of football starts and ends with the touch on the ball. I go farther to say everything depends on the first touch on the ball. The lack of individual technical skills can kill any team regardless who the coach is. If you review missed chances for USA, one notices they could have scored several goals if the individual players had the right touch on the ball. It may sound simple but it can't be fixed overnight and will take time and patience. As a general rule, I like to see US players spend a lot more time on the pitch working the ball individually than spending time in the weight room, even in their own personal time.

 

The US and Mexico leaving for CONMEBOL would pretty much gut CONCACAF and make it OFC2 with 1.5 entries for the World Cup, but I agree it would be best for both countries in terms of quality competition. If the US miss a World Cup because of it though, it will set soccer back another 5 years every time it happens, but it will be better in the long run. I doubt this will happen though.

 

Hovever, where do you think those two World Cup spots will go? Obviously they would be transferred to CONMEBOL, which might just be enough to get us qualified for the most part. We might have a fight with Columbia, Mexico and a few others for the last 3 or 4 spots, but we should be good enough to get on of 7 total spots in a 12 nation qualifying run since, once you get to the bottom of S. America's teams, competition opens up a bit. But as you say, it probably won't happen. But we can all dream...

 

Ghana deserved to win they were definitely the better team. With regards to timewasting.... EVERY team does it and moreso at this stage of the competition... yes it was absurd but its to be expected and was no more than others.....

No Ayew will be tough but I'm hoping Ghana beat Uruguay and advance further than any other african nation....

 

Me toooooo

 

My thoughts exactly

 

the US needs to develop better technical players. The reason US lost is quite simple. Ghana is far superior technically, and it was very evident in the first half, where Ghana passed around at will like it was a training match. Having 1 or 2 good technical players like Dempsey and Donovan is just not going to cut it at this level. A big part of the US strength is their speed, athletisism, and fitness. This will only get you so far in football, and the US quite frankly has peaked to their abilities with their superb fitness and only 1 or 2 good technical players. This is also why US will struggle against teams like Ghana who can pretty much match them with pace, but are clearly a superior side technically. In all honesty US fans need to ask themselves when last did they see their side string together passing moves with such ease the way Ghana did in the first half ? If you look at Concacaf, the US always seem to have Mexicos number. This is mostly because US are more physical even though the Mexicans are also far superior technically than the US. When the US plays against a side just as physical but superior technically, they will always struggle.

 

WTF? What game were you watching? Yes, Ghana scored on counters because that's how they play. It's not Ghana's fault Clark gave up the ball in midfield to Prince-Boateng. Ghana simply capitalized on errors the Americans made. And you're also wrong about the balance of the game. After the 1st half, Ghana had like 66% possession! That's domination no matter how you try to spin it. USA really only played for 45 minutes out of 120, because that 2nd half is the only time during the game that they looked threatening. By the time extra time came, Gyan scored early again and by then USA was completely flat. So idk what you're talking about when you say Ghana didn't look one bit better than the USA.

 

Hey people you got to learn that Football is not just about domination and ball possession. Of course it is more pretty, but in Football you could have possesion during 99 % of the game, but if you don`t score it means peanuts if your opponent during that only 1 % of possession scored on you once or twice. Of course possession gives you more opportunities to score, but its not a guarantee that it will happen. Btw, a one goal score once you are dominating, means only "dwarfs and faireys", if the dominated teams scores once, there goes your domination down the toilett. If you don`t score a 3 goal lead, you can`t talk really about domination. Ghana had domination, but really never dominated the game against the USA, prove is that you tied and at the end had to play overtime, where anyone could have won.

Lots of teams nowdays, with this in mind play extremely defensive and they bunker round their own goal zone and trust exclusively on counterattacks, and you know, somehow it works, but honestly this kind of game is boring and as you`ve been seeing during this WC, great part of the upsets are due to this reason, but it is an alternative of play that will have poor ball possession but with relatively good results. As the USA has shown itself in a predominantly attacking style of play, I should encourage you to keep on it, since thats the kind of way I humbly prefer and the only thing about it that I can guarantee it to you, its that this style will give you more happiness, since as US americans character is, it will fit you better. The USA is not a country that is used to wait for things to come to it, but on the contrary the most clear example and the main reason for which its admired in this whole world, its a country that goes and reaches out for their destiny. If you weren`t as you are, we would still be fighting in WW1, and the voyages to the moon would still be only a matter of reading Jules Verne, ....no my friends you go where you must to achieve your goals, therefore you should embrace the attack style as you`ve been doing it the latest time...

 

Like when Greece played Portugal in Euro final. Portugal attacked all the time but couldn't score because the Greeks were playing defense the whole game until they got a corner and they scored. So if you don't take advantage of scoring goals it will bite you in the ass in the end.

 

Yes, but if you don`t go for it, it can happen as what happened to Italy, who decided to wait, till Slovakia scored on them and since time was running out, they never had the chance to tie that game an finally once they decided to go out they were scored on again an finaly lost their decisive game and got eliminated from this WC .-

More on your behalf, remember Algeria v/s USA, where on the last minute you scored and wiped out Slovania from this cup. Slovania went for a result, and they got it, but were eliminated for not going for it.