Official Turkey vs USA PRE Match & PBP Thread (6/19) [R]

i'd say this one is eminently winnable - no emre, no ilhan, no hasan sas and nihat will still be with sociedad

i predict we go with this:

....................howard
..........berhalter......bocanegra
cherundolo........................vanney
...................mastroeni
......klein............LD...........DMB
...............................lewis
.............mathis

would look a lot better with eddie in there

 

The score will be 3-1

 

I think the US has a good chance against Turkey (2-1 is my prediction), but hopefully they aren't looking ahead to the game against Brazil. I think Bruce will have the boys ready.

 

You'd be good friends with good RuiFigo. Why don't you PM him and ask him about blowing off the USA in opening matches of group play?

 

You really think we'll win 3-1?

 

The only change I'd make to your lineup is DMB switching with Lewis.

 

hey hey...IF portugal played what they were capable off...they would have destroyed the USA...not takin creit away from u guys..but we played like ************...and still dominated the second half...we even played the shits agaisnt poland...but if we played like that agaisnt the USA..we would ahve won...like 4-1

 

You dominated possession from the 45th minute to the 75th, we dominated the 75th-injury time and 0-38. Additionally the goals Portugal scored we're off off a terrible own goal, and off of a corner that was cleared directly to Beto's foot. Not a single goal in the general run of play, and for an offense that destroyed it's opponents for the most part in Group play in europe that was an immense defensive effort. Portugal got it's head kicked in, plain as that, they scored all of one goal offensively, off of a flukely clearance, other than that, they scored zero goals.

Yeah they played crummy, but I think the US players, and Arena's strategy had more than a little something to do with that. Costa and Figo were completely shut down. Totally Ineffective, if I remember right, the only players who even sniffed solid performances that night were Beto, Pauletta (had a few chances, but couldn't convert because of stallwart defending, and iffy crosses and bad luck) and maybe Pinto. Other than that all our guys, made their guys look like trash.

"IF portugal played what they were capable off...they would have destroyed the USA..."

As my my old college roomie likes to say, "And if my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle." The fact is, Portugal got rolled. You talk of dominance, but I see a Portugese team that could only put the ball in the net once, as I said earlier, off a horrible clearance. Otherwise they were completely shut down. As for possession, it doesn't mean jack unless you do something w/it, particularly when a team is deliberately playing a game that concedes possession, as we were, until Portugal tuckered out in the eightieth minute. Arena decided to set up the bunker in the second half, so Voila, Portugal had more possession. Portugal was dominated in every aspect of that match except possession. Portugal got rolled, simple as that.

 

neither of these 2 teams will be in le final

 

How bout your goals...of ricardo was in net, that piss poor clearnece by baia woudnt have happened...secondly, if jorge andrade started instead of the old and slow jorge costa, he wopuld have atleast kept up with donavon..hes not faster, but the doors woudnt have been blown open..and thatown goal by jorge costa woudnt have happened...only the third goal was nice...yah, i can see how you think portugals sucks, as you only saw them play piss poor agaisnt u guys./..but do me a favour, pick up a tape of portugal2-1brazil..april___(i forgot) 2003.....then hopefully youl see the real portugeuse team..full squad portugal minus figo, and full squad brazil.....

 

Alright, then do me a favor and pick up a tape of USA Portugal game, World Cup 2002. And the USA-Mexico game, World Cup 2002. Oh, wait, you've already seen those? Bottom line; We brought it and Portugal got owned.

 

BOTTOM LINE..portugal was sleeping against the USA.....i know it, you know it..USA IS A GOOD TEAM..dont get me wrong, but there not a top 10 team..

 

Not yet. Fifa Rankings are notoriously bogus and few of us actually think we are the definitively 10th best team in the world (though we were better than top 10 in the Cup).

You don't credit O'Brien's Goal? Baia had to make a spectacular save to turn aside McBride's header (there's a reason he went by McHead until the Cup), and the resulting goal was a product of the defense being out of position because of that header. I've seen the play about 15 times, I've got the game tape. They were ripe for the picking and the goal was sweet. I'll give you the Donovan goal, flukie, though our crosses were dangerous all afternoon and that could have resulted in a goal anyway, but thats pure speculation. That was flukey. The other two were beautiful. One Portugal goal was an own goal, the other was due to a once in lifetime horrible clearence (I've seen virtually every friendly, and every qualifyer the US has played since '97, and plenty of games before that, and that was the worst clearence/luck combo I'd ever seen on a corner, much like the flukey Donovan goal, the once in a lifetime gift clearance to Beto was just that. Once in a lifetime). Toss out the flukes and it's US 2 Portugal 0. Then again you're also forgetting the few great saves Baia made, particularly one off a free and open Stewart windmill volley in the first half at the top of the box. Or how about the failed attempted save that Donovan poped over to a defender (Pope) and which would have been a goal if Pope and Donovan had acted just a smidgen quicker.

While you see the result as flukey, and you envision Portugese dominance for much of the game, a dominance that was not there in any real sense, I see a game where we could have just as easily won 5-1, as you could have pulled off a draw. If the cup was played like the garbage NBA and featured a first to four series, I have little doubt that Portugal would win. Probably 4 games to 2, or 4 games to 1. However, on that day Portugal expected to be able to crush us by merely appearing on the field w/their credentials (first in group play w/the Dutch and Irish, I believe most goals scored in European qualifying, and additionally they had that Fifa Player of the Year award for Figo, as well as the Golden Generation tag. We were according to Euro media, a bunch of scrubs no better than our '98 side and perhaps worse). Instead, they got rolled, #1 because they were outplayed #2 because they were outcoached #3 because the Americans had a coherent strategy and Portugal had assumed they could simply impose their will on the US. In my view it's as simple as that.

CNNSI had some nice articles archived on the game which might be worth reading, they deal more w/what Portugal did wrong than w/what the US did right, but it adds some interesting notes to the result and the underlying reasons behind it.

Anyway I hope your squad can make it back in '06, although hopefully they'll behave themselves as they did not against South Korea, and I hope they'll come correct, as they did not before and after the US game (first assuming they could roll the Americans w/little effort, then coming up w/oodles of b.s. excuses afterwards to justify their getting their collective rears kicked).

 

Re: ... Mod's Note ...

This is about Turkey and the US.The Turk is looking past us like the Portuguese did before the WC.Fender Playa is the one that can't accept that Portugal peaked during Euro 2000 thus setting unattainable goals such as winning the WC,Euro Championship and such.

1-0 Turkey if their awesome keeper Recber plays.1-1 if he doesn't.

 

I think USA are favorites for this game. Both teams will be missing some of their stars, but Turkey is missing 2 of their 3 most important players: Emre and Nihat. The last of the 3 is Rüstü, but he will be playing. (The other players missing are: Sükür, Tugay, Ilhan, Hasan Sas, Okan and Hakan Ünsal)

I think Landon Donovan could cause a lot of problems for the Turkish defence, since the two central defenders on the turkish team are very slow.

My prediction: USA 2-1 Turkey

 

Although USA fans may not be taking this tourney seriously, I think the players will be fully ready to play Turkey. I think Turkey is over-looking the US team, and US wins 2-1. Turkey is without their strong defenders, which should give Mathis, DMB and LD plenty of room to work wonders.

 

Althought I went w/a 1-1 draw in the prediction thread, I see us having a strong chance to pull this out. It depends on the lineup. If Beasely, Convey, and Donovan see plenty of time on the field, w/Mathis up top, I see 2-1 US. If we go w/a slower lineup, it's more likely a draw. And of course the Turkey Keeper is the X Factor, the guy has sick talent.

 

Turkey has not been playing particularly well lately. Their manager is looking to add a few more options in the Euro 2004 campaign and that is really what this opportunity has provided for Turkey. They took the invite for a very calculated reason.

That said, I think the US could show very well against Turkey here. But do not think for a second that this match is like the Portugal/US match in the World Cup by any stretch of the imagination. That was a big upset. Drawing or getting a victory against Turkey here would not be a real upset (no offense to Turkey). It is really a pick'em sort of match. What the US has to worry about is the mental block that the selection has against top tier UEFA opponents and playing UEFA teams in Europe. The US never shows well.

As for the Portugal/US result - any which way you look at it, Portugal did not play well, and they lost. Of course there were some things Portugal probably could have and should have done better, but the first goal by the US really stunned them. Any top football team knows better than to overlook it's opponents. That is why teams like Germany, England, Brazil and I will even say Argentina who were unfortunate - they know the value of every minute in the match. Portugal - I think they have good players and are sometimes exciting to watch but it is exactly like I said before the cup - their players have a tendency to lose their composure. And in this way, I think Turkey could be like Poland. They buckled against England in the qualifier, and did against Brazil in the Cup.

 

well said!!!!

 

Turkey has got some of the best young talents in Europe at the moment. (Emre, Nihat and Tuncay), so I think we are only going to get better in the future.

Bad news for the US. It seems like Nihat will play in the USA-Turkey match afterall.
http://foxsports.lycos.com/content/view?contentId=1473058

 

I can't remember his name but a Uruguayan will be reffing the game.

 

Jorge Lorrionda from Uruguay.


Does anyone know if this match is a sell out?

 

Even though Turkey will be missing Hasan Sas, Umit Davala, Ilhan Mansiz, Hakan Sukur, Tugay Kerimoglu, Hakan Unsal, Arif Erdem, Okan Buruk, Emre Belozoglu... Turkey will win this game (instead of giving answers with cuss words and insulting nonsense just wait till the match is played