Who: USA vs Ghana in World Cup Sweet 16 -- I mean Round of 16 match When: Saturday, June 26 at 1:30 pm CDT TV: English: ABC - Spanish: Univision Watch Parties: Pretty much every soccer bar in town will have the game. Here are the major watch parties Texian Army & American Outlaws - Ernies on Banks (Map) (Facebook event) Houston Dynamo & EB*Texas Ultra Boyz- Lucky's Pub EB*Brickwall - Stags Head Note: The Dynamo play later Saturday evening, so it's going to be a long, fun-filled day of soccer. No Flames. No Trolls.
The ref sucked so much , gabachos get to pay the first round of beers, and I don't drink the official beer of the tournament, I was drinking Newcastle when they played against England, after my first sip (and after I reversed my US scarf), Green made the mistake, if you want the US to advance, you need me wearing my scarf and drinking Newcastle, it is up to you guys if you want a 5th game.
Bull, I have to wear my 1950 USA Jersey. Wore it for US vs Turkey in Philly, we won. Wore it for England game, we got game tying goal. in 2nd half of Slovenia game I changed and put it on, we came back to score 2 and almost got the third. Wore it for Algeria and we won. Superstitions are in baby!
You stupid yossarin, it is bad luck to be superstitious, quick, knock on wood You are such a poser, it was me and only me, just like in the Mexico vs France game, I reversed my Mexican scarf and they scored 2 goals, it is all about me and my scarves.
Ok. About this team that is Ghana be our opponent ... I remember the game in Germany in 2006 well. My impression was that the USA was the better team but the USA made two big mistakes (how unuseual, right?). Ghana then went into huge game killing mode parking the bus and flopping to the ground and needing medical attention with all contact. Ghana had some athletic players who could make a play. Essien played that day and had to be nuetralissed -- and he was. Their second big player was a veteran named Appiah who had played for big Turkish and Italian clubs. After that it was pretty normal B level players -- or as Rey says "servicable" players. In 2010 Essien is not fit. Appiah is gone. A player named Gyan seems to be the danger man -- but I've not been overly impressed with his individual play. I'm not sure he is better than Altidore except for maybe a little better with tactical decisions -- where Altidore is particularly week. My assessment is that Ghana is a lot like the USA, but not quite at the level of the USA. Not as much depth and a deeper fall-off in quality as you go thru the line-up. However, the difference is not so much that I would say the USA is a significant favorite. I see the game as a coin-flip. What is everyone else's assessment? Thoughts?
2-1 USA over the Ghanese, Ghani, Ghanonians, Ghanites...or whatever they are called in the plural. Dempsey gets another goal and Gomez sneaks one in too from close range.
My favorite mass-produced beer. I avoided it during that game specifically because its from England. Its become my own personal superstition for WC. After the tournament ends, its game on. BTW, did you know we have a Brown Ale Appreciation Society in Houston?
I've watched maybe a game and a half of Ghana this WC, and 2 things come to mind... 1.They've been playing a really high line in defense, and if they stick with that strategy I think they get shredded. For all his faults, and I'm no fan of his, but Robbie Findley will be getting behind that line all day. Sure, he's personally very inefficient, but I still think he gets a goal (from 4 or 5 clear opportunities), and more importantly pulls their line out of shape when they're having to chase back. 2. They have some quick and skillful offensive players, but not a very cohesive attack in general. Our backline needs to stay tight and maintain shape, even more than usual. I don't think they will be methodically broken down at any point, so really they just need to stay in front of whoever has the ball, and not get stretched and leave big gaps.
Your assessment is pretty good. In three games they have managed 2 goals on 2 PK's for and turned that into a Win and a Tie which was enough to get them through since Serbia apparently thought that they could waltz over the Aussies at half speed. So their offense is hardly clicking or scary at this point, that being said though we seem to still have defensive lapses that make a Lichtenstein look like Brazil when they play the USA. So far they have defended pretty well for the most part, so we must pressure them and take advantages of any mistakes. Speaking of advantages and opportunities we need to convert more of them (yeah I know 2 that we did, did not count per Ref/Linesman) but we also squandered quite a few that we will need to convert or we go home. A plus factor for them is that all of Africa will be rooting for them, can that be negated by the pressure of being the Continents last hope? Maybe... Should be a close game but I do believe the US can pull this off by a 2:1 scoreline.
We scored 6 times in 3 games. That puts us (as of right now) 3rd in goals scored (behind Portugal and Argentina).* Our offense is doing just fine. Defense needs to tighten it up a bit, though * - Yeah, yeah, I know...
BLACk HOLE SUN! BLACK HOLE SON'S O' BITCHES! Yeah, that sounds better. I trust everyone out there on our boards is enjoying another World Cup Summer. LIFE IS GOOD!
St. Augustine in June = WC soccer in the mornings, bike riding at noon, WC soccer in the afternoon, then beach until dark. Get back in time for USA Saturday morning, Dynamo Saturday night. La vida es playa = life is a beach. Y fútbol.
I have been following the thread since day one, I have not participated in fear that Rey will kill everyone that posts there.
Let's see: We scored 4 that actually counted (all of them should have of course, but if you want to count disallowed goals you may as well start counting goals in the warm ups). One of which one was Greened to us, one was a gift after the Defender fell down and Donovan converted from a tight angle and yesterday was a clean up from a spilled ball in stoppage time. We did get a fantastic goal from Bradley in three games though. In the meantime we managed to bang plenty of balls over the crossbar or next to the goal from close range, at a way worse quota than not given Goals by the Refs. The Defenses will get better making the scoring chances fewer and converting them more critical but yeah, keep on telling yourself that our Offense is "doing just fine"....
VIDEO: Oduro (Ghana) vs Cruz (US) showing the skills they learned in school when they were members of their debate teams... http://houtv.neulion.com/mlsvp/console.jsp?catid=854&id=6212 or http://www.houstondynamo.com/news/2010/06/video-cruz-usa-vs-oduro-ghana or skip the video and continue watching Portugal vs Brazil.
heard Mcmanaman on ESPN call the guys from Chile-CHILLY-ANS today and was like WTF-is that what they call them over the pond or is he just illiterate?
What's my best choice for a location to go watch the game, and when will I need to get there? I'm staying at 290 and Hollister.
Some questions re the lineup tomorrow - Does Gooch sit again? Who starts with Bradley at CM? Who starts with Jozy at F? I would guess no; Edu again; back to Findley.
I've bitten all my nails to the quick, and now I can't sleep. Hurry up 1:30. GO USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!