What Two Teams Will Make It Out?

The USA has improved alot. Probably the best team I have seen from them . IMO not enough to to get out of this one . I say its :

Germany 9
Portugal 6
USA 3
Ghana 0

 

Germany, as first of group
Ghana, as second of group, in a very tight finish over Portugal and USA.

 

Although their league is arguably the best right now, I have a feeling the Germans will finally crumble under the stress of being favorites. I fucking hope so anyway...

 

Well, they sort of did against Italy in 2012. But yeah.... not in the group-stage.

 

Gotta be Germany and Portugal. Both teams that will find a way one way or another.

Too bad for USA and Ghana ... both good teams that could advance from some of the other groups out there

 

Germany I'm sure, The other is not so easy to call now that I think about it. I'll have to ask my clairvoyant, psychic rabbit what she thinks.

 

Germany and Ghana

 

Not really stress, Loew was just tactically Naïve. Prandelli has good tactical awareness, just not as good as Del Bosque imo but Del Bosque has a much better squad than Prandelli 2 Years ago.

 

Ask the refs....this group is so close that it will probably end up being decided by a bad refereeing decision or two...

 

There's a lot of quality but I just think there's too much difference between the Portugal and the US/Ghana for either of the latter to realistically come second. Unless Portugal has a screw up, I think they and Germany finish with 6 and 9 points respectively.

 

I will take a chance on my team USA, they have beaten the pretender Portugal back in 2002 so cant see why they wont do it this time. This Portugal team is nowhere even as good as the 2002 team. I dont like our chance against Germany though, for some reason USA always performs poorly against the Germans. The projected scores for the 3 rounds of games are:

Germany 4-2 Portugal
Ghaha 1-1 USA
Germany 2-0 Ghana
Portugal 0-3 USA
Germany 4-1 USA
Portugal 2-0 Ghana

Final Standings for Group G:
1 Germany 3-0-0 9pts
2 USA 1-1-1 4pts
3 Portugal 1-0-2 3pts
4 Ghana 0-1-2 1pt

 

The US could very well beat Portugal, but 3:0? I know you jumped ahead of Portugal 3:0 in the 1st half in 2002 (ended up winning 3:2), but you aren't making a reasonable prediction at all.

 

Here are my predicitions as of now:

Portugal 0-1 Germany
USA 2-1 Ghana
Portugal 0-0 USA
Germany 2-1 Ghana

After two games:

Germany - 6
USA - 4
Portugal - 1
Ghana -0

Germany 1-1 USA (since Germany will be able clinch the group with a draw and will play some subs)
Portugal 1-1 Ghana

Final results:

Germany - 7
USA - 5
Portgual - 2
Ghana - 1

It all really depends on two factors....how well the USA's inexperienced defense holds up, and what kind of mood CR7 is in. If the USA's defense plays solid and doesn't concede early goals, I think they make it through. If they give up goals inside the first ten minutes (like they did in 2010 against England and Ghana), or totally collapse (like they did in the opening match of 2006 against the Czech's), then they will almost certainly finish last. Since Portugal is a one-trick pony that is largely dependent on CR7 offensively, I think they will have difficulty scoring goals in 2014 much like they did in 2010, especially given the heat they will be playing in as well as CR7's tendency to get moody, petulant, and off his game at the first sign of trouble. He had a negligible impact at both WC 2006 & WC 2010, and I think that trend continues in 2014, especially given that Portgual has to play Germany in their opening match, and then the USA in the heat and humidity of the Amazonian jungle.

 

So if Portugal is a 1 trick pony, does that mean the U.S.A is a no trick pony? Considering Portugals fifth best player would still be the U.S.A best player.

I also can't understand why 2010 means so much in your analysis, the team is completely different, and tactically they no longer place 9 guys behind the ball at all times.

What you write screams a lack of knowledge, but a massive amount of wishful thinking.

 

To address your points:

The US has a much more diverse attack, with multiple players equally likely to score goals, not one dominant player whom the rest of the team relies on.

The reason I place so much weight on WC 2010 is because it was the last time Portgual played meaningful matches against non-European competition, and because like WC 2014, it is being played outside of Europe. Portgual, like most UEFA sides, performs much better in Europe than outside of it. UEFA nations, Portugal included, did much better at WC 2006 than they did at WC 2002 and WC 2010, when measured by percentage of teams advancing to the 2nd round.

 

What a poor, poor post. You should do some more research.

You think Portugal will have issues scoring in 2014, like in 2010? Well, if you knew anything about that team you'd know they were ultra-defensive. In fact, Portugal was the last team to suffer a goal in that World Cup. Believe it or not, being that defensive will hamper your goal-scoring abilities. If I'm not mistaken, actually, Ronaldo had a total of 2 goals in his time with Queiroz. He tends to have a slightly better record when Bento is on the bench.

This heat thing is getting too much. It's such a noticeable clutch at straws by the USMNT fans. FYI, these players grew up in a pretty hot climate. "But the humidity!!! Oh the humanity, the humidity". Don't worry, I see you hoping that the weather, of all things, will be what unsettles CR7, but fortunately he grew up on island called Madeira that is pretty humid itself.

I've mentioned the 2010 World Cup but you should really hold off and some more reading if you think Ronald had "negligible" impact at the 2006 World Cup. He was easily one of our best players and undoubtedly our best player in our most important game vs. France in the semi-finals. The only trend you need to be worried about is CR7's trend to score in every single game he plays in.

 

Talk about a terrible group for the USA to be in. Germany imo is the best team in the world and will win all 3 games. Portugal is interesting but if they play together and not just through Ronaldo they are through and will squeak by Ghana. I honestly don't see my country picking up points. Ghana owns us, Germany is full beast mode, and Portugal can abuse our awful wingbacks. Hope I'm wrong though.

 

We beat them 3-0 in 2002, when Portugal were 2-3 times stronger than they are now. US is perhaps about as good as they were 12 years ago, so its totally reasonable.

 

Lol. Portugal were not 2-3 times stronger then. Our defense now is head and shoulders above that one. 2002 had a better midfield but our attack with Ronaldo is head, shoulders, chest, thighs, and feet above our attack in 2002.

The USMNT fans keep proving time and time again how misinformed they are.

 

3-0? I think whichever network you were watching on was having technical difficulty, it was 3-2.

Either way a loss is a loss, but I guess Switzerland should always expect to beat Spain, Senegal should always beat France and Cameroon should always beat Argentina.

I am in no way saying beating the U.S will be easy, but talent wise, Portugal is a few steps ahead, but that never guarantees victory. I have seen enough of the USMT to know they have the ability to play above the mediocre talent they field.

 

Are the US wingbacks so poor? If yes, than you have a big problem as Ghana, Germany and Portugal are best on the wings...

 

Most reasonable US fans know Portugal is better than us. It will be very hard for us to get points from any team in this group. We definitely have the minimum talent and guts though to pull an upset off, but we shouldn't be favored in any of the group matches.

 

I wouldn't say poor but Fabian Johnson and Geoff Cameron (my guesses on the starters) are much better offensively than defensively. We will have to defend extremely well on the outside, as you said Ghana, Germany, and Portugal are all good on the wings.