World Cup - Spoilers (Page 31)

I was glad to see the PK become meaningless. The first van Persie goal was pretty nice.

England - Italy - Rooney a liability at left midfield - Daman is getting behind too easily and that will come back to haunt england..also the marking and pressure on the ball is non existent - you cant allow players at this level that amount of space and time....

Welbeck couldnt trap a bag of cement!

Bummed I couldn't watch that one either.  Damn family got in the way.  

Sad to see England lose.  Saw an article that said that if you win your first match you have an 85% chance to go on, draw is something around 19% and lose is only ~7%.  Does not bode well for them.

Today's games I'm on pins and needles.  Barn burner to start.  Should be a great test of the group to see how these two go at each other.  Really could use a Germany win and a US win to put the pressure on Portugal.  Will not be easy for either team.

Glad to see Messi get the goal monkey off his back.  Only the second goal he has ever scored and the last time was 2006 in a blowout.  Would love to see him do well and his country begin to accept him.

Also glad to see how CONCACAF is 2-1 in their opening matches.  Need the conference to represent well.  And what an upset over Uruguay!  Whodathunkit!

Any predictions on the matches today?

I'm hoping 3-1 Germany over Portugal and 1-0 US over Ghana.  That is my hope.  But hell as long as those two are wins I don't care the score!  Just no draws!

HA!  Right # of goals for Germany/Portugal, just the wrong ratio.  WOW did they look bad.  Maybe there is hope for the US if they can win against Ghana?!?!?!

Fabulous start to the games today - Ronaldo his anonymous self at the WC and his team capitulates to Ze Germans.

Couldnt happen to a nicer bloke

The Iberian Peninsula is 0-2 with 1 goal scored and 9 conceded....not a good start

And it could really be a boon for the US for Sunday's match.  3 players out, 1 due to red card, 2 due to injury.  

Really enjoyed the US game.  Once they scored and then lost Altidore it was always going to be a long match.  The guy who replaced him had no ability to hold the ball up and it was attack after attack.  For me it was a just a question of whether they could hold off Ghana.  African games are usually much more open than the US's disciplined European style and that was evident in their lack of patience and ability to move the US defenders around to create space.  That said, they were well worth the equaliser and I wondered if there might even be time for Ghana to steal a winner.  Couldn't believe it when the US scored again.

Great entertainment.  Can't see either team giving Germany or Portugal anything to worry about I'm afraid.

Portugal will be a big question mark.  Minus Pepe due to suspension and likely minus Almeida and Coentrao due to injuries.  And Germany showed us how to make Ronaldo disappear.  Can we pull one out against them?  Don't know.  We have our own injury issues to deal with.  Altidore likely out for the remainder of the WC even if we make it through to the next round.  Besler pulled up limp but that did put in Brooks who scored the goal.  And then Bedoya tweeked something which lead to Zusi coming on.  

For us, now, all we need to do is tie both matches and we are through.  That will take a HUGE amount of work and luck, but that is why you play the game.

Bradley is taking a lot of the heat somewhat justified but it was also partly to do with the "diamond" - I mentioned before in the "Real Football" thread that I would love teams to play that against me - it creates space to exploit out wide and allows you to bombard the box with crosses. For the US it exposed Beasley but to his credit he did an amazing job just herding cats on that side - Jones didnt give him cover all the time so he was often 1 v1 or 1v 2. Fortunately the quality of the Ghanian crossing and finishing was poor.

I think Dempsey needed to drop deeper once Altidore got hurt to help with continuity and give Bradley and the other midfield players an easier and more immediate outlet - with the pressure on the ball from Ghana it needed short quick passe to retain the ball - instead they were hitting longer balls to Johanson or across the field which were picked off....this is where a Donovan would have been helpful.

Somewhat fortunate but a great result so it will set up an interesting game with Portugal - not sure what Klinsman will do up front....he has limited choices now.

Overall a great start - it was fun to see all the stars on Twitter watching - Lebron, Lolo Jones, Colbert etc....maybe the sport has a chance here! :-)

Yep.  Bradley disappeared.  His possession was nonexistent.  And yes, Beasley was amazing against someone 10 years his junior and somehow he did a great job.  I think Jones did a phenomenal job  too.  MotM for me.  And Beckerman was quietly good too. 

I agree that we should have changed our shape once Altidore was off and I agree with your statement.  Not entirely certain Donovan would have been the difference but it definitely wouldn't have hurt.  

Sunday will be super interesting.  I'll be booking it back from a race that morning to make it to my favorite pub to watch the match.  

Finally, I think the sport has a huge chance.  Did you see the # of people here in Chicago?  I don't know just how many were there but it was impressive.  

Correct.  If the injury had happened before they departed to actually travel over (like during the warm up friendlies) I believe they could have swapped out.  Now you are with the team you brought.  End of story.

While it was a quick play, I'm still trying to understand why the Ghanaian player kicked up with his leg on the header with Dempsey that broke his nose?  I'm not saying it was deliberate but it was definitely reckless.  

Exceptions can be made but it's usually only for goalkeepers.  They wouldn't let you draft in extra strikers because of routine injury.

I like the US chances of progressing, but mostly because I expect Germany to completely fold in the 3rd game after overwhelmingly securing 1st place against Ghana on Saturday. The US will likely face a 2nd string squad of German players, trying not to get injured before the knock-out rounds.

The US were clearly outplayed yesterday, and a similar performance against Portugal, or a competitive Germany will be punished.

This Mexico v Brazil match should be interesting.  Any predictions?

I'm thinking it all depends on which Mexico team shows up.  If they do show up it could easily by a 1-1 or 2-2 draw.  If they don't, I think Brazil might walk all over them.  

2-0 to Brazil.
I doubt Brazil will have a similar lethargic start, as they did against Croatia.

The games are at the same time by design - so no match fixing can take place...or so they think....

If Germany decimates Ghana, they will have nothing to play for.  So it is possible they will field a weak team which could play into USA's favor.  Isn't that kind of match fixing?  

I kind of agree with you.  10' in and they already have ~75% possession.