I'm finishing up the US-England game right now and, honestly, neither team was as sharp as they ought to have been. Gerard had a good move for his goal, but that was untypically poor marking by the defense as well, there is no way he should have been that open. The US has a nasty habit of giving up an early goal while feeling the other team out and then playing from behind and that's exactly what they did against England. They've done the same against far lesser talented teams. Similarly for England, they had their achilles heel on display for all to see...inconsistent goalkeeping. Both teams played to type and the other team made each pay for it.
Stevie G had some good attacks in the first half but he did disappear a bit after getting the yellow card. Greene gave up a goal he shouldn't have on a bouncing ball but then he made a brilliant save on Altidore's later shot that 90% of the time is going to be a goal. There was some confusion on the back line of the US that England exploited for some good runs due to poor communication between Onyewu and the other defenders. It's amazing that he is in the World Cup at all, but I expected much tighter marking from the back four and I'm hoping that the timing/communication gets worked out by the next match. England has better players in most positions, no doubt, and far more experience. They aren't a top 5 in the world team though. They are beatable and the US needed to play a good team game to do so. They did that, more so in the second half, and while this one could have gone either way, I think that the US should come out of that game kicking itself that it didn't get 3 points, not just happy for 1. With both teams playing the way you would hope? Tough to say, but I'd guess England wins 50%, US wins 25% and 25% end in a tie. All subjective bullshit of course :) As for the players not being on top 4 teams, yeah, you're right. We shouldn't have put all those Everton boys on there. Maybe we would have won if we'd played our keeper for Aston Villa? ;-) Judah On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 8:04 PM, Medic <[email protected]> wrote: > > I didn't see Japan v Cameroon ending that way either. Good on Japan. > > One side note regarding the England v US game. Yes the US played well, but > let's call a spade a spade here. They had a goal gifted to them and England > played horribly. Stevie G came out and attacked only once and the result was > a goal in the opening minutes. After the goal they stopped using him. Rooney > was a non-issue as well. You put Stevie G in his usual role and get Rooney > on his game and England will look like a completely different team. Put the > US on the top of their game against England on the top of their game and > it's a four or five goal routing. Sure there's a bunch of US players that > play in the EPL, but they aren't stars and they don't play on the top teams. > Save for Howard of course. He's a star for sure. The same can not be said > for England. Most of its players are on top 4 teams. > > Don't take this as US bashing though, because that's not what it is. It's > simply a statement of fact. That's my $0.02 anyway. > > > On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 4:59 PM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> I would have loved to see Italy go down, still, good on Paraguay. >> That's a solid point. >> >> For all the trash talking about the Americans, that was a solid game >> as well. Good defense, not letting an early goal get them timid, >> respecting the opposition but not getting freaked out. If not for a >> great save on Altidore's shot, that could have easily been a win for >> the ol' USA. If they can keep up that effort, I see a good chance for >> them to come out 1st in Group C. >> >> My favorite upset thus far would have to be Japan over Cameroon. I >> really didn't see that one coming. Further proof that any result can >> come about in a single match. Cameroon is probably going to have to >> pull out 3 points from their match with the Netherlands in order to >> advance. Ouch, not an easy task. >> >> Judah >> >> On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 1:23 PM, Vivec <[email protected]> wrote: >> > >> > #Ita 1- #Par 1 . Amazing. What's happening this world cup? Italy >> > couldn't crack that defence. >> > >> > On 6/14/10, Medic <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> >> Paraguay looks really good this year. Much better than I was expecting. >> I >> >> would LOVE to see the Italian team get beat. I have zero respect for >> that >> >> team. >> >> >> >> On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 3:10 PM, Vivec <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> >>> >> >>> Whoooo hooo!!! Paraguay score from a free kick! Beautiful header, >> >>> gorgeous goal! #Par 1 #ITA 0 >> >>> >> >>> On 6/14/10, G Money <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> > >> >>> > On Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 5:53 PM, Vivec <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> > >> >>> >> >> >>> >> The US was supposed to get its ass kicked every which way till >> Sunday >> >>> >> in this game. >> >>> > >> >>> > >> >>> >> That first goal in the first 4 minutes was supposed to be a sign of >> >>> >> things for the rest of the match. >> >>> >> England was probably hoping to put at least 4 on the US. >> >>> >> >> >>> > >> >>> > I'm a soccer idiot, but even I knew that the US wouldn't get killed >> in >> >>> this >> >>> > match, and that a draw was a likely outcome. US is not a pushover, >> and >> >>> > England typically under-performs on the big stage, especially as a >> >>> favorite. >> >>> > >> >>> > >> >>> > If you have quality keeper, you always have a chance. >> >>> > >> >>> > Oh, and holy Deutchland Batman...I know the Aussies aren't much, but >> >>> Germany >> >>> > looked ridiculous. >> >>> > >> >>> > -- >> >>> > It was long ago and it was far away >> >>> > It was so much better than it is today >> >>> > >> >>> > >> >>> > >> >>> >> >>> >> >> >> >> >> > >> > >> >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:321211 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
