Unofficial World Cup Thread de 2014

[hoosier]

The tournament would be better if all second place teams in groups were not guaranteed a slot in the second round. Make teams like Algeria that are in a weak group play for the win.

[wootah]

2nd place in this group will probably play against Germany which is 80% chance of elimination IMO.

[hoosier]

I guess some teams are just happy to make it to the sweet 16. From a player's perspective, it must be pretty shitty to know that you have nothing to lose and yet your coach still makes you play for the draw.

[wootah]

Jozy out for the remainder of the tournament, it seems.

[Freak Out]

Jozy out for the remainder of the tournament, it seems.

Not good news really.

[pbmax]

Not good news really.

Bring back Donovan!

Can they actually modify rosters at this point?

[wootah]

No.

[Guiness]

Bring back Donovan!

Can they actually modify rosters at this point?

Ya, the decision to exclude him in favour of Davis, and bring Greene along to get exposure on the world stage was controversial to start with, and now with Jozy out for the tourney, it could come back to haunt them.

But, nothing succeeds like success, and their 1-0. Story is it was a personality conflict, and Klinsmann couldn't tolerate him.

[pbmax]

OK, after reading a bunch of stuff, from fan blowhards (surprisingly led by Jason LaConfora who at CBS must lead a double life as a soccer hooligan) to Greg Howard at Deadspin (who saw, in the Ghana win, everything that will lead to the fall of the USMNT and Western Civilization) I take away the following things.

1. Beasley is a catastrophe of a left back only likely to stay in place because no one else is fit to take his spot. I have never seen a defender in soccer just fall down while alone trying to track an opponent. Beasley did this at least twice. Don't take my word for it though, I have watched a grand total of less than 15 total matches.

2. Center backs Geoff Cameron and Matt Besler saved Beasley numerous times while having very good matches

3. Bradley is an analytical mystery
. . . Jersey Al, Packer blogger and soccer expert, says Bradley was troubled by Ghana's speed and ball pressure, rendering the passing in the middle terrible
. . . Howard says Bradley was generally terrible and was man-marked throughout the match and never found a way to counteract it
. . . LaConfora, in his woodbuckian post, claims Bradley is terrible and is possibly, currently, possessed by enemy spirits (but expects this to clear up by next game)
. . . pbmax claims the US midfield looked like the Packer D backfield in communication skills. Every pass looked like it could be either for Bradley or the player outside of him because it was exactly halfway. As such, no one took it and it was inevitably intercepted. I'd buy the ball skills argument more if those passes actually looked like they were challenged. Mostly it looked like Bradley (or other guy) was not where they were supposed to be.

4. Jermaine Jones had a very nice game and was everywhere.

5. Beckerman, by two accounts, was the only thing other than Jones holding the midfield together.

http://screamer.deadspin.com/the-u-s-stole-three-points-now-the-hard-work-begins-1591901674

http://www.cbssports.com/world-cup/eye-on-world-cup/24590437/klinsmanns-influence-on-us-apparent-in-opening-win-over-ghana

[wootah]

Great goal by Cahill!

[Fritz]

Ya, the decision to exclude him in favour of Davis, and bring Greene along to get exposure on the world stage was controversial to start with, and now with Jozy out for the tourney, it could come back to haunt them.

But, nothing succeeds like success, and their 1-0. Story is it was a personality conflict, and Klinsmann couldn't tolerate him.

So is Donovan known for being a butthead, or is it Klinsman, or is it both?

[Guiness]

OK, after reading a bunch of stuff, from fan blowhards (surprisingly led by Jason LaConfora who at CBS must lead a double life as a soccer hooligan) to Greg Howard at Deadspin (who saw, in the Ghana win, everything that will lead to the fall of the USMNT and Western Civilization) I take away the following things.

I read and was surprised by the LaConfora article as well. It was both harsh, and the style reminded me of the way English beat writers find a dark lining in a silver cloud after their squad wins. It might well explain his particularly shitty American Football writing, he's a futbol lover at heart forced to write about the bastardized sport we play in the colonies. From now on I'm going to read his articles with a Scottish accent and they'll make a lot more sense.

[Guiness]

So is Donovan known for being a butthead, or is it Klinsman, or is it both?

Pretty hard to tell. There were reports of Donavan not being in great shape, and might not be able to play a full match at WC level. He opted out of some of the qualifying matches. He apparently hasn't played well recently in the MLS.

Having said that, there are obviously situation where he could've been useful to the team, so from a soccer perspective, it would've made sense to include him as one of the 23. Klinsman might've wanted to make this 'his' team, and Donavan stood in the way of that? Really not sure.

Here's a discussion of it

http://www.cbssports.com/world-cup/eye-on-world-cup/24570631/landon-donovan-us-soccer-star-is-not-going-to-brazil-an-faq

[Guiness]

Great goal by Cahill!

Followed by proof that his first love is Aussie Rules! Yellow card means he's out for their final group play match.

edit: RVP got one as well, he's out for the final group match. Neither of these mean much, Australia is mathematically eliminated, and the Dutch are pretty much guaranteed to get through, baring a wack-a-doodle finish.

[Guiness]

Reports coming out that Ronaldo's doctor is advising him not to play!!!

That would be an incredible happening, and would severely tilt the odds in the US's favour.