Wow just watched the second Portugal goal. As an American fan, I want to say thank you Ghana keeper. He could have probably caught it. Barring that, he should have just put it over the bar for a corner. But he decided to slap it to Ronalda six yards away. Good decision.
Based on form and reputation you would expect Brazil to make it to the semi and meet the winner of a France-Germany quarter which should be epic. In the other half maybe a Netherlands-Argentina semi.
Of course chances are good for at least one upset over one of these teams.
I’m with you on France being impressive. By the way, I wouldn’t write off Switzerland or Colombia!
And I’m with you on Argentina and Brazil showing defensive frailty.
But Germany? I’m not with you there. Yes, they let in two goals against an very underrated Ghana, but were solid defensively against both Portugal and the USA. Argentina and Brazil looked shaky defensively in every game. Brazil had many dicey moments in their 0-0 draw with Mexico, and Croatia by all rights should have scored more if officiating hadn’t been so favorable to Brazil. Argentina couldn’t keep Bosnia from scoring and let in two against Nigeria.
Bottom line, Germany kept clean sheets against tougher opposition.
I totally agree.
Also Clint Dempsey is a terrific player. The danger he posed helped to keep Germany from pressing high and crushing the USA into our own box.
But what it comes down to the most is how the team coheres as a unit. One spectacular keeper isn’t gong to win the game for you if the defense is in tatters, or your strikers have no finishing touches, or your midfielders are scattered and slow and fail to make accurate passes.
Fair enough, I wouldn’t disagree with much of that. I was debating whether or not to include Germany in my list of dodgy defences. I dont think they have been overly tested as yet. One of the few games they were tested and I thought they looked poorer than your typical German defence.
I don’t disagree. Certainly it’s not the best German defense we’ve ever seen.
For a hilarious non sequitur, check this out:
Preach it!
And there follows a long list of stupid nonsense about soccer being terrible. Followed by this:
Shows what she knows.
Only if they both make it to the final (or the third-place match). The only alternative to USA-Belgium is if Algeria and Korea both win, in which case it’s USA-Algeria and Germany-Belgium.
Thats another reason why I am pissed off at Suarez, in a potential quarter final meeting, he would have absolutley buggered this Brazilian defence. It would have been epic, but some idiot in the Uruguay staff forgot to put his muzzle on…
Solid win by GER. I was a bit surprised and disappointed by the USA’s defensive attitude, so it became a matter of patience for us to score. But we did, and we regained the control over our opponent we mysteriously lost in the second half of the Ghana game. Not a pretty win, but something to build up from.
As a libertartian I love Anne Coulter. But I do hope she is trolling with that article. Every columnist lives off of clicks on their page these days. I suspect shes doing what she does best in that article, shocking her opponents.
Mainly it’s just stupid.
Yes, quite frankly the Brazilian defence have looked incompetently funny at times.It would have been fun to watch Suarez against them, and perhaps sneak a huge upset. Right now it looks almost as good as a bye into the next round for Brazil.
Should I write her and tell her that I was watching the USA-Portugal game with direct descendants of John Alden?
I love this little video clip of Suarez as Jaws.
Wow. That reads exactly how I would have written a parody article of Ann Coulter writing about soccer. I mean, she’s not even trying, she’s so predictable and formulaic.
Yeah, talk about Poe’s law in action. That was so bizarre that it was almost beautiful.
I just have to write it one more time: The USA have survived the Group of Death!
We finished ahead of Portugal and Ghana!
It just feels good.
Muchas gracias to Univision for the streams!
Benedikt Howedes at LB is the biggest problem with Germany’s defense, IMO. He has no pace, offers nothing going forward, can’t read situations in defense, and it’s only a matter of time before he’s found out. I don’t know why he’s starting, because it should be Durm, but I’m sure Loew feels Durm doesn’t have enough experience. The only problem with that is Howedes doesn’t really either, because he’s a CB/RB. All the attacks from Ghana were coming down his side, and I hold my breath every time the ball gets near him.
Starting to wonder whether I should watch using that or stick with Watch ESPN. The quality of the latter is just so damn variable…