Ah the World Cup, where ties feel like losses and losses feel like wins.
Problem is, our current defense consists of four learned CB’s and that makes it kind of slow. Ghana exploited this weakness, while the USA were just too passive today to take advantage of it. Could become a problem against more agile offensive.
Why isn’t Lahm playing in the back?
That’s the big discussion here. Mainly it’s because Pep Guardialo made him (successfully) a mid-fielder for Bayern Munich last season, and Löw adapted his position in the national team. If his talents serve us better in the defense or as a 6 is still up to debate.
I’m glad that the US went through, but we were thoroughly out matched by the Germans (as stated, why didn’t we play wide and cross it in against, effectively, 4 CBs). And what is up with Michael Bradley?! He’s looked horrible in all three matches. I’m a bit scared to play the Belgians in the Round of 16 (it looks as though it’ll be them).
Oh, and while Christiano Ronaldo had a very nice goal, the US did not NEED that goal folks. A draw between Portugal and Ghana would have put us through.
Russia up 1-0 against Algeria.
His play against Portugal was fine. One bad giveaway 70 yards from goal that required the defense to completely lose a mark in the box to hurt them. His passing completion is second on the team (to Beckerman, who doesn’t play any attacking passes, while Bradley does a lot of riskier through balls). He was shit against Ghana, and marginal against Germany. He’s taking way more flak than he deserves, IMO, even though on average he is below his usual standard by a decent margin.
As far as group winners go, Belgium is a decent team for the US. I’d certainly rather play them than Argentina, Holland, Brazil, France, Germany, or (probably) Colombia. The US has already exceeded expectations. Anything from here on out is gravy, and there’s a decent chance for a lot of it.
I’ve been watching Univision for the whole Cup, and i’ve never had any problems with the stream. It comes through in excellent quality, and when there are two interesting games on, i can easily stream one to each screen on my dual-monitor setup.
Of course, the commentary is in Spanish, but that’s fine. My Spanish is not fantastic, but is good enough to catch most of what they’re saying, if i pay attention. And, to be honest, i don’t really need commentary anyway. I’d be quite happy if they offered an audio feed with nothing but crowd noise.
Some reactions of US fans inManhattan and Chicago. Quite a crowd and mostly young people… wonder if its a trend.
According to a New York Times article from a couple of months back, the hipsters are flocking to soccer in NYC.
Even against Portugal, his first touch was horrid. He had a few good offensive runs, but was not all that good (maybe above average, if I’m being generous). And against Ghana and Germany was really useless. He just can’t control the ball on the first touch in this tournament - not exactly the best thing for your attacking MF in a 4-2-3-1.
I’m not saying he wasn’t leagues better against Portugal than against Ghana or Germany, but that’s a low bar to clear for him.
Beyond Youtube, I have terrible luck with streaming video, but Univision has been flawless on my laptop using Chrome. Plus the announcers are a kick with their deeeeep machine gun voices. I don’t speak Spanish but they use lots of cognates so I can kind of gist it, and I don’t pay that much attention to announcers anyway. I’m a World Cup newb, so I just watch.
Soccer has been fairly hipsterish here in Chicago for the last half-to-full decade or so, from what I’ve noticed.
Holy crap - deserved red against DeFour of Belgium. He stomped on that ankle… ouch!
Another justified red for studs on shin, and again not malicious, just badly timed. The Belgian offender did not protest.
note again, both feet off the floor. If the ref sees that clearly they are pretty much forced to act.
Yes, but Ronaldo’s goal will have calmed a few nerves.
That it did.
In other news, this is Russia’s best performance this World Cup. Only up by a single goal, though.
Slimani does it again!! Algeria ties it up - if it holds, Algeria is #2 in group.
And Algeria has tied it up.
Did anyone see the lasers beings aimed at the eyes of the Russian keeper before the free kick? They weren’t to blame for the goal, but it’s pretty fucking poor sportsmanship from the fans.