Ugh. Kawaguchi had been doing so well in goal up until the last five minutes. Just horrible.
To make things worse, that bastard Aloisi had to be one of the scorers. Wanker puts both hands flat on Nakazawa’s back before shoving him, then has the gall to look the ref in the face and say “what?”
Africa has been fielding quality teams for decades, beginning with Egypt in the 1934 World Cup. The first sub-Saharan African team in the World Cup was Zaire in 1974 (the first World Cup I followed). When they failed to receive bonuses promised to them for making the tournament, they responded by intentionally losing 9-0 to Yugoslavia (still the greatest margin of victory/loss ever in a World Cup game. Cameroon qualified for every final between 1982 and 2002 except 1986, and reached the quarter-finals in 1990. Other appearances by African teams: Morocco: 1970, 1994, 1998; Tunisia: 1978, 1994, 2002; Algeria: 1986; Egypt 1990; South Africa: 1994, 1998, 2002; Nigeria: 1998, 2002; Senegal: 2002 (quarter-finals).
I wasn’t dissing African teams at all. On the contrary, I was bemoaning the fact that, despite having produced world-class talent for decades, Africa has been unable to produce a winner at the highest level, more often than not due to forces beyond the control of the teams on the field. Whether it’s Zambia losing its entire national team in an airplane crash in 1993, political instability (Zaire had to withdraw from the 1978 WC); corrupt federations, or FIFA promising but for decades not delivering more spots in the WC for African nations (they were deemed inferior and thus unworthy of the honor …), something or other has always stood in their way.
I know you were joking, but I want to be clear that I’m not in the slightest bit jingoistic about football. Africa has produced far more talent than the USA has produced, and it has done so with a fraction of the resources of the USA (to this day, many African national teams practice on what would be considered abandoned lots in the USA, often in bare feet). There will come a day when African teams are no longer handicapped by world events, and they will win World Cups.
And the US will probably still suck.
I’ve been hearing the “Africa’s day will come” speech for a some time now. To be sure African teams have faced major hardships but in all fairness some of the successful African teams have displayed a physicality in their play that is more akin to rugby than football. Put another way, just because they are African does not mean that they play attractive football.
That said, I can see the break-through coming from an Egypt first as they seem to be getting their act together. Amazed that they didn’t qualify. Also, South Africa has the resources and soon will have the know-how to produce a top class team.
I just love reading all the commentary about teams after one game. England won, but they looked tepid in the second half, therefore they will advance but not do well the rest of the World Cup, etc. OF course the US was outplayed by the Czech republic so might as well pack up the kits and go home, they have no chance. Anything can happen in one game, I mean for goodness sake Middlesborough thrashed Chelsea this season. I am not for a second suggesting the US will go through or that on a better day they would have beat the Czech Republic. But one game does not define you. I don’t object to criticism, it was WELL WELL deserved especially in the USA case, but there is another game and then another, they can redeem themselves in those games and they do still have a chance to advance.
Nah, we’re doomed. 
For those interested, Koller appears to be okay although he will miss the Ghana game.
My new theory is that the US men’s team, in their world cup appearances, is like Star Trek movies: every other one sucks.
Well, your point about gloom and doom predictions after one game is well made (particularly in the case of England), but really, the USA result can only be seen as a reality check; they were always outsiders to go through in that group. It’s not like they particularly underperformed in any identifiable area (like England); they were simply outplayed by an obviously superior team. Barring some sort of meltdown on Italy’s part, the result there will be the same. By contrast, England’s performance was an undeniable below-par match against opposition they (perhaps hubristically) were expected to clobber. Hence the wailing and gnashing of teeth.
The massed pundits of the world aren’t viewing this as a one-match condemnation of the USA; they’re viewing it as confirmation of what they already knew - that the USA are at best the third-best team in their group. By contrast, England’s expectations have been high from the outset, with a highly skilled group of players (even if they are marshalled by an idiot*). In that context, the one-match doomsayers are far more reasonable targets for your post.
*I’m talking about Sven, not Beckham.
Oh I agree, but I was complaining more about folks over here in the States. I wouldn’t call them doomsayers as much as killjoys. The USA played a bad game and are not the class of Italy and CR, I know that, and others know that. But so many folks who don’t know soccer seemed to be putting way too much stock into this one game for the USA. It isn’t the kind of complaining that, “Change the coach. What is so and so doing on the side, etc.” it is more, “Wow, we [the USA] stink out loud [after watching just one game against a superior side playing in top form], time to give up on the team.” I just can’t stomach that attitude after one bad game.
Ah, then fair enough - from here in England it’s hard to judge the inflated expectations of the USA team in their own country. Basically it seems to me like a lot of the American pundits (and supporters) have been seduced by the unrealistic FIFA rankings (and 2002’s excellent showing) into thinking that this team should really go far. And you’re right to compare this to the England situation, where the idea that we’ve got our best team since 1966 (which is probably true) has bred the idea that anything less than a win is rubbish (which isn’t).
I personally think (assuming the expansion of football* in the USA continues as it has recently) that you’ll be regular quarter-finalists in the next one or two World Cups. I also think that’ll be an amazing achievement for a country starting with effectively no footballing tradition. Not particularly surprising, given that you’ve got such a great sporting and competitive culture, but still.
I don’t know one soccer supporter in the U.S. who has been seduced by the FIFA rankings. We’re not utter morons. And every supporter I know understood that we were underdogs in this group. Really. No one will be surprised when we don’t advance (this was true even before the Czech match). What has us angered is not that we lost to the Czechs, it was the utterly pathetic way we lost to the Czechs.
And no one thought we would get past Brazil even if we did manage to get out of group play.
Well, this could turn in to a One True Scotsman kind of thing, couldn’t it :). I could’ve sworn someone in another thread said something along the lines of, “we made it to the quarter-finals last time, and we’re better now, so the semis would be a good result.” But anyway, I shall take your word for it (and didn’t mean to imply that you were morons; it’s just that whenever I read a report in the American media, it goes on about how you’re ranked 5th over and over).
On yesterday’s showing, you never know. 
(he said, specifically to make Gangster Octopus’s brain explode…)
Didn’t see it on TV–like I said, I heard it on XM–so I have no idea how blatant a foul it was, but didn’t the Aussie goalie get lassoed up a ways away from the net on the Japan goal? That didn’t look especially blatant, but it definitely looked to me like he wasn’t getting out of that pile-up easily. His fault for getting in it, but one has to wonder, honestly.
Subterraneanus, you obviously know a lot more about the subject of African history in the Cup than I do. Lots of good info, and I agree. I apologize if I appeared to call you jingoistic, even in jest–I didn’t intend that.
All valid points.
The thing is that it wasn’t just going out and having a bad day and losing–sometimes you get outplayed. I’ve played competitive team sports and I’ve been on teams where it just didn’t click on one game day. But we weren’t playing in the World Cup (well, OK, we weren’t even playing soccer) and to come out flat and never put together a small handful of decent scoring chances, give up a goal five minutes in, etc., as the fifth-ranked team in the tournament? Granted, I’ll buy that that ranking may have been inflated for a number of reasons and that the rankings really don’t mean much, but this isn’t a team that lacks talent or experience.
Well, I do agree with this grouse. And of course, if you listen to sports radio at least half the hosts are talking about how boring and lame soccer is. The few hosts who do try to get into soccer (who don’t really know much about it, but bless their hearts, they’re trying) get lines of callers saying “You know, everyone told me soccer is so great, so I thought I’d give it a try and the game was 0-0! 0-0! OMG! 0-0! Where were the goals? Where were the torn ACLs? The home runs! This sport sucks!” The hosts who don’t know about soccer defend it but all they can really say is something along the lines of “Well, it’s an important sport and everyone watches it and I like rooting for our country and if you don’t like it I won’t be able to convince you”. The same guys who will scream callers’ ears off about whether or not Dirk Nowitzki is soft, throwing stats around like they grew on trees. Again, the hosts who are trying to get into it for the first time can’t do anything better, but it’s a shame the sport’s had such an uphill climb here for so long.
As has been said, I don’t think any Americans who knew about soccer believed it was really the #5 team. Among those who knew the game I think it was more a feeling of disappointment than shock. Even with the inflated ranking and everything there just wasn’t the magic and the optimism going in–the 2002 team really captured peoples’ attention here and became celebrities, but somehow I guess a lot of people even here felt 2002 was a fluke. Yes, the press hyped up the US’s chances, but somehow we kind of knew deep down that it wasn’t 2002.
Anyway, our coach calls out all the players he doesn’t like after the game to the media. I couldn’t believe that. Total lack of professionalism; I’ve lost all respect for him.
I know you’re grinning, but you might as well ban the word “field”. It’s what we call it over here. You know exactly what I mean when I say “soccer” or “field”, just like I know what “footy” or “pitch” means and there’s no confusion.
We’re losing our competitiveness on the world scale, though. The national basketball team has been shockingly disappointing since Sydney, the hockey team has been exiting early and hockey has no support here anymore anyway (such a shame!), the baseball team–the baseball team!–got served in the WBC, the skiing team underperformed incredibly in Torino, and I think that adds to the feeling of deflation.
That was me and if you read the full post, you’ll note your brief synopsis doesn’t at all much the realism expressed. Getting to the semis would indeed be a good result (great result, more like), but knowledgeable U.S. fans have always known not even getting out of the group is fully possible. Like any good fan, though, it’s not what you dwell on.
Fair enough. Bear in mind that my life at the moment involves working minimally until a shockingly slack hour while constantly refreshing the live commentary on the BBC website, going to the pub and watching football until it either stops or I fall over, then coming home to bless the SDMB with my thoughts if I can still focus.
This excuse somewhat undermined by my posting the offending comment at midday, but sod it…
Argnetina look to be pretty good, wouldn’t you say. I only got to see the first three goals, but they were all top shelf and that second one especially was an 11.
To me, as a fairly casual soccer fan who loves supporting the US in the World Cup, what was so shocking was not that we lost to the Czechs, but that we looked like a team who had no business even being on the same field as the Czechs. Compare that to, say, our loss to Germany in 2002, where we lost, but we battled them hard and had our heads up the whole time. If that’s how we played in the Quarterfinals against the eventual finalists last time, and we’re supposedly a better team this time, why are we suddenly rolling over to such an extent?
Anyhow, I’ve got my fingers crossed for Italy.
Nobody in the states who knows anything about football pays any attention to FIFA rankings. Nobody is shocked that the USA lost to the Czechs, and nobody will be shocked if/when the US fail to advance to the next round. What’s shocking and infuriating is the lack of heart the US team showed on Monday. It’s as simple as that.
What’s really shocking has been Serbia and Montenegro’s lackluster performance. They looked woeful despite looking so good in the qualifiers.
The French look a right state as well.
Whose up for an Argentina/Spain final
Here’s to Ghana for keeping Group E deadly!
(And making it easier for the US, at least for today.)