No surprises there, nor in the amount of diving the Mexicans were engaging in. From the first goal I was steeling myself for them bellyflopping their way into equalising. Fortunately they weren’t even convincing at that.
We were lucky with the handball incident but I thought Blanco was lucky not to get sent off too… and even if they had been awarded a penalty, there’s no guarantee they would have scored with it. Ask South Korea and Poland.
High marks to all the players today, but especially Claudio and - gulp - Cobi. I was also impressed by Sanneh, as I have been through most of this tournament, and I certainly never expected to say that. Friedel did look unconvincing at times, but hey, he kept the ball from going into the net - several times. And that is, after all, what we pay him to do.
Hope this makes the front page of at least some of the major American dailies tomorrow - keep an expat posted, will you guys?
Great game by our boys today! This style that we’re using isn’t good for the blood pressure, but it seems to be effective…
A> I can’t believe Blanco didn’t get sent off for what he did to Masteroni (sp?). But I think that was the start of Mexico turning from soccer players into goons. (Does soccer have goons or is that just hockey? Is “hooligans” better?)
B> I can’t believe I’m about to say this. Cobi Jones is having a pretty good tourney. He’s not getting a lot of playing time, but he really seems to be making the most of what he’s getting. I’ve never been a big fan of his. But in both the Portugal game and this one, as soon as he came in, we really dominated the posession. (Plus, did you see that one Mexican player step on the back of Cobi’s leg as he was falling down. That was horrible!)
C> f***Zette
D> I really liked how this game was setup position-wise. I thought Reyna was more effective on the outside. McBride had a fantastic game. Donovan is amazingly good for as young as he is. (You Europeans are so lucky. I don’t know what team is gonna snatch up him and Beasley, but I hope they let them play)
E> Cheesiest moment of my life, but I swear its true. We scored the second goal. I actually started to tear up a bit. What the HECK! It’s just a stupid game. Good lord, next thing you know, I’m gonna be setting myself on fire to help us beat Germany.
The last time we played Germany we got clocked 4-2. I think if we play as we did against Mexico two things will happen. Like mexico, Germany will have a hard time getting off good shots. It’ll make it a good game. That being said, Germany is not Mexico. I’m expecting a 2-1 win for the Germans.
Landon Donovan already belongs to Bayer Leverkusen. He signed with them when he was seventeen, but really wasn’t ready, on a number of different levels, to play in Europe. He got homesick and languished on the bench. MLS set up an exchange so that he could play on loan back home to his own country. I don’t know the full details of this, for instance could Leverkusen decide that they just want him back. To their credit the USSF and MLS have worked very hard to develop the younger talent, making certain that they are in the environment that lets them grow. What happened with Donovan helped to precipitate this, as did some experiences with other US players earlier (Jovan Kirovski comes to mind).
In my tipping comp I tipped against the USA in the first two games. So of course they win against Portugal (Portugal for heaven’s sake!) and draw against Korea.
Then I figured, “well, they’ll beat Poland” so I bet with them. They lose horibly.
So then I figure Mexico’s been playing well and Jared Borgetti is in fine form so I bet against them.
Most loan arrangements do allow the loaning club to demand the return of the player at any time (with regard to Landon Donovan).
It’s interesting that two of the US stars (Friedel and Jones) of this tournament are fairly poorly regarded in the UK. Jones had an unsuccessful spell with Coventry City, although in fairness they were a fairly poor side at the time anyway. Friedel, despite being Graeme Souness’ second favourite signing, has a reputation for being fairly blunder-prone.
Until this tournament I would have considered Keller to be the fan favourite for our keepers. Jones is also not highly regarded here, at least lately, seems a bit long in the tooth. But he is a scrapper, and we admire that.
Ell, if we scrape up some cash can you put a sizeable bet on Germany, please? It’s really the smart way to go.
