Huge day for American soccer here. The World Cup really took off with one of the most important goals in Landon Donovan's career as he clinched our place in the next round. Let's start with that game, eh!
United States vs Algeria. It's not a marquee game in many people's minds by any measure. If it weren't for the stage and what was on the line it wouldn't be something anybody talked about. Yet here it was, the game the USA needed to win to clinch advancement and the group. The whole country was watching. I've never experienced an atmosphere that was so interested in soccer, but the performance of this American side is exciting everybody! So the whole world was watching as we fought against the North African side that had held England to a draw. Early on Dempsey hit a goal into the net... that was disallowed! For this to happen a second time was sheer tragedy. The game kept going, of course, and everyone was grumbling about what was sure to be another talking point. That's when, in stoppage time, Landon Donovan booted that Jabulani into Algeria's net and put us ahead 1-o. The match finished two minutes later and we had earned our way into the next round. We damn near lost the match due to a bad call and bad finishing, but we got there in the very end. America is behind this side. Our string of matches, against first Ghana and then either Uruguay or South Korea, can be seen as winnable. This is going to be a damn good tournament.
Our opponents in the next round will be Ghana, a team that beat us in our miserable campaign four years ago. They had a match against Germany in which they only needed to hang on and not give up too many goals. The match was very, very even for the most part. It was a good showing for a German team that had to recover from a loss to Serbia. They did so in convincing fashion by getting a goal against a struggling Ghana squad. This 1-o win meant that Germany won the group and Ghana, with the result of the other group match, came in at second. Ghana are the only African team out of six to make it into the knockout stages and carry the hopes of the continent on their shoulders. Should make the next match very tense for them.
The second match from that group was Serbia vs Australia. Both teams had a chance of getting through, Serbia through a win and Australia through a big win. I didn't watch this game since I was watching Germany and Ghana fight it out, but I saw the goal updates. Australia went up 2-0 at one point and needed only another goal to get ahead of Ghana and qualify, but Serbia crashed their party by scoring late and making the final tally 2-1. The Aussies and Serbians didn't do enough in their match to get ahead of Ghana and went home. Germany's win put them into first in the group and lined them up for a round of sixteen match against the second place team in our group... England! As far as big matches and rivalries go, Germany vs England is a mackdaddy. Surely it has English fans nervous, but they did have a good showing in their match.
England vs Slovenia started off slow and both teams looked unconvincing. England started to dominate the game towards the middle and Jermain Dafoe slammed one home putting England up by one. It was all England could do to hold on for the rest of the match as Slovenia hoped to get a point and second place. Sadly the Balkan country couldn't muster the skill to get around an England team that finally found it's legs. Slovenia, despite looking good in the group, fell below England on points and were eliminated. England came in second to the United States on goal differential which, as I've mentioned, puts them against Group D winners Germany in the next round. If England want to wipe 40 years of failure away there is no better time to start than against Germany. It's as simple as this, if England get past Germany they can win the whole thing. They've got to be considered underdogs which won't help them. It'll be one HELL of a match at least. The biggest match of the next round.
Tomorrow the fates of Japan, Denmark, New Zealand, Cheataly, Slovakia and Paraguay are decided. Hoping for a big showing from the Blue Samurai!
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Uh Oh - Minor Incident
I realize that I missed a day and I know it breaks my promise to blog every single day for a month. For most of that day I was without any form of computer and it seemed like the whole world was against me. I spilled water onto my laptop which I thought fried the damn thing as it wouldn't start up and when it did it would do some very funny things, like shut down and flicker. I ended up letting it sit out and dry off, or something, and later in the evening it was back in working order. I also got cookies baked for me! So it wasn't as bad as all that. Also went to find LEGO Minifig blind boxes in stores, but there were none to be found.
The final matches of the group round started today and there were some real nailbiters. In this round both group matches are played at the same time to prevent any ill doings. So in Group A it was South Africa vs France and Uruguay vs Mexico.
Let's talk about the hilarious breakdown of France. There is so much discord and confusion in the French squad at the moment that to any outside observer it's a whole hell of a lot of fun. When you watch a big dog crumble under the pressure it's awesome. From the coach sending their star striker home to the team refusing to train and everything in between it's been great. In this final match South Africa and France were playing for a slim chance to go to the next round. It ended up 2-1 in favor of the South Africa hosts in what must be the biggest win in their nations soccer history. The French team completed a legendary collapse and lost in fine fashion, their coach running off afterwords and refusing to shake the opposition coach's hand. Pure scum that French team.
The result of that match didn't matter, however, as the result of Uruguay and Mexico meant that they both went through. Uruguay won the match to take first place in the group. Mexico lost by only a goal which meant they were level on points with South Africa but had a better goal differential. So Uruguay and Mexico move on to the next round. Tough luck for the hosts to be sure, but they managed to put on a great effort for such a lowly ranked team.
The next two matches were the final Group B matches of Argentina vs Greece and South Korea vs Nigeria. Argentina were all but through already and the real deciding factor was which other country would come through with them. It was a close contest with each of the other three teams at points during the day being in a position to go on. Argentina were able to slice Greece apart in Lionel Messi's first outing as national captain. 2-o was enough to end the Greek dream of marching on in 2010.
The next match was a much tighter affair. Nigeria and South Korea were both extremely determined and wouldn't stop fighting from first to last. The final score was 2-2 but that really doesn't represent how impressive a match this was. The lead kept changing and each team looked amazingly strong in their attacks. Near the end Nigeria were ahead 2-1 which would have been enough to move on despite losing their first two matches. However South Korea managed to put a great goal in the net and evened it up at 2-2. The next 10 minutes were so fiery and passionate that it was hard to believe there were no more goals. Nigeria tried but failed in the end. The draw was all that South Korea needed to make it to the round of sixteen. Awesome match.
Argentina finished top of Group B and South Korea were runners up. So the first two matches of the round of sixteen are set up. It's Uruguay vs South Korea, which is a good situation for South Korea as they feel they must be able to get a win. Argentina vs Mexico is the other game and it's a rematch from a 2006 round of sixteen game. Mexico will hope to get revenge for their loss that day while Argentina will try and prove their supposed dominance. Both will be exciting games.
Tomorrow is the critical day for America against Algeria. MUST FUCKING WIN.
The final matches of the group round started today and there were some real nailbiters. In this round both group matches are played at the same time to prevent any ill doings. So in Group A it was South Africa vs France and Uruguay vs Mexico.
Let's talk about the hilarious breakdown of France. There is so much discord and confusion in the French squad at the moment that to any outside observer it's a whole hell of a lot of fun. When you watch a big dog crumble under the pressure it's awesome. From the coach sending their star striker home to the team refusing to train and everything in between it's been great. In this final match South Africa and France were playing for a slim chance to go to the next round. It ended up 2-1 in favor of the South Africa hosts in what must be the biggest win in their nations soccer history. The French team completed a legendary collapse and lost in fine fashion, their coach running off afterwords and refusing to shake the opposition coach's hand. Pure scum that French team.
The result of that match didn't matter, however, as the result of Uruguay and Mexico meant that they both went through. Uruguay won the match to take first place in the group. Mexico lost by only a goal which meant they were level on points with South Africa but had a better goal differential. So Uruguay and Mexico move on to the next round. Tough luck for the hosts to be sure, but they managed to put on a great effort for such a lowly ranked team.
The next two matches were the final Group B matches of Argentina vs Greece and South Korea vs Nigeria. Argentina were all but through already and the real deciding factor was which other country would come through with them. It was a close contest with each of the other three teams at points during the day being in a position to go on. Argentina were able to slice Greece apart in Lionel Messi's first outing as national captain. 2-o was enough to end the Greek dream of marching on in 2010.
The next match was a much tighter affair. Nigeria and South Korea were both extremely determined and wouldn't stop fighting from first to last. The final score was 2-2 but that really doesn't represent how impressive a match this was. The lead kept changing and each team looked amazingly strong in their attacks. Near the end Nigeria were ahead 2-1 which would have been enough to move on despite losing their first two matches. However South Korea managed to put a great goal in the net and evened it up at 2-2. The next 10 minutes were so fiery and passionate that it was hard to believe there were no more goals. Nigeria tried but failed in the end. The draw was all that South Korea needed to make it to the round of sixteen. Awesome match.
Argentina finished top of Group B and South Korea were runners up. So the first two matches of the round of sixteen are set up. It's Uruguay vs South Korea, which is a good situation for South Korea as they feel they must be able to get a win. Argentina vs Mexico is the other game and it's a rematch from a 2006 round of sixteen game. Mexico will hope to get revenge for their loss that day while Argentina will try and prove their supposed dominance. Both will be exciting games.
Tomorrow is the critical day for America against Algeria. MUST FUCKING WIN.
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