I don't watch soccer often but I watched this game.... Eyeball test said that Howard, Jones, Johnson were solid throughout the game. Dempsey had his play and wasn't bad otherwise. Beasley and the other defender seemed to play well also. Johansson looked bad and Bradley looked poor as well.
http://www.rantsports.com/soccer/2014/06/16/2014-world-cup-usas-player-ratings-vs-ghana/ Great effort, but we need much more work in front of us! Idk why, but I see this team going far. Hopefully Altidore gets better quick. #IBelieveDammit!
Game played out like most expected with Ghana dominating possession and the US having to try and generate offense on counter attacks and set pieces. I really thought Bradley would have had a better game, but I think the US really tried to nurse that 1-0 lead to their detriment (keeping bodies back to clog it up for Ghana). Like discussed previously, too many sloppy turnovers when they needed to hold the ball and let the backline catch their breath. Losing Jozy is just terrible, there is no one that can replicate what he does as a lone striker on this team (same would be true with LD on the roster). That being said, I'm glad to not be seeing Gyan and Boateng again. Been a long four years! Hope we rest up for Portugal. If the boys were cramping this much in Natal, I wonder how it'll be in Manaus. Maybe Jürgen and the boys should have trained in H-town rather than Palo Alto?!? Go go USA!!
Ok...heart rate is down to safe levels. I can't imagine a more incredible opening. Simply a perfect set of circumstances. I'm disappointed, though in most of the next 85 minutes. Sitting back too far and conceding too much possession should have worked against us. I'm really not sure how Ghana didn't score more. Where the f*** was Michael Bradley? He was sitting too far back and was not there to be the outlet they needed. Cameron was also a huge disappointment. He kept losing his mark and was ball watching too much. Beasly and Johnson were allowing the Ghana mids to beat them to the inside too much. Hopefully they watched Germany today and learned that the best way to slow Ronaldo is to prevent the mids from being able to feed him. That said, the resolve was everything you'd expect out of a US team. Brooks finish was just awesome. The bar I was in exploded and it was freaking sweet. Even with a depleted side, there is no way we can play the same against Portugal. We have to possess much more because they will be desperate and won't miss.
Bradley was just awful. I clearly saw him just give up on a couple of balls he could have made a challenge on. Very odd.
I think they overtrained. Hammys and all the other ailments looked like guys who were tired. I think they will be fine assuming Juergen gives them time to recover before Sunday.
great game but cmon howard looked foolish on that goal. he has to get off his line quicker OR get near post and make the striker hit it over the defender. he always gets beaten to that post and muller or ronaldo are going to hit that.
Nonsense, that wasn't Howard's fault at all. He was literally left alone after Cameron let Gyan off with that pass and Johnson failed to stay on Ayew. That was a defensive mistake.
any goal keeper will tell you they need to get off their line in that situation. standing there you are just a sitting duck in that spot
Howard was starting to lean back out and the shot went near post. I don't really see how you can blame the keeper there when the defender lost his man and the help was too late.
USA & germany shld go thru this grp... interesting that juergen klinsman is team usa coach... i wonder how he'd reach if they germany later on lol
The USA got lucky once, they'll have to get lucky again to get past Portugal. Germany is a beast so I wouldn't use them as a measuring stick of how good Portugal is. They are better than Ghana and you guys struggled against that team quite badly. To the person that said Portugal is a shoe-in to beat Ghana did not watch today's game. Ghana has a solid team, they lack a good striker but they are overall a very solid team. I still expect Ghana to make it out, it\s a tall order but I don't see USA beating Portugal. The second place will end up to the winner of Portugal vs. Ghana.
I really don't understand how/why we discuss USA games in this tread....this is disappointing and annoying.
I really don't understand how/why we discuss USA games in this tread....this is disappointing and annoying. nn
again I really don't understand how/why we discuss USA games in this tread....this is disappointing and annoying.
well ghana is 37 in fifa ranking versus portugal at 4, most wld assume that portugal is superior, but since portugal faired so poorly against germany, nobody knows wat may happen now. USA is 13 so since they won their 1st match, likely that USA n germany go thru IMO... http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/rankingtable/
