No one in that group has a chance vs the Argies imo. It's all about the match between Bosnia and Nigeria. (Also who can concede less goals to Argentina and score more vs Iran).
A hot keeper can make a team go on a great run. I'm telling you Begovic is great and he looked fantastic yesterday!!!
no talk about the 2014 WC Champs to be? Even to say that they looked bad before the first goal dropped by Neymar Jr. looking forward to tomorrow's game.
I know Begovic is great. He was one of the top 5 Gks in the prem last season. Nigeria also have a great GK in Enyeama. Probably the best African GK of the past 2 decades. He was one of if not the best GK in France last season. So basically Bosnia and Nigeria will need both their GK's to be fantastic when both teams face Argentina. Either way, anyone with money to bet would bet on the Argies to run the table in the group, over both Bosnia and Nigeria.(Sorry to my Iranian brothers if I'm insulting any here by not including their team).
You only need to watch the Argentina-Nigeria game from the 2010 world cup to understand what a beast Enyeama is. If the rest of that Nigerian team had any organization worth a lick, they would have gotten a point from that game. Enyeama single-handedly demoralized Argentina's forwards for 90 minutes. Should also point out that he went 1,062 minutes without conceding a goal this past season, 2nd longest ever streak in the history of Ligue 1. All respect to Begovic, but I think he's definitely the second best goalkeeper in this group.
either way, point stands. argies don't have it easy and better watch out. 2 great keeper performances and they can find themselves in a less than ideal situation. because of iran (no disrespect, 3pts each) it's possible all 3 end up with 5 points and GD, GF, GA are used.
Oh, I definitely agree. I would be surprised to see Iran factor in this group at all, but I think there is definitely a good chance that Nigeria and Bosnia are level on points and it comes down to GD or GF.
When/if it comes down to that, my money is on Bosnia. They actually know how to score goals. Nigeria had issues with that throughout CAF qualifying and are still having issues with that. I can see Bosnia putting more post Iran than Nigeria will. I hope I'm wrong.
Bradley looked great after 25 mins, but he was really inconsistent with his delivery early in the Nigerian game... DD
I think MBradley has played every minute of all 3 friendlies while FabJohnson hasn't. Fabian was good in all 3 friendlies-moreso in the last two. Same with Michael Bradley. Everyone on the US team was inconsistent with their passing for the first 20-30 mins of the game on Saturday.
Yeah you're exaggerating a bit there. He did not have a characteristically crisp game passing the ball, especially when he was further up in midfield but he settled down a bit better in the 2nd half. He gave the ball away more than usual before he settled in. He had an average game (or bad if you expect him to come out with a player rating of an 8 or 9 in every match). He was no worse than several other players in the match and I think most post match grades from the major US journos at the match had him around a 5 to a 6.5. He wasn't bad or terrible and he wasn't good either.
Hopin the Italy brehs see this: Btw, who of ya brehs is from Italy or speaks Italian? Will study there from September til February and might need some help writing to people that offer apartments (learning the language atm, but I'm not good at all). Would send you the English version of my mail in a few days and would be incredibly grateful if somebody could translate it into Italian. Can't offer any money for your work, but I'd probably rep you weekly for the rest of your life.
You can't take much home from the results of friendlies. Friendlies are all bout gauging fitness levels, getting into the flow of things and teams goign to the WC playing at 70% max to avoid any injuries
