US has to go ahead and score a goal on their own first....They have honestly played poorly this year...I figured they would play a bit better this year. I think they are the only team right now that hasn't scored a goal in the World cup...and NO the own goal does not count.
<leroy420>Oh, MY GOD... NO... you said a low blow... oh, my god, Stack24... why are you doing pot shots... don't say that... I will get my feelings hurt... can't you see we beat Mexico four years ago...? Our seeding was horrible?!?!?! Why do you do this? Isn't an own goal good enough for you, soccer fans??</leroy420>
That TVU Player is a good thing to watch the games, but in my computer most of the time its paused, and the video its not good, its that because of my internet connection? I have broadband connection, but its a little low, so how can I fix it?
hmmm... http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-wcup-portugal-mexico&prov=ap&type=lgns Portugal 2, Mexico 1 By BARRY HATTON, Associated Press Writer June 21, 2006 GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) -- Portugal powered into the second round of the World Cup. Mexico scrambled through. Luiz Felipe Scolari's makeshift Portugal team, featuring five backups, finished a sweep of its opening-round games with a 2-1 victory over Mexico on Wednesday. "Things couldn't be better," said Scolari, who holds the World Cup record with 10 straight coaching victories. He won seven games with unbeaten Brazil in the 2002 tournament, and now is 3-0 in Germany. Mexico, coming off a win and a draw, missed a penalty kick and played the last 30 minutes with 10 men. But its door to the knockout round opened when Angola drew with Iran. Mexico has advanced in the last four World Cups. Portugal will play the second-place team from Group C, either the Netherlands or Argentina. Mexico gets the Group C winner. The Dutch and Argentines met Wednesday night. "The next game is hugely important. From now on, if a team is a bit off-color, it can pay a heavy price," Scolari said. Portugal won on goals by Maniche and Simao Sabrosa in the first 25 minutes, and Kikin replied by heading in a corner kick to put Mexico back in the game before halftime. But then Mexico's Omar Bravo missed a chance to tie on a second-half penalty kick that soared over the net, and a second yellow card for Luis Perez damaged his team's chances. Portugal went into the game having already qualified for the knockout round. So Scolari replaced five players who had received yellow cards already. Among those absent were playmaker Deco, winger Cristiano Ronaldo, and all-time top scorer Pauleta. Even so, the Portuguese stretched their unbeaten run to 17 international games, during which they have allowed just six goals. "This was as tough a game as we had expected, but I asked my players today to make it hard for me to pick my team for the next round, and they did that," Scolari said. Mexico had lost just two of its last 12 games against European opposition in World Cup matches. With the Iran-Angola game being played at the same time, Ricardo Lavolpe's team needed just a draw to advance and it charged at the Portuguese from the outset. Kikin slalomed past three defenders to get into the Portuguese area before shooting straight at the goalkeeper in early action. Portugal replied with a clinical attack as Sabrosa charged down the wing and pulled the ball back for Maniche to beat keeper Oswaldo Sanchez. "We started very well," Lavolpe said. "We had control for long periods, but when you have the ball you have to score, and we even missed a penalty." When Mexico captain Rafael Marquez used his hand to prevent Fernando Meira heading a shot toward goal, Sabrosa hit his spot kick just beyond the goalkeeper's reach. Kikin's goal revived Mexico's hopes and when Antonio Naelson (also known as Zinha) came on after halftime, Mexico cranked up the pressure. Zinha, who assisted once and scored another in Mexico's win over Iran, made an immediate difference with his slick dribbling and neat passes, and the lineup change paid off when Mexico was awarded the penalty kick. But Bravo fired the ball into the bleachers. "I was thinking, obviously, that I should have hit it with less force. When something like that happens, you have to make the best of it mentally more than physically," Bravo said. Scolari spent most of the match standing on the touchline shouting instructions to his team that lost its way in the last 20 minutes. Two players, defender Marco Caneira and striker Helder Postiga, were playing in their first World Cup. Poor finishing by Mexico kept the Portuguese ahead. "I liked the way we played for the first 70 minutes," Scolari said. "When we had one more man on the field, we fell apart. That worried me." What exactly do you call that? I've never said that the US has played well. They played about as poorly as you can against the Czech Republic. They played much better against Italy. I'm not happy with the fact they haven't scored. What I don't care about is how they get to the 2nd round as long as they get there. It's about winning the World Cup...not winning Group E.
The Argies seem to have come down with a case of the Mexicos today - make some nifty passes and moves into the box and then do nothing with them.
Oh, I see... thanks for that article, man... I can't seem to find where the U.S. has played so damn well... please show me, leroy420... I can't find it on my own... Let's see... World Cup wins since 1994... ummm... only two? Against MEXICO and PORTUGAL? Nice!
boys, boys, stop with the USA-Mexico WC pissing juegos. Real teams are playing now. This is like arguing about Grizzlies vs. T-wolves during the NBA finals.
You said the US has to back in to the 2nd round. That is exactly what Mexico did today. Had Angola won that game 2-0, Mexico would be going home. Yes, the US did not play well against Czech Republic. In fact, it was embarassing. Yes, we have not scored a goal on our own. Thank you, Captain Obvious. I'll say it again...Who cares how you get through if you get through. By the way...World Cup Knockout stage wins since 1994 USA - 1 Mexico - 0 Tell me again which part matters most? Also, that's 3 WC wins since 1994. MEXICO, Portugal, & Columbia.
Tomorrow? Sorry I'm pretty drowsy after the Orangemen/Argies second half, brought to you by Ambien (TM)
UGH!!! What a horrible match, what a dissappointment by the most anticipated matchup of the group stages. UGH!!! Oh well, Holland will now have to beat Portugal. It is going to be tough but to be champion, you have to beat the best.
Holland vs. Argentina game was horrible!!! most boring game i've seen!!! on the other hand the Ivory Coast Vs. Serbia was so much more entertaining…In my personal opinion Ivory Coast has been the most fun team to watch during this world cup.
Dude they had there B squad in mostly. So did the Dutch. What did they have to play for??? They both advanced last week. Looks like it's a mexico/argentina first round. A classic virreino de Nueva España vs. el virreino de la Plata. I will be running my Latin American trash talk from here untill the the day of. Prepare yourself Slowly-D. Poor Ivory Coast. They're 10x the team mexico is but has to go fishin now.
Ok it was not the best game we have seen. I have confidence in playing portugal, we lost to them 2 years ago, but i think we can win this time. I'm looking forward to that game. boulharouz played great, he should have a starting position.
Congrats World Cup fans. This thread now has more replies all-time than any other in hangout history. That's a pretty macbethian ride-ride! And we're not even out of the preliminary round
Their B-squad has as much talent as anybody in the world up front with Riquelme passing to Messi & Tevez, both of whom want to maximize their opportunity to get PT later. Disappoitned there weren't any goals.
