I goes both ways, without Howard falling on his ass on Portugal's first goal US would have won highhandedly at that!


Agreed. I think that Ghana showed us how good they're defense actually was by the way they played Germany, and they also showed us a blueprint for how we can do something similar against them. All we have to do honestly is NOT LOSE bad and we advance, I like those odds..

mexico croatia is gonna be the real fight but i'm watching brazil to see if they finally bring it or if they are sheer vaporware.

first couple of minutes--lively!

I think the Mexico-Croatia will be the better of the two, and if Brazil doesn't feast on Cameroon then they really aren't looking anything near contenders..

Wow... For Cameroon third time was literally the try. Good save by Brazil on the first attempt... Overbooted the Corner kick on the second.. Took their time with the third and sunk in a NICE goal. Brazil should be ashamed with themselves, honestly, they are playing at home, the crowd is all yellow, and yet the USA and Netherlands crowds have been so much livelier and more involved..

Ignore everything I've said so far about Neymar

Also, who would have in a million years though Jermaine Jones would be the best two-way player for the US this year????? Not me that's for sure, and I've always loved Jones, but he was more of a sub the past few years, even in 2013 Gold Cup!

In true USA form, it isn't pretty, but it goes in.

how is not that pretty? look at the curve! and right next to the goalpost!

brazil's defense is shit man. neymar is carrying them all.

This ref is shit.

dani alves: barcelona
thiago silva: psg
david luiz: chelsea
marcelo: real madrid
together: turds united

It was rushed and I think it was luckier than it was pretty. That being said, I think it should give Jones all the more credit for making it ugly. That one goal very well may prove to be what helps USA advance..


Yes it is, possibly they are just pacing themselves or underestimating their Group?

finally fred pops it!

!@#$%! you nailed it earlier last week when you were wondering what happened to all the full-backs..

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/wh...up-full-backs/

Interestingly, since this is a high scoring World Cup already this far, if the trend continues can we say that perhaps there is a stylistic change? Is it on the part of a different approach to scoring by offenses or is it just better defense? The Knock Out stages can help shed some better light with a larger sample size against better quality teams..

Hey !@#$%! want to know where I was dead wrong?


In dissing Mexico the past year ;)

in your defense, they had a turdific coach in chepo de la torre. real disgraceful.

but the players, they're good performers. they're not going to win the world cup but ….

CHICHARITO!!!!!!!!!!!!

yes.

1 more goal and brazil plays netherlands!

The Mighty Football Fred

The squabbles they were having since winning the Olympics were based more on chemistry and ego issues than talent or coaching.They have fantastic talent but like a lot of countries with great domestic league futbol a lot of their guys just aren't hungry enough.
They are moderately rewarded with a more or less successful career, which means they buy into the international team a bit less than they should. If anything, the only thing carrying the Mexican team as a team is that merciless sense of machismo which so thoroughly dominates the Mexican male mindset.

Respect to them, they played a hell of a game against a good team.

All that said, Baines is great though.

If USA advances this will be CONCACAF's best showing in World Cup History. Honestly, it already is statistics wise..


So much on the line this week, its why I love the Group stages best of all.. The Group G is why, it comes down quite literally to goal differentials..

If Swiss can knock down Ecuador and Italy beats Uruguay while the US advances CONCACAF will legitimately be the second best league in this World Cup.... Amazing considering going into this tournament we looked like we may be the worst!!

re: ego squabbles. t that's when you need a strong coach to make your players shape up. if it's a person of feeble character, the players take over, everything turns to shit. to see mexico hanging by panama's ball hairs for qualification was inconceivable.

don't know what herrera has been doing with them, but he turned them around 180 degrees-- and mexico is showing very high morale. (meanwhile, there are tales of 3 different factions tearing cameroon apart, the poor fuckers).

anyway, good to see mexico back in form. i don't think they'll survive the netherlands, but that will depend on a lot of things. if anything, herrera can take some cues from today's game with chile. similar formations, different attitudes (chile creative, netherlands counterattack)

funny btw these teams all play with 3 central defenders + 2 wingbacks which people have been saying was out of fashion. fashion! ha ha ha ha ha. i love the world cup.