[demonrail666]

Never mind about balls of steel, David Villa's back in the centre, already starting to re-assert his European authority over the savages.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Never mind about balls of steel, David Villa's back in the centre, already starting to re-assert his European authority over the savages.

ha! all they asserted is how much spain's superstars suck. portugal will kick their asses.

and a pity-- brazil will play chile, and one south american team will be out.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

ha! all they asserted is how much spain's superstars suck.

Did Chile even touch the ball in the final twenty minutes, or was I just imagining a situation of utter Spanish dominance over the asado munchers? Ah?

[chicka]

Not real domination. Both teams knew they were in so they took the last twenty minutes off unfortunately. Ghana as a football team doesn't scare me concerning the USA's chances but Ghana representing a whole continent does. I expect the vuvuelas to reach about 135 dbs...

Portugal vs. Spain - the Gangsters vs. the Divas. If they run out of wax in South America do you think Christian will play? I don't think I've ever seen a guy with more wax on his eyebrows.

[sonic sphere]

 

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

chile needs to ease the fuck down with the fouls. they just got 2 people suspended for their next game. if they get an expulsion in this game they'll be fucked.

bullshit! that ref was fucking whack! bad calls! bad calls! fuck espania, those fuckers flopped more then Derek Fisher! that ref wasn't a mexican, he was a mexicant, worst officiating of the entire Cup thus far! fuck that, that whistle blew for nothing all the time at the benefit of Spain, but rarely called espania for shit they pulled against Chile. What could Chile do? That shit continually broke their momentum, every time they rallied the whistle would blow on a bunch of bullshit..

that shit felt exactly like an NBA game, clock running and bullshit calls all the way.

Needless to say, I was pissed..

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

oh man, chile is fucked.

even though Chile still easily qualified, that ref really really pissed me off.

[Keeping It Simple]

I'll be cheering for the USA tonight in the pub. One of the Spanish players has said he can see the USA reaching the semi-finals!

[SYHamilton]

Go USA! They're my last hope in my office pool (I drew US and Nigeria from the hat). Tough luck for me.

[!@#$%!]

 

oh yeah, bitches!

1-0.
--

edit: plus the penalty kick that they didn't get charged with-- oh yeah, that was a fucking blatant intentional hand

--
2nd half edit: fuckit man. way to crush my hopes. SK has been in control all 2nd half and now this shit. good goal and all but come the fuck on, why let them do that. only now the change comes.

--

suárez! GOLAZO!!!!!!!!!!

--

URUGUAY IN QUARTERFINALS. oh yea. sweeetttt. only problem is if they play USA next!

[jon boy]

ghana ghana ghana.

[!@#$%!]

shit, that was fucking disappointing, but we gave it all and ghana was still the better team, they had better players and strategy, and won fair & square.

[demonrail666]

Yeah, I agree. Not a great performance by either team really, but knockout football's rarely about great performances. When Donovan equalised I thought the only team likely to score the winner was the USA. I don't know if Altidore was injured but I thought things started to drift away from them once he was replaced by Gomez. Either way, from a neutral's perspective it was a great game. USA can feel disappointed because I do think they could've gone further.

Good luck to Ghana though

[!@#$%!]

demoño--- altidore was fouled early in the game (around 15'?) but the fucking ref didn't call it. you could see him limping around. they fixed him in half time i think but he was still slow, yet created a lot of good plays-- bradley could have scored if he had looked at the goalkeeper before shooting. when altidore was gone the usa line offense indeed lost its creativity, as there was nobody to hold the ball. gomez was nowhere (as he was in the previous game).

ghana's defense was very good and the counterattack was deadly. the match with uruguay should be great, but curiously, they both play a similar system-- solid defense, fast strikers on the counterattack. i don't know how that will play out but i'm not making bets on either side.

---

anyway, here's one for suchfriends, who i think might like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkU6YVwdfWw

[jon boy]

ghana = ace usa = poo

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

demoño--- altidore was fouled early in the game (around 15'?) but the fucking ref didn't call it. you could see him limping around. they fixed him in half time i think but he was still slow, yet created a lot of good plays-- bradley could have scored if he had looked at the goalkeeper before shooting. when altidore was gone the usa line offense indeed lost its creativity, as there was nobody to hold the ball. gomez was nowhere (as he was in the previous game).

ghana's defense was very good and the counterattack was deadly. the match with uruguay should be great, but curiously, they both play a similar system-- solid defense, fast strikers on the counterattack. i don't know how that will play out but i'm not making bets on either side.

---

anyway, here's one for suchfriends, who i think might like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkU6YVwdfWw

Yeah, I'd also fear for the USA's defence against Uruguay far more than I do Ghana's. That game's impossible to call, although I think, with Suarez and Forlan, Uruguay have a far better strike-force. You're probably right about Altidore carrying a knock. It's a shame. He added a real physical threat up front.

I think the USA's defensive frailties ended up getting the better of them. Bradley, Donovan and Dempsey were clearly carrying the team, giving a sense that they could score at any time. Unfortunately their defence meant that the same could be said for their opposition. I still say the USA are no more than two tournaments away from becoming a genuine threat. Given the players they had, I think they did extremely well.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

After a lame 1st half of fumbled dribbles, bad passes, terrible footwork and generally being dominated by Uruguay, the only thing which spared Korea in the first half was the ref..

Korea surprised us all by rallying hard in the second half to dominate over Uruguay , the complete opposite of their playing in the 1st half. They can leave with their heads held high, they never gave up for a minute and Uruguay had to earn their advancing to the next round with a hard, fast, aggressive match. Good game Korea, but Uruguay went on as we all expect...

my God, the US match!

 

Ghana proudly hails up the Ites Gold and Green in the Third Round for only the second time ever!! (making it a step farther than they did in the last World Cup and only the sixth time Africa has made it to the second round)

(cameroon 1990 1/4 finals 3rd round) (Nigeria 1994 1/8 finals 2nd round) (Nigeria 1998 1/8 Finals 2nd round) (Senegal 2002 1/4 Finals 3rd round) (Ghana 2006 1/8 Finals)

Great match!

Ghana had footwork, heart, speed and Kingson (with at least 11 crucial blocks!!)
USA had DEFENSE DEFENSE DEFENSE..

US key players were predictably Donovan, Dempsey, Bornstein, and Jozy

(in fact, a major mistake was to replace Jozy with Gomez in the last 10 minutes, and as already pointed out by !@#$%! and demonrail Jozy was a key in the US defense and blocking out Ghana for so long)

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

when altidore was gone the usa line offense indeed lost its creativity, as there was nobody to hold the ball. gomez was nowhere (as he was in the previous game).

ghana's defense was very good and the counterattack was deadly.

Originally Posted by demonrail666

but I thought things started to drift away from them once he was replaced by Gomez. Either way, from a neutral's perspective it was a great game.

Originally Posted by demonrail666

. You're probably right about Altidore carrying a knock. It's a shame. He added a real physical threat up front.

. I was particularly glad to see the US take a not from the Netherlands and Argentina and stopped wildly lobbing the ball down pitch at each possession and instead opted to take it slowly, patiently down pitch to maintain more possession and ball control.

the first half the US was slow and lacked coordination with poor dribbling and passing, but the second half they were on fire, speed, shots, passing, ball control.. it was a great match.

Ghana siezed every opportunity, US had a very strong defense to keep them in well into the final minutes, very similar to the Korea match in this regard.

Ghana controlled the infield, US controlled the goal zone, but in a 130 minute match youth was the primary advantage, and Ghana came through in the clutch when it mattered most for all of Africa watching...


US can leave with a good match, and an undefeated record in the opening round, some great goals, it was fun to root for them, and I danced and cheered at all their goals, but who couldn't want it for Ghana? They even have a decent chance against Uruguay to be the first African team to advance to the semi-finals!!

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

After a lame 1st half of fumbled dribbles, bad passes, terrible footwork and generally being dominated by Uruguay, the only thing which spared Korea in the first half was the ref..

Korea surprised us all by rallying hard in the second half to dominate over Uruguay , the complete opposite of their playing in the 1st half. They can leave with their heads held high, they never gave up for a minute and Uruguay had to earn their advancing to the next round with a hard, fast, aggressive match. Good game Korea, but Uruguay went on as we all expect...

my God, the US match!

 

Ghana proudly hails up the Ites Gold and Green in the Third Round for only the second time ever!! (making it a step farther than they did in the last World Cup and only the sixth time Africa has made it to the second round)

(cameroon 1990 1/4 finals 3rd round) (Nigeria 1994 1/8 finals 2nd round) (Nigeria 1998 1/8 Finals 2nd round) (Senegal 2002 1/4 Finals 3rd round) (Ghana 2006 1/8 Finals)

Great match!

Ghana had footwork, heart, speed and Kingson (with at least 11 crucial blocks!!)
USA had DEFENSE DEFENSE DEFENSE..

the first half the US was slow and lacked coordination with poor dribbling and passing, but the second half they were on fire, speed, shots, passing, ball control.. it was a great match.

Ghana siezed every opportunity, US had a very strong defense to keep them in well into the final minutes, very similar to the Korea match in this regard.

Ghana controlled the infield, US controlled the goal zone, but in a 130 minute match youth was the primary advantage, and Ghana came through in the clutch when it mattered most for all of Africa watching...


US can leave with a good match, and an undefeated record in the opening round, some great goals, it was fun to root for them, and I danced and cheered at all their goals, but who couldn't want it for Ghana? They even have a decent chance against Uruguay to be the first African team to advance to the semi-finals!!

I completely agree with you about the Korea Uruguay game. But it's become a bit of a cliche now for those hyper-energetic teams to look great for a while before finally being out-done by physically stronger teams. To be honest, I wonder just how well an Asian side could do in football purely because their lack of physical strength. I mean, have you seen Brazil's Lucio? The guy's a fucking hulk!

Regarding the USA Ghana game. I disagree that it was the USA's defence keeping them in the game. Well to a degree it obviously was, but I really think Ghana were deflated by that Donovan penalty and just seemed to take their foot off the pedal for almosat the entire second half. I rate Howard in goal but besides him, I think their real quality is up front: Donovan (one of my players of the tournament) Bradley, Altidore and Dempsey have been superb, effectively covering up cracks elsewhere in the squad.

You're right though, while I found myself wanting the USA to win, I'm absolutely delighted for Ghana. I think Uruguay may be a bit too much for them next week but so far I've been wrong about more matches than I've been right, so i sort of hope that carries on into their game.

Anyway, England v Germany tomorrow. It's such a massive game on so many levels that I'm not even sure I'm looking forward to it. There'll be no shame in England losing to a good German side but there was so much (arguably misguided) hope surrounding this England team that to go out before the semi-finals, never mind the quarters, will be seen as nothing but failure. From a neutral's perspective, it's sure to be an absolutely epic game.

[!@#$%!]

suchfriends-- it wasn't good defense, it was that the whole team fell back, playing to its own weaknesses instead of strengths. we're best on the attack, like chile. we didn't have enough speed to play a fast counterattack-- not against ghana anyway. the defense in fact had many holes and that's how ghana scored both times. our passing game was utter and complete shit and we couldn't make it out of the midfield for a long time.

also, the initial lineup was wrong-- edu had earned his place as a starter in the last game, and yet bradley put in clark. feilhaber played a great game last time, as he did today, and should have started as well, but bradley put in findley who had proven ineffectual before he was suspended for yellow cards. all he had was speed, but he was outran by the ghanian defense. bonehead move and a waste of a two replacements. we could have started with them and then maybe put in buddle later.

and we didn't play the wings but attacked through the center, where we ran into a fucking wall of 7 or 8 ghanians.

switching to a 4-3-3 formation was better, as it put us on a more offensive footing, but we didn't have the defense to give confidence to our attackers who had to keep running back to save our asses. bronstein played a great game, but cherundolo was so-so and demerit and bocanegra were out of it-- bocanegra was totally caught with pants down in that 2nd goal. donovan and dempsey were totally out of gas by the end of the game, they had no legs, and no ideas with altidore gone.

when they put in gomez at last he was fresh, but we would have benefited more from someone like altidore to enable him to strike instead of being buried where he was. he did nothing the whole time he play in spite of being the sole american attacker with legs-- he was fallen back a bit for my taste, considering the circumstances of the game at that point. maybe putting in buddle might have helped, but we were out of subs with those 2 unnecessary changes (they were necessary in the game, but that whole shit could have been avoided as i said earlier).

anyway, it's done, we're fucked, and respect to ghana, best team won-- with a little help from the ref for sure but they were still better.

on diff subject-- south korea's domination of uruguay lasted maybe 5-10 minutes when even forlan was fallen back to defend, but they couldn't do shit with it and fell to suarez. uruguay traditionally plays counterattack, they suck you in and then kick you in the balls.

[demonrail666]

You must blow you vuvuzela before giving it to !@#$%! again.

[_slavo_]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

 

I can't give you enough rep for that.
Yeah, that was a wonderful match. I've never seen our guys play that good before, especially after those two disatrous matches against New Zealand and Netherlands