So they just happened to give Portugal just enough time to tie the score. At least when the NBA rigs a game someone actually wins.
What a roller coaster of emotions. I would have taken 2-2 before the game, but we deserved 3 points from that. Tie Germany and we're through. I know the games are simultaneous, but the longer Ghana-Portugal stays 0-0, the better. The bad spots were pretty obvious (Cameron, Bradley, last sub), but I'll try and be more optimistic and just talk about the good! Our fight/resolve. After the first goal, I was worried that we were going to get rattled and let in another one right away. Other than a few missteps (letting Nani get off that shot that dipped away from Howard off the post), we responded extremely well. Beasley. Once Ronaldo started drifting all over the place, I thought Beasley was going to get torched. Instead he played very well, both offensively and defensively. Dempsey. Was making great runs all night long. And a great heads up play to get back on sides for his little stomach shot. Fabian. His runs down the right flank were great all night. I just wish we had more reliable FBs so we could put him at outside mid. Yedlin/Wondo. Both did well in their cameos. Wondo had a great play where he took it to the corner, although he passed out of it that did lead to a turnover. Yedlin is fast as fuck. Helped create the goal and tracked back a few times to break of counters. Jones. Again, MOTM. He is a fucking pit bull out there. Did well not to commit any stupid fouls (His yellow was not a yellow card offense, and was a needed tackle). Was playing great balls to Fabian all night (a couple bad passes too, but they never seemed to put us in a horrible spot). And of course, he had the great equalizer. Bring on the Germans!
Great insight, but I think the Bradley is getting a bad rap based on one dumb play. He, Beckerman, and Jones dominated the midfield. I was shocked at how well the USA midfield controlled possession and tempo.
For the one play, a lot of it was due to tired legs. I just read that Bradley ran over 13km last night. Over 1k more than than anyone else! No wonder he was slow to react to that bad touch. Beyond that play, he's just been off throughout both games. Like when we needed to kill time vs Ghana, he crossed the ball rather than take it to the corner. Or the pass to Bedoya (the one that Bedoya tweaked his hip/leg) where he hit it 10 yards over him. He's just been so steady over the past few years that seeing any of those mistakes is a head scratcher. I'm not sure how to combat it either. We can't sit him. Either we live with the handful of mistakes, most likely caused at lest in part by his need to cover so much ground, or we take out Beckerman, move Jones back to DCM, Bradley to CM and put in Mix as ACM (or drop Dempsey and add another forward). I'd like to see the latter, but given we only need to get a draw, I wouldn't be surprised if the CM group stays the same.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/worldcup/2...l-was-highest-rated-world-cup-match-ever-espn Over 25M watched the game last night. 18+ on ESPN and 6.5M on Univision. I don't think the ESPN numbers include streaming (they didn't last night), so that is probably another 1M viewers. ESPN had more viewers than any of the NBA finals games!
This Croatia/Mexico game is wide open. Fun styles to watch today. Brazil isn't having any problems with Cameroon.
Forgot to add, This x1000. Even accounting for the flub at the end, they bossed the midfield all night. Also, can you imagine if Jones wasn't hurt last world cup? Holden too.
Thanks for the reminder. I forgot to turn the TV back on. Univision is showing a 1-1 score in the Brazil game. Fluke goal?
That possession where 4 guys touched it in the penalty area, and Hulk missed the chip shot, was the single best display of passing that I've seen in group play in this Cup.
yes! that is exactly the play that prompted my post! neymars little chip shot to himself and then backwards to his teamate who dropped the entry pass back to him was pretty darn nifty
