The 2010 FIFA World Cup thread (will contain spoilers)

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Didn't Milner also have a yellowcard?

Horrible stop by the England goalie, looking forward to a great second half!

Were the two earlier games any good? I was surprised to only see one goal by Argentina.

Yes, Milner had a yellow. He got it when he was abused by Cherundolo, and then was dumb continuing to protest to the ref after the call was made.

[MrBug708]

Findlay has played better then Altidore, but in this system it isn't a surprise. I'd like to see Holden come on here soon

[moriarty]

I love Carragher, but Finldley's eyes should be lighting up now.

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by moriarty

Actually, he supposedly has been sick - might not have felt well. Could have been the yellow card as well (although that would be very cautious).

That could be correct. He looked pretty shattered after just 30 minutes.

[vex]

Great save.

[kingfc22]

Can we let our back line know that this is the World Cup!

Wake the hell up.

[sterlingice]

A couple of quick, questionable yellows but I'll take it

SI

[Schmidty]

I'm trying to watch this game, but the noise of the horns or whatever, is so annoying that I just can't do it. I tried to watch with the sound off, but that was even more boring.

[moriarty]

AAAAGH

[ace1914]

Not that I'm complaining, but what's up with Rooney?

[Chief Rum]

Hey US, when that Rooney guy is unmarked in the box, you might want to mark him.

[kingfc22]

I think we need to take Findley off and bring on a defensive midfielder to go to a 4-5-1.

We're not possessing the ball at all right now so no need to have 2 forwards that barely have seen the ball and a tie will be good result.

[ace1914]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

I think we need to take Findley off and bring on a defensive midfielder to go to a 4-5-1.

We're not possessing the ball at all right now so no need to have 2 forwards that barely have seen the ball and a tie will be good result.

I agree. I say put Holden in.

[larrymcg421]

Feels like this game would be 4-0 if the GK's were flipped.

[Chief Rum]

The US is being outclassed right now. They need to get some ball control back.

[ace1914]

We are looking a bit tired out there. We need to substitute.

[kingfc22]

Don't like the sub. We need more help in midfield/defense right now.

[Chief Rum]

Oh man, Buddle found Donovan on a good run--and Donovan was surprised by it. Even if it's along the side, that's a missed opportunity.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

Don't like the sub. We need more help in midfield/defense right now.

I don't entirely agree.I do think we need to use another sub in that area, but I don't want to give up on winning this one either.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I don't entirely agree.I do think we need to use another sub in that area, but I don't want to give up on winning this one either.

The way we've played the past 25-30 minutes, the odds of us winning are a lot smaller than us losing or escaping with a draw.

I'll take the point at this point.

Get me 5 midfielders in there now to help slow down the pace of the English squad.

[moriarty]

Whew!

[BreizhManu]

Great performance by the United States, especially Howard and Onyewu.

England has no defense what so ever and their gk sucks, they are going to suffer.

[kingfc22]

I'll take it.

Now we need to take care of business against the rest of our group.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

The way we've played the past 25-30 minutes, the odds of us winning are a lot smaller than us losing or escaping with a draw.

I'll take the point at this point.

Get me 5 midfielders in there now to help slow down the pace of the English squad.

I guess it's just a matter of preference. I don't believe in conceding to a draw.

And as it turned out, the US was more dangerous after our posts than England was.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by BreizhManu

Great performance by the United States, especially Howard and Onyewu.

Ehhh. I wouldn't call that effort great. I would say they survived.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by BreizhManu

Great performance by the United States, especially Howard and Onyewu.

England has no defense what so ever and their gk sucks, they are going to suffer.

Onyewu seemed to be having form issues in the first half, but he really got up to speed for the second.

[Oilers9911]

Damnit. Typical crap start to the World Cup by England. Undone by a crappy keeper to boot. Should have cruised in this match.

[MikeVic]

If I was a U.S. fan, I'd be happy with the draw.

What was up with the attempt to bring in Gomez in the 4th minute of injury time though?? lol.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I guess it's just a matter of preference. I don't believe in conceding to a draw.

And as it turned out, the US was more dangerous after our posts than England was.

True.

My reasoning for adding an additional midfielder was to help us win possession to lead to a counter attack. I didn't see us scoring any other way there in the latter part of the game.

[SirFozzie]

Hey England, your Cousin Jonathan's grown up and plays a mean game of footy!

[moriarty]

Howard and Cherundolo both played well. I thought Michael Bradley did well in the midfield. Didn't hear much about Lampard on the pitch, and Bradley's confidence on the ball helped us maintain possession. Daddy will be proud.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

I'll take the point at this point.

+1

Better candidate for Man of the Match for the U.S.? Tim Howard or Robert Green? Maybe it is Fabio for putting Green out there?

Tim Howard made sure the U.S. a point. I would have like to see Landon a bit more aggressive. Ricardo Clark, please don't leave the touchline for the rest of the tournament, please? Thanks

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

Ehhh. I wouldn't call that effort great. I would say they survived.

Man, you really are Debbie Downer, aren't you? I think the US held its own pretty well. England was most dangerous when Capello went with three forward and pushed the action in the first 20-30 minutes of the second half, and that's understandable--England has world class players in their forward and mid, and the US is weakest in defense.

Other than that, it was fairly even. England showed its class with the excellent Gerrard goal, but no one questions England is a much more talented side overall. The US largely controlled play in the first half outside of the Gerrard goal. The problem was just they weren't as dangerous with their chances as England is (again, a testament to the quality of England's forward players).

The US appeared to have the upperhand in the last 15-20 mins, at least slightly.

[Chief Rum]

I agree with the general point, though, that we're the second side on the pitch, and we should be happy enough with the point.

[AlexB]

Our defence looked poor today, but I thought we looked the better side for most of the game, without really dominating.

When the US set up two banks of four for the last 10-15 minutes we had a lot of pssession but never really looked like scoring - the US played that part very well.

Every time I've seen Altidore play before he has been a complete carthorse, and while he was for most of the night, he also had two moments of real quality which surprised me.

The US were pretty good, very well organised, and based on that game I would think both teams have a very good chance of qualifying

[SirFozzie]

JRS: Admit it.. if that Altidore shot had gone in off the post, England would have melted down, even before the game ended, right?

[AlexB]

Definitely. Or at least Robert Green would have.

[k0ruptr]

I honestly thought it was a pretty decent all around performance by the USA. We held are own against a pretty damn solid country and even performed well down the stretch. I think a rewatch is in order.. regardless I'll take a point for now, and hope we take care of business against the rest of the group. I think we played well.

[DaddyTorgo]

I'll take it.

[AlexB]

You might also find it ironic that the HD coverage over here missed the England goal as for some reason an ad break appeared mid-game

[SirFozzie]

Sez it all, don't it?

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by k0ruptr

I honestly thought it was a pretty decent all around performance by the USA. We held are own against a pretty damn solid country and even performed well down the stretch. I think a rewatch is in order.. regardless I'll take a point for now, and hope we take care of business against the rest of the group. I think we played well.

I think most of my negativity to the match is the fact that we did the one thing we knew we could not do. Concede an early goal. Add to that the goal was because of our other known negative, our backline, and it is really disappointing. The team was not ready to play for the first 20 mins. of the game. It just put the team under unnecessary stress.

[whomario]

Rooney must be pissed off like hell, the way he played 110% and his teammates mostly seemed to be playing at 95% effort. The guy made so many extra runs to get to the ball and get involved, i don´t think he got 5 touches that weren´t 40 metres from the US goal...

[k0ruptr]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I think most of my negativity to the match is the fact that we did the one thing we knew we could not do. Concede an early goal. Add to that the goal was because of our other known negative, our backline, and it is really disappointing. The team was not ready to play for the first 20 mins. of the game. It just put the team under unnecessary stress.

I def agree on that, I hate the way we looked lost out there the first 10 -12 minutes. We can't start that way, but for some reason whether its nerves or whatever we always start slow. Sloppy more like it. If we can fix that I think we can do well this world cup.

[Router Help]

Originally Posted by Jari Rantanen's Shorts

You might also find it ironic that the HD coverage over here missed the England goal as for some reason an ad break appeared mid-game

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

[AlexB]

At least it gave me the opportunity to use my favourite insult in an e-mail at half time to them. Fuckwits.

[miami_fan]

Ledley King will probably miss the next game for England.

[Bisbo]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

What was up with the attempt to bring in Gomez in the 4th minute of injury time though?? lol.

Just a ploy to drain time off the clock. He should have done it 30" sooner though.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Ledley King will probably miss the next game for England.

You can't plan for an injury with your subs, but right now, there has to be a lot of questioning of Capello's moves.

I'm not sure Green wasn't that right choice prior to the match for the goal, given all that we knew at the time, but, obviously, in hindsight, it looks awful. And the decision to put a questionably healthy Milner in instead of SWP from the start put Capello in the spot where he felt he needed to substitute Milner early on.

The King injury just exacerbated the situation. The Milner decision combined with the King injury, along with Heskey's general ineffectiveness as an actual goal scorer, made the Crouch move the only one that he could do. And you could argue that he needed another sub at least for Lampard, who seemed to be playing under form in the second half, or maybe to introduce a forward running fullback or a third forward to truly put his three-forward attack plan in the second half into proper play.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

You can't plan for an injury with your subs, but right now, there has to be a lot of questioning of Capello's moves.

I'm not sure Green wasn't that right choice prior to the match for the goal, given all that we knew at the time, but, obviously, in hindsight, it looks awful. And the decision to put a questionably healthy Milner in instead of SWP from the start put Capello in the spot where he felt he needed to substitute Milner early on.

The King injury just exacerbated the situation. The Milner decision combined with the King injury, along with Heskey's general ineffectiveness as an actual goal scorer, made the Crouch move the only one that he could do. And you could argue that he needed another sub at least for Lampard, who seemed to be playing under form in the second half, or maybe to introduce a forward running fullback or a third forward to truly put his three-forward attack plan in the second half into proper play.

Fair comment on King & Milner (Milner especially - he's been ill all week), but Green had to be the #1 - Hart is untried, James isn't 100% fit and Green has been pretty good previously for England. Problem is for once we don't have any standout keepers, and Green is the best of an average bunch.

Heskey was great today (he's a Leicester lad so I'm always going to look at his performance through blue-tinted glasses), could have done better with the one-on-one, but other than that basically faultless. He acts as a foil for Rooney, and an attacking midfielder who can run beyond the forwards. But...

It's one of the mysteries to me why Lampard keeps getting picked when Gerrard is also available (by all means have him in when Gerrard is injured), but the tactic of shoot on sight is shown to be a little basic at the highest level. And when the two of them are together, they seem so conscious of not abandoning the centre of the park that they restrict each other - the balance isn't there (wasn't as bad today, but still neither of them were as good as they are at club level, Lamps especially)

And I'll add to the list of questionable decisions: why SWP instead of Joe Cole?