EN World World Cup blog

[Spud]

Reyna played well, Keller made a few good saves and USa were lucky in some marginal offside decisions, but you were playing a below par italy side. Not taking anything away from you but Italy are no where near a world cup winning side.

Having said that if you get some grief on monday England are (with the way Sven is playing us) no where near a World cup winning side either.

 

[nerfherder]

That was a very gutsy performance by the US. I only caught part of it because I was moving from pub to pub, but they deserved the point from that.

Cheers,
Liam

 

[Klaus]

The tactical scheme the US was using was atrocious: 4-5-1. Only one attacker? No wonder their only goal was scored by an Italian! They should have opted for a 4-4-2 and, lacking the individual quality of the Azzurra, tried showering the area with balls to be headbutted in (sorry for my lack of technical football terms in English, eh?). The only reason this match ended a draw was due to the total lack of cool-headedness (is that even a word) by the Italians. They got exasperated when they scored that self-goal.

On other news, Portugal advances to the 1/16 round for the first time in 40 years (and did anyone see the flying kick an Iranian performed on Figo's face?), and Ghana is the first African country to win a match in this Cup. Go Ghana!

On sad news, one of Brazil's foremost comedians, who was in Germany shooting sketches for his TV show, died of a heart attack 10 hours after an informal soccer match. His name was Claudio Besserman Vianna, better known to us as Bussunda. He was famous for his mocking imitation of Ronaldo and of our president, Lula. He died two weeks from turning 44 and leaves a wife and child.

 

[johnsemlak]

The tactical scheme the US was using was atrocious: 4-5-1. Only one attacker? No wonder their only goal was scored by an Italian! They should have opted for a 4-4-2

Of course I'd love it if the US scored 3 goals but calling the attack atrocious seems harsh. Anyway, I'm not a tactical expert but it seems to me 4-5-1 was chosen because Landon Donovan plays better behind the front line rather than part of it, and the US doesn't really have another forward of decent quality to pair with Brian McBride. IIRC Landon did play up front 4-4-2 with McBride vs the Czechs and their attack in that game most certainly was atrocious; there was a marked improvement in the US's attack in this game, IMO, even if it didn't result in goals.

 

[Klaus]

I wasn't criticising the attack, but the tactical layout. If you put only one attacker, your offensive power is reduced, and you crowd the midfield. This is a very defensive position, to the point where it hurts the offensive. We have a saying here that says "those who don't score a goal suffer a goal".

If the US wanted a defensive stance, a 5-3-2 would give them a virtual wall of defenders. And note that even though there were 11 US players and only 3 Italian players in front of the goal, the Italians still managed to score that goal.

 

[johnsemlak]

On to today's matches.

My predictions (I only got one right yesterday--though both the results I got wrong were one's that pleased me):

Brazil 2 Australia 0. Brazil is a strong favorite obviously but I honestly have know idea what the score will be. It might be real tight like Brazil's victory over Croatia, or Brazil might find its offensive rythem and light it up. Australia may have some say in the final result, but it's a monumental task for them obviously.

Croatia 2 Japan 0. Croatia looked very good against Brazil and I think they'll take this one comfortably.

France 1 South Korea 0. France has not scored a goal in 4 straight WC matches. This one should be a nailbiter and could go either way, but I think France will finally break through.

 

[Jdvn1]

Its painfully obvious Argentina have peaked too soon...

Gotta say, I disagree there. Argentina has been playing very strong for at least a year now. I think everyone's not giving them enough credit.

 

[Jdvn1]

Wow, this ref in the USA game is red card happy

They say the refs have been giving more cards than usual--I didn't see the third red card, but the first two were fair. He was just calling it tight.

The US was playing very aggressive from the start, though. They were playing very well (especially compared to last game), but they could have been more careful.

 

[Jdvn1]

The tactical scheme the US was using was atrocious: 4-5-1.

I'm pretty sure it was technically 4-1-4-1. The US was awesome at controlling the midfield, if only their "attacking midfielders" would have done a little more attacking at the net...

 

[nerfherder]

They say the refs have been giving more cards than usual--I didn't see the third red card, but the first two were fair. He was just calling it tight.

I agree that both reds were fair - De Rossi's elbow was vicious and Mastroeni's two-footed tackle was late and dangerous. The last sending off (which I also didn't see) was for a second yellow card, so not really that surprising.

Cheers,
Liam