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Post by AustinHoya03 on Jun 12, 2006 13:33:35 GMT -5
Really disappointed in the performance today. I think the US won a lot of fans with energetic and inspired play in 2002, and that energy was nowhere to be found today. We'll have to actually go at the goal a bit more and eliminate defensive mistakes to beat Italy, who we have to beat. I think what we're rooting for this afternoon is for Ghana to tie the Azzuri. Sound right?
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Post by RockawayHoya on Jun 12, 2006 13:42:15 GMT -5
Austin, you're correct. We should be rooting for a tie in the Italy-Ghana match. Worst case scenario is if Italy wins, which would just about force us to beat them on Saturday if they do.
We were awful today. No energy, no support, just flat out nothing. It looked like Reyna was the only guy out there who even gave half a damn (not even counting the post he hit in the 1st half). The Czechs could have easily beaten us worse had they had a bounce or two go their way in the box in the 2nd half.
If there's any way to eliminate yourself after just one game in pool play, we just about did it today. Goal differential is going to kill us in any tiebreakers down the road now.
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miamihoya
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 698
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Post by miamihoya on Jun 12, 2006 13:55:15 GMT -5
What a dissapointing showing by the US squad. I've been fortunate enough to be able to watch every single match so far this cup, and this was by far the worse performance of any team. Even the other teams that got shutout put up better fights then the US today. Big changes in both attitude and strategy are going to be needed if we are to beat the Italians (which is basically a must at this point). I can't imagine what the Europeans are saying about the US right now, but this is definatley a blow to the program in general. Gotta hope for a Italy-Ghana draw now, and hope that Arena can fire this squad up for Saturdays game.
I dont know what was worse: Team USA today or the Heat last nite. Together though they have made for a terrible 2 days of watching sports.
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Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 18,459
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Jun 12, 2006 14:59:39 GMT -5
[quote author=miamihoya board=pro thread=1150010124 post=1150138515 I dont know what was worse: Team USA today or the Heat last nite. Together though they have made for a terrible 2 days of watching sports.[/quote]
Amen!
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Post by RockawayHoya on Jun 12, 2006 15:21:13 GMT -5
Doesn't look good for the US right now, with Italy up a goal with about 25 minutes left.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Jun 12, 2006 16:20:19 GMT -5
That's nice Arena can tell us who is playing for the Czech team but not for the US MNT. Baros is definitely a scratch - he's been fragile at Aston Villa and he was carried off the field in the Czech Republic's last final. [glow=red,2,300] I think you underrate us and over-rate the Czechs HSB - take off your red, white, and blue (arranged in the czech tri-color thing of course) glasses.[/glow]In a related note to any lawyers/consultants - how can I bill out a 3 hour "lunch break"? really i think i called this pretty accurately. I told my brother we'd win 3-1 and if reyna's shot hadn't hit the post i might've been 100% correct. I was hoping to have a draw but i was afraid that the czechs were just too good and it didn't help that that's the worst i've seen the US playy in a long long time. absolutely no effort came out completely flat. hopefully they can pull off an upset of italy but i'm not too confident in their ability to turn around. they'll loose all three games if they play like that. I can defiently say they've looked hte worst of all the teams who've played so far they did not look like they belonged in the world cup. and this is from someone who actually likes the US. imagine what those who don't like us are saying. |
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Post by SoCal Hoya85 on Jun 12, 2006 16:37:47 GMT -5
Italy beats Ghana 2-0 and were in trouble. Also did anyone notice how bad we were at something as simple as trapping the ball or was it just me? I kept waiting for the commentators to say something about it but they never did so maybe I just have an unreasonable assumption that players should be able to control the ball smoothly when recieving a pass?
Oh and Onyewu looked like that one guy on hockey teams who is out there just to hit guys hard while getting burned for goals.
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SEAHoya
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 126
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Post by SEAHoya on Jun 12, 2006 16:51:53 GMT -5
Anyone notice the Michael Davies ESPN WC blog? Hoyas get a mention... sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=davies/index"The U.S. fans are singing "Ka-sey Kel-ler" to the tune of "Let's Go, Hoyas." Interesting that an Englishman associates that tune with the Hoyas... Also, as for my take on the game, I'm not so sure there was as little effort as others have mentioned. I thought they were trying hard, but just lacked that bit of class that teams like the Czech Republic seem to exhibit. As with a lot of the teams so far, it seems like the imagination and execution in the final third just wasn't there. |
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Locker
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,265
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Post by Locker on Jun 12, 2006 18:12:54 GMT -5
I dont know what was worse: Team USA today or the Heat last nite. And the answer is.....Dave O'Brien. We can't possibly be as bad as we looked today. For the time being, I'm chalking this up as our South Florida game, or the second half of Syracuse in the Garden. Maybe Italy = tOSU? |
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miamihoya
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 698
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Post by miamihoya on Jun 12, 2006 18:38:11 GMT -5
I noticed that reference to the Hoyas by Davies too. I wonder if he has any connection to the school or it was just a total coincidence. I have found his World Cup blogs to be entertaining though.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Jun 12, 2006 19:19:50 GMT -5
One thing a lot of people failed to note is that it wasn't completely that the US was playing so poorly but also that the czechs were playing so well. they closed down the space giving the US little time to control the ball and the defense did a great job today. The czechs really flexed their muscle today showing off their world class. Arsenal did a great job of snatching up rosicky before the world cup because he's goign to continue to go off on teams.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2006 19:26:29 GMT -5
One thing a lot of people failed to note is that it wasn't completely that the US was playing so poorly but also that the czechs were playing so well. they closed down the space giving the US little time to control the ball and the defense did a great job today. The czechs really flexed their muscle today showing off their world class. But to me, HSB, that's the problem soccer in the US is always going to face (at least at the Team USA level). They can be ranked as high as they want, but until they turn those "the other team was just really good" recaps into "the USA was simply the better team" recaps, they can expect the casual fan to meet the World Cup with considerable disinterest every time around. It sucks, because I'm really pulling for these guys and wish more people would, but I think its the reality the powers-that-be in Team USA often ignore when they talk about growing the sport and its exposure. |
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FLHoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Proud Member of Generation Burton
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Post by FLHoya on Jun 12, 2006 19:28:35 GMT -5
One thing a lot of people failed to note is that it wasn't completely that the US was playing so poorly but also that the czechs were playing so well. they closed down the space giving the US little time to control the ball and the defense did a great job today. The czechs really flexed their muscle today showing off their world class. Arsenal did a great job of snatching up rosicky before the world cup because he's goign to continue to go off on teams. That's true, it was a very classy performance by the artists formerly known as the front half of Czechoslovakia. But the other point is true as well, that the US was having such an awful time doing basic stuff like trapping/controlling the ball and connecting on some basic passing. It was a real shocker to see, after some ballsy performances against Portugal, Mexico, and Germany last go-round, the US look so overmatched and clueless against a European foe. This says nothing of the physical advantage either. Just incredibly intimidated and unable to get much serious going forward. So all of a sudden the game on Saturday looms large, and we did not need to be paying that defense to get out of our rut. |
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Post by washingtonhoya on Jun 12, 2006 21:59:43 GMT -5
"That's true, it was a very classy performance by the artists formerly known as the front half of Czechoslovakia."
Speaking of, I heard Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli fame has a SECOND solo album out this year.
That's really not a good way to lead into a post-game report, but there's really nothing positive to take from this game, aside from a) the Hoyas reference in Davies' column and b) everyone else's lack of awesomenessocity makes my relative hatred of Eddie Johnson dissipate.
Coming into this game I was wondering how the team would do against a more experienced and physically stronger team. Like everyone said in the leadup to the cup, the US was going to have to rely on athleticism and speed, and I was hoping to see a Brazil-esque effort because of that. Unfortunately, Brazil combines their athleticism with an ability to string together more than three passes before giving the ball away.
Combined with Italy beating Ghana, the team has their back so far up against the wall I can't really see them advancing. A must-win against a defensive team like Italy is going to be impossible if the team plays offensively (in both senses of the word) like they did today.
Hell, at this point I think I should get to play for the team. One time on North Kehoe I spun around for ten seconds and made a goal from forty yards, that should be good enough. Rosicky did it too, but he didn't spin first.
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FLHoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Proud Member of Generation Burton
Posts: 4,544
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Post by FLHoya on Jun 12, 2006 23:00:19 GMT -5
Speaking of, I heard Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli fame has a SECOND solo album out this year. 1. Why do you know that? 2. Does that mean Slovakia is the dead one? |
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