Scoreline - June 22, 2006
Ghana: 2
Dramani 21'; Appiah 46' PK
United States: 1
Dempsey 42'
And so it ends. Another four-year campaign resulting in a single point, and another first round exit. The team crawled into a hole vs. the Czechs and never managed to claw their way out.
Italy tried to help us (Having trouble? We'll send one of our guys off. Need a goal? We'll put one in for you. Beat the Czechs? Ok.) but two players sent off and a a bogus PK vs. Ghana just wore us down.
The second round was laid out on a platter, and we just couldn't be bothered to attack with any numbers. Our midfielders service was terrible, our strikers were pulseless wonders (excepting Dempsey and Johnson), and any time we managed to get some momentum - something wouldn't go our way, and we'd lose all composure.
I'd love to blame the refs - but this was all on us. If you'd have told me before the tournament that we'd have tied Italy (playing a man down for a half) and then lose to Ghana, I'd have said you were nuts.
Well, it happened. I saw every minute of it. But that's soccer.
10 comments:
I thought the game wasn't going to be broadcast until tonight...
You know, you have to really give it to the Ghana fans, they are really into it. As much as I didn't want Ghana to win, they are so exuberant that it isn't so bad.
I'll give it up to the Ghanaians - they came to play - that game vs. the Czechs was phenomenal. They schooled the Czechs like the Czechs schooled us (and that's saying something!).
Arena went with the same lineup we did in France (the infamous "9-1") with similar results. I think he was trying to crowd the midfield - but the way they everyone was breezing past us, it was clearly not working. Lone strikers benefit from great wingers, and while Convey was a stand up guy- we just didn't have it this time around. We really missed Frankie Hejduk.
Experience teams can deal with the early disaster, and we're just too new to all of this to say "ah, yeah that happens. Just keep playing." Instead we freak out and change everytyhing and now nothing works, because we're reacting instead of playing our game and gutting it out.
Arena's likely to be out - and maybe he's done all he can. He was good, but he was also lucky. We're all proud of how the US did in 2002 "We made the quarterfinals!" we tell anyone who questions our abilities. But lost in all of that was the fact that we only made it out of group play because the Koreans did us a favor and beat Portugal. (Anybody else remember that embarrasing loss to homeward-bound, only-playing-for-pride Poland? I sure as hell do - we were 2-0 down in the first five minutes.)
I'm bummed that the Dutch are out, but they just didn't show up vs. Portugal. I'm totally with Lalas' assessement of Portugal: 'I'm sick to death of hearing about this Golden Generation from Portugal. When they go to a tournament and bring home some hardware, then they'll be golden.'
I agree that Ghana is playing inspired soccer right now. It's a shame that Essien will not be available due the rash of cards being dealt out like a poker tournament in Vegas. Speaking of which, how about the Dutch v. Portugal match yesterday. Yikes! I thought I was watching a field hockey game. The Russian ref was dealing those cards out as well.
I remember the Poland match from last WC. I hope that they sent the South Koreans some thank you gifts for beating Portugal.
BTW, I saw the Italy v. Australia match this morning on Univision. Wow.
I only got to follow the Italy match on Google. Was the penalty legit, or a make-up call for the red card?
In my opinion, it didn't warrant a penalty. Even the Spanish announcers (using my limited knowledge of Spanish) felt that it wasn't a penalty. Talk about heartbreak.
How is it following the match on Google? I follow it on fifaworldcup.com and launch the emirates airlines match cast.
BTW, if your computer can handle it, you can watch the match on your computer by going to the ESPN site and clicking on ESPN360.
Oh, my computer can handle it, my employer isn't quite as compatible. *grin*
Bummer for the Aussies...! BBC made it sound like they weren't attacking enough after Italy lost Materazzi - but I'm sorry, the bar for a penalty should go way up in the last minutes of a tied game. You're all but giving one side a goal, and better people should be mad at what didn't happen, then lamenting a PK that never should have.
I agree, the bar should be raised pretty high for a PK to be awarded that late in the game.
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