471 replies to this topic

[nickandemmasuncle]

Can we get something better than chanting u-s-a over and over? Like maybe some songs?

The U-S-A chant is borderline retarded, completely without subtlety, and yet strangely awesome. In that sense, it is an accurate reflection of the United States. I love it, and I love that it's the standard for our fans.

As far as the game, Ghana has looked solid in the back but is obviously missing something up front. I'll gladly take that as a trade-off, since I trust the US offense to break down a good defense a lot more than I trust our defense to stop a decent offense. Germany has the opposite problem as Ghana, and I could see them hanging a 5-2 on us easy, given how shaky our back line is.

[URI]

My concern is prince boateng in the midfield.

Why? He's not very good...at least not better than Bradley and probably not better than Edu.

[Spacemans Bong]

That's wrong. talked to my Zimbabwean friend in Cape Town the other day who loves America and he apologized and told me he was rooting for Ghana.

That said, I agree that there will be no fix.

I think if there was some secret fix South Africa would have qualified out of their group.

The crowd might be somewhat pro-Ghana, but there will be tons of Americans there. nobody will hear shit with the vuvuzelas anyway, and the US team is used to playing in unfriendly conditions and doing fine.

[Mugsys Jock]

Is there any place to find comprehensive updated injury reports, a la the NFL weekly report?

I havent heard a thing about how the USA team came through the Algeria game health-wise. Is everybody 100% (save Onyewu)?

[Drocca]

I believe they are close to peak fitness.

[DLew On Roids]

Why? He's not very good...at least not better than Bradley and probably not better than Edu.

Despite having endorsed Liverpool grabbing him as a squad player on the cheap with Pompey's relegation, I have to agree with this. He's just OK.

[Dehere]

The heavy rain at the Uruguay-South Korea game made me check the weather in Rustenburg for our match.

Couldn't be better: 58 degrees at kickoff, 0% chance of rain throughout

[JCizzle]

Time to go grab a seat at the bar, so pumped for this.

[SeoulSoxFan]

So very disappointed about the Korea v. Uruguay match, but let's go US. Uruguay's "vaunted" backline didn't look too impressive even in a shell. I think US can take care of them in the quarters when/if we go through Ghana.

[Harry Hooper]

Is there any place to find comprehensive updated injury reports, a la the NFL weekly report?

I havent heard a thing about how the USA team came through the Algeria game health-wise. Is everybody 100% (save Onyewu)?

According to ESPN:

Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey have recovered from rib and facial injuries respectively and Bradley has few worries ahead of a match they clinched with a stoppage-time winner against Algeria from Donovan.

[dwightinright]

Lots of England fans at the game as they thought England was going to win the group.

[Harry Hooper]

Via the Guardian, a post just minutes ago from a Black Stars fan:

At stad now and see waaaaayyyyyy more #USA fans than #Gha fans. Hope the African solidarity makes up for it in big SA support.

[finnVT]

6/12/2010 USA-England ABC/Univision 17.1 million
6/18/2010 USA-Slovenia ESPN/Univision 7.5 million
6/23/2010 USA-Algeria ESPN/Univision 8.6 million

Additional info from the BBC:
England's World Cup tie with Slovenia was seen by an average of 10 million people, according to overnight figures.
...
According to the BBC, a peak of 800,000 people streamed the match via the internet.

How safe is it to compare these numbers given they come from different sources? Taken at face value, they're pretty interesting. Comparing US-Algeria to Eng-Slovenia, which had similar consequences for both teams and were on at the same time (though it was morning in the US and afternoon in England), the US had very similar viewing numbers. Which is interesting for the long term viability of top level soccer here--that 10m number is obviously a much higher % of population in England, but the US is just so much larger that they should be able to generate similar interest/revenue despite having a much smaller portion of the population that cares.

[JBill]

Great, Kobe Bryant's at the game, via Grant Wahl's twitter. I don't need to see the camera find him a million times, ABC.

[ifmanis5]

Good news, Bornstein has been benched. Findley back in for Gomez.

[DLew On Roids]

From @ussoccer on Twitter:

Lineup vs Ghana: Howard; Cherundolo, DeMerit, Bocanegra, Bornstein; Donovan, Bradley, Clark, Dempsey; Altidore, Findley

The big news to me is Clark instead of Torres or Edu. Bradley's going with more of a defensive, counter-attacking posture.

Edited by DLew On Roids, 26 June 2010 - 12:23 PM.

[ifmanis5]

From @ussoccer on Twitter:

Lineup vs Ghana: Howard; Cherundolo, DeMerit, Bocanegra, Bornstein; Donovan, Bradley, Clark, Dempsey; Altidore, Findley

The big news to me is Clark instead of Torres or Edu. Bradley's going with more of a defensive, counter-attacking posture.

Interesting, international announcer was saying Bornstein was out. Last minute change maybe?

[God's Cop]

Great, Kobe Bryant's at the game, via Grant Wahl's twitter. I don't need to see the camera find him a million times, ABC.

I bet the "condoms with teeth" sold out upon his arrival.

[SumnerH]

How safe is it to compare these numbers given they come from different sources?

AFAIK, the US numbers I linked to are only for viewers of American ESPN/ABC/Univision channels (they exclude international viewers). Dunno if the BBC's numbers are purely domestic or international aggregates.

Edited by SumnerH, 26 June 2010 - 12:33 PM.

[SoxFanInPdx]

Like the lineup overall, but was hoping to see Buddle get the start. That said, I am pumped up. Off to get some beer and head to a friend's viewing party.

[URI]

From @ussoccer on Twitter:

Lineup vs Ghana: Howard; Cherundolo, DeMerit, Bocanegra, Bornstein; Donovan, Bradley, Clark, Dempsey; Altidore, Findley

The big news to me is Clark instead of Torres or Edu. Bradley's going with more of a defensive, counter-attacking posture.

Until it's 0-0 at halftime and Edu comes on for Clark anyway.

[Jamoked]

I stayed home for the Algeria match, so I'm staying home for this one. Let's go boys!

[cjdmadcow]

AFAIK, the US numbers I linked to are only for viewers of American ESPN/ABC/Univision channels (they exclude international viewers). Dunno if the BBC's numbers are purely domestic or international aggregates.

I should have been clearer, the BBC numbers refer only to the viewing figures in the UK.

[ifmanis5]

USA in the white shirts today if anyone wants to co-ordinate their wardrobes.

[Jamoked]

Can we get something better than chanting u-s-a over and over? Like maybe some songs?

I've always thought fans should sing yankee doodle at games. It's patriotic, it's got history and everyone knows it. It's even a little ironic.

Simon Evans in Rustenburg: US fans singing in bar (to tune of yellow submarine) "All we want is another Robert Green, another Robert Green, another Robert Green"

That's beautiful.

[DukeSox]

random fact: Bob Bradley's brother, Scott Bradley, caught Randy Johnson's 1990 no-hitter. He's the current Princeton U baseball coach.

[DLew On Roids]

@Zonalmarking reports that Ghana is starting in a 5-4-1.

[ifmanis5]

2 facts from the int'l broadcast:

Today is Landy Cakes' 12th WC game, most ever for a USA player.

Right after Donovan scored in extra time, the internet recorded the most traffic ever in the US other than Obama winning the election.

[DukeSox]

Right after Donovan scored in extra time, the internet recorded the most traffic ever in the US other than Obama winning the election.

soccer will never catch on in the US!!!

[SumnerH]

2 facts from the int'l broadcast:

Today is Landy Cakes' 12th WC game, most ever for a USA player.

Right after Donovan scored in extra time, the internet recorded the most traffic ever in the US other than Obama winning the election.

(The latter record was broken the next day (June 24th) with the combination of World Cup games and the bazillion set Wimbledon match.)

Worldwide, the record is 1. June 24th Wimbledon/World Cup; 2. 2010 World Cup opening day; 3. US/Algeria and England/Slovenia 4. Obama's win


5th place? June 22, 2006. Ghana eliminates the US from the World Cup.

Time to knock that down a peg and get some revenge.



http://www.akamai.co...ex.html?cnn=yes

[ifmanis5]

Early goal again. Crap.

[OilCanShotTupac]

FUCK!

That did not look at all dangerous at first.

[Ahriman]

Annnd fail.

[PseuFighter]

good start.

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

Jesus fucking christ

[OilCanShotTupac]

cheap goal.

[cjdmadcow]

Why? He's not very good...at least not better than Bradley and probably not better than Edu.

Really?

[Old Fart Tree]

Well, that sucked.

[johnmd20]

Jesus fucking christ

Holy fucking fuck, you just can't keep giving up goals in the first 10 minutes of the game every game. It's an eventual death sentence. Awful.

[BigRed07]

Why did Ricardo Clark get the start again? Seriously asking....

[Old Fart Tree]

Bad penalty.

[ElUno20]

Why? He's not very good...at least not better than Bradley and probably not better than Edu.

Well he just banged away a pretty decent goal.

[Grin&MartyBarret]

Has Ricardo Clark brought anything positive to the field in this tournament?

[Al Zarilla]

That was so easy for Ghana that it's easy to imagine more damage.

[mahky bellhorn]

Naw, the USA likes to play hard to get and then give us some killer makeup sex at the end.

Edited by mahky bellhorn, 26 June 2010 - 01:39 PM.

[CPT Neuron]

Wow.....what a horrible loss of possesion in the mid-fied and a horrible lack of defensive cohesion on the break.....just bad.

[accidentalsuccess]

near post? un-believably bad goalkeeping. the pain meds?

[Ahriman]

Everyone doesn't have to play. This soccer mom mentality is ridiculous. Not even rooting for the US and the lineup changes make me mad.

[NomarRS05]

Getting absolutely dominated in time of possession.

[CPT Neuron]

poor discipline in the opening minutes here...........