Official World Cup 2014 Thread

[SethMode]

Bradley cannot orchestrate from the midfield, his passing is poor and he has no vision. Perhaps he is the best the US has at the moment, but I think he is out of place in that role.

I'm not expecting anything from the US against Portugal or Germany. I think the only way for the US to get a good result from Portugal is if Portugal self-destructs. I figure the Germany game is a loss unless they have already wrapped up the group and are just playing their backups, which still might be a loss anyways. I'm glad for the win against Ghana, but I think its a bad sign when I spend most of the match thinking that the US could really use Landon Donovan.

I spent a large portion of the match wondering where Bradley was, until he'd pop up with a horribly placed ball or a botched touch, and I'd just kind of shake my head.

I can't imagine a situation where the US beats Germany. Portugal is another story, but as has been discussed, that's mostly just because Portugal is Portugal, not because I necessarily think that the US stacks up remotely well talent-wise against them.

[Anthony]

Agreed. US looked pretty terrible. I think Ghana 2014 isn't nearly as good as Ghana 2006/2010, and Howard was probably the difference in the game. Neither team had any imagination on offense. Bradley cannot orchestrate from the midfield, his passing is poor and he has no vision. Perhaps he is the best the US has at the moment, but I think he is out of place in that role.

Bradley doesn't even play this role in Italy. He plays much deeper, more like the role Jones plays. This is the problem the US has, we lack creative mids. Personally I would prefer to see Bradley play deeper and play Dempsey in the hole behind the strikers. Dempsey has the ability to take on his man and is really good at driving into the box from slightly deeper. Too many defensive mids for the US and not enough creative mids.

I'm not expecting anything from the US against Portugal or Germany. I think the only way for the US to get a good result from Portugal is if Portugal self-destructs. I figure the Germany game is a loss unless they have already wrapped up the group and are just playing their backups, which still might be a loss anyways. I'm glad for the win against Ghana, but I think its a bad sign when I spend most of the match thinking that the US could really use Landon Donovan.

Concur. I don't think Landon is as good as he was, but given the injury situation and the lack of creativity in the midfield, we sure could use him.

[DDRGuido]

The only one that played great for the U.S. was Jones. He probably had one of his best games. Beasley looked shaky in the 1st and they couldn't keep possession in the 2nd at all unable to complete passes. Why the hell did Bradley cross the ball in stoppage time instead of dribbling it to the corner? I found that puzzling. In the end the 2 subs worked out for Jurgen. An ugly 3 points but it's still 3 points.

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[Senser81]

Why the hell did Bradley cross the ball in stoppage time instead of dribbling it to the corner? I found that puzzling.

The best part was that no one else from either the US or Ghana was anywhere near the goal. Bradley was like the product of poor FIFA AI...dribble, dribble, cross.

[Senser81]

Pretty lame showing from Belgium thus far. Who knew Algeria was so stout?

[Senser81]

Just a heads-up, the Univision website has free live streaming of the World Cup games. I've been watching the games at work, and the quality has been great so far.

[Golden Taters]

Mexico's goalie is doing work.

[Golden Taters]

And yeah, Bradley was fucking awful yesterday.

[Senser81]

Mexico v. Brazil was a very good game to watch. Brazil dominated at times, but they seem to lack a competent finisher. Ochoa had some big saves for Mexico, but I think the big play of the game was toward the end of the game when Marcelo had actually gotten around the Mexican defender in the penalty box and was 1:1 with the goalie and instead of attempting a shot he took a poorly-timed dive and the scoring threat fizzled. Brazil is still almost guaranteed to advance, and Mexico will probably lose to Croatia and end their Cup run...but this game was exciting for the fans.

[Anthony]

Mexico v. Brazil was a very good game to watch. Brazil dominated at times, but they seem to lack a competent finisher. Ochoa had some big saves for Mexico, but I think the big play of the game was toward the end of the game when Marcelo had actually gotten around the Mexican defender in the penalty box and was 1:1 with the goalie and instead of attempting a shot he took a poorly-timed dive and the scoring threat fizzled. Brazil is still almost guaranteed to advance, and Mexico will probably lose to Croatia and end their Cup run...but this game was exciting for the fans.

The referees really kept Mexico in the match to be honest. They should have dished out quite a few yellows but let so much go that they prevented Brazil from getting any kind of flow in the first half.

[Senser81]

The referees really kept Mexico in the match to be honest. They should have dished out quite a few yellows but let so much go that they prevented Brazil from getting any kind of flow in the first half.

Agreed, but Brazil kind of had the run of the game for the last 20-25 minutes of the 2nd half. And they still couldn't score a goal.

[Slateman]

[Anthony]

Agreed, but Brazil kind of had the run of the game for the last 20-25 minutes of the 2nd half. And they still couldn't score a goal.

I think the combination of the refs being shit and Ochoa being on fire really did Brazil in. If you look back at the first 30 minutes, Brazil dominated Mexico, and all Mexico could do from getting run out of the stadium was to foul. Allowing them to foul as they did, allowed Mexico to actually settle in. Give credit to Mexico though, they played well, but I have hard time seeing another team beating Brazil to the title. I still feel confident in my prediction of either Brazil or Germany taking it all home.

[DDRGuido]

It'd be truly amazing if Spain doesn't get out of this group. Vamos Chile!

[Bigpapa42]

It'd be truly amazing if Spain doesn't get out of this group. Vamos Chile!

Amazing feat complete. Spain is done.