Posted by Creaven on December 4, 2009 under England, USMNT, United States, World Cup | 
This is how lucky the United States got Friday.
After the U.S. was drawn in Group C with England, if I could have handpicked a country from Pot 3 and Pot 4 I would have selected Algeria and Slovenia (if you don’t believe me, I worte it yesterday). For the U.S. to actually draw both those teams there was a 1/64 (1.5 percent) chance. It was the exact same odds a poker player has of hitting a runner-runner straight in Texas Holdem in an internet casino. In other words, the U.S. (and England too for that matter) hit the jackpot.
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Tags: Alexi Lalas, Algeria, Bob Levy, Brazil, Efan Ekoku, England, Fabio Capello, Ivory Coast, John Harkes, Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan, Martin Tyler, North Korea, Portugal, Slovenia, teve McManaman, United States, Wayne Rooney, World Cup
Posted by Creaven on December 3, 2009 under USMNT, United States, World Cup |
At about 12:o3 p.m. EST on Friday, someone on ESPN (probably Alexi Lalas or John Harkes) will give the following monologue:
“This is the day we’ve been waiting for. Trying to make predictions before the draw is foolish because no one knows who’s playing who. It’s all about matchups! Depending on the group, the U.S. could be a strong quarterfinal candidate or it might be a candidate to leave South Africa without a point. This is so exciting! Finally we’re going to know what the U.S. chances are at the 2010 World Cup.”
This, ladies and gentleman, is bullshit.
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Tags: Alexi Lalas, Algeria, Brazil, Cameroon, Carlos Bocanegra, Charlie Davies, Chile, Denmark, Didier Drogba, France, Ghana, Greece, Ivory Coast, John Harkes, Maurice Edu, Oguchi Onyewu, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Switzerland, United States, World Cup
Posted by Creaven on June 30, 2009 under USMNT, United States, World |
Note: First, sorry I’m way late. Second, I’m not doing a report card because I’ve read other people ratings and I feel like it has poisoned by objectiveness.
Re-watching the Confederations Cup final is a painful exercise for U.S. fans.
First, you watch the first half. Dempsey’s flick and the Davies-Donovan give-and-go-and-goal puts a smile on your face. You realize at the end of the first half, U.S. soccer had just completed the greatest 225 minutes in its history. In that span, the U.S. out-scored its opposition 7-0, it beat the No. 1 team in the world and was up 2-0 against the best team in South America; it might be decades before U.S. soccer has a better stretch.
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Tags: Brazil, Carlos Bocanegra, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, Confederations Cup, ESPN, Felipe Melo, Kaka, Landon Donovan, Robinho, Tim Howard, United States
Posted by Creaven on June 21, 2009 under USMNT, United States, World |
“I could explain the scenario to you, on how the United States could make into the semifinals, but we would be on television longer than Jerry Lewis on Labor Day.”
A pretty weak joke by ESPN’s Recce Davis before the U.S.’s Confederations Cup match against Egypt Sunday. In reality, it wasn’t too complicated. The U.S. and Brazil needed to win 3-0. But I get what Davis was saying: it was mathematically possible for the U.S. to get into the semifinals, but highly improbable.
Two hours later, what seemed not just improbable but impossible had happened. A team that hadn’t scored a goal in the run of play in four matches scored three as the U.S. shocked Egypt, 3-0. Brazil scored three times on what has historically been the best defensive team in the world, beating the Italians 3-0 (when was the last time Italy lost by three goals?).
The Confederations Cup: Where amazing beyond comprehension happens.
To the grades…
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Tags: Alexi Lalas, Bob Bradley, Brad Guzan, Brazil, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, Confederations Cup, Egypt, ESPN, Italy, Jay DeMerit, John Harkes, Jonathan Bornstien, Jonathan Spector, Jozy Altidore, JP Dellacamera, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Recce Davis, Ricardo Clark, United States
Posted by Creaven on June 18, 2009 under USMNT, United States, World |
Brazil beating the United States 3-0 isn’t what made Thursday’s performance disgraceful. Brazil is one of the best teams in the world and, in short, the U.S. isn’t. But not showing up, playing scared, stupid mistakes, puzzling tactics and a lack of passion made the U.S.’s loss one of its most embarrassing in modern history. The match felt over after a couple minutes and was over after 20 minutes. To the grades….
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Tags: Alexi Lalas, Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Brazil, Clint Dempsey, Conor Casey, DaMarcus Beasley, ESPN, Jay DeMerit, Jnathan Spector, John Harkes, Jonathan Bornstien, Jozy Altidore, Kaka, Landon Donovan, Lucio, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Reece Davis, Robinho, Sacha Kljestian, Tim Howard, United States
Posted by Creaven on June 13, 2009 under USMNT, United States, World |
Politics and sports don’t mix; at least not anymore.
It’s been a generation since Mohammed Ali refused to go to Vietnam and the United States hockey team upset the Russians at Lake Placid. Since then, sports and politics have generally existed in two separate universes. Players have agents and public relations experts telling them being controversial isn’t economically smart and Al-Qaeda doesn’t have a sports governing body.
But once in a while the sports gods treat us with a matchup in which it’s impossible to ignore the political implications and with a little (OK, a lot) of luck we might get just such a matchup in a couple weeks.
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