Running, all-purpose World Cup thread

[FuerteJ]

KingCreole, love the new mug over there. And the caption is beautiful...and so, so true.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Don't blame the officiating for this one.

The Mastroeni red card was bullshirt; Eddie Pope's was not.  You simply can't make that tackle when you've already got a yellow card.

And I never, ever feel like the US is a threat on offense.  I'm happy to see the effort return today, but not pleased to see that the team still seems lost once it gets near the goal.

The US is very, very lucky to get out of this with a tie.

(Pope) got ball first. Play on.

EDIT - Also, not using that last sub, that would be looked at like losing a hoop game by less than 3 and leaving a timeout on the scoreboard when you have the ball. At about 85' I would have brought Johnson on for Donovan, he was totally gassed, you need McBride's height in the back and you bring Johnson on in case of a ball hammered out from the back, maybe he can turn it into something. It was the only way they had a shot to win 3 points.

And he completely took the guy out in the process -- which was obviously going to get a card, the way the ref was calling the game. Getting ball first frequently isn't worth a whole lot.

 

[kingcreole]

KingCreole, love the new mug over there. And the caption is beautiful...and so, so true.

Thanks FuerteJ! What a bittersweet day, huh? My voice has five days to recover ... and it's not getting any better right now.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

BBC's take on the game.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/4853182.stm

Liked The Times' story better.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,28749-2231336,00.html

The beautiful game turns ugly
Rob Hughes
Italy 1 USA 1
After nine days of sport that convinced some of us the beautiful game had a chance to breathe again at this World Cup, the Italians and the Americans bludgeoned the theory by fighting out, too often literally, a drawn contest.

There were 34 fouls, some of them disgraceful. There were three red cards, all of them justified, and three more yellow cards that might have turned the deeper colour. There were two goals, two memorable saves from either goalkeeper, and a match of shame petered out.

This turned into the first brutal and calculatedly ugly affair of the tournament.

More sportswriters on our side of the pond need to write this way, although many "purists" would tear their few remaining hairs out at the roots because it's not "objective enough."

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Don't blame the officiating for this one.

The Mastroeni red card was bullshirt; Eddie Pope's was not.  You simply can't make that tackle when you've already got a yellow card.

And I never, ever feel like the US is a threat on offense.  I'm happy to see the effort return today, but not pleased to see that the team still seems lost once it gets near the goal.

The US is very, very lucky to get out of this with a tie.

(Pope) got ball first. Play on.

EDIT - Also, not using that last sub, that would be looked at like losing a hoop game by less than 3 and leaving a timeout on the scoreboard when you have the ball. At about 85' I would have brought Johnson on for Donovan, he was totally gassed, you need McBride's height in the back and you bring Johnson on in case of a ball hammered out from the back, maybe he can turn it into something. It was the only way they had a shot to win 3 points.

And he completely took the guy out in the process -- which was obviously going to get a card, the way the ref was calling the game.  Getting ball first frequently isn't worth a whole lot.

And an addendum...

The more I see Mastroeni's tackle, the more I back off on saying the red card was a bullshirt call. That was a really, really bad tackle. I still lean slightly toward yellow, but I'm no longer sure red was the wrong call.

 

[FuerteJ]

KingCreole, love the new mug over there. And the caption is beautiful...and so, so true.

Thanks FuerteJ! What a bittersweet day, huh? My voice has five days to recover ... and it's not getting any better right now.

Bittersweet, indeed. I'm happy with the result. It's just so nice to see the US show effort, especially after the way it played Monday. As for my voice, it's still there. However, I think my dog might be a tad bit upset with me as, when Beasley sent the ball bounding into the net, I jumped up and screamed, scaring the bejesus outta her.

Don't blame the officiating for this one.

The Mastroeni red card was bullshirt; Eddie Pope's was not. You simply can't make that tackle when you've already got a yellow card.

And I never, ever feel like the US is a threat on offense. I'm happy to see the effort return today, but not pleased to see that the team still seems lost once it gets near the goal.

The US is very, very lucky to get out of this with a tie.

(Pope) got ball first. Play on.

EDIT - Also, not using that last sub, that would be looked at like losing a hoop game by less than 3 and leaving a timeout on the scoreboard when you have the ball. At about 85' I would have brought Johnson on for Donovan, he was totally gassed, you need McBride's height in the back and you bring Johnson on in case of a ball hammered out from the back, maybe he can turn it into something. It was the only way they had a shot to win 3 points.

And he completely took the guy out in the process -- which was obviously going to get a card, the way the ref was calling the game. Getting ball first frequently isn't worth a whole lot.

And an addendum...

The more I see Mastroeni's tackle, the more I back off on saying the red card was a bullshirt call. That was a really, really bad tackle. I still lean slightly toward yellow, but I'm no longer sure red was the wrong call.

I honestly don't have a problem with any of the red cards. I just thought the ref made the game too stop-and-starty. Missed several offsides calls that screwed Italy and missed several shirt tugs/dives by Italy that screwed the US. As I said before, there was just no rhythm.

 

[FuerteJ]

BBC's take on the game.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/4853182.stm

Liked The Times' story better.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,28749-2231336,00.html

I really liked this story. I've got no problem with how it was written. God Save the Queen, or something like that.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

I love writing and reading football game stories.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

I frequent other boards with a fair share of foreign fans and they were toasting the Yanks performance as one of the best in the tournament. I'm not sure I agree with that, but I like the praise and respect. Lord knows we need positive cultural ambassadors in these times.

 

[Chuck~Taylor]

Today's ESPN poll says that people are more into the World Cup then the US open and the NBA Finals. This is kind of wierd because the other day, the World Cup was well below the NBA Finals. Do you guys think that the US vs. Italy game attracted people to give more attention towards the World Cup? During the game, they showed a clip of many people watching the game at Times Square.

 

[PeteyPirate]

Today's ESPN poll says that people are more into the World Cup then the US open and the NBA Finals. This is kind of wierd because the other day, the World Cup was well below the NBA Finals. Do you guys think that the US vs. Italy game attracted people to give more attention towards the World Cup? During the game, they showed a clip of many people watching the game at Times Square.

Guess what? Internet polls are not scientific.

 

[Chuck~Taylor]

Today's ESPN poll says that people are more into the World Cup then the US open and the NBA Finals. This is kind of wierd because the other day, the World Cup was well below the NBA Finals. Do you guys think that the US vs. Italy game attracted people to give more attention towards the World Cup? During the game, they showed a clip of many people watching the game at Times Square.

Guess what? Internet polls are not scientific.

:'(