Let's hope. It's really USA's only chance of advancing -- a draw keeps them alive, but only barely. Wins over Italy and Ghana get them through to the second round, and could even win them the group in the unlikely case that the CR goes draw-draw or draw-loss with Ghana and Italy. In a two-way tie with Italy, head-to-head takes precedence over goal diff.
NEW YORK (AP) -- The United States' 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic was watched by 2.14 million households, the most to see a soccer game on ESPN2.
Monday's match received a 2.4 cable rating, the network said Tuesday. It was the most-watched program on the network this year.
At the 2002 tournament in South Korea, the Americans' 3-2 opening win over Portugal was watched by 998,000 households on ESPN2. The 2002 game began at 5 a.m. EDT, while Monday's game in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, started at noon EDT.
In 1998, when the tournament was played in France, the Americans' opening 2-0 loss to Germany was broadcast by ABC and was watched by 3.33 million households in a game that began at 3 p.m. EDT.
ESPN2's previous high audience for soccer was 1.62 million households for Argentina's 2-1 win over Ivory Coast on Saturday. ESPN2's households tuned in for the first weekend were up 197 percent from 2002.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/soccer/specials/world_cup/2006/06/13/bc.soc.wcup.usratings.ap/index.html
Do not kid yourself. Name one US player that could start ahead of any player on the azzurri. Didn't think you could.
The US team is composed of second division talent, with the possible exception of Reyna, Keller, and O'Brien. We are week in the back, too small up front, and our midfield is fair to middling.
I was trying to look up the tiebreaker rules the other day. Someone mentioned that now, pure goal difference is the first tie breaker. In that case, it doesn't bode well for the US.
Missed the spain game. Well, I caught the last 20 minutes doing some cardio at the gym. Seemed like an impressive display. Viva Espana :-)