Posted on 06/21/2006 10:33:27 PM PDT by soccer_maniac
The U.S. national team goes into Thursday's Group E finale against Ghana (9:55 a.m. ET, ESPN) knowing that it must come up with a win to have any chance of moving to the Round of 16.
All four teams in Group E, including the USA, still have a chance to advance. The U.S. must beat a tough Ghana side to have any chance of moving to the knockout phase. Should Bruce Arena's team be able to secure three points against the Africans, whom they meet at 9:55 a.m. ET on ESPN, they will need Italy to beat the Czech Republic in a simultaneous match, which can be seen live on ESPN2. The U.S. is not mathematically eliminated with a Czech draw or win, but will need a big victory over Ghana to avoid being eliminated on goal difference.
(Excerpt) Read more at mlsnet.com ...
We should have at least one big guy in the middle.
I have been saying for years that we have too many pretty boys on this US team. Reyna, Donovan, Beasley, etc.
True, but Ronaldo has something to prove, so he might be motivated to bang a few in. And surely they won't want to play Italy in the next round, despite what Adriano says lol
The sad thing is now that 3-0 loss to the Czechs looks really bad since the Czechs also were eliminated.
Agreed. We got manhandled in this tournament.
With that said to win they don't need a 6-0. They just need one goal more than the other team. And maybe they are doing the ol' rope-a-dope.
And everyone knows that if Brazil gets into its A-game, with the players it currently has (scratch Ronaldo though), that it will be nigh unstoppable.
However up to now Brazil hasn't been living up to its hype.
Wynalda is ripping Arena to shreds on the ESPN post game show right now.
Exactly. Strangely wasn't the US ranked 5 or 6 and Czech ranked 2 coming into the Cup? Now both are out.
Arena should be ripped to shreds.
Only Poland's Janas was worse in this tournament than Arena.
Wynalda is usually soft-spoken. I want to hear Lalas answer on this one, I really didn't like his style of broadcasting.
Thankfully it is Reyna's last.
Arena should resign. How do you not have Convey and Johnson in that game early?
Beasley should never see the field again along with Landon Donovan. He passed up a chanced in the box to put at least a shot on goal and put it behind him into traffic.
Absolutely disgusting.
I think they pegged him about the defensive posture in a game that had to be about offense. He wasted time in the second half by not putting Johnson in.
Assuming we get Klinsi, he will shake things up, you can count on that.
I like how Julie switched gears on Eric to argue that the players were the real problem, then interjected 'and where was Bruce Arena, this wasn't like him,' proving his point. heh
"Only Poland's Janas was worse in this tournament than Arena."
Domenech can still trump the pair of them.
We made great gains with him, but this last world cup shows that we need to take another step forward, and he cannot get us there.
Landon Donovan is the most overrated player. I can't believe he thinks he should play for Manchester UNited.
Go Germany/Australia! Now you're my enemy :)
At least Foudy knows how to win a World Cup.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.