2006 WORLD CUP - Day 14 Thread - U.S. needs win in group E finale

MLSnet.com ^ | 6-22-06 | MLSnet.com

[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.

[Eurotwit]

Some consolation :-)

Kewel giving Markus Merk an earful earlier in the cup.

Go Australia!

[Eurotwit]

The Norwegian commentators mentioned at the start of the game, the first 10 minutes or so, how the US seemed to win those 50/50 duels, but also remarked how that soon changed for the rest of the game.

[soccer_maniac]

Going, Going, Ghana!

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=372132&cc=5901

[Gaetano]

Any country whose top domestic club league keeps playing during the World Cup cannot be considered to be among the elite.

[soccer_maniac]

That has nothing to do with it. MLS can play throught the World Cup, no impact on the USMNT players at all.

[labowski]

Do you have a link regarding the match fixing? I went to Sky News but couldn't find anything.

[Gaetano]

The reason IMHO that the FIFA ranking are so f'ed up is that CONCACAF teams raw scorew are decremented by only 6% relative to the UEFA teams. A 50% decrement is more like it. Other than Mexico, the US plays no one else in WC qualifying that could ever qualify in UEFA or CONMEBOL (South America).

see below:

3.5 Regional strength factors

It is accepted that there are differences in strength between the various continents. To take these into account in an objective manner, weighting factors are worked out each year for each of the confederations. The basis of evaluation for each continent is the performance of its teams in direct intercontinental encounters. At the end of every year a continental ranking list is calculated, based on the same criteria as used for the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.

Taken into consideration are not all the intercontinental matches played by teams from a given continent, but only the direct confrontations between the strongest teams from each continent. Specifically this means that what is included are matches between the best 25 per cent of the teams from a given continent (with a minimum of 5 teams being considered). This way the danger is averted of errors possibly being introduced by considering matches between strong teams of a weak confederation against weak teams of a strong one.

The weightings are applied in the form of multiplication factors for teams from the same continent (see below). If teams from two different confederations are involved then the factor applied is the average of the two continental weightings.

For 2005, the following weighting factors will apply:

UEFA x 1.00
CONMEBOL x 0.99
CAF x 0.96
CONCACAF x 0.94
AFC x 0.93
OFC x 0.93

[Gaetano]

try this:

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jun22p.html

Calciopoli: Four clubs charged Thursday 22 June, 2006

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Juventus, Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina have been charged with sporting fraud as part of the Calciopoli scandal.

These are the clubs referred to the Disciplinary Commission at the end of a wide-reaching investigation into alleged match-fixing and collusion with referees.


While Juventus were the side at the centre of the inquest following wiretaps on former director general Luciano Moggi’s telephone conversations, and the Turin giants are expected to run the biggest risks.


They could face anything from docked points to stripped titles and demotion into Serie B or even Serie C. However, as yet the FIGC has not confirmed what precisely the prosecutors are asking for. It's believed that information will be released tomorrow.


Milan insisted they were the victims of sporting fraud rather than the perpetrators, but they too have been indicted.


Lazio and Fiorentina are thought to have had secondary roles, yet risk demotion if their involvement in sporting fraud is proved.


In all, 30 individuals have been charged, but their names have not been released due to legal reasons. Udinese, Sampdoria and Parma were under investigation, but are not considered implicated in the scandal.

The clubs have been indicted for violation of article 1 and/or 6 of the sporting justice code.


The trial will begin on June 28 and an appeal will be heard between July 7 and 9. The final appeal, at the Federal Court, will give its verdict before July 20.

[Michael81Dus]

Theoretically, as we saw today. Sadly, for the hard and good fighting US team. Everybody knew that only with an Italian and US win the latter could succeed.

[soccer_maniac]

PELE EXCLUSIVE: Fantastic football so far

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060622/1/81fx.html

[BurbankKarl]

Scoring 1 goal in three games is pretty dismal....especially when you watch all the other good teams....

Who kept saying this was the best national team in history?

[Gaetano]

That was Wynalda, right after he said Kasey Keller was the best goal-keeper in the world.

[BurbankKarl]

yes, I will be rooting from Sweden...although Saturday might be rough.

[soccer_maniac]

It sucks that we have to wait another four years, but in the meantime I'm getting a Clint Dempsey jersey.

[labowski]

Thanks

[BurbankKarl]

Even Wikipedia shows we tied for 3rd in the World Cup in 1930. I would say that was the best team in US History.

[lainie]

I was just told that Reyna is one of the five (of 23) on this squad who've never played for MLS. I know he plays for Manchester City in England but figured he must have come through MLS at some point. I don't know why, but I found it interesting. I guess Keller also never played MLS...who are the other three?

[dfwgator]

Klinsi, your new country needs you.

[lainie]

Now Wynalda places ALL the blame on Arena, finding no fault whatsoever with any players. He wants to stay on their good side for SOME reason. Who knows what he's after.

[Betis70]

We had 4 shots on goal *the entire tournament*.

Pathetic.