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

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

[Berlin_Freeper]

"Here in NYC, I just walked by the Ghanian consulate (on 47th between Madison and 5th) on my way to work, and there was a small group of 5-6 outside on the sidewalk whooping it up politely, waving their flag.

I congratulated them on their victory, and they all gushed their happiness to me. You never saw a giddier bunch of people in your life, huge grins ear-to-ear. Nice folks.

Of course, blase NYers just walked right by them, most of them probably oblivious as to what those people were celebrating. I myself wasn't so choked up about us losing anyway."


You are lucky they did not treat you the way their team played in the game.

Otherwise they would have charged at you, kicked you in the knee, elbow you in the face, smack a forearm across your head, shove you to the ground, robbed you blind and then a cop would have come over and arrest you while they lay on the ground smiling and waiting for an ambulance to take them away.

[FostersExport]

I expect higher standards of officiating from English referees too but there’s no getting around the fact Graham Poll had a nightmare last night. Did FIFA artificially want to let Croatia through? I have no idea why they would.

[Berlin_Freeper]

If it were England in place of America yesterday, The Sun would have already published the ref home address and he would already have been getting death threats. That's how bad the officiating was.

I am specifically posting about America and their situation in the WC and the pattern I have seen in at least 2 WC now.

[romanesq]

Yup both Italy and Spain were victims of the refs in the last World Cup.
Italy even scored the winning goal only to have it taken back and declared offsides. It wasn't.

Both had the game taken away and allowed the Koreans to advance.

The Aussies overcame but the US didn't. We still don't have that many finishers at the high level and when the chances come you must convert. If you don't, it doesn't matter what the refs do, you will lose.

Having said that, I love this US team and will always love them. What they did 2 men down against Italy was just beautiful.

[You Dirty Rats]

I agree that the calls against Italy in 2002 were far worse than against us this year.

I doubt Markus Merk is part of a grand conspiracy that wanted to deny Team USA advancement out of the group. I doubt that he himself was biased. I think he just flat-out blew the PK call.

[romanesq]

Ben did well and keyed the defense when he got in but I think you are very harsh on Landon. Maybe I'm biased because he seems like a good person.

One thing about the big show. When your team doesn't do as well as you'd like, the finger pointing always gets out of hand. I don't like it and see no need for it.
We weren't suppose to get out of the group of death and we didn't.

I love what I saw in the future of US Soccer. For those of us who've loved this game a long time, just to have respect on the world stage means a lot. Many nations don't get out of the group stage and advance or even make every World Cup. Look at Portugal or Poland or even France who didn't even score a GOAL as defending champions.

That's how competitive the World Cup is at this level. You know that.

Everyone should lighten up, get over the media hype and understand the big dance is a process. Portugal had Eusebio and then the Golden Generation who were suppose to carry them to glory. It never happened.

To put this into perspective, we don't have the quality strikers yet to scare the big guys, but we can take them down on any given day. That's not a bad place to be on the grand stage.

And our pro baseball players were no world beaters either now, but they seemed to have gotten over it easy enough.

Onwards and upward!

[You Dirty Rats]

If it were England in place of America yesterday, The Sun would have already published the ref home address and he would already have been getting death threats. That's how bad the officiating was.

That says less about how bad the officiating was and more about how disgusting it is that a newspaper would openly support thugs.

It's a GAME! It's not a freaking war. Merkus Merk is not Adolf Hitler. Death threats have no place in sports.

[romanesq]

I didn't know that's where the consultate is located but I happened to be right near there late in the day off 5th avenue. If I saw those guys I would have contgratulated them too.

Yesterday they mentioned the half day holiday in Ghana. Apparently they had to ask the mines to cut their power use so there was enough to run TVs in the country.

Other than the penalty, why do you sound so angry. I thought Ghana played well, hard and tough but not like some countries with nasty fouls from behind. I haven't heard the US players or coaches denigrate them either but I did hear that Bruce Arena failed to shake hands with their coach.

Does anyone know why?

I don't give a hoot anyway, I'm just going to keep on loving Team USA.
I'm so proud of those guys.

[jjbrouwer]

'If you want to accept it as "bad luck" then your non-American point of view crowding a board meant for Americans has been noted, and rejected both by me and the Germans that I know.'

Quite possibly the most pompous statement of the entire thread. Your bleating about the American treatment is nonsense. Many nations are subjected to worse refereeing every World Cup. USA didn't go out of the World Cup because of bad refereeing. They went out because they were not good enough.

Free Republic may as you say be meant for Americans but the World Cup distinguishes itself from the dull American sports like baseball, basketball and American football by being a global sport.

Incidentally, England have been victims of worse refereeing decisions in the past:

1986 - knocked out of the World Cup when Diego Maradona put the ball into the net with his hand.

1994 - in the final qualifier to reach the tournament, Koeman for Holland did a disgraceful foul and should have been sent off. He stayed on the pitch and scored the freekick which eliminated England.

1998 - Beckham sent off against Argentina after Simone went down as though he had been shot when Becks flicked his leg at him. In the same match, with the score at 2-2, Sol Campbell put the ball in the Argentine net only to have his goal ruled offside, which it clearly wasn't.

[jjbrouwer]

'If I saw those guys I would have contgratulated them too. '

Good post. I would have congratulated them as well. I think the Ghanans (correct spelling?) have done much to make this one of the best World Cups in years, rather like Cameroon did in 1990.

Their superb win against a good Czech team was ultimately what put them through to the next round, not their win against USA.

The refereeing in the Cro-stralia vs Croatia game was far worse and the British ref who oversaw that game probably won't take any further part in the World Cup.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Correction: It's supposed to be a GAME.

What we saw yesterday was not a GAME.

I have emailed an official complaint against Merkus Merk (who quite obviously is not Hitler, your comparison is more than a little odd) in order to help keep it a GAME.

I am just seeing now that my complaint has been forwarded up the chain, very good.

[You Dirty Rats]

Good post, but I don't agree that we can take down the big guys on any given day. Not yet. The closest we came was against Germany in 2002. That match, however, convinced many in the world to take us seriously and hence teams were better prepared to play us than in 2002 (where we shocked Portugal early).

The draw against Italy was also impressive, but I do believe they took us lightly.

I'm not depressed about our performance. We are simply not good enough to advance out of the group stage every time --- especially when we were in a very tough group.

France has scored ONCE in five games, and they have Thierry Henry, who has more talent then every striker who ever played for Team USA put together. We didn't advance, but at least we fought hard. France has just been awful.

[romanesq]

The Hand of God is so sick it defies belief to this day. The beauty of Maradona's goal makes people overlook the piss poor sportsmanship he deployed by fisting the ball into the net. Atrocious.

And not much less of a disgrace in 98 when I thought Argentina would win the game outright. England played great and scored that goal with a man down. I was in a sports bar in NYC packed to the gills with English supporters.

I'll never forget the glumness upon leaving. Those guys were distraught. I didn't even try to say a word of consolation to any of them as I left. It wouldn't have helped.

To have Beckham shown off was a joke. To take away the winning goal with a man down was an utter disgrace of officiating.

I'll never forget it.

And things could be worse still. Imagine waking up as a Czech supporter today. From the high of a great first victory to seeing your best players downed by injury and crashing out of the tournament.

That's hard. And what teams like England and Italy have seen leaves a long sense of bitterness in one's memory.

Italy 2002 I can almost get past that, even as an Italian supporter, but what was done to England in 98 is unthinkable.

Perspective friends.

[romanesq]

Good job with the filing. I don't expect anything of it but thank you on behalf of all of us. Keep us posted.

[romanesq]

I'm just saying we can take down the big guys. We already have against England, Brazil, Portugal, etc.

World Cup victories obviously are another story but it's not impossible.
Let's ask Henry to leave racist Europe and join us. :)

I bet he'll have more fun scoring for the US!

[Berlin_Freeper]

All of a sudden many English have posted in this thread. And one rabid dog. I have asked to be removed from this ping list. I really do sign on to post with fellow Americans who are politically on the right. Who let you in and why do you think I care what you think?

[romanesq]

He's a little untidy but just let it go and stay with us brother.
We like having you around.
:)

[jjbrouwer]

I remember similarly leaving a bar in England feeling gutted over that Argentine loss. We played one of our best matches in years against Argentina and the teenager Michael Owen's goal is still replayed all over the world.

I still think we could have gone far in that tournament as all our players were fit, Owen and Shearer were linking up well together and Beckham was making some beautiful passes.

Next match would have been against Holland who we had recently beaten 4-1. Oh well...

[You Dirty Rats]

who quite obviously is not Hitler, your comparison is more than a little odd

What's odd are comments that if it was in England, the referee's address would be in the Sun and there would be death threats.

Killing people is harsh but necessary in war. England was fully justified in fighting to the death against Hitler or Saddam Hussein or other agents of evil. To take the mindset of war and killing people and transfer it to soccer justifies the arguments of the haters who say soccer fans are crazy lunatics.

The deaths of Italians in Belgium or Leeds fans in Turkey are just senseless, stupid tragedies. I love the game, but it's not THAT important.

Out of roughly 200 nations that participate in the entire process, only 32 play in the Cup, 16 make it past the group stage, and only one can win. To me, the spirit of the World Cup is not hooligans committing mayhem and people believing that a referee's decision is a life-or-death matter; it's Ghana beating the Czech Republic and T&T holding Sweden to a draw and incredible goals and the color and pagentry of the nations and their fans. There's no place for violence in the sport.

[jjbrouwer]

I have asked to be removed from this ping list.

You will not be missed by me. You are guilty of sour grapes. I should imagine you tip the board up when you play Monopoly.

You also seem incredibly sensitive. It's pathetic to snarl at people and then cry like a baby when people disagree with you.

I read this paranoid rant in your profile and it seems to sum you up well:

Also note: There are a gaggle of Libidiot Trolls stalking me (each with numerous user names), trying to grind me down with a constant stream of moronic replies. Be aware if they are doing the same to you. Their purpose is to frustrate you, in order to stop you from wanting to post on FR. If this is happening to you, then do what I do and ignore those pathetic losers (just like their own families do). Trust me, that's what annoys them the most and eventually discourages THEM from posting on FR.

Now go and write a whiny note to FIFA. I'm sure they will let you back in the World Cup!