U.S. soccer set to open its 2014 World Cup against Ghana, an old nemesis

washingtonpost.com ^ | June 15, 2014 | Steven Goff

[kevkrom]

Now, if we beat Ghana tonight, regardless of margin, we should be sitting in a much better position than I could have hoped.

[BeadCounter]

Portugal doesn’t have world cups but they aren’t like the Italians and Germans who have cheated to get theirs, Germans speeding in ‘66, glad they didn’t win it then. Italians cheated all over to win in ‘06, over Australia and other teams.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Mueller hat trick
Puts him on top for WC goals

[Berlin_Freeper]

You called it

Did Germany dismantle Portugal enough?
Lol

[dfwgator]

And with Robben’s two goals, it now gives Bayern a collective 5 goals in the WC.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Hope Hummels is ok

[Berlin_Freeper]

Man of the match :)

[dfwgator]

Looked pretty bad when he landed.

[BeadCounter]

Frings handball save gives Germany victory over USA in 2002. 2 minutes in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLtT0imwdCQ

[kevkrom]

Are you tracking all clubs? It’ll be interesting to see which club has the most goals when all is said and done.

[dfwgator]

Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Bayern Munich 5
Barcelona 4 (Messi, Neymar 2, Sanchez)
Real Madrid 3 (Alonso, Benzema 2)
Manchester United 2 (Van Persie 2)

Whole bunch of others with 1.

[dfwgator]

Even the Germans admitted the US outplayed them for the most part. So close.

[dfwgator]

From what I’ve seen so far...I’d have to say right now, Italy is my favorite to win it all.

[kevkrom]

Oh, gosh, it’s way too early to tell yet. Too many games have been lopsided and even the teams routed still have a chance to recover and do well.

[safeasthebanks]

I’ll go with Argentina (and if they knew my history with predictions, everyone in Argentina would have just slit their wrists).

[dfwgator]

I just think Pirlo is going to the man of the tournament. He was masterful against England (who played pretty darn well despite losing).

[dfwgator]

Argentina was really not impressive at all yesterday. They got a gift on the OG.

[kevkrom]

England (who played pretty darn well despite losing)

For about 70 minutes, at least. No real energy from them after that - heat and humidity get to them?

[dfwgator]

Yeah, the heat clearly zapped them.

[Berlin_Freeper]

In the unlikely event that the U.S. and Iran face each other in the 2014 World Cup, at least one Iranian coach is not going to have trouble discussing sports and politics with American players. Because Dan Gaspar, Iran’s goal-keeping coach, is an American who lives in Connecticut.