(It will be hard to beat Germany though...)
Posted on 06/26/2014 7:23:27 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
Can two defensively suspect teams settle on a needed draw? If Team USA and Germany simply equal each other’s goal tallies, both sides will go through to the knockout rounds. In most cases, it would be expected that the two sides should line up in highly defensive formations and show little adventure, committing only the minimum number of men to any attack. If both sides play defensively, the draw will come regardless of any conspiracy.
The problem is, neither side is built to play the sort of boring, unadventurous soccer such a fixture requires. American fans are well aware of the struggles of Team USA to secure a back line, and Jurgen Klinsmann has settled on a system which uses two deep-lying and mostly defensive midfielders in Jermaine Jones and Kyle Beckerman to protect that back four.
Similarly, Germany is not the Germany of soccer legend, solid and hard-working and just good enough on set pieces to score one more goal than its opponent. Instead, under Jogi Loew Germany has been transformed into one of the most innovative and exciting attacking teams in the world. Playing a 4-3-3 without any true forward, the German system arguably includes either two or three false nines. As Mario Götze, Mesut Özil or Thomas Mueller drops out of the forward position and drags a defender out of position with him, one of the others or a midfielder like Sami Khedira will see the space that opens up and make a run toward the danger zone. These runs have produced many big chances already in the tournament, and the Germans have averaged three goals per match.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Ann Coulter has pissed me off on many things of late...but not this:
AMERICA’S FAVORITE NATIONAL PASTIME: HATING SOCCER
http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2014-06-25.html
What’s a “World Cup?”
It’s the trophy awarded after a tournament played by soccer teams from around the world.
Yeah, I was wondering when we can go back to ripping on Ann for being in favor of amnesty. /s
If Ozil has a good game, his set-up passing combined with the finishing skills of Götze and Mueller could make for a difficult game for any opponent.
I’ll be watching. No big fan of the sport but would love to see our guys stick it to the Germans and send a message to them and their European counterparts that we can beat them at their stupid game, and still have no “passion” for it.
The US is the decided underdog in this match. Our only hope is to keep the German victory margin small. There is no way Germany loses this match.
An trophy given to a team that wins an actual World Tourney in soccer...as opposed to the “World Series” trophy in MLB Baseball or the title of “World Champion” given to the winner of the NFL Super Bowl (both sports which I also love).
I’m hoping for a narrow Portugal win or a draw. That way it won’t matter if we lose to Germans. We could lose 150-0 and still go to 1/16.
Ghana kicked out 2 of its best players from the team few hours ago. 1 striker (Kevin Prince Boateng) and a very skilled midfielder. Ghana win is not good for USA because the goal differential is too close. Portugal has to make up 5 goals.
That's what everyone said last time we beat them.
I don’t know. Hope springs eternal and I don’t think a draw is an unreasonable scenario.
After all, Germany drew against Ghana while USA beat them. If the Americans can just put in a good show against a heavyweight team like Germany, it will make a statement that US soccer has arrived.
If we beat the Germans, it will be the upset of the Cup.
Not too often Ozil has a “bad” game. Either way, the USMNT will have their hands full. I think the Germans could win the whole thing, but it’s been a crazy WC and anything can happen. Costa Rica?
This quote from Mark Twain applies to Coulter’s article to a T, “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
+1 It always makes me chuckle when they present the “World Championship” to MLB teams in the “World Series”.
Why did Ghana kick them off?
More inner-fighting?
Team USA does need to continue playing until the final whistle. They get a point ahead and tend to slack off — and get scored on in the final seconds.
The same thing happed several times in the NHL playoffs — one team could get ahead and slack off and get scored on in the final seconds.
Somebody made the claim that soccer is “globalist” on one of these threads a while back. My reaction was “well, duh,”
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.