Gooch had an absolutely free header from 25 feet and couldn't get down on it

6/28/2009 5:15:13 PM

Adu should've been subbed in... a lot of people have been saying it all tourney long. Instead we got Kljestan who did 18 minutes of nothing. Bradley got a free pass after the Spain win, but I'm beginning to question him yet again for an awful half of coaching.

6/28/2009 5:22:05 PM

Quote :

"Took Bradley too long to sub. Feilhaber was obviously tired when he started fouling. Altidore and Davies are tired from chasing down balls all game long."

Yeah, I agree with this. I would have brought Bornstein on for Altidore and gone to 5 in the back to give us more width and let Gooch/Demerit stay tighter in the middle.

It's pretty telling when our reinforcements are Kljestan, Bornstein, and Casey though. I just do not understand how those are your three subs AFTER you've given up the lead and you need some offense. Certainly Torres and Adu bring more offensive abilities than them. Bornstein was an obvious sub but did Kljestan even complete a single pass when he came in? I know I said I would stop hating on Bradley but he's way too reactionary of a coach, everybody watching knew they were breaking down our midfield and we needed somebody with fresh legs. He's handcuffed with his subs because of injuries and suspensions I know, but still.

I also agree that if we had Bradley, I think we win this game. At least we've pretty much figured out our starting XI because of this tournament. When everybody's healthy, it's a pretty good team, we just need guys like Davies/Altidore to get minutes and develop over the next year.

6/28/2009 5:25:30 PM

6/28/2009 5:48:18 PM

bradley doesn't have any method to his subs. kjlestan, bornstein and casey would have been our subs if we were losing or winning. he just puts whoever out there and hopes it works.

great effort by the team tho

6/28/2009 6:20:21 PM

To be fair, Bornstein and Kljestan were submitted before the second goal to help hold the fort and by the time there was a break it was 2-2.

Still, Conor Casey is not the answer when you need a goal.

6/28/2009 8:48:13 PM

Quote :

"Wow. Seeing Brazil up there makes me feel terrible. We so should have won this game."

no way.

if you allow the other team to pour crosses into your box at the rate of probably 1/min for most of a half, you deserve to lose.

although that was a lovely counterattack goal by us, wasn't it...perfect pass, perfect pass back, perfect control, perfect shot. just beautiful

6/28/2009 10:20:33 PM

Motherfucking ESPN... I dvred the game for espn2 because that is what the schedule showed and now I have 3 and a half hours of poker

6/28/2009 11:06:52 PM

^
Same thing happened to me.

6/28/2009 11:54:35 PM

^^ & ^HA! HA! LMAO!

Quote :

"Wow. Seeing Brazil up there makes me feel terrible. We so should have won this game."

Yes we should have, but we looked tired in the second half. I think the Spain game took a lot of energy out of the US players and they just didn't have the legs in the end. You really can't beat Brazil unless you score 3 goals.

Just look at all of the results in this tournament. Like I said in an earlier post, Brazil has a combined 24-4-3 record at the World Cup since I started watching the sport in 1990. They lost in the second round to Argentina in 1990, won it in 1994, lost to France in the 1998 final, won it in 2002, and lost to France in the 2006 quarterfinals. France is about the only team in the world right now who probably doesn't have a losing record vs Brazil at least in recent years. Now along with having 5 World Cup titles, they have 3 Confederations Cup titles (France is second with 2).

What happened today is nothing new. We were tied 0-0 for most of the game with them at the 2003 Gold Cup and took a 1-0 lead only to let them tie in the final minute and win on a golden goal PK in OT after Gibbs handled the ball on a wide open goal. They never get rattled and go out and finish everyone off no matter what the score is at the half and no matter who they are playing. The simi-final vs South Africa at the 2009 Confederations Cup is proof of that too. When an underdog plays their best against Brazil, that usually isn't enough to get the job done. I thought the team did well vs Brazil considering the situation. I'm not going to complain about finishing second. The World Cup won't even be as challenging as this. Brazil, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, etc. will all be in different groups.

[Edited on June 29, 2009 at 12:08 AM. Reason : .]

6/29/2009 12:07:39 AM

Quote :

"a golden goal PK in OT after Gibbs handled the ball on a wide open goal."

You're not suggesting that Gibbs should've let it go, are you? At least he gave KK a shot at it.

6/29/2009 2:11:17 AM

^^ I'm not complaining either

It's just a little disheartening we couldn't hold on to a 2 goal lead for 45 minutes, especially considering how well had played in the first 45, regardless of the opponent. No shame in losing but still, it's hard to take

it's just like Donovan said, it's not about getting respect anymore, it's about winning games

6/29/2009 8:40:57 AM

Quote :

"The World Cup won't even be as challenging as this."

6/29/2009 9:48:21 AM

^The early stages won't. If we get to the quarterfinal we will have probably played someone like Brazil, Germany, etc and then played another seeded team in the second round, and then another solid team in the quarterfinals. We won't be playing Brazil and Spain in the first two games of the group phase.

Quote :

"You're not suggesting that Gibbs should've let it go, are you? At least he gave KK a shot at it."

No I am not, I'm just saying that they find ways to win even when they are down a goal late. They are great at staging a comeback against anyone. England fans were excited too when they were up 1-0 at the 2002 World Cup and then Brazil won 2-1 in regulation.

6/29/2009 12:56:41 PM

damn I love it when b4c takes us to school on soccer history

6/29/2009 1:46:43 PM

^Well it's the truth. Has anyone dominated Brazil since the world started to actually care about the World Cup?

6/29/2009 1:57:58 PM

France in the 98 finals?

That was a long, long time ago, though.

6/29/2009 2:04:30 PM

^World Cup 2006 France 1 Brazil 0. Who else can say they beat Brazil in 2 out of the last 3 World Cup's?

6/29/2009 2:15:33 PM

Yeah, I thought about that, but I was going on the criteria of domination

Two out of three from Brazil is pretty impressive

Allez les bleus and whatnot

[Edited on June 29, 2009 at 2:20 PM. Reason : ]

6/29/2009 2:17:57 PM

that 2002 game was pretty weak for both teams. rivaldo shouldnt have even been playing after that ridiculous dive-acting crap he did either 1 or 2 games before. and lol to ronaldinho's "goal." fluke city usa, is all i can say about that junk. the only thing good i remember from that game was that brazil did hang on to win with a man down.

6/29/2009 2:56:15 PM

^^After doing a little more research.

1958 World Cup Simi-Finals

Brazil 5 France 2

1986 World Cup Quarterfinals

Brazil 1 France 1 (France 4-3 on PK's)

2001 Confederations Cup Simi-Finals

France 2 Brazil 1

Overall France is 3-1-1 vs Brazil in FIFA tournament play. No one is perfect, but I still say France PWNT Brazil!



[Edited on June 29, 2009 at 3:11 PM. Reason : .]

6/29/2009 3:03:37 PM

2001 confed cup was France A team vs Brazil B or C team...

i hope france could win that game...

6/29/2009 3:07:40 PM

^Yeh I know, but there are plenty of teams in the world who can't beat a Brazilian B squad.

6/29/2009 3:11:16 PM

Quote :

"^The early stages won't. If we get to the quarterfinal we will have probably played someone like Brazil, Germany, etc and then played another seeded team in the second round, and then another solid team in the quarterfinals. We won't be playing Brazil and Spain in the first two games of the group phase."

yeah, but this team lacks so much in consistency, it's scary. i really can't think of the last (or first time, for that matter) that the USA advanced out of the group stage of a major competition without the help of another team. the 2006 world cup was a prime example. they controlled their destiny and went up against ghana and laid an egg.

6/29/2009 4:02:50 PM

lol and in 2002 we backed our way in thanks to south korea. home crowd got us through in 94.

98 was our best showing ever i think

6/29/2009 9:54:18 PM

Quote :

"98 was our best showing ever i think"

lol wut

if by best showing you mean worst showing ever, as in dead last of all 32 teams, then yes

6/29/2009 10:15:13 PM

lolcasm...

6/29/2009 10:17:32 PM

haha okay just making sure before b4c came in and schooled your ass

I wouldn't call it "backing in" in 2002, we did beat one of the tournament favorites and tie the home team. I mean, we technically had help in the end but it wasn't as bad as how we backed into the semi's in this Confederations Cup

6/29/2009 10:20:44 PM

yeah but we had to rely on a south korea tie or win if i remember correctly. and they were playing portugal, who had all their "gold generation" in their "prime"....talk about let down of the century haha.

6/29/2009 10:25:02 PM

^I think South Korea had to win and any other result meant, bye bye USA!

6/29/2009 11:37:17 PM

thats backing in if you ask me...

6/29/2009 11:42:16 PM

JTMONEY SO TUFF

6/29/2009 11:57:05 PM

BEST BACK OUT LOL

6/30/2009 12:02:25 AM

JTMONEY'S DAT DUDE DAT GOT WHAT U NEED

6/30/2009 12:02:48 AM

http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1984.html#olympics

Quote :

"...Unfortunately, this was the high point for the Americans. two days later, before 63,000 in the Rose Bowl, The United States was shut out 1-0 by favored Italy on July 31. With this loss, the USA had to win against Egypt in order to advance, but the best they could manage was a draw, and a weak one at that. The US was lucky to finish that well, given a sloppy and unfocused performance. This final game, before 54,000 at Palo Alto left the US finishing tied with Egypt, but Egypt advanced based on goal differential."

Karma is a bitch isn't it!

[Edited on July 1, 2009 at 1:23 PM. Reason : .]

7/1/2009 1:22:23 PM

umm?

7/1/2009 1:54:04 PM

USA is up to #12 in FIFA's World Ranking (We were #14)
Also, Brazil passed Spain for #1

7/1/2009 9:46:07 PM

^^I know it wasn't the Confederations Cup, but it is still kinda funny that Italy, USA, and Egypt were all in the same group at the Olympics in 1984 and the USA didn't win, so they went home and then we had almost the same group in the 2009 CC, but beat Egypt on the last day to advance.

7/1/2009 11:18:27 PM

I completely forgot the rule we always had since we were little where you have someone on both posts. Had we done that the 3rd goal would have never gone in. Damn US soccer.

7/4/2009 4:54:50 PM