The US crashing out of the cup and the character of these last day games and some of the ridiculous calls by referees really drained a lot of energy, and I've fallen quite a bit behind reviewing this stuff. But here was the US line-up for the Ghana game:
Keller
Bocanegra
Onyewu
Conrad
Cherundolo
Lewis
Beasley
Reyna
Donovan
Dempsey
McBride
Really I have no idea why McBride has to play all the time because he was good for a few weeks four years ago. He was invisible again today. Donovan's mouth seems to have completely overtaken his game, and he looks a lot worse for having failed in Europe and decided he won't play outside California anymore. Beasley there's some question as to whether this team's tactics and situation have really hindered his game, but at least he and Dempsey showed something today, and don't get me started on Onyewu or chasing Brad Friedel out of the US program. Or Ben Olsen.
The biggest "what the fuck was that" moment for me was Reyna, back with the defenders, last man to the goal, holding the ball like a statue looking for somebody he could distribute it to rather than clearing it. Apparently he has no peripheral vision, because Haminu Draman came in from his right, stole the ball and somehow injured Reyna at the same time. Draman then had only Keller to beat and scored. Ben Olsen had to come on a bit later for Reyna. Eight years ago Olsen was a fixture for our national team after coming up through DC United, and played for a second flight English team, but he hasn't been part of the national team for years that I knew of. I didn't take it as a good sign that he was playing at this level, and it obviously indicates that John O'Brian is hurt. Again.
In the 43rd minute, a Beasley pass is intercepted but muddled by Ghana's midfielders, so a streaking Beasley takes the ball back and bursts through. Getting out front on the left, he crossed the ball to the right side where Clint Dempsey was coming around the outside of the Ghanaian back line, and Dempsey pounded it into the back of the net. Perfect ball, hitting Dempsey in stride, so his first touch put it into the net. His goal dance left something to be desired, but Dempsey scored in a World Cup, so he can dance however he wants.
One of the most debated calls came just before halftime when Razak Pimpong beat Oguchi Onyewu for position on a cross, so Onyewu fouled him in the box. Onyewu had an arm wrapped around Pimpong, who fell while throwing the arm off of him, and Onyewu has been repeatedly warned about excessive use of his hands on attackers, so frankly I wasn't all that surprised that Ghana was awarded a penalty kick, which Appiah scored to tie the game going into the locker room at halftime.
Meanwhile the Czechs were down to ten men and down by one against Italy, so the US was getting everything they needed from the other game. The US had needed an Italian win in addition to a win over Ghana.
In the second half, Eddie Johnson came on for Cherundolo, who was probably playing the best out of all our defenders, kind of a strange decision. We brought on even more attackers, with Bobby Convey coming in for Eddie Lewis, but it didn't help too much. McBride did put a header off the post, our best offensive play of the tournament besides Dempsey's goal. Donovan taking free kicks and corners when he couldn't get them on target or into play was certainly helpful, as was the 90th minute shot by Olsen where he missed the ball entirely. 4th place is a fair result for the way this team played and the caliber of their opposition. Perhaps a better choice of personnel and better use of the players could have helped, but that's for the next coach to decide.
This game offered some more evidence for the total cluelessness of the world's linesmen, when three US players were offside, and the linesman put up his flag... and the ball went to Donovan who wasn't offside, while the other three moved back on, so they didn't interfere with the play. Do they even know that a player has to affect play somehow?
And how about putting some spikes in those cleats? The US was slipping and sliding all over the field the whole game, especially in front of goal. Holland and Portugal play here next, so good luck to them.
Italy advances to play Australia, and Ghana plays Brazil, while the US and the Czechs are eliminated.
Ghana 2-1 United States
'22 Draman
'43 Dempsey
'45+ Appiah (pen)
Italy 2-0 Czech Republic
'26 Materazzi
'87 Inzaghi
Noteworthy aftermath of the US-Italy game, Pablo Mastroeni is suspended for three games, which basically means two years from now he'll miss the first three games of the semi-final round of qualifying for South Africa 2010. and Daniele De Rossi for four games, which means De Rossi is officially finished for this World Cup. The Italian FA had requested that he be sent home voluntarily for his pointless attack on McBride, which was classy of them even if they couldn't enforce it, so I'm glad to see FIFA follow through for them.
No comments:
Post a Comment