Italy D relax.. That should of been PK #2
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i was about to go real pissed holy no call too wow wut a break!!!Comment -
If this match were a tv show it would be a soap operaComment -
Italy's D scares me. Everytime they go for a tackle or USA gets by the box I keep thinking a free kick/PK is coming.Comment -
Oh my god. Toni you got to finish that.Comment -
Rosssi!!!!!!!! Fvck yeahhhhh!!!!!Comment -
sick as move to get space!!!! ggooooooooaaaaaaaaaaallllllllComment -
wow what a goalComment -
Congrats guys! Over and -1 cashes.Comment -
USA Fans.. including me should not care too much about this outcome we were shorthanded.. this is what happens when you give up a red card.
Lets see how we do against Egypt and Brazil... I think the US could make a good showing against Egypt... but the Brazilians are too fast. We are missing some quality athletes!Comment -
We arent the assend of this group... Id like to see a full extended effort... Altidore is one hell of a striker.... very large like John Carew on Aston Villa.
Lets see how we come out on Thursday.Comment -
All I can do is laugh about this match. The result is just a ****ing joke. The red card was a travesty. Chiellini not even getting a card after clotheslining Altidore in the box was just ridiculous. The 2nd PK no call was just icing on the cake.
More importantly Bradley's decision not to sub off Feilhaber until after the 70th minute is just incredible. The guy did not make one play today... he was utter rubbish. He's usually a great player but must've been out too late last night or something... just ****ing terrible.
And anyone who is saying Howard had a bad game is a moron.Comment -
Howard did well considering the pressure... coulda been alot worse... all 3 goals he had no chance.Comment -
He made several incredible saves and could do nothing on the 1st or 3rd goals. The 2nd goal he could've gotten a finger on but he was screened by 2 different players.
Rossi is a ****ing traitor but Arena is the idiot who didn't take a look at him until Italy became interested.Comment -
Youre telling me you wouldnt move your kid if the italian youth development system were interested in him? You would be hindering his career by not jumping at that opportunity.Comment -
Like betting it was a probablity call. The dev system there is far better. High level of competion makes for advancing of skills. Messi wouldnt be as great as his is if he didnt grow up at barca. id take my chances there. But id also like to live in italy.
Anyways id like to leave this thread with this gem.
if you squint he could pass for a light skinned.Comment -
Just watched the game on delay and the USA keeper sucked ass today.Comment -
Watching it again right now. Love to see Italy owning the USA.
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Owning? If the US had not been given that horrific red card I definitely think they would've beaten the Italians. Imagine - the US held the Italians off for about 25 minutes and even got the lead.. this is a world-class side we are talking about. Eventually the man advantage would take its toll in stamina, momentum, etc.
Playing with 10 men its impossible to get a good result, in ANY world league. If US was playing New Zealand or South Africa, sure they could hold on.. but any team on the highest level will easily take advantage and turn it around, which is exactly what they did. Tactics don't even come into play here either, you just have to hope the other team misses the good opportunities they will eventually get.Comment -
Guy took out Gattuso's knee without aiming for the ball. This is not american football. It's soccer. Red was justified.Last edited by pavyracer; 06-16-09, 06:41 AM.Comment -
I love that move by Pirlo on the last goal. That was sick.Comment -
I thought it was red as well. He came in late, which would be yellow, but at the last moment he added a kicking motion towards the knee. Typical example of inexperience.
Italy clearly wasn't very interested in this game. Those players have had a long season, and a useless tournament like this is the last thing they want. (The European Championship and World Cup, every two years, are quite enough). In this case I didn't bet on Italy, but against a very disorganized US team; that looked better than they are, because Italy gave them space. It seems the US can only score from the penalty spot these days, and I'm pretty amazed at how many pk's have come their way lately.
Howard looks good in 'close combat', but not good at all with shots from outside the penalty box. That usually means a goalie isn't positioning himself correctly/isn't reading the game. The second Italian goal was definitely his fault. Few weeks ago he also let in a very stoppable shot in the FA cup final.Comment -
If it was a club game, he might have gotten away with a yellow but when you move up to internationals, that kind of thing will get you sent off. Ten yards from the ref, you've lost control of the ball and it looks a reckless/frustrated high foul in a pointless area of the pitch where there's no threat to your goal. Just dumb. What he should have done is stopped immediately he was checked and gotten a freekick.
Darkhorse is right about the disorganisation in the US team and it's highlighted nicely in each Italian goal regardless of how many players US had on the pitch.
Goal 1; 4 midfielders within about 15 yards in a straight line and looking to move beyond the ball leaving no cover even though there is no control of the ball. Immediately the ball was lost, it was 4 against 2 at the back in US' favour with the ball carrier to be dealt with. All the defenders retreat when one must go to close the ball. Howard was in position but had no chance. All tops keepers are saying the balls now are much harder to save when they come from 25 yards+ because they gain such speed as they approach and often dip or move at the last second.
Goal 2; Anything learnt from goal 1 about not clossing down a man that far from goal? No. When he strikes it, there's a guy marking an imaginary striker near the penalty spot which is possibly the worst position for a defender to be in especially when they start doing ballet moves as the shot comes in leaving the keeper guessing if he's going to deflect it or not. Howard's fault - to the extend he has to vocalise he wants his box clear quickly but never easy to pick off a ball bouncing at speed in front of you when you've had to delay your dive because of aforementioned ballet dancing.
Goal 3; can't have ballwatchers at this level against someone like Pirlo. Howard, no chance.
An organised 10 men can do well against stronger opposition but one with that ability to do the right thing and make the right decisions when defending won't. After all, it was only the third goal where there was width to the play (the usual tactic to expose 10 men).
I should just add that Howard obviously has a more organised team in front of him at club level but he did just break the club's record for most clean sheets in a Premier League season and is highly regarded.Last edited by headgames; 06-16-09, 08:48 AM.Comment -
If someone watched the US - Honduras game last week in Chicago the Hondura's goal was identical to Rossi's first goal. Someone lost the ball in the midfield circle and the opposing player took the ball dribbled a few yards uncontested and fired the ball passed Howard. This means the US defense has no sweeper or someone in charge in the defense to take control of situations like this when the ball is lost in midfield by an opposing forward in an area where the US defender in charge of marking him man to man is not following him because he is not deep in US territory.Comment -
yep and it comes down to the formation Bradley is using that leaves so much empty space.
It was kind of a combination of Honduras's first goal and Costa Rica's third goal. Dempsey (Feilhaber here) gave it away, leaving tons of empty space, and the defenders still didn't try and close down like the 3rd CR goal.Comment
The exact score I wanted.....not the way I expected for sure
