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dempsey wasn’t offside, the ball was ahead of him…beasley’s cross was pulled BACKWARDS towards dempsey if i’m not mistaken.

This game was again ruined by the FIFA referees. Call me a conspiracy theorist but it seems from the game against Italy and the today’s game that USA was not going to advance no matter what to give Brazil an easy match on the next round against Ghana.
The penalty called today was not a penalty and the ball taken from Reina was a foul. I hope they install something similar to the Challenge used in the NFL to prevent incompetent and partial referees from ruining results. Another example was England’s first goal against Trinidad & Tobago, a clear an blatant foul over the defender.
They are ruining the world cup, the game, and the credibility of FIFA.

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Ghana 3-1 USA

Wooo this is going to be a really good game.

I like the scores chosen, but USA 3-1 Ghana

Hahahaha, did the USA team release a set of special edition pogs or something ;)

USA is going with a lone striker again. You would think the 1 shot on goal we’ve had throughout the whole tournament would have taught us a lesson.

Anyway, go GHANA!!!!

3-1!!

Good call on some pogs, I havent seen one of those in ten years.

I’ll trade you my McBride pog for your Claudio Reyna pog.

Lewis instead of Convey, shaking it up. Although no EJ still.

it seems to be a draw :-\

No Bobby Convey. That is a crime. He has been great. Maybe as a second half sub????

While we’d all like to see 2 up front, the US first has to control the midfield. Look for changes up front in the 2nd half, or if Ghana gets an early goal. The US MUST control midfield play, and win the majority of the 2nd balls. If we’re to win this, I predict it will come from a set piece goal. I’ll say 1-0 US, but I fear a draw is more likely. GO USA!

Ghana will win by not less than
3-0 .

The Ghanaian players have displayed one of the most fluent
artistic display of football even in defeat at the world cup.

I just hope we play well with some more shots on goal. Bruce, How about some changes up front.

of course, Sam, it’s not always artistic displays of football that get the job done at the WC level.

still, while i’m cheering for USA to pull this one off somehow, I really want Ghana to represent the continent.

this promises to be good.

This is a VERY defensive USA lineup…Eddie Lewis and Beasley will probably be watchin Essien most of the first half….

I expect to see Eddie Johnson (For beasley) and Bobby Convey (for Lewis) in the second half if a) draw, or b) US is losing

This formation puts a TON of pressure on Reyna….and he is up against Essien! I really don’t like this one bit….and I’m a huge Reyna fan!

Arena is asking too much of his players and setting them up for failure

The US is going to miss Pope in the middle. Ghana attacked the Czechs up the middle like crazy. That would be my biggest concern for the US. Well, that and getting some goals.

We and the Aussies have been dissed by the Chinese…our matches get only 7 streams while the other two matches get 14. :(

The Reyna and McBride pogs are worthless without the vaunted Mastroeni slammer :)

2-1 USA. This probably has some bias behind it but if they can net an early score and hold Essien in the first half they’ll have a decent shot.

Here’s the outcome I see:

US wins, Italy loses. Italy played very poorly against the US and the Czechs won’t let them get away with it like we did.

This should be a really great game. Probably a lot more attacking than the Italy Czech game going on. It’s difficult to say what’s going to happen: Ghana have played really well both games, but the US got some fire in their hearts duing the Italy game, and we might see more of that. Unfortunately, that fire might turn to desparation, and I’m worried that we’re going to see a lot of cards handed out again.

I can’t make a prediction: I think the US want it more, but Ghana’s ability is too great. I think Ghana will win a very close game.

Anyone know where I can watch the U.S.A. game online? I’m stuck at work!!!

I hate to say this but even though I think they’ll beat Ghana, the USA wont advance. I strongly feel that the Czech Rep will beat Italy today and leave us no hope.

Michael, depending on your ISP at work, you can try ESPN360.com.

I predict two boring draws. All four teams will come out nervous and defend with 9 behind the ball

Online betting, for the record, has Ghana squarely above the US and Italy squarely above the Czechs.

online betting also had Italy squarely over the US.

Michael, even if the Czechs win, US can still go through on doal differences

doal = goal

ETucker,

I also thought about the double draw scenario. If the US plays scared and defensive like that, they don’t deserve to advance.

Yeah the US is a defensive squad but it’s all on the line now. They need to show passion and agressive play.

Anyone have a link to the Sun audio stream for the US-Ghana match? I’ve only found what sounds like it will be coverage of the Italy-Czech match.

Chilavert: USA doesn’t need to speculate; they just need to win. Pretty much says it all.

Ghana 9,976,631 – 0 USA

Tom-

the US’s greatest victory was counter attacking vs. Mexico.

I would love to see us play like Argentina, with flowing, possession oriented offense, but we’re at least two decades away from being able to pull it off.

Ghana is fast but can be caught down the field, is not very well organized, and will emotionally collapse if sucker punched (see Italy game)

We need to focus on a wining before goal difference….

Prediction: 2-2. Most of my fellow US fans are seriously underrating Ghana, even without Muntari and Gyan.

Sam-

We would need to score 4-5 goals to beat out the Czech or Italy on goal differential. We havent scored a goal on our own yet.

I cannot access ESPN 360 at my work. Anyone know of any other websites? Thanks Tom

Michael – you’ll have to download some plug-ins, and you’ll have to pray that you’ll be able to use the necessary IP ports, but the Chinese are kind enough to oblige:

http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com/

I’m lucky, I’m the network/system admin for my company, so my PC’s been bypassing our firewall rules since the tournament began. :)

this is the most exciting day of the tournament…do or die for 4 teams at the same time !

Sam, above:

I can’t make a prediction: I think the US want it more, but Ghana’s ability is too great.

See, I don’t get this. Does Ghana not want to advance to the second round of the tournament? Are they just happy to make up the numbers whereas the Americans aren’t?

I hope USA does better than it has.. lol.. for the sake of its fans!!

Anyways, I expect Ghana victory. And I like the above predictions. 3 – 1 perhaps?

Philip- good call about the US underrating Ghana. Keller and Wynalda’s comments have shown this to be true.

Only Wahl (of CNNSI) has shown the black stars the respect they deserve.

GO USA! OLEEEEEEE OLE OLE OLE DONOVAN, DONOVAN!

I think ghana have much more of a chance. They played fluent football to win in style . Though they’ll be missing both their goalscorers. USA showed grit and determination against Italy but they need to score goals against a good Ghanian defence(at least in the second match)

Well, Ghana is very, very good for sure. I’m not underestimating them, I just think if the US can show enough heart they’ll have a shot at winning. They have the talent to do it.

i don’t know which match to watch :)

Ghana’s got quite a jaunty anthem. Not many players seem to know the words, though.

Let’s hope they’re saving their best game for last.

Tom- good call. Heart and effort are ALL I want to see. I was very proud of the Italy game…and would have been even if we had given up a later winner.

If we see the same type of effort I will be eqally pleased.

GO USA!

Gooch looks like he cares! Shocker. He usually looks disinterested (though that’s just because of his facial features)

Wow, more US supporters in the crowd than I had expected.

Link:

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5704208

Breaks down the scenarios for the USA to advance, right down to the dreaded “drawing of lots” scenario.

Okay, I’m calling a 2 – 1 win for the USA.

i think i will watch one and follow the other on the blog

23 degrees, not a bad temperature for a US team that may be tired.

Philip, obviously Ghana wants it, and I’m pretty sure they’ll win. I still think that I haven’t seen Ghanas play with the desperate urge to win as the US did in their Italy game. Obviously all teams want to win: no one’s going to disagre with you there.

Thanks Stuart

Roland-

I’m confused. Are you a Spain fan or USA fan?

La furia roja o la furia roja, azul y blanca? :)

This sucks, no audio of the US match… :(

Furia roja, azul, y blanca = la furia republica dominicana? ;)

that Dempsey foul would have been a direct red if this was the Italy game ref!

Yes, the Australians are only talking about the Italians

I wonder how many countries have red, white, and blue as their colors?

White, green, and orane/red are also very popular.

We’re not in Times Square because our boss’s suck!

it took a whole 5 min. for a card. their holding off a little

Nothing confusing about it really. My family is Spanish, and we’ve been in the wilderness for too long, so I always root for Spain in the World Cup, but I was born here in the States, so the US is my second team.

On Uni, Chilavert isn’t convinced by Essien’s yellow card. I didn’t get a really good look at it — I’m on their low-res video feed because I don’t have a TV and couldn’t find a bar open at 10:00 am. :)

one more yellow card! hes goin for the record.

Yellow cards are buy 2 get 1 free at Walmart today.

I was just kidding Roland. I also root for Mexico because of my “raices”

plus, how can one not love EL Nino Torres? His peinado is so, so…”unique”

Hmmm… I did predict a lot of acrds in this game.

Not that that’s a very bold prediction in this world cup…

Roland:

Wilderness? WILDERNESS?! Try not qualifying for a single World Cup over a 40-year span while Haiti (1974), El Salvador (1982), Honduras (1982), and Canada (1986) all make it!

Just kidding, as you know I like Spain too, but gotta pull for our own boys first and foremost.

If its 0-0 after 20 minutes, I like the US’s chances….

Torres looks like he has Quenya script or something on his left arm. Anyone else notice that?

Yes, I’m a geek.

ETucker,

I think a lot of people tend to take multiple teams due to their nationality(ies). My mother emigrated from Italy when she was a teen, so Italy is sort of my “other” team with the US.

Maybe Torres is a geek as well….that would explain the Iguana hair

Check this out – hilarious!

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/49524

that article is fantastic! God bless the Onion!

And Dave O’Brien. This is what happens when announcers have no working knowledge of soccer

we’ve tried having DMB in central midfield, and he just doesnt have the vision for it.

but as long as he backtracks and tackles, i dont care.

Wow, an actual SOG for team USA.

Does this mean that the United States known as the “White Stars” then?

USA GHANA GAME ONLINE

http://espnevent1.espn.com.edgesuite.net/FIFA_June22_Ghana.asx

ESPN running a thoroughly unscientific Web poll asking, “Are you interested in todays World Cup game between the US and Ghana?” Yes is winning 83-17 and in every state in the country. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like the “buzz” around this WC has been far greater than in the past, with the possible exception of 1994 and 2002 after the US had made the quarters.

But sadly, my TVU ESPN feed is breaking up too much to watch. The cost of the sport’s growing popularity, perhaps.

very close to the crucial 20 minute mark!

That’s a killer.

puta madre! carajo! mierda!

only for people in the usa!!!
dammnit i wanna watch

Well, I hope we have the legs to come back. My prediction could still hold, but it’s not looking good. Reyna might be out.

LOL… START PACKING BURGERS

whoah!

Reyna…rule number 1 of defensive mid: you have to pass out of pressure, not dribble!

CHINGA!

GOAAAAAAAAAAAL! let’s go Ghana!!

yahoooooooo amrika out

Scheisse…. got the Univision feed just in time to see Dramani mano-a-mano with Keller.

GOOOOOAAAAAAL for ITALIA..

yES ITS GOING WELL.!!

Italy leads 1 – 0.

I’m going to watch Italy for a bit.

1-0 Italy…US needs to get a pair.

All the Reyna haters get what they wanted….let’s see how the US reacts.

I predict 3-0 Ghana. Ben Olsen gets abused.

With Italy’s goal, Ghana looks pretty set to go through today

Goal Italy!

OUT OUT OUT

Who came on for Reyna?

yahooooo screw ghana
we need czech and italy
they are only possibilites to dealin with brasil

USA looks like they’re running through molasses next to Ghana.

I am all for Ghana though it means that they might have to meet Brazil next. I would rather they lost at the hands of the Brazilians than to the Americans

Wait. Is Reyna coming back on the good news?

His dispossession didn’t seem too good…

Well, Italy scored at least…

dies usa seem to be playing the long ball game? i think ghana is just too fast for that.

Hello? EJ?

the usa is getting lucky breaks
against italy and now italy doing them a favor again

they control their own destiny
but theyll blow it as usual

and i am posting from Kenya

Is Reyna worth hating? That’s sad.

Where is the Ireland blog? Oh, that’s right…

Bring on JOB and Johnson. Something needs to change, we can’t let Ghana control the game like this.

what about the dominican republic?
still looking for independence?

Knock it off.

Reyna played two good games but in this game his laying a turd….

As long as he keeps losin possession, the US wont even get another shot off.

US is losing that midfield fight. Ghana has plenty of space to move.

What’s the deal with the US offence? They’ve barely tried anything in three games.

it’s starting to hurt.

To get offense you need a midfield…we lack a midfield

Offence? You can’t complain about it, they don’t have any.

The US is just getting outplayed in the midfield. It’s sad, really.

I’m sufficiently deflated by the start of this game that I started out changing all the “Dramani” pages to “Draman” on Wikipedia. I’m such an incredible nerd.

Outplayed? Perhaps, but Donovan missed a shot right in front of the goal.

Can nationalize Xabi Alonso and Fabregas? Please?

Also, Johnson is not a midfielder.

It looks like Donovan is disappearing again (dammit). He has to come back to help out on D.

Eddie Johnson! Eddie Johnson! Eddie Johnson!

The USA will lose this game, Ghana is a better team. The USA will have to wait till the next world cup and hopefully improve for any chance to win. And regards to the onion report. The USA ecomony is Booming, so much work everywhere ,except for those whom are lazy.

I don’t know how Taylor Twellman and Steve Ralston aren’t on the US Squad. Steve was a good playmaker for the Revolution last time I saw a game and Taylor was on fire. They certainly weren’t worse than the players on the field now… losing hope.

Well, at least the US is trying to put together some attacks.

As long as the US plays with some pride and doesn’t fold like in the Czech game, I won’t complain about this result. Ghana has looked like the best team in the group at times and the potential matchup with Brazil could be a great game.

Dempsey and Donovan have both squandered golden chances. At least Dempsey’s header was on frame…

Kenny, the Onion is…oh, never mind. Enjoy your Kool-Aid.

Philip, you’re PhilipR on Wikipedia?

c’mon beasley… let’s move it forward!

Unbelievable, everyone slips…

so close!!!

I read on the Onion that McDonalds was secretly trying to purchase every NFL team.

thank god reyna is out.

Granted that I’ve spent most of the first half switching around feeds, but I don’t see the Ghanain midfield domination others have noted. Just looks to me like the US can’t finish. Still. What else is new?

please take beasley off.

why do idiots keep bringing politics into football?

What’s been up with Beasley lately? Did gangsters threaten his mother if he so much as looked like he was going to take it towards goal?

i heard it was burgerking

A European doesn’t like The Onion? I’m so shocked. I’ve never heard of a European that didn’t like a sarcastic sense of humor! :)

Hey, we’ve played decent this half. Let’s just not give up another goal, okay?

Ghana just sitting back now, playing the counterattack. With their speed…here we go.

Holy cow, that was worth a yellow?!

Olsen for Reyna – If this is Claudio’s last [significant] game for the US, it’ll be a shame, he deserved to go out better. But can’t dispute that he’s been bad today.

The USA looks like they put together some nice attacks, then they kick and sounds like they are wearing Clown Shoes and the ball flies akward the wrong direction. Ghana will win!

you dont hear much now do you ETucker
Too busy listening to keith urban

Olson? Really? He’s the one that’s going to ignite our attack? God I hope I’m wrong.

.. and the action continues. Whats with the wild kick?

FUCK.

Olsen? We are so done…

The all-MLS defense will do s in!

USA may equalise. This team is better than the one in 2002, I feel.

Sam: I am.

YEAH! I am right!!!

FINALLY!!!!

We have to get a goal in the first half, two goals in the second against a team that will turtle thier goal is going to be hard.

Damn, that was good!

Damnit, Univision is on a delay. I need to stop refreshing this page so many times. haha

Great goal. Go-las-so

HOLY SHIT!

DEUCE I COULD KISS YOU

WOW.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS. THERE WE GO!!!!!!!

WOOOOO! Dempsey for the 1-1. Big screw-up by the Ghanaian defender, but we capitalize and that’s what matters.

Dang, that was purty.

i take that back. great pass beasley

yahooooooooooooooooo
fallllla fallllla

eve, stick around, you’re good luck it would seem.

Oh, how nice, our very own world cup goal.

I take back every, well, most of the bad things I’ve said about Beasley, that was a great ball.

YYYYYEEEEESSSSS! WOOHOO!

FINALLY!

Clint Dempsey is USA’s best player. Passing.Dribbling.Scoring.

Czech Republic is down to 10 men. It seems that either Ghana or USA can go through.

I hope czech will find their equaliser soon…..

yahoooooooo ya ittttti

Great, just great.

What a terrible call. We’re getting screwed by this ref.

aw, boo… it’s not like the us is going to make up goal differential; ghana better bring it so that the us doesn’t bring them down with them.

who got sent off?

beeeeeeeaaaassssleeeeeeyy!!!!

finally!

Cool to see him do the “heel to toe” dance, after his goal. Oh biy a penalty..

More good news for the US…Czechs down to 10 men.

DIOS MIO!!

GOAAAAAAAAAL GHANANANANNANANANA

GOOOOOALLLL!

Is that the first goal the USA scored in the entire world cup?

oh oh! Ghana scored again???

WHOAH! Amazing game!

WTF? What on earth is that penalty? What a dive.

Terrible, terrible call. Pathetic. No way was that a penalty.

chinga!

pinches arbitros vendidos!

Well that didn’t last long.

Crap.

go blackstars!

I love this sport. This game will only get better.

That was really unfortunate for the Americans

I’ll stick around, Philip, dont worry. I have bet on both matches to draw. :-)

What the?

That was the worst call of the Cup so far, bar none. What a prick.

NEVER A F**** REF, MARKUS F****** MERK.

but draw is not good enough for USA, isnt it?

You’re not biased, that wasn’t a foul. Tough break for the US, but at least they have the scoring monkey off their back. They just need to come out firey in the 2nd half.

Kenny: The US goal against Italy was an own goal knocked in by the Italian defender Zaccardo.

haha bye bye amrika
bye bye dominican

Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.

Another close call goes against the USA…what a shocker!

I cant wait until we host the next World Cup…

Ref playing for Ghana. The second USA equalizes, ref makes a bad call and gives Ghana a goal. BULL CRAP! I like Ghana a lot nothing against them, but screw that call.

Time for a piss break. Check that dude out, having a word with the Big man upstairs.

bye bye Ireland….oh, wait, never here.

too bad there isn’t “drawing of lots” to make the World Cup or yo may have a chance (like in 90)

in the dominican republic?
is that the only way you will qualify?

FIFA probably wants Ghana to go through, like the wanted Korea to keep winning in the last World Cup.

Pathetic FIFA.

wtf. every single time.

it would be nice if they showed a couple replays of the penalty, instead of the penalty kick.

John: people support teams and root for them to win, but only wankers root for teams to lose.

Well, chicos, I’m off to a bar that told me they open at 11:15. What a depressing end to the half. Having our very own evil villain ref could be good for the sport in the US (the same could be said for 2002), but mostly I just want to see us pull this out.

I’ll be very disappointed if that goal decides the match. It’ll be interesting to see how the US responds to a goal so late in the half and so soon after their equalizer.

am i the only one hoarse from screamin’ at the tv?

I am leaving work for watch the second half. Go USA!

We can do this guys. NOSOTROS CREEMOS!

and Eve: very astute bet. I also bet on two draws (though it looks like Italy will win)

That was some BS but that’s the way it goes. The US needs to fight much harder in the second half. Two goals seems to be too big an order for this US squad but we shall see.

That was a such a dive, and the ref was too far upfield to see otherwise.

Ghana scores again, Oooooooo No! The USA needs to tighten up and do some running and kicking without the clown shoes!

I posted my prediction on itoldyouso.com, USA 3 Ghana 2.
I will even send you an email to tell you I Told You So.

Pimpong took a dive once before just outside the penalty area. It worked before so he did it again and ==Shazaaam!

Biased you may b but the final score will count.Not your opinion

Al,

Hold the “told you sos” until the US scores at least once more. ;)

i think the US needs to learn how to dive as well.

the soccer god is on the us side, they REALLY need to put it into overdrive!

Somebody either give the ref some candy or put him in a straitjacket. He’s gone nuts.

We can still win this-we seem to have the ball lot’s and get in position a bunch. We just two more finishes and we can get them-put in Eddie Johnson and let him run like a mad man.

I love the Univision announcer:

“Donovon’s only shot goes into the clouds. Ai ai ai.”

The Univision commentator thought it was not a penalty.

The ref blew it on the PK, but the US has itself to blame if it loses this game. Do YOU think they’re playing like they’re fighting for their lives? Because I don’t.

Thanks for the info Philip, didnt know that, that figures! Well i would like to see the USA win, but its not looking good, even though there is plenty of time left, But Ghana is just so fast and i think Ghana is the better team and also has the best chance to make it the fartest from our group pool.

What a BS call on that dive. Totally BS. I guess Ghana learned a thing or two from watching the USA-Italy game.

It’s still Boca’s fault though. He needs to clear those out of bounds.

Before I go, to prove we’re not biased:

The Guardian says, “It’s a penalty to Ghana! Pimpong falls to the ground, with Onyewu standing quite close to him, and Merk points to the spot!”

On Marca.es somebody by the handle serginho says, “Es increible que por una mierda de arbitro EEUU se quede casi sin posibilidades de pasar, que malo eres Marcus.” Paraphrased, incredible the US got screwed.

trompeto4 says, “Todo es un amaño de la Fifa y del señor Blatter q quiere q pase un equipo africano, y q mejor q Ghana para jugar contra Brasil pffff” Maybe Roland can help me translate but basically Blatter wants African teams to make it through.

OK, I’m off. Good luck to the boys in the second half.

what are we thinking with Beasley. If he continues we will lose for sure. One good thing is 3 games, please. Nice goal by Dempsey and pure luck by Beasley.

that ref is an idiot, he will get spoken to, not only did fifa say hand out cards for diving but he gave them a pk! oh what an injustice!!!

Wow. I just saw the penalty incident..that is NO way was a penalty.

If you have this taped, take a look at minute 41:10–same sort of dive by a Ghana player just outside the box with barely a touch by the US player. Academy Award time.

i didnt know guys in states also follow football.

such bad calls by the ref happen so often during the last few matches and USA isnt the only team who suffers. i’ve screamed so hard the last few times that I have stopped getting work up when it happens. am sure USA will fight back … I have bet on this match to draw!!!

Johnson needs to be on the pitch, arena should never have started with this 4-5-1 formation. He better start the second half with johnson.

Yeah, I think we got hosed on that call.

But what the $%^^ was Bocanegra doing, clearing that ball like THAT??? Even amateur players know that you play such ball safe – clear it OUT OF BOUNDS, for Pit’s sake.

Plus, bad calls are part of the game. I grew up watching USSR, and they routinely got screwed by the referees. Got to find a way to play through it.

Freakaholic “i think the US needs to learn how to dive as well.”

Exactly. Soccer/Football has by far the most talented thespians in all of sports. We need to add the overexaggerated penalty flop to our American strategery. Seems to work for other teams. How many did we get called for int he Italy game..around 28. Come on.

It’s getting really pathetic with the refereeing in this Cup. Game after game these incompetent refs are ruining it for everyone.

Something seriously needs to be done. Especially with all the pathetic dives these players are taking.

thunderstorm…i lost the signal and missed most of the action :(

“Todo es un amaño de la Fifa y del señor Blatter q quiere q pase un equipo africano, y q mejor q Ghana para jugar contra Brasil pffff”

Fifa and Mr. Blattner want to pass through an African team and it’s better that Ghana plays against Brazil…

arena needs to consider putting… no wait he needs to put at least 2 subs in right now

congratulations!

the oscar for the best acting performance for the year 2006 go to the entire team og GHANA!!!

We have no control over the ref. We do however have control over the terrible passes we’re making in our midfield. If we play a little more sharply we can get back into this game.

For those curious:
“Es increible que por una mierda de arbitro EEUU se quede casi sin posibilidades de pasar, que malo eres Marcus.”

It’s amazing that due to a shitty ref the US is left almost without a qualfying option, you’re so bad Marcus.

“Todo es un amaño de la Fifa y del señor Blatter q quiere q pase un equipo africano, y q mejor q Ghana para jugar contra Brasil pffff”

It’s all a big setup by the Fifa an Mr. Blatter who want an African team to pass, and who better than Ghana to play Brazil, pfff.

Other than that can’t comment too much, I’m kind of streaming the other. Apparently so is the rest of my work network since it’s very choppy. Don’t worry guys, I’m with you…perhaps more than with you against Italy but it all works out.

this will make or brake arena as a !coach

will USA win this match???

I avoid ESPN now – they are way, way too biased for my tastes.

James, you are correct…if the US won playing like it did in the first half, that would mean Ghana was playing nowhere near their normal level.

this 4-5-1 lineup is killing me. The us is just clogging the midfield and not opening up space for beasley or donovan to make runs. Mcbride needs help upfront, johnson needed to start this game. Arena’s tactics have been horrible this whole cup.

Oh yeah, and put EJ in. Let the young guys get some run, it worked with Dempsey.

Which is worse, World Cup refs or boxing matches?

beas is doin fine, hes got the assist and a goal

so true James. I hear Mia Hamm is free. Maybe she can show these guys how to play. Also, there is no heart with these guys, they have so many people behind them and they are playing horrible. Show some pride guys at least show an effort.

If any thing good comes out of this impending loss, it is that Clint Dempsey will get a lot of suitors.

dietmer, what are you a relative of beasley? He is horrible during this world cup. It is like these guys think well we got here thats all that counts, where’s their pride. Beasley does not deserve to be on the pitch this half.

Here we go… round two. Bing bing!

wheres the fire!

Ghana brought on a defender. They are trying to keep the score as it is. Arena DEFINATELY has to bring on another striker. EJ!!EJ!!!EJ!!EJ!!!

Well, we have to score quickly, show some attack and therefore put the ghanians off gaurd and then hope like hell that we can grab another…

Italy are going to win, we just need to hope we can pull somethign out of our ass as quick as we can after the half.

does arena now we have to score 2 goals, do uthink having at least 2 forwards might help do that.

NO MORE FAIR PLAY – run all over the place evry advantage needs to be taken as we are fighting other forces…

they cant play for the tie, they have to win

personally, i would stop knocking it out for their players going down. theyve shown they arent really injured.

you guys are concentrating to much on the penalty .play your game and accept defeat.ghanas definitely a good team.

Andrew is right. Ghana needs a win almost as much as we do. We have to score quickly to keep them from packing it in on defense.

I’m getting the ESPN feed online, while watching the Italy match on BBC. I must say that their is a stark difference in quality. ESPN has some terrible commentators.

I’m so tired of those freakin’ statistics. We know we’re 0-100 on european soil.

geez.

Bruce i sout – klinsman in as US head of football – why no Eddie Johnson is beyond me

That’s the most facial reactions I have seen from the USA coach.

Jonathan,

Bruce Arena is an idiot, and will get fired after this World Cup.

what is wrong with these guys they run around like they have nothing to lose!

Arghh!! Why does DMB constantly pass backwards? Why is he not making any forward runs or running at people instead of passing?

Why is still in the game?
Can the US please play with some desperation? They look like they are playing for a tie.

Himmmmm – what is the ref doing now ?

Now that was “Joga Bonito”

lmao!!! they thought it was an offside call.

this is the time

They divie in the box to stop play

That was a terrible move from the US.., and it almost cost them a goal.

God, what a f***** travesty. Ghana are officially my least favorite team in the tournament after that awful dive. If they go through I can’t wait to watch Brazil crush them.

The US are playing with no heart, as they did in the Czech game and in parts of the Italy game.

They look listless and that they have nothing on the line. Maybe a win in the WC doesn’t mean as much to them as it does to most other WC players.

When will EJ come on? Bruce Arena, you dummy you!

is this the best the USA can put on the field? i would rather watch paint dry.

WHAT A SHOT!!!

why is this asshole not subbing

If Arena doesn’t put in more attack, I would go as far as to say use the next 2 subs right this minute and throw some more attack on the field.

If he doesn’t we have lost this game, he has lost his job and our reputation has gone right back down to the basement. (Harsher words in my mind but I won’t same them here.)

apparently arena is saving eddie johnson for the flight home, i think he is the singing entertainment

If this ends in a tie of 2-2 then I will consider it a Win for USA. We can’t forget about that bad call for pk if we lose or tie because that call is what made it happen.

beasley in and johnson out, it is beyond me. Arena was the answer now I do not think so. he is making mistake after mistake, like he is a new coach or something.

Curse you Chinese pirates…my video stream just died! :(

God, what a travesty. Ghana are officially my least favorite team in the tournament after that pathetic dive. If they go through I can’t wait to watch Brazil crush them.

Arena knows what to do with a lead, it’s when we’re behind that he falls short.

F**k, i sick of watching a bunch of blind reactive refs ruin every game the US team plays. The World Cup is f**king weak joke of a competition.

we can all see why we are in this situation…arena

here we go ej

FINALLY

U need Michael Jordan to coach your team

EJ has 30 minutes to work his magic.

here he is!!!!!!!!!

Get up Addo…

LETS GO EDDIE!

For such a ‘bad’ ref, he has made a remarkable number of calls against the Ghanaians.

Daryl:
It’s no wonder Arena is now preparing a sub: his stratigists read your blog for tips.

That pk has really set this game back…

IF THE US LOSES HOW CAN THAT DUDE FROM GHANA LOOK HIMSELF IN THE MIRROR

if ghana does play brazil, break out the Tony awards.

Becuase it is the world cup, I would do anything to win in it.

Dietmar,

He’ll be looking at it from a top 16 team hotel suite…

wow, that ghana player is a greedy bastard.

The post. Can’t buy a break here.

WHY ARE THEY RUNNING AWAY FROM THE GOAL?

C’MON US!

tom,

not for long after brazil thrashes them

This BLOG program or asp should refresh automatically …im tired of pressing F5!!

THEY JUST HAVE TO SCORE

OH man the post…

dietmer. why does it matter about the guy Ghana. It is part of the game. Stop the bellyaching. The US players are to blame.

The two best keepers in the world are making some spectacular saves in the Czech vs. Italy match.

so close

If feal the tie coming…

Arena waits till the last game to put Lewis in his most threatening position!

SHOOOOOOOOOT

GT-

Bad ref’s make good calls to, it’s the one’s that are blantantly wrong that make a ref a bad ref.

I think that was a call against the “supposed favored” team. Pity the other team could not deliver on those two great chances.. shall I dare say three (3) chances. Or is it four (4) chances. Wow! And that second call was “biased”.

The US will score soon, I think.

US starting to gain momentum.

U S A U S A U S A U S A

We couldn’t score at a prostitute’s convention!

yeah but we need a goal by the 80th to give us a realistic chance

Well, this is it. 20 minutes to do or die.

Matt..

That’s what I thought.

We need a goal in the next 5 to really give us a shot.

About 19 minutes left.

Nice movement on the field now.

How much time is left? No tv at work.

IT DOESNT LOOK LIKE THEY WANT IT

Wow! That save was blessing…

17 MIN

GEE WHAT A GREAT IDEA

Nice to see Arena actually make the right substitutions.

Good sub, Arena.

For crying out loud! Shoot, score….come on!

SCREW thes guys – I hope Brazil clears there heads

WHY DID HE KICK THAT BALL OUT!!!!!

Ghana is playing dirty with these dives. I was rooting for them before against the Czechs, but now I hope they are sorely punished by Brazil if they win.

i hope arena enjoyed that sub, because hopefully it will be the last sub he makes in a world cup, bring on klinsman.

Oh my thigh…………

STEAL THE MOMENTUM

looks like the game is going to end 2-1.

hmmm, u think the ref has decided that ghana has been acting, and no longer believes their dives?

THEY REALLY HAVE TO STEP IT UP

Even their goal keeper dives.

Nice save from Ghana!

Where you streaming from?

Good result for African football :)

Get you goally – weak – yellow card for this stuff – where is the yellow when you need it…

beautiful ball from dempsey. i really hope this guy comes to europe. good all-round player.

WTF Donovan?! WHY?!?!

RED CARD – RED CARD on MENSAH…

we need a goal now

THATS JUST CHEATIN

Good to see how great this…. Bam!! Yellow card. I Love to see the card.

I don’t see any more scoring on the US side this game.

what a lousy kick? miles away from the goal post!!!

What the heck was that! I heard about aiming for the stars… but that?

GOAAAAAL ITALIA!!

i think that deserved a card. wasnt goin for the ball.

Time’s a wastin’…COME ON USA!

Well at least Italy has done what we needed – its over up in Hamburg…

ITALI SCORED

This team is hopelessly flustered. They’re too tense to score.

Now the US really has to do some work about their aim.. that was sad.. really sad. Twice in a row..

Ghana may be just an average team, but their stalling is certainly world class. They can stay down and kill the game with the best of them…

The Soccer Gods just don’t like the USA.

…like half an hour ago

this guy just fell on his own i think

4 people in the box for the cross, and you kick it THERE?

woeful cross from convey. and donovan is a horrible player btw.

HAS ANY BODY TOLD THE GUYS ITALI IS UP 2-0

Oh wait! my radio’s slow! they scored again!

Brazil should wipe the floor with Ghana. They’ve not shown us anything to say they’ll even be more than a 90 minute time waster for Brazil.

this game is way better than the italy-czech game as i thought it would be.

That was a nice goal from Italia.. I know the goalie was mad as heck.

PATHETIC SOMEBODY HAS TO GET A CARD FOR THESE DIVES

It’s basically too late now, barring a miracle. Less than 5 minutes left.

We can at least knock Ghana out with a tie.

Thanks Italy. YOu did your part.

Hey Tom,

Why don’t you focus on this USA loss first?

Brazil – Ghana should be an exciting match !

Seems the goalie from Ghana is in good health. See him leap in the air and grab the bar. I tell you, the joys of this game.

SOME PLEASE TELL THEM THE GOAL IS THE OTHER WAY

Game looks to end in a 1-1 draw…

Does this look like a team that really wants it? Where’s the fire in the belly?

THESE B******** ARE THROWING THE GAME

Eh, it’s over now, isn’t it? I mean, I can keep talking about how the US players are playing without a sense of urgency. I can say that my national team is showing the world that soccer/football is not a popular sport in this country.

Man, what is going through Donovan’s head?

Nevermind, a tie doesn’t knock them out.

Should have been a tie, but they just don’t want it. Ah well, now I can focus all my love on ENGLAND!!!!!

OMG… the US missed and fell right down. That was funny.

WHAT FOUL…yellow card now 90 minutes late…

I AM NO LONGER A FAN, AND I WILL NEVER WATCH ANOTHER GAME WITH ARENA AT THE HELM!!!!!!

NO ONE WANTS TO SHOOT!!!! ah this is so frustrating

Bring the troops home. Another quagmire. go figure. The US will not be competitive for at least twelve more years.

I have never liked Arena, even when US games under him. We need a guy like Bora again in ‘94 (damn I feel old)

BUNCH OF LOSERS, THEY SHOULD HANG THEIR HEADS VERY LOW TODAY

AND IT’S ALL OVER FOLKS!! GHANA WINS.

I can’t beleive we didn’t take shots just then…you have to shoot to score, you’re down by 2 goals with only minutes to play, and you’re playing patty-cake with the ball near the box… :(

PENALTY KICK AT HALF MY ASS…total BS…

Ugh.. That was a horrid game. Neither team played well. Should have been a tie, but that really wouldn’t have changed the greater outcome.

BUNCH OF LOSERS, THEY SHOULD HANG THEIR HEADS VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY LOW TODAY

GREAT WIN BLACK STARS. I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!!!!!!!!!

Well done Ghana ! You have kept the flag flying for Africa

Wow, the page finally reloaded. So much for the last five minutes of the liveblog. Very annoying.

Even without the penalty, it is still a 1-1 game. Not enough for the US I’m afraid.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! BLACK STARS!!!!!!!

same here, Roland.
ah, well — it appears that we didn’t miss much.

Nobody would take a shot on goal. The post and the ref didn’t do us any favors either. US has a lot to fix. Can it be done in 4 years? Perhaps, but we need some new talent, these guys don’t cut it.

Well ping pong should go play in the Olympics for Ghana. I smell a gold in the high dive competition. He is already so good.

LETS GO KLINSMAN!

DAMN!

Congratulations to Ghana, though.

Disappointing end, nobody looks like they wanted it. Why didn’t JOB get in? Hopefully next time the players who want to play will get on the field.

It’s a shame, I was hoping the US could muster up a good effort this World Cup in the hopes of drawing in some new soccer fans in the US. No doubt the game will not get the respect it deserves for a LONG time to come…I should move to Europe, I feel like such an outsider here sometimes. I hope Ghana is destroyed by Brazil for their time wasting and milking fouls.

Yeah, good luck to the Ghana diving team. Whatever. They’re going to get SMOKED against Brazil.

Great blog, up until five minutes ago. Way to go, IT dept. Goodbye, I’m off to the NY Times.

You know Italy did their part, and the US could have had the win. I guess they just didn’t want it enough. In fact 1 real goal in 3 games, I wonder how we even made it into the World Cup. Really a disappointing performace. Congradulations to Ghana and Italy for making it into the next round. It will be a joy to see some real teams win. What’s really disappointing is the comment usually made, “We play the game, cause on any given day the winner might be different.” Well I don’t think the 2006 US Team could beat anyone. In fact why do we send a team, let’s allow another country to have that spot, because the majority of Americans do not care about Soccer. I can’t wait till the next rounds.

Yeah, blog server was really slow there.

You can see it in all the stats: practically no shots on goal by the US in any of the three games. I don’t know whether it’s the offence or the midfield, but something just wasn’t working. You can’t win if you don’t shoot at the goal.

Questionable penalty or not, the US did not play well enough to get the result. Congrats Ghana, best of luck against Brazil.

Hard to see a team go out on a mistake and a bad call by the ref. Lots of soul searching and regrets to be had as they head home, I’m afraid.

Too bad the US lost, and although there were some bad calls … the didn’t earn a win here. I’m going to rally behind Ghana.

Go West Africa!

Well they can think about it on that 11 hour plan flight back home.

What sucks is Essien can’t play against Brazil on a BS card.

Imagine Ghana wins over Brazil…

WE need a coach that can give us some offense!

This certainly won’t help soccer in the US. Soccer doesn’t draw our second tier athletes, let alone our best athletes. I don’t see us becoming a contender for a long while.

HEY MOHAN, THAT FLAG MAY BE FLYIN FOR NOW, BUT THEY WILL GET THEIR HEADS CRACKED IF THEY CONTINUE TO CHEAT IN THAT MANNER, AND I HOPE THE LITTLE AFRICANS REALIZE THAT!!!

Should have ended as a draw, but that wouldn’t have helped us anyway. I can’t believe they guys didn’t take a swing from reasonable distance at the end. They had chances, especially Donovan (unless he can’t shoot left-footed).

Oh well, they’re fate was sealed in the Czech game, the rest was just details.

Well, that was crap. But one point out of Europe is more than the US had in ‘90 and ‘98 combined.

They’ll be back in four years, correctly ranked and with different expectations.

As for Ghana, I really wish they would start booking players for diving. But otherwise, they outfought the US, questionable penalty or no. They deserve the right to face Brazil. Or Australia.

And, hey, at least Reading is playing in the Premiership, so I have that going for me.

Can someone clarify which yellows are sticking with Ghana and who won’t be able to play against Brazil … I know some dont carry over. ..

HAHA, all these bitter fools!

Atleast now Bruce will get fired, and a knowledgeable coach can finally take the helm. Let’s hope us can shun this all-american squad mentality, and invest in it’s latin and african talent.

You can bitch about the PK, but without it, the USA still goes home with a 1-1 tie. They played poorly and they got the result they deserved.

The rumor is that Klinsman has been meeting with US people so I think he will be in the US next…Klinsie likes LA, lives in LA etc…the US are not ready for sure…that is too bad…but…now Brazil need to show the world the way it is done.

On the plus side, it’ll be four years before we have to hear the Jim Romes and Jay Mariottis of the world bitch about soccer. And all the eurosnobs can crawl back into their holes and pat themselves on the back for knowing that the Americans can’t field a competitive side. Is it really that hard to support your team for a few weeks every four years?

Jessie,

Players that only picked up one yellow card will be fine. Players that picked up their second card in today’s game have to sit out against brazil.

UGH!

The US team really choked. If they want Americans to respect soccer, then the US team should act respectable. There is no excuse for their loss.

I think the biggest problem is the US squad has too many players with pussy physiqes. The guys like Donovan and Beasley would make better horse jockeys or gymnasts than soccer players.

Can I just throw in I am not a fan of Dave O’Brian’s commentating of this game .. or any others for that matter — he IS one of the worst commentators on ESPN.

Dietmar: Go take your sore-losership and racist comments somewhere else.

Gonk,

That first goal by Ghana was the result of a flagrant foul not being called against Reyna. On the replay you can see he clearly went in cleats first and caught Reyna’s leg.

So, according to your logic, the final score should have been 1-0 USA.

Mike-
I think you have a great point. We need some real athletes to compete.

you better believe im rooting for ghana against brazil.

Breaking news. The FIFA computer has now ranked the US 2nd in the world.

Mike,

Like I said earlier, unless soccer gains popularity here there is no reason for top athletes to play it over football, baseball, or basketball.

LOL Foobar.

What does it rank the Checks at?

MARK MY WORDS SAMMY BOY!

hahaha

It’s a disgrace really, all this build up from 2002, following the team, cheering them on and to have them fail like this, it’s terrible. We really need a natural born shooter, a scoring threat. Adu doesn’t look he may even be the guy in the future, I think DC is screwing the kid up-he needs to just get the ball at his feet and shoot.

AND FOR THE RECORD, IM GERMAN,AND NOT A RACIST

“little africans” …

Comments about cracking the skulls of “little africans” is just fine with you, then?

i agree, littleguy.
i’m in DC and I think Freddy Adu needs to get the hell out of here — for his own good and the good of the future of U.S. soccer.

I was rooting for USA to win, but if they were to lose Ghana would be my next favorite, however after this game they are at my bottom because of the time killing.

It was funny to see how all of a sudden anytime a player would slip they would lay on the ground. If you think they were legit, why did they get the yellow for delaying the free kick.

I know that would not have made the USA go through, but it is a cheap way of competing!

lets face it the us is a defensive counter attacking team, the 4-5-1 formation clearly shows that. They use there speed in donovan and beasley in counters. So once a team takes a lead and then plays defense and soes not push forwards basically we are lost on the pitch.

lmao, cracking the skulls of little africans. the worst in people come out when they are losing. you are pathetic dietmar.

ITS A METAPHOR(NOT WAR)AND IF I HAD A KID I WOULD MAKE DAMN SURE THAT I WOULD TELL HIM THAT IS NOT THE WAY TO PLAY THIS GAME. LITTLE AFRICANS WAS MEANT LITERALLY!!!

What’s it a metaphor for, then?

There’s no justice this world cup. That TERRIBLE ref should never be allowed to ref another game. I have no respect for those diving babies from ghana. And the P K…. Someone in FIFA better make a big deal about that. that took all our momentum away and ruined any chances of a second round game. These refs are making soccer Joca Ugly.

SEE YA ON THE OTHER SIDE

I’m so depressed, I’m not sure I can bring myself to watch either of the later matches… :(

The US has no one to blame but themselves. They put themselves in a hole by not showing up against the Czechs, and didn’t have enough today to succeed. This was a match they could have won. Oh well, had they advanced they’d have been fodder for Brasil anyway. Lot’s of soul searching to be done by the National Team over the coming years as they prepare for 2010. Until our guys find some kind of finishing form, we can’t expect much more than we showed this time I’m afraid.

These commetns that this still would have been a 1-1 tie without the penalty are a load of crap. The whole complexion of the game changed after the PK. No way to tell what woulda happened.

The US didn’t deserve to win with the way they played in the second half after the penalty. The real question is how would they have played if the second half had started 1-1.

YOUVE NEVER HEARD IT AT THE MOVIES?……IF YOU DONT ….. IM COMIN IN AND CRACKIN SKULLS

And Bruce Arena needs to be replaced. Bring in a European coach who will put in our best players, not 34 year old midfielders who don’t know how to clear a ball.

Today’s ref actually has a reputation for being a better one (as opposed to the one in the US-Italy game who was previously suspended due to complaints from other refs).

I think he just made a rash call in the moment. It’s almost like he called the foul not realizing it was in the penalty box until after. The penalty didn’t prevent a score. If it did there would be a yellow. Once the the ref made the call he couldn’t reverse it, and I’ll bet he regrets it.

Congrats to Ghana. They certainly deserved to go through with Italy, and even if I’m fixated on the penalty it’s not like 1-1 would have done us any good. I’ll do my soul searching on my own blog in a few minutes.

I just wanted to say, IMO the best US commentator this afternoon has been Janusz Michallik. Has he made this much sense all tournament, and i’ve just missed it because I don’t have ESPNNews?

Today’s ref has been horrible this whole world cup if you have been watching him. He calls too many fouls and EVERY TIME ghana went down it was an automatic foul. I’ve never seen a more ridiculous ref. I feel like the game was rigged because one african team had to go on and the powers that be payed that ref a good amount of money. (rigged last world cup too. South Korea making the Semi’s. Give me a break.)

2010 I say is all about the African teams. This year was just a taste of what is to come … CDI (ivory coast) didn’t quite make it … but I think we will see them in the future … ghana … maybe some Togo.

WC in SA in 2010 … !!

I COULD DRAW A PICTURE IF YOU WANT!

Ha-ha! USA Lost. Even if that dodgy penalty kick was removed, they’d still be eliminated, everyone knows that. I am one of the people that believe that the USA shouldn’t play football as long as it doesn’t enjoy the popularity as it does everywhere else.

Yeah, Arena really hasn’t won a place in my heart. Really, I blame the US’s super-timid play mainly on him. If he can’t work out a formation that would have given the US more than 4 shots on goal in three games, I don’t know what he’s doing.

You could see Reyna mouth “Why me?” as he was being stretchered off. Well Claudio, because your generation of players just wasn’t good enough, and the current generation is not yet ready. The U.S. route one style of offense has never worked when they fell behind, and they haven’t shown the capability to attack any other way. As much as it pains me to see them go out this way, hurt by bad calls and bad luck, the U.S. team that came to Germany was not worthy of advancing. Sorry Claudio, your best chance was in 2002, when Friedel, Sanneh and Pope were making the other teams attack with 8 to create any chances, and you were the ones countering. Sorry it had to end this way.

Mike, that’s a reasonable point, but I think the US was attacking pretty furiously anyway and got nothing out of it. If anything, Ghana might have made a serious attempt at playing defense tied 1-1 at the half.

looks like players on both games ran out of gas…

the fact is — the USA counted Ghana out because they saw Africans. Ohh the Czech are our competition, the US said. Ohh the Italians are our competition, the U.S. said. Ohh we will beat Ghana 3-1, 2-0 1-0–ESPN commentators were saying last night. They forgot that Ghana has won the under 17 world cup many times. They forgot that as much as they want to win, Ghana wants to win too. U.S the support of 200 mill plus Americans. Ghana has the support of 700 mill plus Africans. I love this — it’s a David and Goliath story! Nobody took Ghana seriously — but they should have known. There’s always that one team from Africa that nobody takes seriously and ends up surprising everyone. We thought it would be IC, but it ended up being Ghana. I remember one American article before the WC began that said nobody was expecting “the Africans” to make it past the first round, because the teams from Africa this year were a “motley” bunch, according to the artcile. Well who’s a “motley” bunch now????? USA eat some humble pie — don’t judge your competition by the continent their from, look at their skills on the field before talking.

I’m African, but not from Ghana. Doesn’t matter, every African I know is rejoicing with Ghana today!

Well. Looks like it’s time for me to go back to work. This was probably the most exciting day of the tournament so far (pity I couldn’t watch it on a screen).

It’d be amazing if Ghana could pull off an upset, but the chances of that are less than slim. I think Italy will definately progress to the group of 8, but if they can make it farther than that, I have no idea.

Who thinks that ref was out of control??? Am I the only one here??? We lost to the referee, not to Ghana.

“Even if that dodgy penalty kick was removed, they’d still be eliminated, everyone knows that.”

Actually Ghana was out with a draw. Things might have gone very differently, who knows.

Still be eliminated????!!!! U.S had ALL the momentum after they scored. And Ghana wouldn’t have played a defensive second half. WE would have came out so pumped with so much energy had that terrible call not been made.

Ghana will be in with a draw!

Bad Penalty Decision!
Whatever else may have been… it is most unfortunate!

No — Ghana was not out with a draw. Ghana would have gotten 4 points against the czech’s 3 points. draw or not, Ghana would have gone through since the Czech lost.

heyy, u American fans,
i remember one of the ESPN commentators saying that ” US will easily get 3 points from Ghana”. what happened to that?????????? And about the Pimpong dive, u can call it wuteva, but this is soccer. players do wuteva is needed to be done, in order to win. so u cock-heads shouldn’t be blaming pimpong. do y’all remember Maradona’s ” hand of God????????” wut do u say about that? that’s the reality of this sport, so accept it. And also, the fans shouldn’t put the blame Arena. he took the team to quater finals last world cup, and i bet most of the fans were happy. so if they couldn’t advance this year, c’m back home and work hard on yo game. And it will shock y’all 2 see Ghana upset Brazil!!!!

Um big difference being 1-1 and chasing from 2-1. It was just a terrible call and indisputably changed the face of the game, but hey it happens.

Pathetic flopping Ghana, however, should know that they won’t get calls like that against Brazil. Pingpong is officially the punk flopping drama queen of the WC.

Congrats to Ghana for getting into their last game of the tournament vs. Brazil.

Hey, Spaniard.

Ghana would have still been in with a draw. The Czech Republic lost their game little guy. And iampanafrican, Ghana will not make it to 2010 World Cup. All the big boys of Africa will return then- Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and Cameroon. No place for Ghana then I’m afraid.

Also ’bout da penalty, even if Appiah missed, the game would’ve been tied and ghana would advance. And to the Brazilians, they shouldn’t underestimate Ghana, cuz Ghana is one of the best teams in Africa, and in this world cup as well.
Go Black Stars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Dietmar

Shame on you. Obviously you don’t watch enough soccer -or if you do, we have a soccer holiganism problem growing. You win some, you lose some, that is the nature of the game. Disapointment is one thing – outright blatant racism another. The team lost -nothing to be ashamed of; they did well to be in Germany. Your last comment was uncalled for – and was what I am ashamed of.

Hey i’m learning a lesson about the U.S — they’re pathetic losers!! Can’t take defeat eh? Don’t take credit away from the Africans — they played better overall. I watched the game. There has been lots of silly referee calls in all the games — whether the penalty was fair or not, Ghana likely would have won because the U.S is not good offensively. And while defense isn’t Ghana’s best point, they’re better defensively than the U.S is offensively.

Would like to see Ghana win against Brazil, but don’t know if it will happen. But, it is sweet to see Ghana beat the U.S. on the biggest sports stage in the world.

No 5 in the world?? Yeah right!! Congrats to Ghana.

I love the Ghana fans (who I’m sure have been Ghana fans for years and aren’t just bandwagon-jumpers) who think that the rest of the game would have played out the exact same way were it not for the shameful PK call. It changed everything. Maybe Ghana would have won 3-1, maybe US would have won 4-1, maybe it would have been 1-1, but to just give Ghana a free goal for nothing just sucks for football. But yes it does happen far more than we’d hope (though that call was certainly in the upper echelon of bad calls this Cup, probably one of the top three worst calls).

YEAH ! LET’S GO FLOPPERS!

G obviously you don’t know anything about soccer. The U.S would have had the momentum and whole second half to score and they probably would have. Ghana is not good. They can’t finish. They are only athletic and athleticism can only take you so far. Brazil will be them easily 2-0. The ref gave ghana the game b/c an african team had to go through.

Cocoliso: With a draw, it finishes ITA 7/GHA 4/CZE 3/USA 2.

I’m still plenty angry with Merk, but the US blew so many chances that it’s hard for me to declare him Ghana’s man of the match.

In fairness to Ghana, the one good thing about this is that it guarantees Arena is done. Maybe in four years we will be thanking Ghana for their cheating.

firstly american fans, why did your team play so poorly against the czechs and then play like their lives depended it on it in the other two games.

secondly ghana disapointed me today, i wont hide I was rooting for them.

that was till the penalty and the antics second half by pinpong and co.

I have to agree that sadly they resorted to cheating to win when theyve been so open and honest in the first 2 games.

I think thats a shame, and slightly dampens the day.

learning another team about americans — can’t handle losing to Africans. haha — somoene said the Ghana team is not good, that they can’t finish. This is a game for champions and fighters –penalty or not, a fighter comes back to fight. Did you see all the penalty kicks that should have been called for IC during th IC matches? Did the IC fans go about crying and whimping. Wake up Americans — you are a good team that needs time to grow. Do not discredit Africans because they are Africans — on the worlds sports stage everyone is equal.

Just because an african team is involved, people are talking about teams cheating (as if time wasting has not been employed by every other team and as if the U.S would not have wasted time too) and calling people “little africans.” haha — your problem not ours.

The sad shot of approximately 30 people in the crowd watching the game at Times Square was the most depressing sight of this game.
I sneaked out of work and went to a very popular Sports Bar close to my office here in Detroit, Michigan, and was told they wouldn’t be opening until 10:30am!!! – The game started a 10:00 am here in the East Coast.
On the other hand, you have the story of the Ghanaian goverment declaring a half-day holiday, and asking the gold mining companies to reduce their demand for electricity during the game, so that there would be enough energy for all the TV sets in the country.
The soccer gods did right by me today!

Truth is, the US really was overrated going in, and between 2002 and the joke FIFA rankings most Americans were expecting the US to get to the knockout stage. But the US has never played well in Europe, this really was the Group of Death, and Arena fielded the oldest team in the tournament. And then Jan Koeller took it to the US 15 minutes in, and that was it.

Still, one point out of Europe is better than they’ve done in all previous Cups in Europe, combined.

And this next generation will be ready in 2010. Convey and Johnson will have Cup experience. Howard will be in goal. And if Freddy Adu can keep his head screwed on straight, he may just become a name.

It’s funny, in a sense, that hockey in this country didn’t die after the US didn’t medal in 1984, but people are saying this is the end of soccer in America. They’ll be back, with a different coach, a different lineup, and more experience. There’s reason for optimism despite the one point, -4 GD crash.

heyy clark,
go back to soccer pre-skool. wut do u meant by Ghana can’t finish?????????????? if they can’t, how c’m they totally smoked the cZe who embarrased the us team??????/ huh. u just dissed yourself that u know nothing ’bout the game. i think some schooling might help u out. have u forgotten that their 2 most talented strikers were out. And did u see the first goal??????? is that a good finish or a bad finish??????? u tell me. And don’t say that ghana is not good. if they aren’t then how c’m they beat the us?????????? i think u r an ancestor of Hitler. wut do u mean by “The ref gave ghana the game b/c an african team had to go through.” Every team including African teams who qualified isod enough to advance to the second round. The U.s played good today, but they just couldn’t beat Ghana. it’s a fact so accept it.

3 games.
4 shots on goal.
2 posts.
1 goal.

YAY for efficiency!

thank u Diego!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daniel -
Quiet Colony boy!

G man o man you are not a soccer player. i wish i could give you lessons but i don’t know where you live. if you watched the Czech game at all, ghana had about 10 1 on 1 chances which they only converted two of. Open your eyes dude. The ref gave them a free goal. it’s as simple as that. he gave them the winning goal along with every other call. They dove a million times and got calls in their favor for each of them.

Brazil betta watch out. The Black Stars on their way!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i know that a lot of American fans r cheering for Brazil to smoke Ghana, but this is soccer; anything can happen.

wut matters is the win, and they smoked Czech. i kno about the free goal. u r right, but don’t say that Ghana is not good. wut do u mean by that.???????/ they only allowed 5 goals in their world cup qualifier so they can defend, as well as score goals.

hey clark,
All the so called diving is part of the game newcomer!!!!! u sound like today was the first time u watched a soccer game. And don’t even front on me, cuz ima skool at soccer. do u even who i am?????????? stop frontin’ dude, and accept the facts. US would still have gone home even if they tied.

Clark,
heyy, Ghana leaRned from their mistakes in the CZE game, and thats y they Draman scored that 1 on 1 goal against keller. the fact is that the Ghanaian players r young and strong. i really wish i could be yo soccer coach someday, cuz u need many many years of soccer training!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LoL

You are american and are so against your countries team G. Diving is a part of the game that FIFA is trying to REMOVE. PLAY BEAUTIFUL. What is the point behind all those commercials you genius. The style that Ghana played today gets no respect from me or any soccer player who understands how the game should be played. Yellow and red cards are given for diving. It’s not supposed to be an accepted and taught technique to gain advantages. it is used by cheaters who make the game ugly.

And G, that’s a pretty good comeback saying that you wish you could be my coach since i already used that one against you. Real original. you are an intelligent person.

stop being an arm-chair coach Clark.

Not to take away the Ghana or USA effort in this game, but the penalty call is a very very bad call.

i’m not against the American team. they should have put the subs in the game at the right time. let me ask u a question Clark? do u respect Diego Maradona????????????? i don’t think u even kno who he is. “the hand of God” he cheated and won a game by scoring with his hand. And today, he is remembered as one of the greats of all-time.

u r right hoa, it was terrible. but it happened so we have to made on

move on ********

maradona was a great soccer player. way better than any of those africans. why the hell are you trying to defend how they played today. They dove all over the place and wasted about 15 minutes off the clock. There’s no way around it. ghana used a cheap tactic to ensure their win. and no one should have any respect for them because of that.

G –
The first goal was a gimme, a six-inch putt. Every single player at the WC should be able knock the ball in from there. It was an average finish. Nothing more.

Ghana sucked. The US sucked harder. Neither team really created any dangerous chances at all. Both goals in play came off of defensive miscues, although at least Dempsey’s goal had a nice pass before it. Ghana’s only chances in thier bunkering second half came from counterattacks. This is important to keep in mind.

I’m not much of a conspiracy buff, but I do believe in human ineptitude. Unfortunately, the center ref just wasn’t in the right place to see that there was no foul on the PK. I don’t have TIVO to go back and look at it, but I don’t belive that the AR’s flag went up to for that one.

Finally, if you, like others have done, claim and believe that a 2-1 game at half time is exactly the same as 1-1 game, then there’s no use reading on. At 1-1 there would have been less timewasting, and Ghana would have been less likely to bunker. Plus, there is the chance that a US ball that goes in puts the US ahead. What you’ve done is rely on the fallacy of pre-determined outcome. That is, A leads to B which leads to C. If B is replaced by a different event B’, the situation is no longer the same after the second event (B’) is reached and C will not necessarily follow B’. Isn’t causality fun?

heyy clark,
u really should try to go a ” hater management skool” sometime.

G is just retarded. He doesn’t think about what he says and he obviously has little understanding of this game.

Go Ghana

From Dominique
In Atlanta, GA

G- The “Hand of God” was a horrible call. Why bring that up as a matter of respect? Maradona was great player but that play was bush and even he knew it at the time. Check out the Wikipedia artice on it.

heyy clark,
the Ghanaians don’t need yo respect, or anyones to succeed. so sgut the f*** up hater!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clark,
u r the real retard cuz u fail to accept the fact that US lost. i wanna kno how old u r cuz u sound like a youngster in this game.!!!!!!!!!!

mason,
i kno wut u r saying, the ghana incident was horrible too, but it happened and we can’t reverse it so we just gotta move on.

I know that the U.S lost. I would be perfectly fine with it if it were a hard fought game in which they were simply out played but that was not the case. I don’t hate Ghana but i don’t respect how they played. What’s your point is in saying that they don’t need anyone’s respect to win. So are you saying that they should do whatever they can get away with just as long as they win. That would take all sportsmanship out of soccer and lower the quality of the game.

Clark,
u know wut, lets just forget this whole incident and hope for a better team in 2010. hopefully EJ would get a chance to start.

Several posts up, Matthew asks,

firstly american fans, why did your team play so poorly against the czechs and then play like their lives depended it on it in the other two games.

Solve that riddle and you might get to coach the team in South Africa 2010. Provided you’re happy with the contract US Soccer offers, of course.

I’d really like to know why my ONE post is awaiting moderation when it is infintesimally more coherent and to the point than any of the last 50 posts… give me a break, moderator!

Congratulations goes out to my boy “G”. He has officially posted an astounding 11 incoherent, retarted messages in a 30 minute time span… this smashes the old record of 2!! Congratulations “G”, you’ve won yourself a lifetime supply of nobody gives a sh*t about what you say.

Who want’s to watch another game like that with players on the ground for five minutes at a time very single time they hit the turf. Let’s be reasonable here G. If you defend that style of play then you are a bad soccer player and if i played against you i would take you out for real and step on your face afterwards. I would give you a real reason to get carried off the field in a stretcher.

no, they shouldn’t do wuteva they want. ok, lemme ask u a question??? would u respect the US if they cheated to win?????

TJ,

Did you include external links? Sometimes that gets my posts stuck in moderation, sometimes not. It’s confusing how they have that set up.

we might need new coach like brazil might need new ronaldo for a change

Clark, i would luv to see that happen. (cheap talk).

G-
Move on? Like the English have moved on from the from the “Hand of God”, eh?

mason,
no, u guys ( tj, clark, ) should move on since they can’t accept the fact that the game is over!!!!!!!

I’m not suprised that so many people are focusing on the bad penalty call. Yeah, 1-1 into the half might have been better, but would that have led to a US win? I’m not so sure.

I’m bummed that we lost but Ghana is a better team. They are faster, younger, and they create more scoring opportunities.

futbol,
thank u!!!!!!!!!!

What have i been saying in all my comments? i guess you haven’t been reading them but i have said that they played a cheap style of soccer. i would not like to see any team play like that. it’s not good soccer. it was like watching a mexican league game. i don’t respect any team that plays like that and what i love most about the american team is that none of them play that way. they play strong tough soccer and don’t go down unless it truly is a foul. Look at McBride. If a player from ghana got that knock he would have probably been carried off in a stretcher.

tom,
u r a real genius tom, u made it clear to (TJ, clark, and Mason) how they should think like.

I’m over it. I just like poking you to see how you’ll butcher the language next.

This webpage is for comments on the Ghana U.S.A game which ended about 2 and a half hours ago. Hand of God happened about 20 years ago. Atleast i am passionate about a team, unlike you, and am dissapointed in what happened a short time ago. The U.S deserved better than that.

i kno ghana played a cheap style of soccerm but don’t get me wrong that this ghana team is a better team that the us team. did u see the CZE game. i bet if they played like that, they would have scored more goals today.

Tom-
I just wanted to see a pretty game with some nice buildups and great finishing. This game had none of that. It’s a shame.

clark,
i’m tryna show u similar cases.(cheating)

mason,
i bet u lost a bet on this game.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

G –
How was Ghana better? They won yes, but how were they better?
Finishing? Midfield? Defense? Funny hats on Fans?

G -
No way dude. I don’t bet. Employer doesn’t allow it.

Stop talking about their one good game against a Czech team who pushed all their players up top, lost one of their best defenders, and played very badly. Ghana had so many chances to score and they could only convert two. in the second half they should have score five goals. They will lose to Brazil, guaranteed, and their short run will be over and forgotten. They probably won’t even make the next World Cup.

The way I see it is that we got lucky with a draw in Italy game and a bad luck in the game. Say, we’re even. Let’s watch the brasil game

Clark-
To be fair, Petr Cheh played a great game against Ghana.

Futbol -
Sounds about right. A point is still better than the US has ever done in the WC in Europe.

Yes Czech is a great goalie but most of the shots went right at him. You can’t disagree with that. The top teams would have buried atleast half of the chances that ghana had.

Wynalda for coach in 2010!
O’Brien as captain in 2010!

heyy guys, how c’m we all can’t be happy for ghana??????????? this is their first world cup appearance, and they’ve been good sa far.

Because they are a bunch of flopping fools.

Clark,
clark, u r totally right. but ghana lacks experience, and it’s really hurting them with the goal scoring. lets hope that they c’m back in 2010.

clark,
heyy, i kno u r disrespecting them because of the race. but this not the case. bad officiating; that’s the case.

The US players need to learn to take a dive, and perhaps cry on demand. When you’re fighting for your life, sometimes you got to put macho bull crap aside and kick em in the nuts. We’re not brazil, we need to get our goals any way we can.

You are ridiculous. I have never made one reference to race. I’ve only talked about how they played the game. I hope you are joking with that comment you fool. All i know is that they flopped around like pigs in a pool of mud.
For me the best moment of the world cup so far was when Dempsey ripped the ball into the back of the net and tied the game up. All American fans were so pumped and so was the team. and then the ref took all the momentum away from us with one blow of his whistle. Then the africans played it safe and wasted as much time as they could. i’m sorry G that they happened to be black but i would feel the same regardless of race.

Poll:

Tell me who do you blame for the US loosing ..

http://www.geocities.com/megapc/index.html

clark,
i don’t think insulting the ghanaians will solve the case. the refs should be blamed.

mason,
so whats your prediction on the ghana-brazil game?????????

See ya G. I’ve already wasted too much time arguing with you.

clark,
lol. heyy, so whats your predictions on the ghana-brazil game????????

clark,
hope to talk 2 u sometime

see ya clark.!!!!!!!!

Brazil 2 : 0 Ghana

Ronaldo silences his critics.
Roberto Carlos puts in a golazo from 35 yards out. I love this dude’s dome. It’s almost as round as the ball.

Simply because an African team beat the us is not reason enough to make us angry. We all know Ghana has a great soccer tradition, even the big boys in Europe knew that before hand. But, what what made angry is the way the commentators underrate the Africans as if they can’t play the game. That is really, compare to most, well almost all the countries in Africa we lack behind, because they have the tradition and the passion for the game. Where as we just started it, and we reached this far “not bad” but to act as we are superior to those nations, that is pure ignorance and arrogance. Bruce did a great job with the kids, lets face it this is their ability, they can’t do better than that. Maybe in years to come, but now as Reyna said it and quiete rightlt “we are a small footballing nation” compare say to Ghana.

I think Reyena’s comment was comparing the US vis-a-vis European countries.

great! Go, Ghana, go for Gold!

Look, it doesn’t matter the continent of origin of a team. We simply got whupped. We got whupped by an African team that last Saturday beat a European team and made them look like amateurs. Remember, the European team made the US look like amateurs. So…should we really be that surprised that we lost and looked less than stellar doing so (regardless of how we played against Italy)?

That wasn’t a whupping… It was a loss, but not a whupping. The Czech game was a whupping. This was a standard issue badly played game by both sides.

By the way, I personally think that the African nations play a pretty exciting style of soccer. Its not as defensive minded as how some of the European countries play. It lacks the finesse of some of the South American countries. If you saw any of the Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) games, you saw a lot of chances created with a lot of 1 v 1 play. Ghana plays the same way. Remember also that Ghana played without 2 of their offensive starters due to yellow cards. Yes, the USA was supposed to be deeper so our replacements were considered a non-issue.

On another note, I have seen no evidence that the US has a strong enough player that can attack 1 v 1 against a defender. Landon Donovan did it once against Italy but that was all.

Cal –
I like the fast style of play as well, but this game wasn’t played like that. It was kick and chase from both sides.

Wynalda in 2010!

Anybody else think Dempsey’s goal was offside? Hard to tell from the TV angles I saw, but it looked like his chest might’ve been closer than the last defender.

ghana will win the world cup ths year if u want to know why http://www.viewghana.com/forum_talksports.htm fill free to add ur comment

Tiem to contract a world-class coach, like my countryman Guus Hiddink, who once again has proven to have the Midas touch with Australia.
Arena should have replaced both Beasley, and Donovan, who believe they are big stars, but rather looked like very lazy rookies.
I will take Marco Van Basten anytime; he at least ditched the lazy players with “diva attitudes”.
Robert Cohn, Ajax Amsterdam, and Oranje fan

Ghana ye ye buei!! Obiaa nye obiaa!! Bravo Ghana! I’m happy to see you guys make to the end!! OLE OLE!

Time to contract a world-class coach, like my countryman Guus Hiddink, who once again has proven to have the Midas touch with Australia.
Arena should have replaced both Beasley, and Donovan, who believe they are big stars, but rather looked like very lazy rookies.
I will take Marco Van Basten anytime; he at least ditched the lazy players with “diva attitudes”.
Congratrulations are in order for Ghana; very refreshing to see how they play.
Robert Cohn, Ajax Amsterdam, and Oranje fan

USA 5th according to FIFA…come on guys!!!! Who can believe in that number? The true is you are watching other world cup. This is my first World Cup outside my native country and the commentators really suck. They are completely lost in the space. However, consider yourself lucky to be part of this fabulous tournament. After reading all the comments you made I have reach to one conclusion: you American guys suffer of OGS- Olympic game syndrome. Unlike the Olympic Games, in which the Gross Domestic Product is not a good predictor, the Soccer arena is completely different. Here, no matter how rich you country is you will find poor countries with great teams. Think in Brazil, Argentina, to name a few examples. Those future stars begin playing the cheapest of the sports at an early age, on the streets, and many times barefooted. If they had luck, somebody in the entire neighborhood had a real balloon; otherwise they substituted it with a balloon made of old socks. What the US fans expected? Come on. Forget the 1994 World Cup. That was the worst of all world cups I ever seen. It was a good try to introduce the soccer in the US market, but it did not blossomed: lack of passion on the side of the fans. Consider yourself enough lucky to watch your team in a World Cup. Honestly, you do not deserve it. Look at the CONCACAF. Those are the countries you played with to gain a slot in the Cup. Come on. There are a lot of better teams just a bit south of that CONCACAF. Those are by far better soccer teams that the US team. Unfortunately, those teams were not able to attend Germany 2006 due to a lack of slots. Uruguay, Colombia, Chile and Peru would have loved to play this Cup. Wake Up. Argentina tu papa. Grande Maradona.!!!!

Vittorio-
The angles I saw had dempsey behind the last defender, but EVEN with the ball. If you’re even with the ball, you’re not in offside position.

Maradona -
To wit: Brazil and Argentina are considered medium-income countries by most transnational organizations.

It’s an interesting point you’re trying to make, but then why doesn’t Venezuela (heil hugo), the Dominican Republic, or Cuba have a stronger team? Oh yeah, they play beisbol, and they play it well. In many cases they start playing it with balls of socks and a table leg. Their best athletes come to the states to ply their trade. They don’t go to Old Trafford, they go to Yankee Stadium.

This is similar to the problem the US has. Young players pick up the game at an early age, but the best focus on other sports that can pay (including scholar ship sports). You want the US’s a poo’ man’s leauge? I direct you to look at the NBA.

1) No one likes a diver…
2) Ghana’s play was disappointing with wasted time, I felt like they were weak…
3) USA’s play was okay, but still disappointing…namely Donovan’s refusal to slip the ball in with his left foot.
4) The PK call was absurd.
5) Great athletes are developed through the sports they decide to play early on…
6) The US soccer talent pool gets better all the time. I’m always impressed with our youth.
7) The US youth talent loves the game, and you can bet they will continue to strive to be better regardless if they think they will have tons of fans.

While I do support Ghana as one of the underdogs
in this cup, and the fact that have many good players
in top European clubs, I have to give my fair opinion
that the match last night should have been won by
the USA, at least 1-0. The USA played extremely good
and professional football in this game.

Haminu Draman’s goal should not have been allowed,
and indeed he should have received a yellow card
for his foul on Claudio Reyna.

And Stephen Appiah’s penalty was quite dubious and
indeed ridiculous – it was a fact there was totally no
foul by Oguchi Onyewu on Razak Pimpong.

There’s a lot of talk in my office that the German referee must
have had a big betting stake on Ghana. This way well be pure
speculation or just allegations of course, but even to the
neutral observer, it is quite obvious that Markus Merk
was completely out of order in this game.

The staff in my office are also commenting that Ghana’s team
play like ….. hooligans. I have to agree with this to at least some
extent. Ghana has players of great individual talent, but their
whole team plays more like rugby players, at least in this game.

As for me, it’s unfortunate that Fifa is basically a useless (and biased) body – they keep belting out disciplinary action on players
all the time – but they never discipline (a more appropriate
action should be to remove from their roster rather) their own referees for faulted (and biased) decisions, which is particularly disastrous for games of this level.

It is indeed unfortunate too that a team which I have good respect
for has to win and advance to the next stage in such a dubious
and disgraceful manner.

A good writeup by The Guardian on this game :

http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup2006/matchreport/0,,1804059,00.html

Mason,
Quiete frankly I sense racism in your comments. When I said Ghana is a better footballing nation like many Afrivcan countries I meant, because that is the reality whether you like it or not. You are not just angry because we lost I sense you are angry because we lost to Africans. You denial of this fact and insisting on saying that reyna meant the Eauropean nations is absurd and an indicator of your true self. Wake up man, don’t jusge people because they are poor. To ad insult to injury a guy from malaysia of all places is critisizing Africans “Tham” what a pity. I am not African, I am of a Serrbian origins, but some comments that I read in this blog lack wisdome and accuracy and are 100% biased. I’ll say it again we are a small footballing nation, not only compare to African nation, but also to Asian nations. We should not deny these facts. We have the money and the facilities to catch up. Lets work onthat instead of whining and refusing to give credit where credit is due.

Ok, so from the first game I saw that the USA’s offense sucks and that we did not deserve to advance past the 1st round. I can accept, and very much expected defeat.

But the refs were either incompetant or purposefully trying to put the USA at every disadvantage, starting with the Italy game. Everyone knows the Italians are famous for taking dives, but the ref ignored that. Instead of penalizing the Italians for feigning injury, he handed out reds to the USA for tackles that warranted only a warning or a yellow at most.

He had no choice but to give a red to the Italian who drew blood, and then it seemed like he said “oh shit, I better do something to even things up or a USA loss is not ’soldi nella tasca’ (money in the bag), 100% guaranteed”. That’s right, the other thing the Italians are known for is bribery. But there’s one thing you can’t bribe… —>

IT’S TIME TO IMPLEMENT VIDEO REPLAY FOR MAJOR, GAME ALTERING EVENTS LIKE A CONTROVERSIAL RED CARD OR GOAL!

Ok, I was wrong, everything that Ghana needed was a tie. Just too many games and too much heat here, don’t sue me.

I was proud of the US. They weren’t the best out there but they were one of the 16. How would Engkand or France or Spain fair in the US’s group. Don’t tell me it’s just coincidence that it was the hardest group. How would these same teams do down a man againsta team like Italy? No better most likely worst. How would these same teams do when teh other team was basically given a goal on a horrendous penalty call? They would lose.

If this had happened to any of the elite European teams thee would be a major controversy and FIFA would do soemthing to appease. England, France or Spain would not have advanced if they had to overcome what the US did.

Also, I am especially proud that the US doesn’t dive. It’s tiem to sart pulling the yellow card out for diving. The game is turning into a theatrical performance versus an athletic one.

The only sadness I have from this game is that we lost a great player in the form of Caludio Reyna. A player of high quality with great work ethics and understanding for the game; a player that I held and still hold the utmost respect for.
It really sadens me to see some ignorant section of our fans blaming him for the loss. The defender who passed the ball to him should have known better not to pass the ball to a player in that situation and should’ve opted to kick the ball out for a throw. By doing so he put Reyna in unnecessary pressure without support. Dramman who was too quick and he was on top of Reyna before he even raised his head. The challenge was legal and whitin the means of the game, it was strong but nothing cynical, “fair play”. Of course the penalty was questionable, but again I doubt if that would’ve mad any difference. The African teams play strong physical football, so are the Europeans. Watch out for the Samba boys and their theatrics, I will not be surprised if I see few red cards because of that. We all expect Brazil to win that game and with good reason, but I still think this African team is more than capable to pull the surprise of the tournament. But, it’ll all come down to the refreeing as we all saw in this tournament already. Many teams have suffered already because of it including us, why Ghana should be different. The way the WC draw was made it is so clear that it favours the Europeans against teams from other continents. Why? because the tournament is played in Europe and it is not desierable for others to win it as the tradition dictates. Unless of course someone else has other ideas!!

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