Pragidealist Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 Terrible Cup for Bradley. Brutal end, minimum necessary result. Only if you judge him by a) his usual high standards or b ) that last play. His game overall was quite good before he was dispossessed. He hasn't had a huge game yet, but overall ok. The first game, defensively he was quite good, but off in possession- as was the rest of the team. Hopefully his truly good game that matches his ability comes against Germany. Usually as Bradley goes, so does the team and that's been true through the first two games so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 Jamal's probably right on this one, though CTF. "Probably right " isn't reflective of his cocksure language and confidence level though No, his point is accurate, actually. Soccer isn't like other sports, even though all sports have it to a varying degree where the best team doesn't always win. Soccer has it all the time. A team can dominate TOP and shots on goal and still come out in a draw or loss because of a single miscue, much like what happened to us last night. As we saw last night, Portugal has a guy that only needs an arm length of space and 20 seconds to change an entire game. Just making a blanket statement such as "if they don't play better they stand little chance!" is overly simplifying the game. They could play the exact same and still draw, or even win, a fairly good percentage of the time because of talent and the nature of soccer. Ronaldo will be banging Brazilian models until a mere few hours before the match and roll out there and be twice as talented as any player on the Ghana side. I saw a Brazilian team play someone in the 80's during the cup and they dominated. It looked like adults playing monkey in the middle with 6 year olds. Just toying with them. Lost 1-0. This seems to happen alot in that sport (close of expert analysis). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamalisms Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 Among other issues that I'm happy to not argue on account of them being fundamentally not worth anyone's time: A team can dominate TOP and shots on goal and still come out in a draw or loss because of a single miscue, much like what happened to us last night. You realize they had 52% possession right? 10 shots on goal for us and 9 for them. 20 shots overall to our 15. What game did you watch? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsntLifeFunny Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 Jamal's probably right on this one, though CTF. Ghana are all about athleticism and the counter. It plays right to Portugal's weakness. Ghana is okay in the heat. Portugal really wilted late. Ghana only needs a point or two and a US loss against Germany (most would say very likely).. They have a lot stronger motivation. Lastly, the "best player in the world" has been Portugal's MO, and he's looked rather pedestrian. Honestly, Portugal got the goal on that cross by CR7 had Beasley 1 v 1 and crossed it instead of taking him on 1 v 1- wtf? Portual looks a lot weaker than the media and the rankings say. On the flip side, Ghana just tied Germany and gave the US all they could handle. That game could very likely be a slaughter for Ghana. US needs to handle their stuff against Germany. Go for the win, hope for a solid draw. IF its tied by the 75 0r 80th minute- its going to be the most tense and boring game I've likely every experienced. This is all true, but Jamal isn't right that Portugal stands little chance of pulling out a draw. They're still a very talented team, and I don't think they like the idea of coming in dead last in the group, so they have motivation as well as a shot to get in if they can somehow break the game open. Ronaldo has been pretty terrible. I doubt that trend continues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgsTitan Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 The US really blew it last night, but whether they still advance or not depends solely on the posture and attitude of Germany. On paper, Thursday should not be a close game...there's not a single player for the US that could even make the German squad, other than perhaps Howard as the #2 keeper. Germany's only real weakness is too much talent and a lack of certainty on where to use it. They have Schweinsteiger, Klose, Podolski, and Andre Schurrle coming off the bench, for God's sakes. Any one of those would be the best player on the US team, hands down. There defense has suffered due to playing Phillip Lahm out of position..as a holding midfielder in the absence of the injured Schweinsteiger. However, I've read there's good chance Bastian will start vs. the US, and Lahm will return to his normal position at right back. I predict Germany wins 2-0, and Ghana beats Portugal 2-0. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsntLifeFunny Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 Among other issues that I'm happy to not argue on account of them being fundamentally not worth anyone's time: You realize they had 52% possession right? 10 shots on goal for us and 9 for them. 20 shots overall to our 15. What game did you watch? I wasn't talking about our game with the first two points, merely the last. We were beaten because of a single miscue, which happens a lot in soccer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pragidealist Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 When this is over, if they go at Germany and play as well as they did against Portugal and then still lose. I am going to be pretty happy with this world cup. In the group of death, what i wanted was for them to not play scared and got at teams with confidence and style. They beat ghana by doing that early to get the goal and then late to get the game winner. And they played that way all day against Portugal. US soccer has come very far. Now I want a win and I want them to keep on winning.. but I want to see more of what we saw in terms of style and assertiveness that we saw against Portugal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamalisms Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 Only if you judge him by a) his usual high standards or b ) that last play. His game overall was quite good before he was dispossessed. He hasn't had a huge game yet, but overall ok. The first game, defensively he was quite good, but off in possession- as was the rest of the team. Hopefully his truly good game that matches his ability comes against Germany. Usually as Bradley goes, so does the team and that's been true through the first two games so far. Any player is judged based on his own standards... but his first game was bad by anyone's standards. Playing only decent defense is not acceptable and going there is more a statement supporting how bad it was than a defense. His second otherwise decent game was fatally flawed by largely contributing to a two point swing... point blank shot at the only defender in an open net and being dispossessed when that's the only outcome he couldn't allow... in a game that resulted in a tie and may end up being the difference between moving on. In zero ways is he happy with himself at this point. It has been a terrible Cup for him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pragidealist Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 I wasn't talking about our game with the first two points, merely the last. We were beaten because of a single miscue, which happens a lot in soccer. Umm we weren't beaten. ;-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pragidealist Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 Any player is judged based on his own standards... but his first game was bad by anyone's standards. Playing only decent defense is not acceptable and going there is more a statement supporting how bad it was than a defense. His second otherwise decent game was fatally flawed by largely contributing to a two point swing... point blank shot at the only defender in an open net and being dispossessed when that's the only outcome he couldn't allow... in a game that resulted in a tie and may end up being the difference between moving on. In zero ways is he happy with himself at this point. It has been a terrible Cup for him. We're going to disagree here, but I feel like it would be a long discussion that neither of us want. It's been a fun tournament! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamalisms Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 If your contention is that sometimes a mistake can lead to a goal, bravo. Otherwise, there are zero similarities the point you were failing to make and our game against Portugal. Hell, we didn't even lose. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamalisms Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 We're going to disagree here, but I feel like it would be a long discussion that neither of us want. It's been a fun tournament! You'll defend a star player to the grave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 In no other major sport in North America is winning so unrelated to superior play and more random results than soccer because of the incredibly low scoring nature of it. This is ILF's point of course and it's true. There is also a talent gap that exists between Portugal and Ghana that discredits anyone that argues they have little chance unless they are playing at their best. These are just some of the many reasons Jamal's assured opinion was false and unintelligent. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pragidealist Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 You'll defend a star player to the grave. Did you just call Jake Locker a star player?!? Ha! I've just learned when you have some rather hard fast opinions where discussion isn't really fruitful. I didn't' say Bradley played great. I think he played better than you are saying. So then we get into nuance of what that means... you and I could debate that for days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsntLifeFunny Posted June 23, 2014 Report Share Posted June 23, 2014 Umm we weren't beaten. ;-) lol it sure felt like it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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