Will the Three Lions be Mannschaft Eaters? I don’t think so . . .
Randinho wrote at Balloon Juice from 2010-16.
"Hi, everyone, my name is Randy Paul. I normally blog at my own blog, Beautiful Horizons. John has graciously accepted my offer to blog about the upcoming soccer World Cup..."
Twitter: @randinho
Some Thoughts on Saturday’s Games 6/26/10
The sloppiness of South Korea’s defense on Uruguay’s first goal was only slightly more amazing than the sloppiness of Uruguay’s defense on South Korea’s goal: in the former the Koreans were watching the ball, in the latter, the Uruguayans bunched in the middle leaving at least two Korean’s unmarked.
Luis Suarez’s second goal was a thing of beauty. I have a feeling he won’t be at Ajax too much longer.
Korea had no one trailing the play on Fernando Muslera’s near Greening of a Korean player’s shot, but Uruguay had three players right there.
The USA needs a real forward. No forward has scored a goal in the WC for the US since Brian McBride in 2002. The US did not have a shot on target after the 76th minute.
Robbie Findlay is not petite, neither is Jozy Altidore. Both of them would do well to look at video of some of Ronaldo’s goals and Rivaldo’s goals and see how many times they rounded the keeper to put the ball into an unguarded net. Altidore falls down much too easily and Findlay’s attempts to finish are much too easy to read.
Let me get this off my chest: Charlie Davies: the next time the USMNT coach, whoever he may be, lays down a curfew, fucking listen to him and do what you’re told or don’t take up a roster spot.
Ghana was clearly the better team. In fact, I would say that they are at least as skilled as Senegal in 2002 with the added benefit of more discipline. Uruguay should prepare well.
Jonathan Bornstein played competently, but Bocanegra would have been better at left back with Clarence Goodson perhaps in the central defense instead of Onyewu.
I don’t know why Bob Bradley virtually fetishizes some players like Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findlay.
It’s worth noting that of the eighteen contested to completion so far, only four nations in Europe have won the World Cup and only three in the Americas. It’s not easy to win, by any means and there is no shame in being eliminated. Just bring your best effort and skills to the game or don’t show up.
Some Thoughts on Saturday’s Games 6/26/10Post + Comments (66)
Ghana v USA Open Thread
Some of the keys to a US victory:
Stretch their defense. Ghana has been playing a 4-5-1 formation. They’re a defensive-oriented team that has scored two goals thus far, both on PK’s.
As always, don’t give up an early goal. I have little doubt that if Ghana gets the first goal, they’ll shut down their attack and put everyone behind the ball.
Keep the fire and passion, but keep your heads. The disciplinary record has been very good so far. Now is not the time to lose your cool.
Stay organized. It’s worked so far.
South Korea v Uruguay Open Thread
I think South Korea’s weak defense is in for a long 90 minutes.
Some Thoughts on Friday’s Games 6-25-10
Too little too late for the Ivory Coast. A lot of talent, but in a very tough group.
Nice to see Brazil attacking from the sides in the first half.
Cristiano Ronaldo: full of sound and fury and signifying not very much so far.
Those were the worst possession numbers for Portugal ever in a World Cup match.
Dunga seemed pissed. Wonder what he said to his players postgame.
Juan got away with a yellow instead of a red card for the deliberate handball. He should be more careful.
I see a lot of La Liga games, but didn’t recognize Pepe with hair.
I believe that the two players from Portugal destined for more attention from other clubs after the World Cup will be Raul Meirelles and Fabio Coentrao.
Every team from the Americas except for Honduras advanced, while all but Mexico and Chile won their groups (Mexico was in the group that Uruguay won).
I want to thank team manager Ottmar Hitzfeld and the Swiss Men’s National Team for doing everything today to vindicate my opinion about their dreadfully weak attack.
Lucio deservedly got a lot of attention for marking Ronaldo fairly well, but Gilberto Silva was a calm, veritable wall in midfield.
Memo to Didier Drogba: if your shot hits the crossbar and bounces down, making you suspect it’s gone over the line, bury it into the back of the net instead of running for the referee. Fortunately for you, Romaric was there to take care of business.
I truly hope nothing happens to the DPRK players when they return.
Chile will have three players unavailable for the game against Brazil due to red card/yellow card accumulations. Waldo Ponce’s was arguably the stupidest. Two of the players are defenders and one is a defensive midfielder. Brazil’s attackers must be drooling. The only good news is that they’ll have Carlos Carmona back.
Everyone talks about Fernando Torres all the time, but David Villa is the real deal.
I still think Carlos Queiroz is a crappy coach. I hope Spain fillets them.
All credit to David Villa’s marskmanship, but WTF was Claudio Bravo thinking?
Okay. This brought tears to my eyes.
An Analysis of My Group Picks
Group A: Clearly I overestimated France and underestimated Uruguay as I picked France and Mexico to go through.
Group B: I picked Argentina and leaned towards South Korea.
Group C: I picked USA and England.
Group D: I picked Germany and Ghana.
Group E: I picked the Netherlands and Denmark. I was clearly behind the curve on Japan.
Group F: I said I was going out on a limb and picked Paraguay and Slovakia.
Group G: I picked Brazil and Portugal.
Group H: I picked Spain and Chile.
So, the only ones I didn’t get right were Groups A and E.
Chile v Spain; Honduras v Switzerland Open Thread
Can Spain continue it’s rebound from the bad start? Can Chile win the group? Will Honduras score?
Chile v Spain; Honduras v Switzerland Open ThreadPost + Comments (32)