I can’t believe that the U.S. lost a 2-0 halftime lead against Brazil and lost the Confederations Cup by a score of 2-3. That totally sucks. And I can’t make up my mind if I am disappointed that I forgot to watch it. I think Brazil needs to work on their defense if they are going to win next year’s World Cup.
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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you would have seen that Brazil actually scored 4 goals in the second half, but were robbed of one by the refs (who probably just didn’t have a good angle to see it). So by all rights it should have been 4-2 Brazil.
I don’t watch enough soccer to know if Brazil is just that good, or if the US team’s defense fell apart, or what. Probably a combo. The US has a fantastic goalie, but Brazil started getting some ridiculous close shots in the second half while the US had only three or four shots at the goal.
great game for USA I think it’s hard to beat the #1 team (Spain) and #1A (Brasil) in the same week.
Ah, but a kid up from Fresno for a spot start shut out the Brewers for the Giants this afternoon. Hope he sticks around for a few more rotations to show his stuff. Otherwise, he retires from the major leagues with the best ERA in baseball history.
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I did put up a half-time thread filled with great expectation for a good result. There was no attention/response so I saved some server space and deleted it. (I couldn’t cope with the swift Brasilian goals). I did find a satellite channel for a live broadcast and watched the final 20 minutes. Team USA put up a great performance but their passing became inaccurate. Therefore they failed to keep possession of the ball and gave the initiative of play to Brazil. It became an attacking Brazil and team USA defending, it’s a matter of time for the excellent Brasilian players to find the minute opening for scoring. With the previous match against Spain, this is a promising advance of USA soccer at the international stage.
LIVE! Half time: USA 2-0 Brazil
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A special for BooMan … a coup d’etat in progress.
(The Guardian) – Half time: USA 2-0 Brazil So who predicted that score then? The US have quite simply done a number on Brazil. They have been excellent and astute defensively, and Davies and Altidore have carried a genuine, if occasionally haphazard, menace on the break. Both goals were of an extremely high quality, and there is no doubt that USA deserve to win. Brazil are a shower, but they’ve been made to look like a shower.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Oops! Just 39 seconds later
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GOAL! Brazil 1-2 USA (Luis Fabiano 46) It took just 39 seconds for Brazil to get back into the match. It was a very good goal, too: Maicon on the right fed the ball into Luis Fabiano on the edge of the box, back to goal, and he took a touch before swivelling to strike it instantly to the left of Howard and into the corner. Another excellent goal.
46 min The US kick off from right to left.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Our passing did not “become inaccurate”. Nope, it was perfectly accurate. However, if the receiver sits there waiting for the ball while the guy from the other team runs up and gets the ball, it will LOOK inaccurate. That is what happened in 2nd half. Rather than MEETING the ball, we waited. Brazil ran to meet the ball, and stole a lot of passes. You got to HUSTLE to beat Brazil, and we lost our hustle.
Let’s just say in the house I was watching it at, there were many expletives, much cursing of all things Brazilian and things thrown during that second half.
We (yeah, I said we) just got tired, and you have to be at the top of your game when you take on a team as talented as Brazil (as we were against Spain).
What I came out of the game thinking is that if we had a different goalie than Tim Howard, we would have lost much worse. That guy and the two center backs (Onyewu and DeMerit) are really, really good.
Maybe the lesson is that you can’t hold Brazil off by going into a defensive crouch. America should have remained aggressive.
I watch a lot of soccer. I am an F rated coach (rec leagues, kids). I am occasionally certified as a referee (although since my running is impaired, not recently).
I watched the game. In the 1st half, we were on fire. We won more than 50 % of the 50/50 balls (balls not in anyone’s possession). Our passing was crisp, occasionally had flair, and possessions were long. The first goal was good, but the second was a dandy. We should have had 3, but Davies blew a lovely long pass from Donovan inside the Brazil box.
In the 2nd half, Brazil had woken up. They were hustling. We would make a pass, our guy would wait, and the B guy would meet the ball. This happened over and over – out-hustled, folks. That’s just a matter of heart. It didn’t help that the first B goal was on an amazing spin shot 50 seconds into the half. It was a CORKER.
In futbol, just as in hockey, the offense will set up outside the box, pass it around, and wait for a shot. When we did that on offense, B sent 2 guys to harass the ball-handler. When B did that, we did not harass. They passed around.
My conclusion: 1) Lack of hustle, 2nd half. 2) Slightly weak compacted Defense around the box. 3) Lack of heart. We needed to UP the effort, not sit on our butts, which is what we did.
Still and all, I ENJOYED the first half.
Agree, from a hockey standpoint. I heard the shouting in my Paris apartment and so went over to the closest bar in Saint-Germain to watch the match and saw the second half. Except for the goalie, who was truly spectacular, the US team was on its heals for all but 10 minutes of the second half. They were simply outplayed. I’ve seen this happen alot in hockey; you can tell right away.
that first goal by Brazil was magnificent. so was the last one. The US picked up a bit towards the end, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough. Still, not bad for a team that wasn’t supposed to get that far.
The bar was virtually empty (it was early in the evening). No Americans watching except me. Rich young brazilians quaffing down bottles of champagne by the gross. Cute girls, too.
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As I had written in a recent comment to team USA win over Spain …
A great feat for this new generation of US soccer. As mentioned above, the USA was already climbing the FIFA ranking scale to 8th place.
In the 1950 World Cup, it defeated England, 1-0, and journalists abed in England, not yet having the benefit of ESPN360, reported the score as 10-1 to England, thinking a mistake had been made.
This has been called the greatest upset in the history of sport. A team that included a gym teacher, a bricklayer, a dishwasher and two mailmen beat a team guided by a man who would later become the first man ever knighted for his soccer prowess .
Impressive, but hardly was something to build upon. The US did not qualify for the World Cup for another 40 years …
Only one American journalist was even at the World Cup (Dent McSkimming of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who was there on vacation), and his report of the match was the only one to appear in any American newspaper.
Personally I played varsity soccer at St. Louis U. during a period of NCAA championships in the sixties with coach Bob Guelker and players Don Ceresia, Carl Gentile and Pat McBride… One of the true greats of USA soccer was Harry Keough.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Nah, it’s not a real sport so no loss.
=D
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From a spectator viewpoint or as a participant?
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Both!
Gimme baseball! Each second fraught with tension, each instant a moment on which the entire game can turn.