Here ya go. Less than a month away. I have no vibe for it yet, but have enjoyed this event more each time thanks to my soccer-head relatives.
-so cmon Thrill, fill us in on the storylines - who's favored, USA's chances, what's your fallback country to follow, etc etc. Any St. Louis dudes on the team this year or are the rosters even set yet?
Yes, I will use this thread (and my daughter the soccer-head) to get up to speed. I found the last one much more enjoyable because I had some idea of the teams and key players.
The US team has better than normal odds of making it out of their group and into the single elmination stage. I personally think this club's peak is reaching the quaterfinals, but anything above that is really pushing our luck. No one should go into this Cup thinking that the US has any shot at winning it. We're ranked currently 14th in the world.
I think you kind of have to approach it like the NCAA tournament. If you're a 4-8 seed, you should be more than satisfied with a run to the Sweet 16 or Elite 8. You're not going to win the thing.
The US team got a great draw. They're in the C group, with this schedule:
12 June 2010
England Match 5 United States Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg
18 June 2010
Slovenia Match 22 United States Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
United States Match 38 Algeria Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria
If you can't get excited about opening against England with our best chance to advance in years and some of the best young players we've seen (maybe ever), then this sport simply isn't for you.
Key players for the US:
DF Carlos Bocanegra
DF Oguchi Onyewu
GK Tim Howard
MF Michael Bradley
MF Clint Dempsey
MF Landon Donovan
FW Jozy Altidore
FW Eddie Johnson
I refused to add Beasley to that list, though he belongs. We're going to miss Charlie Davies, who was hurt in a car accident earlier this year. He was a fine up and coming player for the US team and I expected him to be a big contributor this year. But, with Altidore, Johnson, Dempsey, Onyewu, and Donovan we have a core of very solid if unspectacular players.
Don't expect a lot of high scoring games. You'll see the US team play hard defense and stay patient, waiting for set plays or crosses to develop. They're not flashy, but they have a knack for staying in matches and pouncing on the mistakes/lucky bounces which inevitably happen.
Last edited by Fat Strat on May 19 10, 11:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
