World Cup 2010

[slide_into_first]

Slovenian fans must have been all WTF about Algeria pushing everybody forward and trying to score. Oh well.

I don't think Howard got enough credit for starting that play.

Howard's save and pass to midfield saved the day.

[Tambourine Man]

I just finished watching the Germany vs Ghana game, and the ugly kid on the German squad (begins with an "O", not a Germanic name) is pretty awesome. I love getting to see these young stars and this kid is special. Rooney is even uglier than him, so I'm pulling for Germany on Sunday. I may pickup a German jersey because they look so damn sweet.

[thrill]

Mezut Ozil. He is incredible.

Watch out for Germany. They could win the next two Euro's as well as the 2014 cup. They're loaded with young talent who will be in their primes in the next 10 years.

[Freed Roger]

Wish I could watch this second half of group F play. Any of the 4 teams could conceivably still advance or get bounced.

The whiner-diver Italians getting bounced from this weak sister group would be awesome.

EDIT: Arrivederci Italy!

[Leroy]

EDIT: Arrivederci Italy!

Whoa.

[Tambourine Man]

Mezut Ozil. He is incredible.

Watch out for Germany. They could win the next two Euro's as well as the 2014 cup. They're loaded with young talent who will be in their primes in the next 10 years.

That's him. He looks to have a frame that might support a little more upper body strength, but the foots skills are fantastic.

Edit- He did have a nice opportunity against Ghana to bury one with the right foot but showed how strongly he favors the left and sorta squandered it.

[Fat Strat]

Plus, if we are allowed to get ahead of ourselves now, assuming we beat Ghana we will be playing the winner of Uruguay and South Korea. It's a pretty nice draw, giving us a great opportunity to advance to the semifinals, which is just really, really awesome, guys.

I hadn't looked at that. Really? I assumed we would get the winner of Germany/England for some reason. I'll see if I can find a link to a bracket... Here we go:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/ ... 901&ver=us

So, here's a look at possible matchups and our rankings. Ghana should really be our only concern. They're currently ranked 32nd in the world, behind both Algeria (30) and Slovenia (25). Anything can happen in these matchups, as we've shown so far, so we can't look past Ghana. But, we were clearly the better team on the pitch against both of those clubs, and technically beat both teams. The result should be the same against Ghana.

After Ghana we would be in the quarterfinals (top 8 teams) and we would be facing either Uruguay (16) or South Korea (47). Uruguay is the most likely and would be a very tough opponent, but not unbeatable.

After that it's the winner between [Netherlands (4) vs. Slovakia (34)] vs. [Brazil (1)/Portugal (3) vs. Spain (2)/Chile (18)] in the Semifinals, depending on how the Group stage ends. Hard to believe that we could potentially reach the semifinals of the World Cup and the only team we would face who was ranked HIGHER than the US would be England.

So, while I think it's completely possible that the US will reach the semifinals (we should be favored in the next 2 matches), it would be ludicrous to dream the impossible dream of reaching the finals. One of those clubs -- Netherlands, Brazil, Portugal, Spain -- will be there and will roll over us like the Cards rolling over the Pirates.

[omaha_red]

USA! USA! USA! USA!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn3rOPm ... r_embedded][/youtube]

[slide_into_first]

I think Uruguay is very good and would be hard to beat.

[thrill]

I think Uruguay is very good and would be hard to beat.

Ghana's going to be hard enough to beat.