GatewayRedbirds.com

A hundred years from now after the polar ice caps melt, Antarctica will be heavily populated and will win the World Cup.

Ann Coulter took one look at Fat Bulldog's interest in soccer and promptly proclaimed it a sign of the Nation's Moral Decay. Thanks Fat.

Joe Shlabotnik wrote:Ann Coulter took one look at Fat Bulldog's interest in soccer and promptly proclaimed it a sign of the Nation's Moral Decay. Thanks Fat.

I agree with Ann that soccer's popularity is a sign of our moral decay. But it's not the only sign. Other signs are the popularity of comic books and that rock and roll music kids listen to these days.

Schlich wrote:I thought someone said that if we advanced, we would play on the 4th? is that wrong?

That was if we won our group and made it to the Qtr Finals.

Watched the match all the way through yesterday evening. It seemed to me that the US was playing reasonably conservative and they probably had heavy legs. Where were the deep runs by Fabian Johnson or Beasley? You didn't see many of them and the ones you saw were not nearly as aggressive as what we saw against Portugal. Was that by design (i.e. playing conservatively)? Was that because they were tired? Was that because Germany didn't allow it to happen? Maybe all three.

I think this match exposed Dempsey and Bradley (and the importance of Altidore) more than the Portugal game. Both Bradley and Dempsey are playing out of position. Dempsey could not get anything going. Bradley's passing game was fine, not great, but it seemed like he lacked his normal creativity. Again, tired? Conservative by design? Or forced into it by Germany? Probably all of the above, though I want to give Germany the credit here. Bradley had very few options to deliver the ball. He made some terrific passes over the top to Dempsey and Jones, but no one could handle them or finish them. How different would Bradley's game have looked if he had Altidore there as well? I think the whole game is different.

All things considered, I was pleased with how we looked against a German squad that might be the best in the world. We were tired. We had heavy legs. We were missing a key player and had our two best players out of position. We were destroyed for the first 10 minutes. And the rest of the match, we played Germany pretty even. They showed why they are great and why we still have room to grow. They delivered on a set piece. We struggled to earn set pieces and didn't do anything with them (until the end of the match).

Full squads and equal terms, Germany is certainly better than us. Shocking, I know. But, the gap is closing. Win or lose against Belgium, we've shown that we can play with the world's best.

I think we'll beat Belgium

The play was never very sexy. I wish our group had one punching bag in it we could run over. We're through, and I think the Belgium game will give us a better idea of exactly what that means. I mean, Costa Rica is through a tough group too, after all. If you run that Ghana game back five times I bet we draw thrice and lose once--and even that might be slightly optimistic. That game was a bit of a turn-off for me. Maybe it was just practical training for Germany. The Portugal game was a bit better and should have been a more deserved 3 points. I'd rather take what we got, but I also would have liked to see us play Germany like we had to win.

ESPN put Jermaine Jones in their Best XI for the group stages. Well-deserved.

Joe Shlabotnik wrote:Ann Coulter took one look at Fat Bulldog's interest in soccer and promptly proclaimed it a sign of the Nation's Moral Decay. Thanks Fat.

Damn. I'm real sorry guys.

Fat Strat wrote:Watched the match all the way through yesterday evening. It seemed to me that the US was playing reasonably conservative and they probably had heavy legs. Where were the deep runs by Fabian Johnson or Beasley? You didn't see many of them and the ones you saw were not nearly as aggressive as what we saw against Portugal. Was that by design (i.e. playing conservatively)? Was that because they were tired? Was that because Germany didn't allow it to happen? Maybe all three.

Every team that played in Manaus lost their next games, so I think fatigue and an extremely conservative game plan against a better team played a huge part. I really think Jurgen didn't want to get embarassed.

Fat Strat wrote:How different would Bradley's game have looked if he had Altidore there as well? I think the whole game is different.

Me too. I don't know if the foot nerve injury he missed time for in Toronto right before training camp is screwing up his first touch and fine touch passing but I definitely agree he misses Altidore and how Dempsey was always there to link up in the attack when he plays further from the 18. Of our starting 11, Altidore, Deuce and Bradley are the best at those quick triangle combination plays that break down defenses and can start fast breaks and without Jozy as target, pressure valve and physical presence, it's showing in Bradley's turnovers.

Fat Strat wrote:Full squads and equal terms, Germany is certainly better than us. Shocking, I know. But, the gap is closing.

Yeah, the gap is smaller than most people think. A win against Belgium would go far in proving that to the rest of the world and maybe more importantly European club managers at big teams, but ultimately as long as the gap is closing, it doesn't really matter if the world knows.