Quote:
|
Originally Posted by DrumNFeather
Honestly, I think that is an easy excuse in any sport, for people to make. Was it a bad call? Yes. But when your team cannot muster a goal (or two to win) in the second half against a team picked last in your group with the motivation to move on to the second round...then you only have yourself to blame...
I understand that in an international setting, it would be reasonable to think that we would get screwed...I just don't think we're that good. When calls go against us, it just compounds it.
|
I actually think the team was very good this year (though uninspired for some strange reason). The penalty kick was huge for Ghana. It changed the entire flow of the game. Rather than Ghana spreading out more for scoring opportunities as it would have in a tied game, they were able to drop more people back and play a tight defense, making it VERY difficult to score. That and the fact that Ghana players seemed to be writhing on the ground in tremendous pain for about half of the second half did the US in.
I am so sick of players flopping on the ground and being wheeled off on a stretcher, only to bounce right back up after wasting 3 minutes of everyone's time. Why is that not a yellow card?
The US also could have beaten Italy if it was 11 on 11 soccer. As is, playing with only 9 men and getting a tie against a solid Italy team was quite impressive (even though their goal was an own goal).
Overall, I thought the US did quite well with the cards it was dealt (difficult group, AWFUL officiating, ejections of key US players affecting both the Italy and Ghana matches).