T1B

Very interesting prospect. The USA has never been more confident, but the Czechs are still smarting from Euro '04 and will want to prove a point.

2-1 Czechs. Maybe.

I have visions of that deer-in-the-headlights look the US had in '02 when Poland jumped on top of them right away. I hope I'm wrong.

2-0 already in the 36th minute. So much for a good start to this one

packwin13 wrote:2-0 already in the 36th minute. So much for a good start to this one

Anyone know how to say "overrated" in German????

T REX wrote:

packwin13 wrote:2-0 already in the 36th minute. So much for a good start to this one

Anyone know how to say "overrated" in German????

yea I think its pronounced "the third reich" but I may be wrong on that one..

Unless the Italians fall on their faces too, we should start the countdown to the 2010 tournament.

Simply aweful.

I can't tell if the Czechs really are that good or if we simply sucked big-time today.

It's one thing to play shitty and another to be unlucky. We managed both today. At least we didn't have any red cards.

Weird thing is, had Reyna's shot gone in, the momentum of the game would have completely changed and we still may have had a shot, imo.

Rack the Czechs for handing us our asses. Sucks for them that Jan Koller is out. His injury looked fairly serious. Thomas Rosicky was a monster.


Btw, anyone who thought the U.S. was a "favorite" going into this game is a moron.

Yeah, I didn't really see the US doing anything major but I had hoped they would have a better game. Quite frankly, I just don't see how anyone could claim that they were a top 5 team in the world. Their ball handling was ok, nothing spectecular. I thought the Chech were much better at their passing game and ball handling and when it came to the final 1/3rd of the play, in other words the US' Scoring ability, they were a mess. Their technique just didn't seem to be there today.

I don't see them doing anyting great against the Italians either.

RadioFan wrote:Simply aweful.

I can't tell if the Czechs really are that good or if we simply sucked big-time today.

It's one thing to play shitty and another to be unlucky. We managed both today. At least we didn't have any red cards.

Weird thing is, had Reyna's shot gone in, the momentum of the game would have completely changed and we still may have had a shot, imo.

Rack the Czechs for handing us our asses. Sucks for them that Jan Koller is out. His injury looked fairly serious. Thomas Rosicky was a monster.


Btw, anyone who thought the U.S. was a "favorite" going into this game is a moron.

I agree with you on all accounts. I think that the Czech are that good. They play great defense and took us out of the game early with the Kollar goal.

Where was Beasley and Convey? Convey crosses like my 3 year old. That guy was either nervous or extremely overrated. Keller had no chance on any of the shots.

Our defense was horrid and our midfiled play was unorganized. I would make this the line up for Italy:

GK Keller
D: Onyewu, Pope, Bocanegra, Mastroeni
MF: Lewis, Donovan, Reyna, Beasley
F: Johnson, McBride

That couldn't hurt.

And by the way ESPN guys and gal, it's pronounced "Roh-zis-key."

Btw, anyone who thought the U.S. was a "favorite" going into this game is a moron.

True. But there were a lot of people not giving the Czechs their due. The Czech's have probably been consistently the best team in Europe over the last 4 years.

RadioFan wrote: Weird thing is, had Reyna's shot gone in, the momentum of the game would have completely changed and we still may have had a shot, imo.

Rack the Czechs for handing us our asses. Sucks for them that Jan Koller is out. His injury looked fairly serious. Thomas Rosicky was a monster.

i'd like to think if Reyna's poster goes in....we come out of the stand around in bunches looking at each other shit on the attacking end....way to use our speed. :cry:

Rosicky's 1st goal (Czech #2) was SICK.

what a blast.

I actually bolted from work early today so that I could watch the whole dreary affair. Why, I have no idear.

I don't know much about succer, but I know an asskicking and a schooling when I see one. Suffice to say, I watched one team seemingly in complete control of the situation, and another w/o a fucking clue and just hoping to get lucky

The homeboys strategy of trying to feed it to the top of the box in order to get a decent shot off... well, it wasn't working... what with about three enemy soldiers patrolling that area and punting the ball in the wrong direction every goddamn time.

Rack OUR persistence, though. They kept at it until the very end. It was like, "Hey, this isn't fucking working, so let's keep trying it"!

NOT down with being Checkoslovakias' bitches over here.

Does this mean that I'm gonna' have to drive like a Yugo or a Kia?

I'm thinking of canceling my cable service.

czechs will go as far as nedved takes them



he is one of top players in the world. worldclass.

That was just straight out fucking ugly. Nice lack of hustle. Lots of guys standing around midfield cherry picking. Italy gonna dookie stomp us come saturday unless someone steps up.

Horrendous defense. Just give the Czech's all the time in the world. Don't even bother to pressure them.

At this rate it looks like 3-and-out.

JCT and socal

The U.S. got worked by a better team, obviously.

I don't know squat about soccer, but it's readily apparent that this game is all about teamwork.

It's not about individual effort or talent.

It's about working together as a cohesive unit, an idea quite foreign to us Americans...and why we'll never be able to piss a drop in this tourney.

teamwork, yes, which there was a lack of. ESPN is about to replay the game. Watch the lack of hustle and lot of US players standing there not attacking the ball and basically waiting for the ball to come to them.

JCT wrote:Watch the lack of hustle and lot of US players standing there not attacking the ball and basically waiting for the ball to come to them.

Exactly.

Various teams have different styles, depending on their coaching and playing tradition. In general, European teams tend to favor the long ball with guys making runs trying to beat the defense; South American teams generally like to work using the short passing game.

Regardless of style, however, there is one trait that teams like England, Holland, Argentina, Brazil, Italy and all good teams have -- their players make runs toward the goal or into space to create offensive scoring opportunities. The U.S. showed virtually none of that on Monday. Guys just stood there, waiting for the ball to be passed to them. No way in hell you're going to win playing like that, and it sure as hell wasn't the way we played in qualifying games. I give some credit to the Czech defense, but every single possession? No way.

It also didn't help that our guys kept giving the ball away on horrible touches. Instead of trapping the ball, they seem to have bumpers on their feet. The fundamental blunders were bad and led to the second and third Czech goals.

RadioFan wrote: Exactly.

Not what I saw.

I saw a team with no clear direction or plan running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Or maybe they're just talentless rubes, who have no idea how to play as a team?

Yep. That's what I saw.

You can dissect it all you want, but it is what it is.

The US were put on the back foot right from the off, and were beaten by a very scary team (although Koller's injury is a massive blow).

Wouldn't count 'em out yet, though. Ghana are beatable, and Italy are due their regular first-round wobble aganst someone. What a horrible group to be in, though - even if you come 2nd, you'll probably be up against Brazil in the next round.

And that was the first time I've heard a crowd singing the Star-Spangled Banner without someone trying to see how many syllables they can stretch it out to. Sounds a million times better.

Who was the bloke with the cannon right foot who stuffed one into the corner from 35 yards out? The pats need a new kicker. Maybe he won't mind working a second job this winter.

I was severely unimpressed yesterday. On paper, this should be the best team we have fielded in a long time but they sure didn't play that way yesterday. I don't know if anyone heard anything about the warmup with Angola but I heard we looked really really bad. Makes sense based on our showing yesterday.

I really thought Arena was a better coach than this and I hope he proves it Saturday.

The Disney networks just shit the bed. A blowout loss in which we didn't score equals the death of casual soccer fan's intrest.

From the story in our local paper last week it was estimated that in order for Disney to break even on the WC coverage they would need the US to make it to the quarterfinals. At this point that seems unlikely at best and another financial loss.

Here's hoping they can recapture some intrest and national pride vs Italy.

smackaholic wrote:Who was the bloke with the cannon right foot who stuffed one into the corner from 35 yards out? The pats need a new kicker. Maybe he won't mind working a second job this winter.

Rosicky. Arsenal have just signed him up for £7M, which is fuck all by Premiershiop standards.

What's the pound worth these days, nish? even if it was as worthless as the canuck dollar, I suspect 7 million of them relieves him of having to moonlight in the nfl. too bad.

What we really need is another good ole fashioned euro throw down. Pummel one another for a half decade or so, reducing all sides to ruble and ensuring absolute poverty for a generation or two. That way you bastards would be penniless and all your athletic talent would come here to placekick or pick lettuce or something.

c'mon, deutscheland, youuuu cannnn do it! No way we'll step in to save the frenchies this time.

Nishlord wrote:

smackaholic wrote:Who was the bloke with the cannon right foot who stuffed one into the corner from 35 yards out? The pats need a new kicker. Maybe he won't mind working a second job this winter.

Rosicky. Arsenal have just signed him up for £7M, which is fuck all by Premiershiop standards.

Say what you want about Wenger, but he is the best bargain hunter in the Prem.

And time to call out Landon Donovan for what he is, surpremely talented nancy boy who is too soft from playing comofrtably in the MLS. Big fish in a little pond.

smackaholic wrote:What's the pound worth these days, nish? even if it was as worthless as the canuck dollar, I suspect 7 million of them relieves him of having to moonlight in the nfl. too bad.

Approximately $12,838,689. But that's the fee paid by one club to another. Seeing as Borussia Dortmund paid over twice as much for him, that's a very good deal.

Not sure what his weekly salary will be, but it's probably risen since yesterday.

If the U.S. lads had employed more banana kicks and man-to-man guarding, they might have had more nutmegs and overlapping runs.

Fester, Boning up on Footy Lingo

Marking. Man-to-man marking.

USA looked like a bunch of pussies. Attack the ball! Damn!

The only part I enjoyed is that maybe this will wake up there dumbasses to realize that number 5 ranking dont mean shit.

Dont walk around with a swagger if youve been getting your ass kicked the last 70 years.

Pepsi was the main sponsor for the poll that ranked them #5. If a non-American company had sponsored it, the US wouldnt have been in the Top 15.

They arent even top 25 right now.

Man-to-Man Marking

I thought that was part of rugby when the lads are all bent over, grunting and stuff.

Q, West Coast Style wrote:And by the way ESPN guys and gal, it's pronounced "Roh-zis-key."

While we've got their ear, maybe someone can explain to them that Brazilians don't make a traditional "R" sound, either...comes out like a soft "H."

"Hun-ALL-do"...not "Reenawwwldo."

The R sounds like H rule invalidates my ghusul that the name, ROCKSON GRACIE (rip), was the coolest name of all time.

arsenal were stupid


the time to get players is after the cup. wait to see if lazio,fiorentina,ac milan, and juventus get relegated.

the talent that would be up for grabs is much better than rosicky.


thuram,nedved,del piero,zambrotta,buffon,zlaten, and trez would be up for grabs just from juve. at basement prices.

Uncle Fester wrote:

Man-to-Man Marking

I thought that was part of rugby when the lads are all bent over, grunting and stuff.

That's a scrum. Or 'After the game in the hotel'