Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts

Saturday, 26 June 2010

Ghana v USA

Ghana 2 - 1 USA (after extra time)
Boateng 5 Donovan (pen) 62
Gyan 93

The whole stadium was thrilled by this one, except the red white and blue bits. Africa have survived in the competition.

Boateng's goal came from the first meaningful attack of the game. He picked it up two yards inside the American half after Clark dallied and lost the ball in a tackle, and just ran at the goal and kicked it in. You felt the US defence might have had more of an opinion about it, but they clearly felt it was an internal matter for the Ghanaians to resolve themselves, and chose to stand aside.

Perhaps they were confused by the opposition names. There were two Mensahs, for instance, John and Jonathan. The name may be popular in Ghana because of its historical association with John Mensah Sarbah, an early nationalist leader. There are also two Boatengs, although one of them plays for Germany - Jerome, his half brother. And then there's Amoah, Asamoah and Asamoah Gyan. So maybe the US team were having difficulty working out exactly who they were supposed to pick up, or maybe they were just a bit slow out of the blocks.

They rallied, not for the first time this tournament. They'd come back from an early goal against England, and from two down against Slovenia. Against Algeria, an injury time goal saw them through.

And they're ranked 14th in the world, as against Ghana's 32nd. Granted, America and Mexico tend to acquire rankings above their skills because they play so many easy games against small Caribbean islands in the CONCACAF qualification rounds, but they're still a grownup team whose players play in the top European sides. Except Jay Demerit, who plays for Watford, but even he's thinking of higher things, we hear. Although to be honest, if I was an American called Demerit, I'd insist it was pronounced Demerit, not Demerit.

Their manager Bob Bradley is top notch as well, and he's always prepared to make the hard calls. After half an hour he took off Clark and brought on Edu. There was a touching moment when he took time out to give Clark a hug, and whisper consoling words in his ear. It didn't seem to do much for Clark, but as managers always say in these situations, who wants a player that's happy to be taken off?

Their best players, as so often in the past, were Dempsey and Donovan. Dempsey found Findley alone in the box, and Kingson had to make the save. Jim Beglin reminded us that Dempsey's pass came off the same left foot that he used to score against Robert Green, and to be fair we've no grounds for claiming it was a different one. Although that particular shot was a powder puff effort that the keeper was unlucky with, as they are sometimes, and hardly something to boast about.

There was a similar chance at the other end, as Asamoah Not Gyan pounced on a moment of indecision from Demerit and had his shot well saved, and then it was half time. The camera lingered on the strange sight of Bill Clinton and Mick Jagger watching the game together, surely the most powerful dirty old men at the tournament. Somewhere in the world Jerry Hall and Monica Lewinsky were realising how much they had in common. You can't always get what you want, said the commentator about the state of the game, but I couldn't help thinking about Clinton's sticky fingers. He seemed to know a lot about the game, Clinton, or maybe he's just a cocksure little twat. Perhaps next time they could mike him up, then we'd know.

Bradley repeated his trick of using Feilhaber as a second half supersub, and he was unlucky to have his shot saved at point-blank range, after Ghana had failed to cut out a cross and Altidore had flicked it on to him. it was the Dempsey Donovan partnership that got them back on level terms, though.

Dempsey burst through some rather lazy Ghanaian defending, and into the box. Jonathan Mensah brought him down, and Donovan took the penalty. It went in off the post, Donovan breathed a sigh of relief and the momentum shifted to the US.

For a while it was mainly Kingson in goal that kept Ghana in it. First he went in feet first and got the ball just ahead of Altidore, carried it through the challenge and cleared on the other side of him. Then he saved from Bradley at close range. He got lucky though when Altidore rode a Mensah challenge in the box, tumbled and from a prone position shot just wide.

Extra time, and Ghana sorted it early. Three minutes in, Gyan scored a goal really very much like Boateng's at the start of the game, just running in and shooting, although this time it went over Howard rather than in at the near post. It took the heart out of the Yanks, whose most meaningful chance for the rest of the game was a hook shot from Demerit in the last minute, that the keeper watched sail a foot over the bar.

So relief for the local fans, and the quarter finals will have one side from Africa. More accurately, sub-Saharan Africa, as the fate of Algeria seems to have met with widespread indifference. I wonder why.

But a relief, anyway. Tomorrow, England.

Thursday, 24 June 2010

Goup C - final games

England 1 - 0 Slovenia
Defoe 22

USA 1 - 0 Algeria
Donovan 90 + 2


A turnaround, of a kind. Not enough to justify doing the Douglas Bader joke again, but signs of progress, or at least the desire for some.

The goal came early, fortunately. After 22 minutes Defoe got onto Milner's cross and shot home from close range, under pressure from Suler. Slovenians may have felt their keeper could have done better, but in truth it was straight at him, on him and through him faster than human reflexes can be expected to work.

And he had a good game otherwise, Handanovic. If it wasn't for him Gerrard would have scored a few minutes later, but he blocked the shot, then twisted to grab it before it crossed the line. Lampard, meanwhile, blasted over with an empty goal before him when he surely ought to have done better. It was an awkwardly bouncing ball, but he is supposed to be Frank Lampard, after all.

After the break Defoe put a great chance wide in the first minute, while Rooney was just offside as he ran onto a Gerrard pass and crossed for Defoe to tap in. Later, Terry's header from a corner was kept out by another Handanovic save, while Rooney's unchallenged shot hit the post and bounced left, the wrong way. Apparently a glaring miss, the replay showed this to be a great save as well, Handanovic's fingertips causing the two degree deflection that stopped the shot going bouncing right and in.

Terry's header was unlucky, and he did his bit at the other end too. At one point he blocked a Novakovic shot, then hurled himself across the box in a vain attempt to block Jokic's effort with his face. Fortunately perhaps, it was Johnson's foot that did the necessary, and Birsa blasted the rebound wide, but today no-one is talking about Terry as anything other than a hero.

And this is how he handles his life. In the twelve years of his senior career, he's played 391 games for Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and England. Allowing 96 minutes a game, that's an average of eight minutes and forty nine seconds a day when people actually like him. For a man like him, that may be enough.

It was a tense last ten minutes, knowing that one slip up meant elimination, but England held on. They spent most of injury time down by the Slovenian corner flag, the least nerve-racking place for them to be. They could have stayed there from the twenty third minute and it would have been fine by me. I'm full of Stoical tips for all the other countries, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Poor Slovenia, though. After a tournament beyond expectations, they go out to a last minute US winner against Algeria. Their performance against the US alone ought to have earned them something, but you could say the same about the US, and we can't all go through.

The highlights of the USA v Algeria game are worth a watch, if you're up for it. Donovan's last minute winner gives them a game against Ghana, while England face Germany. Again. I just can't stand it.

Tuesday, 22 June 2010

Outcomes - group C

Group C
This is England's group, and it's complicated.

If England beat Slovenia and the USA beat Algeria, then England and the USA go through. Top place would be decided by goal difference, England needing to win by a greater margin than the USA.

If England beat Slovenia and Algeria beat the USA, then England are top and Algeria or Slovenia are second, depending on goal difference.

If Slovenia beat England and the USA beat Algeria, then Slovenia top the group and the USA finish second.

If Slovenia beat England and Algeria beat the USA, then Slovenia top the group and Algeria finish second.

If England beat Slovenia and Algeria and the USA draw, then England top the group and Slovenia come second.

If Slovenia beat England and Algeria and the USA draw, then Slovenia top the group and the USA come second.

If Slovenia and England draw and the USA beat Algeria by two goals or more, then the USA top the group and Slovenia are second. If they beat Algeria by one goal, it depends on the number of goals scored in each game.

If Slovenia and England draw and Algeria beat the USA, then Slovenia top the group and Algeria are second.

If both games are drawn, then Slovenia top the group and the USA are second unless England draw with at least three more goals than the USA do.

If both games are drawn and England draw with two more goals than the USA do, then Slovenia top the group and the second place is decided by lot. Oh yes.


Friday, 18 June 2010

USA v Slovenia

USA 2 - 2 Slovenia
Donovan 48 Birsa 13
Bradley 82 Ljubijankic 42

This what I was expecting to be able to say, after I'd set it up from the Germany game. After all the upsets, finally a game goes the way we expected, as the USA blow away Slovenia. It seemed a foregone conclusion. The whole population of Slovenia wouldn't quite fit into Philadelphia, but in Houston there'd be room to spare. No chance, surely.

Dempsey knew this was a game they had to take seriously. He elbowed Ljubijankic in the head in the first fifteen seconds. It wasn't enough to deter the Slovene from getting his head on a cross a few minutes later, but it flew well over.

The best player early on was Valter Birsa. His cross landed right at the feet of Novakovic, who swung and missed. Strike one.

A series of strikes seemed likely, but then Birsa himself hit a home run. The ball came to him about thirty yards out, American defenders showed a reluctance to intervene not traditionally associated with the US and his shot zipped in, leaving Howard standing. We were all stunned.

Next he played a killer free kick into the box which went all the way through and forced Howard to dive and clutch it. It was given offside, but the game was threatening to turn into the Birsa show.

The Americans tried to come back. Demerit's header from a free kick flashed past the left post, but on their next attack Findley was booked for handball. Considering the ball had just crashed into his face and bounced onto his hand while his eyes were still reflexively shut, this was not so much harsh as absurd.

A Dempsey cross so nearly gave them the result they wanted. It ran right in front of the empty net, and Brecko was left facing his goal, with a ball passing him and Donovan racing in on it. Brilliantly, he steered it on with just enough angle to beat Donovan, but not enough to go in. The best bit of defending in the tournament so far, I thought.

And it was Brecko who passed to Novakovic, who passed to Ljubijankic, who ran in the box and shot coolly under a diving Howard for Slovenia's second. Soon after the halftime whistle went, and Slovenia went in two up.

During the break, US manager Bob Bradley made some changes. He took off Findley and Torres, and brought on Edu and Feilhaber.

Altidore was always a thorn in the Slovenian flesh, and he nearly got in just after the restart. Immediately afterwards Donovan got free after Cesar slipped and missed an interception. He ran in at a tight angle along the byline, looked up, saw there was no-one with him and just whacked it through Handanovic and in. Exactly what the goalkeeper was doing wasn't clear, but it didn't seem to have much to do with his job title.

The game was in a high quality phase. Altidore turned Suler brilliantly on the edge of the box, but before he could get his shot in Suler recovered and nicked it away from under his swinging foot. Dempsey effortlessly trumped this exhibition of mere footballing skills by hurling Kirn to the ground in a move that would have earned him an Olympic gold in the Graeco-Roman wrestling.

As the half wore on, the US pressure on the Slovenian goal mounted, and Slovenians started to get yellow cards. Suler, Kirn and Jokic all found their way into the referee's little black book.

With eight minutes left, they cracked. A cross came in, the ever dangerous Altidore headed it down and it sat up nicely for Bradley, who hammered it home. That's my boy, thought his Dad. Sometimes the manager's son does actually get in on merit.

And after that, they nearly snatched it. They got a free kick on the right, Donovan played a perfect little chip ball in and Edu knocked it in. It was ruled out for a foul, but the replay showed a goalmouth fracas full of potential fouls, all Slovenian.

Radosavljevic nearly snatched it at the death, but Howard saved well and the full time whistle blew. A great game, and time to see if England could match them.

Sunday, 13 June 2010

England v USA

England 1 - 1 USA
Gerrard 4 Dempsey 40

My friend Sean came round to watch this with me. There's been a steady stream of visitors, actually, both family and friends. I reckon they've organised a rota, to make sure I get dressed at least every few days. I'm touched, but I've got other priorities right now. If people really want to help, send pizza. Or bhajis and samosas, or those lovely Polish sausages. What the hell did people eat before immigration? Chard?

I'm struggling a little bit to write this, on account of the beer. It's not that I'm hungover, it's just that after five minutes of the game I realised the beer was going to make proper note taking impossible and gave up, and now I've forgotten what the hell happened.

At least I lasted long enough to get down the first goal. Gerrard!!! is all it says, though. Sometimes beer and excitement have very similar effects.

This could be fun! said the commentator, and it was hard to disagree. I'd already sent a recklessly hubristic text to my friend Dave. I'm feeling queasy, he'd texted me at the start. I'd just had time to reply with Relax, we're basically playing Watford before the first goal seemed to confirm my words. Well Jay Demerit was in the team, he plays for Watford, they didn't have anyone better than him to fill that spot, so we were playing Watford, I reasoned. Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad with optimism.

It was a lovely goal. Heskey flicked it to Gerrard as he ran across the front of the box, and Gerrard got clear through and tucked it away past Howard very nicely thank you. Strangely, though, the expected dominance and besieging of the Watford goal failed to materialise. In fact the best effort for the next half hour came from Altidore, who headed wide from point blank range. He doesn't play for Watford. He plays for Hull. For Christ's sake. Hull, Watford, these are some mighty titans we struggled against. How would we cope with Messi?

And you all know what happened next. Robert Green's Scott Carson moment. I haven't bloody well forgotten about that. Dempsey hit a speculative effort from thirty yards, it rolled through gently to Green and he - well, I hardly need say. In fact, I don't see why I should. I'm already seeing it in my mind's eye over and over again, and I hardly see the need to reinforce that by spelling it out. I've got that godawful Dr Hook song stuck in my brain as well, but I haven't gone and typed out the lyrics. When you're in love with a beautiful woman ... Oh sorry, now I've done it to you. Still, maybe it'll drive out the Green debacle.

In the second half we actually played quite well, but without the impact we really needed. You watch your friends ... Heskey was clear through on goal, but hit it at a nice height for Howard to block.

We missed Ledley King, though, who'd gone off at halftime with a groin strain. You know that film, Unbreakable? Sure wasn't made about our defenders. It meant there was no-one able to stop Altidore running through, but somehow Green managed to deflect it onto the post and clear. Then somebody hangs up when you answer the phone ... Every one said he'd redeemed himself except for Gareth Southgate, who thought he was lucky not to have made another bad error by letting one in at the near post. Harsh, but true.

We tried, and we weren't terrible. Crouch came on and achieved his main aim of being tall, and Rooney had one quality shot that flashed just wide. No-one really sucked, except Green just for one awful second, but it was hard to feel inspired.

The final whistle came too soon, and we realised we'd have to settle for a draw. Watford my arse, as Dave put it so succinctly, and once more my hubris had only led to the inevitable nemesis of English mediocrity.

But there are two pieces of good news. Firstly, we've achieved the same result against the US that Italy did in the group stages in 2006, and they went on to win the Cup. Secondly, Algeria and Slovenia were really shit, and all we have to do is beat them by more than the US do and we top the group.

So I reckon it's all going to be fine. Problem is, I've been had before ...