RE: Cullen's Italy - US thoughts
Cullen, Italy is a defensive team. They play solid defense, letting opponents into its defensive third (but not letting them get good shots off - see game stats) before countering. That's why Italy rarely scores more than a goal or two per game against decent competition. Italy never controls the midfield. Can you name a significant Italian midfielder since Baggio? People get carried away when they say the U.S. controlled the midfield, and therefore assume they outplayed them. That is not correct, given Italy's style of play. U.S. did "control" the pace of the match, but they did not outplay Italy. The stats show this in terms of ball possession and shots on goal. I don't know what Italians you claim agree with your comment, but I know of none, although the ones I know are dissapointed in the result and admit the U.S played well.
Read non-American newspapers before assuming everyone agrees with ESPN, FoxSports, Lalas, or Wynalda. London Times (England) acknowledged all red cards as legitimate. El Pais (Spain) says this was a great game and U.S. played very well throughout, especially 11 v. 10. La Nacion (Argentina) acknowledges Italy struggled to capitalize when it was 10 v. 9, and the U.S. played stellar defense. Yet none of these say the U.S. "outplayed" Italy and deserved a win. They call out Italy on failing to take advantage when they were a man up and the U.S. for not being able to finish or get shots off, but all agree that this was a great game (possibly the best game of this World Cup, which implies an even game for no one cares about one-sided games). Like I said before, the U.S. played well, but everyone in the U.S. gets carried away saying they outplayed them, deserved to win, and were robbed with the red cards and offside call. Questionable calls yes, but they weren't necessarily bad calls. But the U.S. did play well.
What really sucks is as I'm writing this Ghana went up 1-0.
posted by Me @ 7:11 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
And we're tied!!
The best part is ESPN showing 20 people in Columbus, Ohio "going wild" after the goal.
Oh and how could I forget about the live shot of Times Square?? It really captures this country's passion for futbol.
JD
Man, what a golden opportunity squandered today...finally get some momentum and then a silly foul in the box blows the US out of the water. Dammit. Well, I wonder if the Brazil / Ghana game will be a good one.
-D
Re: The London Times: When they describe the US coach as a bloated windmill it's hard to think they are entirely objective. Having been in London twice in the last few years there is a lot of backlash against the US b/c the British people feel Bush sucked Blair into Iraq (he did), so I wouldn't call that article any more objective than Wynalda's coverage. I watched the game. I've watched a lot of games. I've not seen any other red cards for hard tackles (that could've *GASP* "broken bones," per the overly dramatic London Times). I'm only describing my impression which is probably biased for the US. I may not be the world's greatest soccer fan but I play a shitload of Winning Eleven 8 and follow the Premier League on the deuce, so I don't need El Pais to tell me what "really" happened in a game. Anyways, a moot point after the Ghana game. Doubly moot since we couldn't have beaten Brazil. Time to switch allegiance to Espana. JC
JC - switch to Argentina. Rooting for Espana is like pulling for Roy when he was at Kansas - the teams were always good but they always found a way to blow it in the end.
- Jav
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