woodelf said:
Is it a cultural thing that we simply don't rush into traffic or shoot from 25 yards? Good things happen when you force the action and make the ref make a decision. I see the USA going side to side and backwards way too much to be a threat. The one time Convey rushed in he was fouled, why didn't they do it more?
Because the several other times they would start trying to dribble, the ball would get stripped. And someone with balls (read guts) tries to hold firm instead of clearing and gives up a goal. Then Bocanegra doesn't clear properly and that leads to a penalty kick. Defense needs to be conservative and offense 'almost' reckless, not the other way around!
The 4-5-1 was absolutely horrible the whole cup. Eddie Johnson should have started and we should have gone to a 3-5-2 or 4-4-2.
Donovan had a bad day, but the couple of times he had good crosses, people couldn't connect. One time on a corner kick, someone ducks their head before turning it to strike the ball. But by ducking, the ball goes just over his head!
The game should have ended in a draw. US played almost respectably, though I would have liked to see more energy from them like they did in the final 10-15 minutes.
Ghana didn't play well enough to deserve a win but they deserved to advance. They just lucky on the penalty kick and lucky (in a sense) on Reyna's mistake. But they pounced on their opportunities. But they didn't create too many chances to score (just a few).
I think Essien has like 10-15 shots in the tournament (more than the whole US team), but I doubt one of his shots have been on target. He's willing to shoot from anywhere but he's been off this tournament. Yet his presence in the next game will be sorely missed because he's such a presence on the field.
And I really hate the time killing in soccer. Almost as bad as dives.
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