[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

After a lame 1st half of fumbled dribbles, bad passes, terrible footwork and generally being dominated by Uruguay, the only thing which spared Korea in the first half was the ref..

Korea surprised us all by rallying hard in the second half to dominate over Uruguay , the complete opposite of their playing in the 1st half. They can leave with their heads held high, they never gave up for a minute and Uruguay had to earn their advancing to the next round with a hard, fast, aggressive match. Good game Korea, but Uruguay went on as we all expect...

my God, the US match!

 

Ghana proudly hails up the Ites Gold and Green in the Third Round for only the second time ever!! (making it a step farther than they did in the last World Cup and only the sixth time Africa has made it to the second round)

(cameroon 1990 1/4 finals 3rd round) (Nigeria 1994 1/8 finals 2nd round) (Nigeria 1998 1/8 Finals 2nd round) (Senegal 2002 1/4 Finals 3rd round) (Ghana 2006 1/8 Finals)

Great match!

Ghana had footwork, heart, speed and Kingson (with at least 11 crucial blocks!!)
USA had DEFENSE DEFENSE DEFENSE..

the first half the US was slow and lacked coordination with poor dribbling and passing, but the second half they were on fire, speed, shots, passing, ball control.. it was a great match.

Ghana siezed every opportunity, US had a very strong defense to keep them in well into the final minutes, very similar to the Korea match in this regard.

Ghana controlled the infield, US controlled the goal zone, but in a 130 minute match youth was the primary advantage, and Ghana came through in the clutch when it mattered most for all of Africa watching...


US can leave with a good match, and an undefeated record in the opening round, some great goals, it was fun to root for them, and I danced and cheered at all their goals, but who couldn't want it for Ghana? They even have a decent chance against Uruguay to be the first African team to advance to the semi-finals!!

I completely agree with you about the Korea Uruguay game. But it's become a bit of a cliche now for those hyper-energetic teams to look great for a while before finally being out-done by physically stronger teams. To be honest, I wonder just how well an Asian side could do in football purely because their lack of physical strength. I mean, have you seen Brazil's Lucio? The guy's a fucking hulk!

Regarding the USA Ghana game. I disagree that it was the USA's defence keeping them in the game. Well to a degree it obviously was, but I really think Ghana were deflated by that Donovan penalty and just seemed to take their foot off the pedal for almosat the entire second half. I rate Howard in goal but besides him, I think their real quality is up front: Donovan (one of my players of the tournament) Bradley, Altidore and Dempsey have been superb, effectively covering up cracks elsewhere in the squad.

You're right though, while I found myself wanting the USA to win, I'm absolutely delighted for Ghana. I think Uruguay may be a bit too much for them next week but so far I've been wrong about more matches than I've been right, so i sort of hope that carries on into their game.

Anyway, England v Germany tomorrow. It's such a massive game on so many levels that I'm not even sure I'm looking forward to it. There'll be no shame in England losing to a good German side but there was so much (arguably misguided) hope surrounding this England team that to go out before the semi-finals, never mind the quarters, will be seen as nothing but failure. From a neutral's perspective, it's sure to be an absolutely epic game.