Reflecting on USA’s World Cup Run and Looking Ahead to 2014

Unfortunately, luck ran out for the United States Men’s National Team this past Saturday, as it dropped to Ghana for the second straight time in World Cup play, 2-1. Once again, USA conceded an early goal and looked flat during the first half. Once again, Bob Bradley made questionable decisions in the starting lineup. And once again, we Americans came back down to earth and realized that we still years away from being considered a soccer superpower.

The reason why we didn’t see the USMNT make a run in this tournament was due to a number of factors – some preventable, while others were simply unavoidable. The following is a list of why there was no storybook ending for Disney to turn into its next successful, inspirational sports movie:

1. Poor Personnel Decisions:

Head Coach Bob Bradley continued to make poor personnel decisions in the starting lineup. As we saw, Ricardo Clark should never have been starting over Maurice Edu. Even worse, Clark was substituted in the 31^st minute! With a limit of three substitutions per game, it is crucial to make these decisions wisely. Most of the time substitutions are made in well into the second half in order to get fresh legs on the pitch for the last 15-20 minutes of the game.

Replacing Clark early in the first half essentially wasted one of the three strategic substitutions, killed the confidence of Clark (even though Bob Bradley claims it had to do with Clark’s yellow card), and stripped the U.S. of a pair of fresh legs in the second half. The USMNT certainly could have used a boost during extra time against a much faster and well-conditioned Ghana team. (more…)

Over the course of watching the game this morning, it became clear to me that FIFA doesn’t want the US to advance in the World Cup. I’d wager it has something to do with other countries’ fanbases “caring more”, creating an arena where countries besides the US can excel at something, and probably just general hatred of America and freedom. Now granted, our players will not be executed if they return home without a victory, we do dominate the world in most other things, and the world does hate us; but that is no excuse for denying us rightly earned goals and games [and no, the US losing would not be "For the Good of the Game"].

You would think that after the Koman Coulibaly debacle that robbed the US of a win against Slovenia that the officials on the pitch for this game against Algeria would have gotten some memo prior to kickoff saying something like “if it’s close, rule in the US’ favor”. After all, that would really be the ONLY way that FIFA and/or any officials related to that disaster could make up for that loss…

For more of this rant, click here.

Although the first week of World Cup action has not exactly turned casual fans into die hards, there have been plenty of appealing storylines. Teams have clearly played “not to lose,” which here in America equates to an entertainment value equivalent to that of a Royals-Orioles baseball game in the middle of September. However, expect the action to pick up considerably over the next week, as teams attempt to advance in their respective group rankings. There are a number of players and teams that you should be keeping an eye on before the Round of 16 begins on June 26.

Uncle Sam’s Army

The U.S. Men’s National Team did exactly what I expected against England—played them hard to a 1-1 draw. The highest rated U.S. World Cup match since 1994 certainly didn’t disappoint…unless you were a member of the Green family in England. The lack of goaltending depth for the Three Lions was apparent after Robert Green’s blunder on Clint Dempsey’s shot near the end of the first half. This was HUGE for the USMNT, especially after conceding a lack within the first five minutes of the match.

The U.S. showed resiliency and mental toughness. After being a “clueless spectator” on the defensive line in the first half, Oguchi Onyewu responded very well in the second half by solidifying the defense on both Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey. Onyewu sometimes is the Dwight Howard of American soccer, in that he is the well-built defender who is prone to getting needless fouls called against him thanks to smaller opponents. Look for Slovenia and Algeria to possibly exploit this weakness in their upcoming matches against the United States.

The unsung hero for the USMNT was Jay Demeritt, who over the past year has not gained the praise he should for shutting down Spain’s attack in the 2009 Confederations’ Cup and Wayne Rooney this past Saturday. With a solid performance during the rest of the tournament, he should be drawing attention from more top clubs. The U.S. midfield also did a stellar job of limiting the damage done by a much more talented and experienced English midfield squad. The tandem of Jozy Altidore and Robbie Findley upfront looked promising; Altidore had a great scoring chance on a marvelous run in the 65th minute, while Findley’s speed stretched the English defense.

The Man of the Match was Tim Howard, who continues to keep his team in contention every game. He is undoubtedly a top-five goalkeeper in the world and has certainly shown that he is the most valuable player on the U.S. squad (sorry, Landon Donovan). Rumors of broken ribs will continue to circulate; however, I believe his grittiness and leadership qualities will lead the U.S. to the Round of 16.

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Per Deadspin, this photo of a matador in Spain pretty much tops any list of worst sports injuries:

Yes, the bull’s horn is exactly where you think it is.

Yeesh. If you thought Ian Laperriere’s injury was nasty…well, it was, but this is on quite another level.

As Hemingway said, “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing and mountaineering; all the rest all merely games.” Hard to disagree.

$149 million for 70 wins and no postseason? Yep—that’s a situation.

This calls for…something. Ron-Ron juice VitaminWater, anyone?

Props to The 700 Level for this gem:

In case you haven’t caught this already, here’s a classic example of some anger issues.

In a March 27th AHL game between the Hamilton Bulldogs and the Abbotsford Heat, Jim Playfair, head coach of the Heat, lost his cool after one of his players was given a game misconduct for running into the Bulldogs’ goalie.

(Watch the player to the right during the antics. I’m pretty sure he’s trying to cover up his laughter.)

As announced today, Playfair received a hefty fine and probably mandatory anger management classes.

When asked about the tantrum:

“It isn’t my proudest moment for sure. It’s not to the point where it’s embarrassing.”

Not embarrassed?! This will be up there with Phil Wellman’s circus act on future blooper reels.