ps- i was happy when i saw podolski in the starting lineup. fucker is the german gervinho.

Bradley was poor today. With Dempsey so isolated and Johnson appearing to drift in and out of games, your most consistent creative option is Zusi, who's been excellent for you so far. It's just Klinsmann has you playing in a way there's rarely anyone to pick anything up. But I still think his caution is probably your best bet. I'd worry that if you did start to open up a bit more against Belgium your own lack of real quality at the back could become a bit embarrassing if the likes of Hazard have one of their good days. You should just try and tighten up at the back, and hope you can nick a goal when the opportunity arises. Belgium don't look great but they'll likely outscore you if you start to try and really go at them.

i see what you're saying, and it makes a lot of sense. however, my feeling is that the usa has very little control while on the defense, unlike, say, italy.

we lack great central defenders, and our midfield isn't opening up well on the counter, so all we can do is pray and dodge bullets and hope howard stops the meteors. the more we sit back the more they push us. today during the first 10 or so minutes, or was it 15, can't recall, germany had 100% possession, it was ridiculous. germany's goal, i saw it coming before it happened-- they had us against the wall.

on the other hand, whenever we can go on the attack we are able to better dictate what goes on in the game. today it was no good because we brought too little, too late.

this might sound bananas, but i think we have more hope playing like argentina-nigeria. i.e., win by scoring more. during the portugal game we won while we were on the attack. the moment we tried to defend the advantage, we lost it. we probably would have been safer going for the 3rd one instead of sitting back. i understand other teams can do that but i'd rather have hazard defending than attacking us.

ps- bradley has been poor all 3 dates.

here is what social genius and all around sports lover Ann Coulter has to say about the beautiful game.

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/o...ecay/11372137/

ah....that was a good laugh.

I love how she tries to rip on soccer, the metric system, immigrants, non-english speakers, and the French....
she is so stupid.

she's fucking psychotic

--

and fuck my luck: hazard, de bruyne and lukaku are benched today. my fantasy team: boned.

go algeria go!

Well I watched the Portugal/Ghana game which seemed to be kicking off pretty well. Then it just turned into a 'two mid-table teams in the final league game of the season' match. Shame Ronaldo didn't have a better World Cup, but there were a couple of great chances saved by Ghana's keeper.

So new question for everyone-Favourite player of the group stage?

Mine has to be either Neymar, who impressed the hell out of me. Especially in the last game. Or Ochoa from Mexico. HE'S A FREE AGENT! Not for much longer though.

"Soccer is like the metric system, which liberals also adore because it's European."
rofl, who the hell is she?

and:
"(In soccer, the women's games are as thrilling as the men's.)"
what?

anyway, the Belgians are having a lot more trouble with the Koreans than I expected. You guys have a good chance, they are playing with a lot of substitutes tonight though

Now that a few hours have passed......the U.S. loss today really feels like a victory and the tie with Portugal felt more like a loss......guess that's why they call it, futbol!

i saw a green laser or something on akinfeev's face. right?

Really great to see Algeria go through, you could see it really meant a lot to the players and the fans, great performance. Wish them all the best against Germany.

that game ended up being a lot of fun in the 2nd half!

well done algeria coming back from an early goal against them

didn't see belgium south korea but i suspect it was the suck

It was great, nice to see Capello go out as well, the highest paid coach in the competition.

The 2nd half was good, they're the first arab team to make the last 16 of the competition too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AbjYmLIIGE

Is she real? or auditioning for Saturday Night Live?

she's unfortunately real

think of a front national troll

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwBkelYSmg0

@ Bytor, I disagree completely with Portugal feeling like a loss. It honestly changes NOTHING even if we had won we'd still be playing Belgium, meanwhile if we didn't at least draw to them then we'd be the ones going home, not them. So it was totally as good as a win! Today was a bigger sting because we looked to chaotic in the 2nd half, I think part of that is Germany playing superb press defense and part of it was the fucking torrential rain.

I am happier than ever about advancing right where we hoped we would. We ALL knew taking 1st in the group of death was by our calculations.. fucking impossible man!



so all in all taking 2nd and sending home two of the better teams in the entire world is fucking epic, priceless, and historic for USA futbol. This is the first time we've advanced two consecutive Cups to the Knockout Stage, and to be sure, this was probably the most impressive set of teams we've played against in our entire history.

The whole world laughed at us when we said getting second was realistic. I believed in my heart that the Group of Death was actually an advantage for us because its not like it was any easier for Portugal, Ghana, or Germany, they all had to play each other too.. While they were beating up on each other they thought we'd be the easy win, and it turns out that we weren't easy for any of them. We shut out Germany to its lowest scoring Group stage win in years. We sent Portugal home and they were ranked FOURTH in the WORLD going into the Cup. We sent Ghana home and that shit is sick motherfucking payback for 2006 and 2010. Also, Portugal got to be feeling like we are their rival now that we've sent them home in 2002 as well...

This is by far the best USA World Cup since 1930!!! I really think we have a legitimate shot to beat Belgium.. Shit gets real now y'all.

I dare say this deserves meme to the third power!

By putting USA in the Group of Death FIFA tried to fuck us right in the pussy




However we played Like A Boss




and so really somebody got to give USA the Deal With It shades yo..





Oh yeah, PEACE THE FUCK BITCH A$$ LUIS SUAREZ, hope it was worth it