=== USA-Ghana not for the weak of heart ===
By Josh Simeone, Soccer Editor
Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - So you're saying there's a chance...
After a devastating 3-0 loss, and a draw with Italy, there's still a chance for the United States to move beyond the group stages.
That's the World Cup for you, a pool of talented soccer teams just waiting to surprise, upset and impress. We say in almost any sport that anything can happen, but in soccer, we really mean it.
But after the 1-1 draw, are we as U.S. soccer fans ready to believe that this team is for real? After all, the United States didn't even find a shot on goal, much less a goal in 90 minutes of pure gritty play on Saturday night in Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Are fans really going to be able to believe that this team can beat Ghana, a team that nearly provided the best upset of the tournament with its 2-0 shutout over the Czech Republic? Whether all of us, or none of us, in the United States is ready to believe in this team, we can't ignore the large concerns that have risen since the referee's final whistle of Saturday's match.
There are questions still to be answered, holes still to be filled and oh yeah... goals still to be scored, because it's not a groundbreaking theory to realize that a team can't get too far when it hasn't scored any goals of its own.
Anyone outside of the U.S. headquarters, including myself, will just have to wait until Thursday's match to find out just what the U.S. can bring to the table against a very difficult Ghana squad. So until then, let us enjoy some old fashioned speculating, criticizing and guessing.
SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
First of all, hats off to the United States players, who didn't win, but proved that there was life after an embarrassing shutout loss to open its much anticipated World Cup schedule.
The United States played well from the start, matched up with Italy enough to hold onto the 1-1 draw and continued to battle despite being down to nine players. By the way, someone remind the U.S. Soccer Association to send head referee Jorge Larrionda a nice fruit basket for ruining the starting lineup for the match with Ghana.
Though the U.S. isn't off the hook for its 24 fouls from Saturday, there was no need for Pablo Mastroeni to get the red card. The U.S. battled back, after the media focused on the criticisms, after it looked as if Italy would have a free ride into the round of 16 and after much of the rest of the world, with the exception of Sam's Army, forgot about the American underdogs.
The U.S. walked onto the pitch in front of 46,000 fans, a full capacity crowd with more Italian blue than American red white and blue, and played with aggression, urgency and true passion. It was good to see a team battle like the United States did on Saturday, rather than watch a team look completely lost as it did against the Czech Republic. And what sweet justice when the Czech Republic was defeated by this mysterious and unknown Ghana team that everyone had forgotten about.
Also, hats off to Brian McBride, who briefly left the match for only a few minutes with a blood covered face after a violent Daniele De Rossi elbow in the first half. The striker returned in heroic fashion with two small bandages on his forehead, and furthermore, played the rest of the match as if nothing had happened.
If there's a hero on this U.S. team, it truly is and deserves to be McBride, who along with goalkeeper Kasey Keller, continues to be the rock that is holding this, at times, shaky U.S. squad in place.
So cheers to Bruce Arena's squad for making the very difficult Group E a real race in 2006. However, lets not jump on this magical mystery tour just yet, because there was plenty wrong with Saturday's match, from both sides.
The biggest problem for the United States was the offense, meaning there was none throughout both halves.
Yes, we did see some nice pressure from the U.S., but overall, any and all attacks failed to really put anyone on the edge of their seats. When the U.S. did manage to bring the ball into the Italian side of the field, the possession was spoiled, kicked away or taken away by the defense. On a couple of occasions, it was especially difficult to watch Clint Dempsey, making his first start of the World Cup, completely blow a couple of great scoring opportunities with ridiculous crosses.
One in particular took place when Dempsey had the ball on the right side, had time to come up with something nice, but sent a booming kick beyond either post, leaving McBride to attempt a header that everyone knew had no chance. What's worse, is the United States did not have a single shot on goal - not even one - and that is a huge problem.
Sure, Mastroeni had a nice shot before his dismissal that just narrowly missed hitting the cross bar, but after that, the U.S. had nothing close, nothing that made anyone stand up and scream and absolutely nothing that even came close to making it past the goalkeeper's hands, except of course, the offside goal in the second half. Too bad that didn't count, or I would be writing about the U.S. team's chances for an upset against its likely round of 16 opponent Brazil.
There was also the set pieces, which were far from even close to challenging anyone on the Italian side. For whatever reason, the U.S. seems to struggle when the ball is standing still, and that is something that in such a physical match, could have made a huge difference.
It's hard to watch at times, knowing there's a great scoring opportunity just seconds away, only to watch the ball fly clear of any U.S. strikers. Either way, there's got to be some changes made, because a set piece can be a players's best friend when it comes to a close match.
Another huge problem presented itself right on the sideline, as for some reason, Arena and his entourage of coaches found no reason to use the team's third and final substitution in the remaining minutes of the match.
Surely, this didn't go unnoticed to the rest of the world, when it simply seemed to be common sense to take advantage by bringing fresh legs into such a trying match. With only nine players and a 1-1 draw with one of the world's biggest and best teams, what do you have to lose by bringing in a third substitute?
Has loyalty become so predominant on this team, that now a player who played well for most of the match should be allowed to stay in for the entire match even if he is tired? Ugh. The three substitute spots are there for a reason, so why not take advantage?
Surely, one of the U.S. players would have benefited from being substituted. And didn't anyone learn anything from the Australia-Japan match?
In case you forgot, Australia's coach had a stroke of genius when he brought in three substitutes, two of whom went on to score the three goals the Aussie's needed to win their first World Cup match ever. Facing the 1-0 deficit to the Japanese squad, Gus Hiddink brought in Tim Cahill and John Aloisi, two relatively unfamiliar players who became instant heroes in a matter of minutes.
As the world watched, Cahill netted both the equalizer and winning goals within five minutes, and Aloisi put the finishing touches on the tremendous victory with a goal in the 90th minute.
So why not go to the bench, why not take the small chance in bringing a new face to help preserve the draw, or perhaps earn the much needed three points?
PREPARATIONS, PREPARATIONS, PREPARATIONS
It simply doesn't serve any justice to state the U.S. has plenty of work to do to prepare for Ghana.
Arena's squad is facing a team that pulled off a tremendous turnaround that fell nothing short of terrific, impressive, brilliant and every other accolade. This team is truly a mysterious squad who displayed a decent showing against Italy, and a strong dominant and commanding performance against the Czech Republic.
In its first match, Ghana was held to only four shots on goal compared to Italy's 13. The team struggled, at times, to keep up with Italy's offense, who marched through the Ghana defense, finding the net twice in the first match victory.
In the second match against an opponent that posed no easier of a challenge, Ghana doubled its shots on goal and quickly jumped over a stunned Czech squad, scoring its first two goals of the tournament for the crucial victory. The Ghana squad was a quiet and dangerous threat to the group even before the tournament began.
Perhaps to the team's advantage, much of the Group E focus was given to Italy, the United States and the Czech Republic. But Ghana remained a forgotten threat, and after suffering a first-match loss, proved its worth in this tournament.
The U.S. shouldn't be scared, but shouldn't be over confident either. Contrary to many beliefs, Thursday's match wasn't supposed to be and isn't a guaranteed three points, no matter how well the team may have played against Italy.
The U.S. must also fill the void that Mastroeni and Eddie Pope have left after their red cards in Saturday's match.
USA + WIN/LOSS = ROUND OF 16
It won't be easy, but the U.S. has a great chance to prove to the rest of the world that the World Cup is truly where it belongs. Sure the U.S. needs to find some better attacks, and perhaps bringing Landon Donovan into an attacking midfielder role would help.
But beyond all of that, maybe one of the more important keys to success on Thursday lies beyond the scouting reports. Maybe a win will come if the United States plays with the passion and aggression it played with against Italy. Forget what there is to lose, forget what needs to be done, just play the sport the way it's meant to be played. If this happens, then the USA-Ghana match may be truly one of the best of this tournament.
SOME QUICK THOUGHTS
Just some quick thoughts: Beyond the U.S., how about this young Spanish squad that continues to impress. Any questions that the team would be able to do what it did against the Ukraine were answered on Monday night in Stuttgart, when the squad managed a glorious come from behind victory over Tunisia. The result, a well deserved spot in the round of 16 for this team that continues to blow us all away.
This appears to be a group of players who have just as much fun on the field as they do talent. The 2006 squad has given Spanish fans from around the world reason to believe. Recent teams have struggled, but this year could see Spain bringing us all to smiles in the rounds to come.
Also, a nice showing from Australia on Sunday has many, including myself, ready to believe that 2006 will be a good year for this team. I picked this team to go a long way this year, mainly because of players such as Mark Viduka, Cahill off the bench and the team's coach, Hiddink.
Australia's performance against Japan wasn't spectacular or even great until the final minutes, but the team's work against Brazil was great to watch. Though Brazil gave the world flashes of brilliance from the last World Cup, the team struggled to stop or even figure out the gritty Australian squad, who didn't necessarily deserve the loss.
So until next time, enjoy the next few days of World Cup soccer because we could be seeing some of the tournament's best matches yet.
