Germany on the brink of being put out of the WC Finals. If it happens it'll be the first time since 1938 they will not advance to the knock-out round.
45 mins to go....
Germany looks like a mess.
First red card of the World Cup. Frustration on their faces.
El Tri looks legit. One of the more interesting suggestions for a potential Coach for the USMNT was Mexico’s coach.
Greatness! Never count out a champion.
Germany 2 Sweden 1 Final.
First time in their history England has scored 5 goals in a WC Finals' match. And, it's only halftime. England 5 Panama 0 H.
What an embarrassment...not so much for Panama, but for CONCACAF and the USMNT.
England 6 Panama 1 Final
For those of you concerned about Dave Nitz retiring some day, NO WORRIES! I've found his replacement for the microphone. Click on this link and fast forward to the 1:20 mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Buan...feature=onebox
Hah! that guy is a clown. Got instantly famous doing Spanish-language radio during the World Cup, for his "Gooooooaaaalllll!" call. It was novel at first, it's old now.
We will NEVER replace Dave Nitz. Yes, he will retire someday, and yes Tech will have someone as "the voice of the Dawgs," and that person might even be pretty good. But....they will NEVER replace The Nitzer.
It should be an embarrassment for the USMNT. They are better than half of these teams in the World Cup and yet played like idiots during the last qualifying round. Arena shouldn’t be running his mouth.
I honestly think they should have stayed with the youth side that won the Gold Cup rather than trying to shoehorn aging superstars into the lineup. I love Bradley but he cannot possess and cannot pass. Stop running your game through him.
As much as the USMNT failed, Germany failed much worse. Horrible showing at the World Cup for the defending champions.
Third straight and 4th of the last 5 defending champs to be bumped in pool play. Germany looked horrid today. They had regained some of their luster with a quality win over Sweden (who crushed the w...er, Mexicans, today 3-0!) Wide open tourney. None of the so-called favorites are separating themselves from the pack. Might have 4 "mid-majors" reach the semis this year. No Germany, Spain, Brazil, France....Italy didn't even make the Finals...I'd like to see 4 brand new, never-been-there-before sides reach the semis. (but not Mexico).
Costa Rica salvaged a very small measure of pride with a draw today, and Panama has upstart Tunisia to play. After being drilled by a combined 10-2 in their first two matches, maybe Panama will make a good showing in their last game.
But yeah....all this points straight back at the pathetic play of the USMNT.
Panama sucked and shouldn’t have been in the WC. Concacaf should have been Mexico, USA, CR. Giuliatti panicked and hired Arena midway thorough who is so far out of touch with soccer he looked lost all throughout qualifying. The fans were so angry that they would A raise ticket prices and B keep calling up the same old tired players. As I mentioned before, I wouldn’t have played any of the aging stars from past rounds. Start fresh and start new. Build from the back line. The USMNT of old played solid defense and counterattack which worked well for countries this year.
BTW, France is destroying Argentina with YOUNG players. Average age is 26! England, no more Rooney. Average age is 26! They jettisoned their older stars including Ribbery. We should have rebooted the team after the previous cycle. It was time. The cycle was over for a lot of players but we refused to acknowledge this and kept plugging away with Dempsey, Bradley, Jones, and Howard. Yes it would have been rough for the first few matches, but we could have had a chance to build a cohesive young unit for the next cycle. We failed on this account and now we are paying the price. The only positive going forward is that we are finally rebooting the whole team.
Mexico will be in a precarious spot for the next cycle. El Tri is the oldest team at the World Cup. They have to reboot the next cycle or will wind up with a fate similar to ours.
Agreed. In the long run, losing to T&T was a blessing....as painful as it is at the moment.
That France v. Argentina match was fun to watch. Messi is over-rated. Great skills, but is not a "gamer." Uruguay's game-winner v. Portugal was a gorgeous goal. One of the best of the tourney thus far. Messi and Ronaldo, and their teams, are out! Germany is out. Spain should beat Russia, but they are not that good, and could be ousted in the Elite Eight round. I am curious just how good Croatia is.
Croatia v. Denmark
Neither side had allowed a goal in run-of-play the entire tournament. So....in the first 4 mins of their match, they both do, 1-1 very early.
Croatia advances on PKs. Both keepers were super tough.
Halftime Brazil 0 Azzholes 0
"El Tri" dominated the first 20 mins, enjoying the run of play and being very threatening. Since then Brazil has turned it around and is now out-playing our "friends" to the south.