Congrats to the USA (Confed Cup Finalist)

[mfumbesi]

Yesterday, there a was a semi-final game between the USA and Spain. We (all the inhabitants of planet Earth) thought it was just a formality for Spain to get to the finals of the Confed Cup.
Boy were we wrong!!!
I wasn't planing on watching this game, as I assumed it would be a one way affair (with the Americans hopefully losing gracefully, you know no embarrassing score line like say 5-0). There I was channel surfing and Lo and behold the Americas are leading 1-0. At first I thought I misread the score, then I thought Spain will punish them for that.
I then decided to watch, giggling at the pending retaliation from the Spaniards, well it never materialised. The USA had a cunning plan, defend like your life depends on it and beat Spain on counter attacks.
It was a great game, the Americans won it 2-0.
This is huge!!!!
Spain were the favourates to win the Confed Cup, having had played 35 games without a loss, occupying position one on Fifa rankings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Rankings and winning Euro_2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_2008.

[slang]

It was a fun game... great effort, good team work from USA. Now you guys beat Brasil this evening, ok? :) Can't hurt our FIFA ranking :D

[mfumbesi]

Now you guys beat Brasil this evening, ok?
This game gave us a bit of hope, maybe we might also be "The Giant Slayers".

[PraedSt]

Dream on boys. Spain were just tired from winning so many games in a row. :D

[Argos]

You know, I´m almost rooting for the US against Brazil. It would be great for football, and, collaterally, would help us to get rid of Dunga, the Brazilian coach. :)

Hail, US! :)

[mfumbesi]

What about Brazil losing to South Africa, that would be even better (i.e to get rid of Dunga).

[Ampatent]

This is just like the Miracle on Ice, we beat the number one in the world, but we still haven't won. Never the less, that was an epic game and I loved every second of it.

[Argos]

What about Brazil losing to South Africa, that would be even better (i.e to get rid of Dunga).

Oh, so true. Hail, South Africa! :)

[Doodler]

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut in the woods sometime...

[slang]

Lucky, lucky, lucky.... :rolleyes:

[Fazor]

Just a quick rant; I was just searching through the local tv listings to see just when I needed to program my DVR to record the US/Brazil match. They're not airing it here until July 4th! According to FIFA's website, the game is on the 28th. That means nearly a week in between when the game is played, and when it's shown on tv. Which also means I'll know the score well before I have a chance to watch it. Which finally means, I won't be watching it.

[Ampatent]

Just a quick rant; I was just searching through the local tv listings to see just when I needed to program my DVR to record the US/Brazil match. They're not airing it here until July 4th! According to FIFA's website, the game is on the 28th. That means nearly a week in between when the game is played, and when it's shown on tv. Which also means I'll know the score well before I have a chance to watch it. Which finally means, I won't be watching it.

You don't have ESPN?

[Fazor]

You don't have ESPN?
They didn't show it as being on ESPN (until, of course, July 4th).

[Fazor]

Well heck, rant recended. I'll have to modify it to instead rant about my cable-companies "listings search" feature, as apparently the phrase "Fifa Confederations Cup Final" doesn't include the word "Fifa" or the partial "Confed*", as neither turned it up. For me, it's on ESPN2.

[mugaliens]

Dream on boys. Spain were just tired from winning so many games in a row. :D

It was their D-team...

[PraedSt]

4 hrs to go. As a standard "neutral" I'm supporting Brazil. But as usual I'm impressed by the US- they always punch above their weight in this game. I shudder to think what would happen if the sport ever took off.

[Ampatent]

So this US national team.... Who says we can't compete? USA 2 - 0 Brazil at Half-Time!

[Selenite]

Congrats to Brasil as they show how it's done. Brasil 3 USA 2

USA....always the bridesmaid. :(

[Fazor]

It was certianly an exciting game. I wasn't happy with the way the US played after taking the 2-0 lead; but I've only started following soccer very recently, so what do I know about strategy?

And I certianly don't want to take anything away from Brasil. They played a helluva game, even in the first half. If not for some amazing saves by our keeper, we wouldn't have had that lead to begin with.

The more I watch soccer, the more I believe the people who say soccer is too boring to watch have never actualy tried to watch it in the first place. I'm a die-hard football fan, and I love my baseball, but soccer has more edge-of-your-seat action than either of those two sports. (Obviously, lop-sided games aren't as exciting, but lop-sided games in any sport are boring to watch).

[mfumbesi]

[...] I shudder to think what would happen if the sport ever took off.
I was thinking the same thing, the USA has a population of 250-300 million (not to mention their financial muscle), if football really took of there we would be all up the creek.....

Congrats to Brazil and my condolences to Argos (he knows.....read the above posts).

[Argos]

I was thinking the same thing, the USA has a population of 250-300 million (not to mention their financial muscle), if football really took of there we would be all up the creek.....

Congrats to Brazil and my condolences to Argos (he knows.....read the above posts).

Yeah, man. Dunga is keeping his scalp. We´ll see where his ugly footbal is going to take us...:(

Kudos to the US team, whose first half lead got people unnerved down here. It is a growing football power.

[Fazor]

Yeah, man. Dunga is keeping his scalp. We´ll see where his ugly footbal is going to take us...

This soccer-novice thought Brasil looked pretty good. Downright intimidating on the attack, and commendable control and passing while the ball was in their possession.

To me, it looked like they're an all out all pressure team; though their style looked prone to the fast-break turn-overs. That's what I thought got them in trouble in the first half. Brasil seemed to have the pressure on the US defense the entire time, yet two breakaway plays put them down 0-2. But the pressure never slackened, and the US couldn't keep defending like it had in the first half.

That's what my untrained eye took away from it, anyway.

I was mostly disappointed with the US's passing and ball possession. They never really seemed in control, even when they were on the attack.

[PraedSt]

And I certainly don't want to take anything away from Brasil. They played a helluva game, even in the first half. If not for some amazing saves by our keeper, we wouldn't have had that lead to begin with.
Eerily similar to the Miracle, wasn't it?

Also, I don't think US fans need be down too much. They played out of their skins. And besides, the only tournament that matters is next year, again in S Africa, and the team have already shown they like playing there. :)

[Fazor]

Eerily similar to the Miracle, wasn't it?

Also, I don't think US fans need be down too much. They played out of their skins. And besides, the only tournament that matters is next year, again in S Africa, and the team have already shown they like playing there. :)

Yeah; I can't wait for that. Even if the US doesn't make a good showing, it'll be fun to watch the other teams.

The Rugby WC is what I really look forward to, but still a ways to go on that.

[Argos]

This soccer-novice thought Brasil looked pretty good. Downright intimidating on the attack, and commendable control and passing while the ball was in their possession.

To me, it looked like they're an all out all pressure team;

Oh, you should have seen it in the good old days. It used to be like a bulldozer. :) Now the Brazilian football has settled into an anodyne version of the European football, based on brute force instead of grace. It´s not Dunga´s fault, since this trend began in the early 90´s, but Dunga is expected to bring that old style back. :)

[PraedSt]

Oh, you should have seen it in the good old days. It used to be like a bulldozer. :) Now the Brazilian football has settled into a anodyne version of the European football, based on brute force instead of grace. It´s not Dunga´s fault, since this trend began in the early 90´s, but Dunga is expected to bring that old style back. :)
I was old enough to watch/remember the 1982 and 1986 squads. Breathtaking. The 1970's World Cups I've only seen clips. They looked even better!

[PraedSt]

The Rugby WC is what I really look forward to, but still a ways to go on that.You watching the Lions tour? It's getting pretty rough. :)

[Fazor]

You watching the Lions tour? It's getting pretty rough. :)

I haven't found much on tv here (in the way of Rugby) in anything other than the World Cups, though I haven't really looked that hard either.

Edit: Ah, I see a US / Canada RWC qualifier match on Saturday; I'll have to set that to record. There's also a Lion's match, but I don't think I get the channel it's airing on.

[slang]

This soccer-novice thought Brasil looked pretty good. Downright intimidating on the attack, and commendable control and passing while the ball was in their possession.

You've never seen Samba Football :) Graceful, style, class, skill, danger. Gone.. As is the Dutch attacking play style. Defense? What defense? Just score more often than opponent. Gone..

[Argos]

You've never seen Samba Football :) Graceful, style, class, skill, danger. Gone.. As is the Dutch attacking play style. Defense? What defense? Just score more often than opponent. Gone..

See Fazor? That´s what I´m talking about. And PraedSt, yeah, 1970 World Cup was the pinnacle of that style.

[mfumbesi]

You watching the Lions tour? It's getting pretty rough. :)
On Saturday we (the Springboks) narrowly won the second game. The Lions were impressive, for a moment I thought it would be 1997 all over again (the Springboks lost the test series to the Lions back then).

[PraedSt]

On Saturday we (the Springboks) narrowly won the second game. The Lions were impressive, for a moment I thought it would be 1997 all over again (the Springboks lost the test series to the Lions back then).I know it's along way to go, but what are your thoughts for the WC? Think you can defend it?

EDIT: Silly question. Of course you do. I think if NZ don't win this one, they'll never win it. Anyway, Tri-Nations next month; we'll have a better idea then.

[mfumbesi]

....but what are your thoughts for the WC? Think you can defend it?

In the now famous words of someone I can remember their name,"Yes We Can".



Man I'm going to be banned.

[Fazor]

Not the Confed Cup, but I watched the US / Mexico gold cup match yesterday. Ugh. The first half was something, went into the break tied 0-0, but the US played a great half, creating many more scoring opportunities than Mexico.

The first 10 or so minutes of the second looked promising too. But that ended quickly. I turned if off after Mexico's three (relatively) quick goals. This morning I see they got two more by the end of the match. I don't know if the US pressed too hard the first half, and just ran out of steam or what.

But congratulations to the Mexican team.