2006 FIFA World Cup

[Brent Burns]

I second, "Landon who?" I guess it was true that he came back to MLS because he couldn't hack it in Europe. What a punk.

Landon really had that kind of running that is quite different, and I don't have the words to describe that running style. It looks like he is running on a treadmill. What makes that noticeable are his team's white socks, so he really stands out from everyone.

Speaking of Dempesy, he will be a trivial question as he was the one who netted the 100th goal of the 2006 World Cup.

[Danny Hogan]

so the U.S. only scored 1 goal in their entire world cup experience and did not have an outside shot?

[Brent Burns]

so the U.S. only scored 1 goal in their entire world cup experience and did not have an outside shot?

All I can recall that we came close to an outside shot as I hope jessexy or someone can help me out when someone kicked from a pretty long distance, and one of our US strikers scored a goal. That was either during the 1994 World Cup in US or at the 1998 World Cup in France. That was one of the most beautiful goals ever by an American team in a very long time. At first, I thought it was Claudio Reyna, but he did not play in the '94 World Cup due to a hamstring injury eventhough he was a member of the US squad.

[Lax_Stats]

I second, "Landon who?" I guess it was true that he came back to MLS because he couldn't hack it in Europe. What a punk.

Let's see YOU do better!! It takes a punk to call someone a punk that he doesn't even know!!! Try channelling your bitterness and disappointment in a more constructive manner!! I too am disappointed that the US team didn't do better. It wasn't a very good team over all and a lot of responsibility also has to be laid on the shoulders of the head coach. But lashing out at a world class soccer player who has proven himself many times over isn't going to solve anything and only makes you look very very bad as well as petty!!!

[jessexy]

so the U.S. only scored 1 goal in their entire world cup experience and did not have an outside shot?

All I can recall that we came close to an outside shot as I hope jessexy or someone can help me out when someone kicked from a pretty long distance, and one of our US strikers scored a goal. That was either during the 1994 World Cup in US or at the 1998 World Cup in France. That was one of the most beautiful goals ever by an American team in a very long time. At first, I thought it was Claudio Reyna, but he did not play in the '94 World Cup due to a hamstring injury eventhough he was a member of the US squad.

you are thinking of Tab Ramos' goal in the 1990 WC. it was either Ramos or Caliguiri. but that was eons ago when the US was taking college players to Italy in 1990 because we didnt have any pros.

all in all, i was very disappointed by the game today. Arena made some questionable decisions during this entire WC, beginning with the roster selection of players that he knew he wasnt going to use (John O'Brien and Chris Albright) to playing completely defensive in every game we had. the US midfield was supposed to be our strength, but he nullified it by having them play on the defensive side of the field and crowding it with 5 players. we are better running and attacking and using our pace, effort, and hustle to manufacture mistakes by closing down opponents 1v1 and taking advantage of the open space those mistakes create. We beat ourselves by not maximizing our strengths.

That has been The Bruce's big thing as a manager....putting the players in a position to be successful. that didnt happen in Germany. we cannot blame it on the referee. he made a phantom penalty kick call. he made only one mistake in the entire game (Dang was it MASSIVE, though!) and it took away the US momentum. Markus Merk is one of the best referees in the world and FIFA knew what they were doing by putting him in the middle after that goofball in the Italy game. (i told you he wouldnt get any more games and he hasnt). but Merk made 1 mistake. refs make mistakes and teams have to recover from them. they had 45 minutes to do something about it and they couldnt.

im sick right now. this proves that Group E was the Group of Death. Italy (#14) and Ghana (#48) are in the round of 16 and the USA (#5) and Czech republic (#2) are on the way home. i said that Ghana could advance, but i was hoping they didnt.

[StrykerFSU]

Aye caramba lax_stats! While I stand by my assertion that Gary Payton couldn't cover me on the basketball court, I will concede Mr. Donovan's superiority over me on the pitch. I guess I expected a little more from our supposed superstar, a feeling I have heard throughout the tournament and especially following today's loss so please, spare me.

Donovan, in my opinion, is an underacheiver who was not a factor in the most important US soccer game of the Cup. His only contribution was to consistently kick the ball out of bounds on set pieces. I was led to believe that Beasley, Dononvan, and company were going to break out during this cup and shock the world. Perhaps punk was too harsh a word so I will withdraw it and replace it with outclassed underacheiver.

[JosueSays]

Let's see YOU do better!! It takes a punk to call someone a punk that he doesn't even know!!! Try channelling your bitterness and disappointment in a more constructive manner!! I too am disappointed that the US team didn't do better. It wasn't a very good team over all and a lot of responsibility also has to be laid on the shoulders of the head coach. But lashing out at a world class soccer player who has proven himself many times over isn't going to solve anything and only makes you look very very bad as well as petty!!!

The fact is, Landon Donovan did not play well. It doesn't matter if he's proven himself in the past, this world cup is THIS world cup and what matters are the games that will take you to the next round. It's that kind of mentality that hindered USA's chances of going on to the next round... Unlike criticizing a player after the US has been eliminated (i don't see what you are trying to solve)that mentality crippled the US's chances of going into the next round (as well as a crappy 4-5-1 formation).

I think the following players for the US showed true world class merit:
Bocanegra
Pablo Masilliani (i forget how tospell his name)
Brian McBride
Convey
Conrad
Dempsey

[jessexy]

I think the following players for the US showed true world class merit:
Bocanegra
Pablo Masilliani (i forget how tospell his name)
Brian McBride
Convey
Conrad
Dempsey

Ill agree with a couple (Bocanegra, McBride, Conrad, Dempsey) and add a couple (Keller, Lewis, Gooch). but Mastroeni and Convey were awful in this world cup. Pablo just ran around the field watching everyone else play with the ball against the Czech and he got red carded before halftime in the Italy game, then sat out Ghana from suspension. Thats not a good WC. Against the Czech, he didnt close down the crosser on the first goal and made the turnover that led to the third goal.

Convey consistently took people on, but gave up the ball and didnt have a good cross in any game. he kicked the ball out of bounds more than Donovan.

BTW, Arena's contract runs out after this WC. so US Soccer doesnt have to re-sign him or fire him if they dont want him back.

[Brent Burns]

It really all depends on the Italians' perspective since their Azzurrii is moving on to the next round when they would be without any surprises hear the news from the Italian prosecutor:

Italy prosecutor indicts Juventus, Milan, others

This is from Yahoo! Sports. One can call this a timing thing...

[Danny Hogan]

i don't know much about soccer but i was very impressed with keller.

[bste_lax]

i don't know much about soccer but i was very impressed with keller.

In my best Kenny Mayne impersonation, "He's old."

[Brent Burns]

Ghana/US coaches' response:

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060622/1/82zv.html

Ghana/US players' responses:

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060622/1/82y1.html

[horn17]

we all need to be honest...arena took a OK team to the world cup, but not the best available.....what the problem with this in my opinion is the way he announces his rosters, starting line up, etc....it seems he prefers to be the focus on mystery and himself, more than the team, and in knowing that they will take the criticism for the play, and him for the decisions, when he uses the "putting the players out on the field to be successful" is kind of a big cop out, but he should realize, sometimes it just as much as the coaches fault for these poor decisions....I was shocked to see Eddie Johnson so late, they needed his running ability and his speed earlier to strech the field against a team that dominated the czech on the same factors....I was unimpressed with Landons efforts, Beasley didnt show up, and McBride is on his last legs....Reyna will probally remember this as the cup were his post shot against the czech determined our play for the rest of the tourney (it truely took the wind out of our sails)

To me arena isnt what we need anymore, he got us to a certain point, but cant get us over the hump...

any who....... Netherlands v. Portugal (wow this should be awesome...)

[Brent Burns]

any who....... Netherlands v. Portugal (wow this should be awesome...)

I am rooting for the Oranje.

Off the point... jessexy mentioned that I may have been thinking about Tab Ramos. Well, check out his official website at http://www.tabramos.com and you will note "Lacrosse Programs" on that site. That website is from New Jersey.

[DanGenck]

Today's game was disappointing. It looked like watching a JV high school team play against a bad DIII college.