World Cup and European leagues

[jknezek]

Costa Rica vs Greece was a truly miserable game to watch. Congrats to Los Ticos but... yuck

[jknezek]

Mark Geiger is in charge of today's France vs Nigeria game. A good outing today and he'll stay as one of the higher ranking refs in the tournament. Maybe a shot at a semi-finals game depending on today's performance. Not bad for a guy who only became a full-time pro a few years ago.

[jknezek]

Geiger missed a red card against France in the 54' and that tackle off the corner kick that didn't go Nigeria's way. Not a great outing for him. It will be interesting to see if he gets another game.

[Gray Fox]

Geiger missed a red card against France in the 54' and that tackle off the corner kick that didn't go Nigeria's way. Not a great outing for him. It will be interesting to see if he gets another game.

They expect one guy to have "fly eyes".

[jknezek]

Geiger missed a red card against France in the 54' and that tackle off the corner kick that didn't go Nigeria's way. Not a great outing for him. It will be interesting to see if he gets another game.

They expect one guy to have "fly eyes".

The World Cup is an elimination tournament for both the teams and the refs. But yes, at this stage, those kinds of misses usually lead to no more assignments. That tackle was a bad leg breaker. Then again, Webb ignored the flying karate kick in the last finals game and he still seems to be moving along. So you never know.

[sac]

The goals seem to have disappeared from the World Cup.

.....which sounds stupid on a day with 5 goals.

[jknezek]

The goals seem to have disappeared from the World Cup.

Very typical. Goals scored is important in the group stage as a tie breaker along with differential, so attacking soccer is at a premium. In the knockout stages, and even the third group game, all that matters is winning. Teams are more cautious and deliberate. Plus the round of 16 can be really bad as weaker teams often bunker. By the round of 8 most of those teams are really gone. Still, most of the games have been open even if the goals weren't plentiful. Chile vs Brazil is a good example whereas CR vs Greece was the only real defensive pile so far in this round. Mexico's second half might qualify as well...

[jknezek]

So far 4 of 7 round of 16 games have gone to OT. 2 of those four were decided by PKs. The Germany and Argentina wins were hugely entertaining OT finishes, the Brazil PK win was a hugely entertaining game start to finish. The less said about CR vs Greece the better, but here's hoping the U.S. game lives up to the entertainment potential that this round has provided. Tons of late drama.

Chile's late crossbar, Mexico's late collapse, Germany's double OT goals and one concession, Messi's moment of magic (yes he got the assist but much like Ronaldo's late assist against the U.S. the assist was the beautiful part). France vs Nigeria and Columbia vs Uruguay were also good end to end games, even at 2-0.

Getting the win is the important part for the U.S. but if you haven't been entertained by these games you just aren't going to be a soccer fan.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Make that five of eight going to OT.  After finishing regulation at nil-nil, Belgium scored two goals in the first OT period, USA got one back less than two minutes into the next period.  Despite furious pressure and a few great opportunities, USA could not quite get the equalizer.

It's good to see that USA NEVER throws in the towel!

Most of the game was dominated by the Belgians, but they could never quite score thanks to Tim Howard having arguably the best game in the WC in many a year (16 saves is a record since such records have been kept) and a usually sterling defense (especially Beasley and Besler).  If Jozy Altidore had been able to play, I think USA would have pulled the upset.

[NEPAFAN]

Great game and the future is bright for US soccer.

[jknezek]

I'll close out my comments on the USMNT by simply saying I am satisfied with this World Cup. It was a good effort by the team. I am constantly proud of the fact that the whole is greater than the sum of that team's parts. This has been true basically since the 2006 World Cup. The individuals on the U.S. team on average were not better than any team we faced except maybe Portugal. And yet the U.S. wasn't really out of a single game. If we can continue to raise the level of the individuals in this country, and keep getting a teamwork benefit that very few other national teams achieve, it won't be long until getting out of the group stage won't be the only expectation.

Good work yesterday by the team. Howard was the difference, but you can't ignore an exceptional performance by one player. If Wondo hits that sitter at the end of regulation we go through on a bit of luck and a lot of goalkeeping. If we pick up a couple of those other chances in the second OT we get to the lottery of penalty kicks. It didn't break that way for us, and Belgium was clearly a better team, but I think we did as well as our pieces allowed.

Here's looking forward to the 2016 Copa America. With the exception of Howard and Beasley I think you'll see much of the team back in 2 years. Jones, Dempsey, Wondo, Beckerman and Besler are the rest of my unlikelies for 2018, but we'll just have to see how it goes. Proud of the effort even if we still aren't there on execution.

[Gray Fox]

Would we have done better with the players that were left off?

[jknezek]

Would we have done better with the players that were left off?

A backup target forward would have helped but I doubt it

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Would we have done better with the players that were left off?

Well the obvious one was Donovan who we really could have used after Jozy went down... but hindsight is always 20/20. Maybe with a few different players we might have made it as far as the quarterfinals (I think that's the best they could have possibly done) but it's also possible they could have fizzled out in the group stage.

The important thing is they played decent, didn't embarrass themselves, and got a respectable but not outstanding finish. It's the first time they've won a game in back to back World Cups. The question is how will the next generation of players fare... will recent successes lead to improved youth or will they be unable to keep up what the current aging team has built.

[jknezek]

Donovan was not a replacement option for Jozy. The only other target forward in camp was Terrance Boyd and the only other current option in the player pool is Eddie Johnson. Donovan was a replacement for Dempsey, Wondo, or a winger.