World Cup 2014

[VikingKing]

^Youre being a fvking tard here. Youre trying to say that immigrants are why soccer is growing. As someone who follows the sport religiously Im telling you thats not why its growing in America. Its growing because its the most popular youth sport (especially among young white kids), hence the term "soccer moms". And soccer is also growing because companies want to make money off of televising European leagues. The thing US Soccer officials are now trying to do, is stop young people from dropping soccer for different sports once they get to high school.

With better structure in the youth soccer system, and with more kids able to see elite soccer on tv and the internet, more kids will grow up having favorite athletes that play soccer rather than football, baseball, or basketball. Hence once they get older and wanna emulate their idols, for many kids their idols may be soccer players.

Learn your sh!t and get the facts straight before spouting ignorance. Now gtfo of the thread. This thread is for people who enjoy soccer and the world cup. It isnt for ignorant manospambot trolls.

PS - Our mens and womens US national soccer teams are made up of Americans who are mostly from middle class backgrounds. There are not poor "3rd worlders" making up those teams. So much about your theory on whos growing up playing the game and why the game is growing.

:cuss: :cuss: :cuss: Damn third world illegal immigrant criminals stealing our soccer teams. Got damn sons of b!tches!:cuss: :cuss:

 

[Die Hard]

Could we keep this thread about the action on the fields and not get into stupid discussions, please?


Anyway, Argentina made a poor impression today... But even when he plays a bad match, Messi just pops one in to save the day!

I really enjoyed Germany vs. Ghana, lots of great action! Might as well have been a quarterfinal match, as both teams kept going for the win until the final minute!

 

[Jaylan]

Argentina is going out in the round of 16. There are barely, just barely able to beat Iran and Bosnia. And thats with crappy refereeing that robbed Iran of a penalty...nevermind the Bosnia game. So far the two supposed South American powerhouses, Brazil and Argentina, have been very mediocre. I dont see either making it past the first knock out round.

Now...about Ghana and Germany. I hope this game again shows people that Ghana should be respected, and that the USA should be respected for beating them. Ghana has been doing well these past 3 World Cups yet people continue to doubt their skill and ability.

Also, UEFA is showing poorly this World Cup. I definitely dont find the confederation worthy of 13 slots...and definitely feel the other confederations deserve 1 more slot each. As it stands, the majority of points have been won by CONCACAFand CONMEBOL nations. CONCACAF especially have shown up well in the World Cup.

UEFA has had very mediocre and weak looking teams...England, Spain, Italy, and especially Greece.

Anyways...things look good for USMNT. Though itd be cool to beat a full strength Portugal...I wont lie and say I dont like the idea of playing them with a less than 100% Cristiano, and without Hugo Almeida, Pepe, Bruno Alves, and Fabio Coentrao. Those last three are Portugal's starting centerbacks and leftback. Those three men are the most capped defenders on that team...so thats a huge blow.

Though the USA wont be able to take full advantage of this without Jozy Altidore, hopefully Michael Bradley wakes up this game, and performs better than he did against Ghana. We need him making good runs and passes. Bradley has to play the way he did against Nigeria at the beginning of the month and really command the midfield.

We have a really good chance of clinching tomorrow. And a win could give us a good shot at first place going into the Germany game. Im optimistic about the round of 16 too. Because like I said earlier...group H isnt too tough.

 

[Ronaldo7]

Argentina is going out in the round of 16. There are barely, just barely able to beat Iran and Bosnia. And thats with crappy refereeing that robbed Iran of a penalty...nevermind the Bosnia game. So far the two supposed South American powerhouses, Brazil and Argentina, have been very mediocre. I dont see either making it past the first knock out round.

They will make it past the first round. Once upon a time, the Netherlands blistered past the group stage, only to be eliminated in the round of 16 by Russia in the Euro Championships.

Now...about Ghana and Germany. I hope this game again shows people that Ghana should be respected, and that the USA should be respected for beating them. Ghana has been doing well these past 3 World Cups yet people continue to doubt their skill and ability.

Also, UEFA is showing poorly this World Cup. I definitely dont find the confederation worthy of 13 slots...and definitely feel the other confederations deserve 1 more slot each. As it stands, the majority of points have been won by CONCACAFand CONMEBOL nations. CONCACAF especially have shown up well in the World Cup.

CONCACAF have only done well this World Cup. Costa Rica have been whipping boys before.

UEFA has had very mediocre and weak looking teams...England, Spain, Italy, and especially Greece.

England, Spain, and Italy are all WORLD champions. Could you please name me a CONCACAF team that has won the World Cup? THERE ISN'T ANY. Oh, and Greece has won the Euro Championship before. Form is temporary, class is permanent.

Anyways...things look good for USMNT. Though itd be cool to beat a full strength Portugal...I wont lie and say I dont like the idea of playing them with a less than 100% Cristiano, and without Hugo Almeida, Pepe, Bruno Alves, and Fabio Coentrao. Those last three are Portugal's starting centerbacks and leftback. Those three men are the most capped defenders on that team...so thats a huge blow.

Portugal will win tomorrow.

Though the USA wont be able to take full advantage of this without Jozy Altidore, hopefully Michael Bradley wakes up this game, and performs better than he did against Ghana. We need him making good runs and passes. Bradley has to play the way he did against Nigeria at the beginning of the month and really command the midfield.

We have a really good chance of clinching tomorrow. And a win could give us a good shot at first place going into the Germany game. Im optimistic about the round of 16 too. Because like I said earlier...group H isnt too tough.

Germany will beat the USA. Portugal will beat the USA. USA finish with 3 points.

 

[Jaylan]

1. Theres nothing in Brazil or Argentina's first two games that shows anyone that they are a lock to make it past the first knockout stage.

2. Lets not live in the past. The CURRENT WORLD CUP (along with yearly international games), helps determine how many places will be allotted to each confederation in the following World Cups.

Greece won a decade ago...and are known as being a overly defensive team with weak skills. Trying to rate Greece based on something they did a decade ago, is like trying to rate Chelsea based on winning the Champions League a couple years ago. The staff and players are different, and definitely completely overhauled over a 10 year period in an international team.

And England won the world cup almost 50 years ago. They are continually overrated every international tournament and continue to disappoint and under-perform. Their own media says this and the English are discussing how the national team can become better. They dont sit on the fact that they won decades ago. You cant judge a current team by trying to mooch off the success of the past, while their present has been filled with failure.

Fact of the matter is that there are some weak UEFA teams making the World Cup, and the confederation's OVERALL performance shows. Basically lower tier UEFA teams are benefiting fromt he dominance of top teams. CONCACAF and AFC or CAF should get 1 more spot in my opinion. Either that, or expand the international playoff just a tad so an extra AFC and CAF team can duke it out for that last qualification spot in the world cup. Currently its a 2 legged playoff with between the lowest CONCACAF seed and the top seeded OFC nation.

Thats certainly better than these ideas Ive heard about FIFA one day possibly expanding the whole World Cup field, allowing more than 32 teams into the finals. You definitely dont need more than 32, and UEFA doesnt need even more slots for even weaker teams. 13 nations out of over 50 teams is enough as it is.

3. And Germany was supposed to stomp on Ghana remember? lol. Dont be so sure about Portugal beating the USA. A lot of people had to eat their hats about Ghana already.

I think its about time people stop overrating European teams so much. If the USA wins or even ties tomorrow, I think you and other people need to finally start respecting them and other non-European nations. Underestimating opponents is part of why CONCACAF and CONMEBOL are doing so well this cup.

Interesting World Cup stat line from twitter.com/GrantWahl:

"Percentage of possible World Cup points won vs other confederations so far: CONMEBOL 73% CONCACAF 72% UEFA 44% CAF 19% AFC 17%"

EDIT: Now its being reported that Portugal starting goalkeeper Rui Patricio will be out of the game due to injury. The USA shouldnt lose this game on paper. Thats now potentially 5 players (4 starters) out against the USA. I dont think anyone should be so sure a less than 100% Ronaldo can carry Portugal without the world class players he is used to starting with.

We shall see.

 

[Jaylan]

Good game. Good substitutions by Klinsmann. Its a shame the USA couldnt hold on for the win, but I have to give Ronaldo credit on a great cross to Varela for an even better header.

Portugal barely tied the game. USA should be happy but not entirely satisfied with this result. We still have a very good chance to qualify. I dont see Portugal beating Ghana, so the USA needs to tied Germany or not lose by my than a goal. Asamoah Gyan is going to eat up Portugals defense.

 

[Die Hard]

MOTHERFVCKER!!!!!!!

If it weren't for that goddamn last minute goal by Portugal, I would've won 200 dollars :cuss:

 

[Jaylan]

MOTHERFVCKER!!!!!!!

If it weren't for that goddamn last minute goal by Portugal, I would've won 200 dollars :cuss:

Blame Michael Bradley for giving the ball away instead of blasting it out of play or downfield. Along with missing a point black goal chance, I dont think he should start against Germany.

 

[Ronaldo7]

PORTUGALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. We are still in it.

And Jaylan, try playing without 4 injured players. Coentrao, Patricio, Postiga and Almeida. Postiga left early in the game. USA had their whole squad full health.

 

[Jaylan]

PORTUGALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. We are still in it.

And Jaylan, try playing without 4 injured players. Coentrao, Patricio, Postiga and Almeida. Postiga left early in the game. USA had their whole squad full health.

So now here come the excuses. You said Portugal would win, and made it sound like they would do so easily. THEY BARELY EVEN TIED. And now youre making excuses. You speak as if the USA isnt dealing with injuries. Did you see what happened to our USA players in the Ghana game? Did you see how some of players performed today? Ours guys arent all 100% either.

I really wonder how much objective analysis you can bring to sports conversation. You cant play the ifs and buts game in sports. People remember the winners. They dont look back on meaningful games and say "well...they only won because the other team was hurt and didnt play well". Nope...people remember the winner.

Anyways, dont be surprised if Germany and USA barely play hard knowing a tie will put them both through to the round of 16. Portugal has a SLIM, and I mean SLIM chance of advancing. They are behind the USA in goal differential by 5. Thats HARD to make up in one game.

You basically have to pray the USA doesnt score at all, and that Ghana doesnt pick apart Portugal's weak mediocre defense. Do you really think Ghana's Ayew and Gyan wont do better attacking the Portugal defense than the USA did?

Germany has a way better defense and Ghana did very well to break through it. Portugal would have to win by 2 or 3 goals, and the USA lose by 2 or 3 goals for Portugal to advance. Im a Ronaldo fan, and while I want him to score a couple goals against Ghana for the sake of his legacy and so his team looks ok in their last game...I am fairly certain Thursday is Portugal's last game in this tournament.

 

[Reyaj]

I love how Messi scored in stoppage time to give Argentina the victory... Has Ronaldo ever scored a meaningful goal in the World Cup yet? I think in the last world cup he has 1 meaningless goal in a shut out... He is the most over rated player in Sports... Figo before him was over rated... Portugal sucks and will never win a world cup lol

 

[Jaylan]

I love how Messi scored in stoppage time to give Argentina the victory... Has Ronaldo ever scored a meaningful goal in the World Cup yet? I think in the last world cup he has 1 meaningless goal in a shut out... He is the most over rated player in Sports... Figo before him was over rated... Portugal sucks and will never win a world cup lol

Gimme a fcking break with this trash. People need to stop trying to dik ride Messi in order to put down Ronaldo. Let me say this...because I get really sick of the fanboys who always bring up Messi in order to bash Ronaldo.

Ronaldo just got done beating his body to its limits while leading his club team to 2 cups this past year and winning a Ballon Dor as well. The guy reached the top of club football again, and did it while scoring a record amount of goals. The guy is now playing with injury, and after having lead his team very well during World Cup Qualification, hes now trying to lead a depleted squad on the field during the World Cup Finals. Hell, I remember in the past Messi playing in a domestic league game rather than play in a Champions League game when he was hurt. Messi didnt do that greatly either when he was hurt this year. And now that Barca's midfield is getting older, and because Puyol has also retired...Barca isnt performing the way they did a few years ago.

Not Messi, or Ronaldo can perform at a high level without good players around them. But you wont see me running around and say Messi is crap or gloating about Ronaldo just because Barca under-perform. When I see a difference in the two players stats this past year, I understand that a hurt Messi is not going to perform on the same level as a fully fit Ronaldo...the same way I understand that Messi is fitter than Ronaldo now in the World Cup.

And I actually understand that great players need other great players around them to win. Argentina has STRUGGLED to get wins in a much weaker group this World Cup....and do you think Messi would have those goals if a bunch of the team's starters were hurt? Would they even be advancing? All in all, the only thing that really matters for highly rated international teams, is winning cups. If Argentina dont win the cup, Messi is a loser the same way Ronaldo will be if Portugal gets knocked out.

If Argentina lose in their first knockout...everyone will be talking about a team full of stars failing to meet their potential (same stuff we heard about them in 2010). When it comes to teams like Argentina, Brazil, or Germany....winning is what matters....not goals against weak opponents in group games. Group goals are something middle-of-the-road teams usually celebrate and remember if they lose. But teams who are favorites to win the world cup dont get remembered for group goals....which is why people around the world dont even remember the previous goals Messi or Ronaldo scored in 2010 group games. And no one will be talking about Messi's goals this year if Argentina dont advance very deep in the World Cup (im talking semi's or finals) But everyone does remember 2010 Spain's goals during the group and knockouts, because Spain won something.

Messi did absolutely nothing in 2010 with full fitness, yet people are all over the web and media trying to hate on Ronaldo, despite that fact that hes playing hurt, and trying to lead a crippled team to victory. Again, this is after already leading his club to glory and leading his national team into the World Cup Finals. Can the guy ever just be respect for the great player he is? Ronaldo had a huge assist for his club today....and its just as big as him scoring himself...so people need to wise up.

When Messi has international tournament cups, then you can criticize Ronaldo and compare the two. But until then, they both have failed to lead their national sides to cup glory. And theres really no way for you to know if Portugal will ever win a World Cup. Great players are popping up all over the world...so only time will tell. It really just sounds like youre a hater whos not looking at the big picture of things.

And btw, Argentina's last World Cup win in 86' was won largely due to cheating. If Ronaldo ever lead Portugal to a World Cup with a key winning goal coming from a blatant handball, I couldnt even imagine the haters (you included) trying to put the man down. The venom that would be directed at him would be enormous. Yet here you are...praising Messi who has never won an international cup. Like I said...when Messi wins an international cup, then you can bash Ronaldo. Until then, they are both great players who deserve respect for their accomplishments.

 

[Ronaldo7]

So now here come the excuses. You said Portugal would win, and made it sound like they would do so easily. THEY BARELY EVEN TIED. And now youre making excuses. You speak as if the USA isnt dealing with injuries. Did you see what happened to our USA players in the Ghana game? Did you see how some of players performed today? Ours guys arent all 100% either.

I did say Portugal would win. Did you see that Postiga left the game injured and had to be replaced by the THIRD CHOICE STRIKER? How many more injuries do you need to win? Pepe was suspended, Almeida injured, Coentrao injured, Patricio injured, Postiga injured. You had NO injuries. They all played. And you know very well Ronaldo isn't even 70 % fit.

I really wonder how much objective analysis you can bring to sports conversation. You cant play the ifs and buts game in sports. People remember the winners. They dont look back on meaningful games and say "well...they only won because the other team was hurt and didnt play well". Nope...people remember the winner.

Injuries clearly play a decisive factor when taking that into account.

Anyways, dont be surprised if Germany and USA barely play hard knowing a tie will put them both through to the round of 16. Portugal has a SLIM, and I mean SLIM chance of advancing. They are behind the USA in goal differential by 5. Thats HARD to make up in one game.

You basically have to pray the USA doesnt score at all, and that Ghana doesnt pick apart Portugal's weak mediocre defense. Do you really think Ghana's Ayew and Gyan wont do better attacking the Portugal defense than the USA did?

Then again when the starting left back, goalkeeper and center back don't play....... You MIGHT have a valid point.

Germany has a way better defense and Ghana did very well to break through it. Portugal would have to win by 2 or 3 goals, and the USA lose by 2 or 3 goals for Portugal to advance. Im a Ronaldo fan, and while I want him to score a couple goals against Ghana for the sake of his legacy and so his team looks ok in their last game...I am fairly certain Thursday is Portugal's last game in this tournament.

Germany lost concentration. That was very evident. They were scored on twice for those lapses.

 

[Ronaldo7]

I love how Messi scored in stoppage time to give Argentina the victory... Has Ronaldo ever scored a meaningful goal in the World Cup yet? I think in the last world cup he has 1 meaningless goal in a shut out... He is the most over rated player in Sports... Figo before him was over rated... Portugal sucks and will never win a world cup lol

Then again............... Try looking at Argentina's squad compared to Portugal's squad. You'll see the difference. Oh, he is definitely the most overrated. That's why he has more goals than he has games for Real Madrid. And please describe all the great American players that are so much better than Ronaldo. I'd love to hear it. Portugal has reached 3rd place in the World Cup before. What's the highest USA has finished?

 

[Jaylan]

Germany lost concentration. That was very evident. They were scored on twice for those lapses.

Whenever any team is scored upon, its from lapses. No team is perfect. And because of this its important to give teams credit for playing well. Ghana is a good team, and have shown it these past few World Cups. They deserve credit just as much as the USA does. Stop acting like the USA isnt dealing with its own injured or unfit players.

Lets stop making excuses for Germany, and lets definitely stop making excuses for Portugal. Part of being a good footballer is remaining fit. Its a shame for Portugal that players in their team couldnt do this...but that doesnt minimize the play of any of the teams they face. Like I said before. Everyone will remember the winners and their performance. People wont stay stuck on the memories losing teams performance unless its a team with lower expectations. Every team has to deal with ups, downs, lapses, and injuries.

I wouldnt have even come down hard on Portugal fans Ive talked to if you guys werent so sure you would beat the USA. And many people were rooting against us, being sure that we would get destroyed. Now all of a sudden when the USA almost won, and now that Portugal barely tied, everyone wants to make injury excuses. Before the game was the time to be less boastful and talk about injuries.

If guys like you merely said "Well, itll be a close game and tough for Portugal with our injuries" I would have simply agreed and wished both our teams luck. But dudes like you were rather smug and ****y about beating the USA. Like I said before, its about time European fans start respecting other confederations teams. We are not push overs, and the rankings and on-field results show it.

 

[Ronaldo7]

Whenever any team is scored upon, its from lapses. No team is perfect. And because of this its important to give teams credit for playing well. Ghana is a good team, and have shown it these past few World Cups. They deserve credit just as much as the USA does. Stop acting like the USA isnt dealing with its own injured or unfit players.

ALL USA players played. None were prevented to do so from injuries. Facts are facts.

Lets stop making excuses for Germany, and lets definitely stop making excuses for Portugal. Part of being a good footballer is remaining fit. Its a shame for Portugal that players in their team couldnt do this...but that doesnt minimize the play of any of the teams they face. Like I said before. Everyone will remember the winners and their performance. People wont stay stuck on the memories losing teams performance unless its a team with lower expectations. Every team has to deal with ups, downs, lapses, and injuries.

Cristiano won the CL & Copa Del Rey. He had an arduous season. What did any American player win? Nothing. Take a seat.

I wouldnt have even come down hard on Portugal fans Ive talked to if you guys werent so sure you would beat the USA. And many people were rooting against us, being sure that we would get destroyed. Now all of a sudden when the USA almost won, and now that Portugal barely tied, everyone wants to make injury excuses. Before the game was the time to be less boastful and talk about injuries.

Full strength - Portugal would win.

If guys like you merely said "Well, itll be a close game and tough for Portugal with our injuries" I would have simply agreed and wished both our teams luck. But dudes like you were rather smug and ****y about beating the USA. Like I said before, its about time European fans start respecting other confederations teams. We are not push overs, and the rankings and on-field results show it.

USA does not have any world class players. USA has never reached the last 4 of the World Cup. Injuries tilted the balance to your favor this time. Even so, Portugal came back from the dead.

 

[Jaylan]

^Jozy Altidore played? Hes prolly out for the entire World Cup. Besler was 100%? Did you not see him have hamstring issues during the game? Thats a carry over from last game. Dempsey has been having a lil bit of issues too.

Stop making excuses. Like I said, part of being a footballer is remaining fit. Btw...Costa Rica and Colombia have had no problems defeating teams with world class players. So lets stop overrating European teams shall we? All of these World Cup players play in league games year round. As well as many playing in dosmestic and international cup matches. Everyone is tired...and everyone plays competitively and pushes themselves hard most of the year.

This is a TEAM game. "World class players" mean nothing when they arent playing as a great team. And what defines world class anyways? There are American players playing in top flight leagues in Europe. And even if all of the USA were MLS players, that would be a great testament to our domestic league which needs to grow. True soccer fans in America want to build up our own league and see it become great. Im happy that many of our players get their experience domestically and abroad...while keeping us ranked in the top 15 worldwide in both FIFA and ELO rankings (ELO being widely accepted at the more accurate ranking). For the USA to be ranked 13th is damn good considering there's over 200 FIFA member nations, the fact that soccer is the 5th most spectator popular sport in this nation, and how our domestic league is only 20 years old.

Moving on, the fact of the matter is this; the world will remember the winners in this World Cup. They wont remember the losers, and they definitely wont remember the excuses being made for losing. Italy, England, and Uruguay ALL have world class players. What excuses will you come up with if Costa Rica finishes their group with 9 points? No matter what excuses you make, no one in the world will remember or pay attention to teams that got bounced out of the group.

If the USA was in Portugal's spot, we would simply accept that we were not fit enough, nor were we good enough. And then we would take this as a lesson learned and look forward to our next continental cup matches, and towards rebuilding for the next World Cup. Excuses and whining makes fans of the losing team look like butthurt and whiny children.

If Portugal had won, you would have been in here talking so much sh!t...and so would a lot of trolls online who are simply anti-American and dont want us to be good at soccer. But now that you havent won, its excuses out the yin-yang in order to diminish the effort played by the other team. Accept the reality that Thursday will likely be Portugal's last game, and just be a good sport about it. Enjoy the spectacle that is the World Cup even if your team fails. You can be a fan of your team without bashing other teams when those teams get a positive result.

 

[Die Hard]

Coming from one of the top European football countries, I must give the US team credit, Jaylan! The USA always had potential but after watching World Cups for over 20 years, this is the first team that looks really solid to me.


I'm curious, who do you guys pick as title favorites right now?

1. Chile. Made the best impression so far, I can't discover any real weakness about this team. I haven't seen their full matches, though, so I don't know if their defense is as solid as it appears.

2. Germany . Made a great impression as well. But they weren't able to dominate against Ghana, couldn't keep control over the match... If they can keep their focus for full 90 minutes, I don't see them losing to anyone. But that's a big "if"...

3. The Netherlands. Their defense doesn't look very solid but their offense is RAZOR sharp. Even if their opponent would have the ball 90% of the match and totally dominate them, they just need a few Van Persie or Robben moments to turn the match in their favor.
In fact, if the opponent dominates them, this leaves space for a counter and actually FAVORS a Van Persie or Robben moment...

 

[Ronaldo7]

^Jozy Altidore played? Hes prolly out for the entire World Cup. Besler was 100%? Did you not see him have hamstring issues during the game? Thats a carry over from last game. Dempsey has been having a lil bit of issues too.

Altidore was 50/50 to play. That's one. Compared to Portugal's 4-5. Ronaldo had fitness issues as well. Besler evens it out then. Dempsey played just fine. There wasn't any significant change, except for Altidore not playing.

Stop making excuses. Like I said, part of being a footballer is remaining fit. Btw...Costa Rica and Colombia have had no problems defeating teams with world class players. So lets stop overrating European teams shall we? All of these World Cup players play in league games year round. As well as many playing in dosmestic and international cup matches. Everyone is tired...and everyone plays competitively and pushes themselves hard most of the year.

Ronaldo played more games than any American player played during the club season. Get some facts. Ronaldo played Liga, Copa Del Rey and CL. Yes, i'm right. Don'try to argue. Also, Ronaldo plays in a more competitive league and in more competitive matches. Yes, i'm right here also.

This is a TEAM game. "World class players" mean nothing when they arent playing as a great team. And what defines world class anyways? There are American players playing in top flight leagues in Europe. And even if all of the USA were MLS players, that would be a great testament to our domestic league which needs to grow. True soccer fans in America want to build up our own league and see it become great. Im happy that many of our players get their experience domestically and abroad...while keeping us ranked in the top 15 worldwide in both FIFA and ELO rankings (ELO being widely accepted at the more accurate ranking). For the USA to be ranked 13th is damn good considering there's over 200 FIFA member nations, the fact that soccer is the 5th most spectator popular sport in this nation, and how our domestic league is only 20 years old.

You are right. It is a team game and they should play as a team. I never said Portugal was the best team. Ronaldo is the only thing that makes them good and not just an average side. Ronaldo carries that team every game. However, one man can only do so much. Name an American player that plays for a big team in Europe. Rankings don't really tell the whole story. They are very misguided.

Moving on, the fact of the matter is this; the world will remember the winners in this World Cup. They wont remember the losers, and they definitely wont remember the excuses being made for losing. Italy, England, and Uruguay ALL have world class players. What excuses will you come up with if Costa Rica finishes their group with 9 points? No matter what excuses you make, no one in the world will remember or pay attention to teams that got bounced out of the group.

Suarez didn't play vs Costa Rica. The whole world saw the difference Suarez made vs England. I don't need to explain it to you.

If the USA was in Portugal's spot, we would simply accept that we were not fit enough, nor were we good enough. And then we would take this as a lesson learned and look forward to our next continental cup matches, and towards rebuilding for the next World Cup. Excuses and whining makes fans of the losing team look like butthurt and whiny children.

But they are facts. You can see that half of the starting XI for Portugal was injured/suspended. Who are you trying to trick? If they weren't injured as they were and the USA won, i would be the first to concede defeat and accept that they were better. However, playing with 5 substitutes that wouldn't otherwise play is a big handicap.

If Portugal had won, you would have been in here talking so much sh!t...and so would a lot of trolls online who are simply anti-American and dont want us to be good at soccer. But now that you havent won, its excuses out the yin-yang in order to diminish the effort played by the other team. Accept the reality that Thursday will likely be Portugal's last game, and just be a good sport about it. Enjoy the spectacle that is the World Cup even if your team fails. You can be a fan of your team without bashing other teams when those teams get a positive result.

I'm not anti-American. I see facts. I wouldn't be talking sh1t. Remaining humble and having sportsmanship is very important. It's not the same thing facing Tyson in his prime than facing Tyson now. I'm sure you are smart enough to understand it.

 

[Jaylan]

I'm not anti-American. I see facts. I wouldn't be talking sh1t. Remaining humble and having sportsmanship is very important. It's not the same thing facing Tyson in his prime than facing Tyson now. I'm sure you are smart enough to understand it.

Continue to cling to those excuses buddy.

One thing I give Ronaldo lots of credit for is how humble hes been after the USA game. Hes realistic and says himself that Portugal is average. And despite his slight acknowledgement of the roster challenges the team has face, he doesnt use it as an excuse. And he definitely doesnt use his own injury issues as an excuse.

Also, most definitely Ronaldo has not taken any credit away from the teams that have taken points away from him and Portugal. However, certain un-objective Portugal homers on the internet cannot seem to follow in the footsteps of their great footballing leader. Instead of accepting the game results and respect their opponents, these fans remain arrogant and unrealistic about what is happening.

And btw, Altidore was not 50-50 to play. Get your facts straight. He's likely not see anymore games this World Cup, even if there was the slightest chance of playing in the Final. Anyways, I know not all Portugal fans are poor sports. All I can do though is enjoy the tears of those fans that cannot handle that their nation isnt going through, while the USA has a great chance of advancing.

Lastly, stop being lazy and learn to do multiple split quotes. Stop inserting bold into my quotes. Because I dont want people here mistaking your lame responses for something I said. Especially considering the fact that some of my posts have their own formatting.

Coming from one of the top European football countries, I must give the US team credit, Jaylan! The USA always had potential but after watching World Cups for over 20 years, this is the first team that looks really solid to me.


I'm curious, who do you guys pick as title favorites right now?

1. Chile. Made the best impression so far, I can't discover any real weakness about this team. I haven't seen their full matches, though, so I don't know if their defense is as solid as it appears.

2. Germany . Made a great impression as well. But they weren't able to dominate against Ghana, couldn't keep control over the match... If they can keep their focus for full 90 minutes, I don't see them losing to anyone. But that's a big "if"...

3. The Netherlands. Their defense doesn't look very solid but their offense is RAZOR sharp. Even if their opponent would have the ball 90% of the match and totally dominate them, they just need a few Van Persie or Robben moments to turn the match in their favor.
In fact, if the opponent dominates them, this leaves space for a counter and actually FAVORS a Van Persie or Robben moment...

Thanks man. A lot of butthurt Portugal and Ghana fans whining online dont want to give the USA credit. Weird how unbiased neutrals all over the world are saying the USA deserve footballing respect. And its also nice to see some other surprising teams get respect for outperforming some of the world's better ranked teams.

Right now for me based on all the games so far and how the brackets line up...my favorites to make the semi-finals look like France, the Netherlands, Germany and Costa Rica. And my favorites to win it all is the Netherlands. Robben is just too good and pacey...and having Van Persie as well makes them hard to beat. I havent seen any team defend Robben well yet.