AJC.com > Sports > Soccer blog > Archives > 2006 > June > 11 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USBravo for Mexico
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Omar Bravo, that is, the Chivas lad, which ought to make the Horn Guys just as happy as the score. And a terrific snap header for good measure from Zinha.
Keeper Oswaldo Sanchez flew back from Mexico after his father’s sudden death, and El Tricolor look really, really good against a respectable Iranian side.
An XM commentator was breathless in pumping up CONCACAF but I’ll reserve judgment. Mexico will have a rough second round match, most likely against Argentina or The Netherlands, which also looked very, very strong on Sunday. Arjen Robben certainly lived up to the hype, and not just by scoring the only goal of the game. I hope Trinidad hasn’t had its only moment, and the U.S. has two tough European foes to start. The regional assessment is premature.
Will the Mexican press lay off Lavolpe now? Maybe for a while, but it won’t take much for that to change. And he’ll keep puffing away on the sideline no matter what.
Atlantans everywhere are taking in the Cup, and it’s certain to gain more momentum in the coming week with the U.S., Brazil and a few others still to play.
And Atlanta’s own homeboy, Josh Wolff, is looking to make a bigger mark on the Cup in his second appearance. He’s a grinder, and that’s what has endeared him to Bruce Arena.
I see a reserve role for Josh on Monday, especially if the Yanks need some fresh legs to run at some aging Czechs. Same goes for the youthful Eddie Johnson and his truly blazing speed. Don’t know about Brian Ching, who got a few stitches over his eye yesterday.
My predix for The Bruce’s Starting XI: GK — Keller. D — Lewis, Onyewu, Pope and Cherundolo. M — Beasley, Reyna, Mastroeni, O’Brien. F — McBride, Donovan. Nothing novel there, which makes me think Arena has something else up his sleeve. Convey, somewhere? I like Dempsey’s energy and fire, again, coming in as a sub. The Yanks seem to have some options in reserve; so much for my worries this isn’t a deeper team than ‘02. It may well be.
For those of you who can’t get away to watch, I’ll be back here shortly before 12 p.m. ET Monday to do some live-blogging. Even if you can watch, log on anyway, since none of us have lives for the next month. We might as well not have them together.
Comments
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By Chris
June 11, 2006 3:07 PM | Link to this
I think Convey and Jonhson need to be on the field for the US to be sucessful. Don’t like Donovan purely up front he works better as an attacking midfielder. Beasley needs to harass Nedved all day. Beasley looked bad every time he went forward in the send off tour. I don’t like O’Brien out there tommorrow don’t think his fitness is up to the World Class play yet. Two pulled hammies by our senior midfielders early wouldn’t be good. I haven’t been impressed with Pope lately. I am worried that Onyewu will pick up two quick yellows after watching the calls going against Crouch yesterday. There is always talk about refs having trouble in the World Cup keeping up with the pace if they are not from a top league. I think they have trouble with a big guy out there that they are not used to seeing.
Mexico looked great loved the finishing. I am hoping by the next World Cup I can have the option to watch the games without announcers and just be able to listen to the crowd noise. My compliments to the Mexican team and their fans for bringing it today.
For all the English fans worrying about their lads handling the heat in the World Cup this year. The good news is that in 2010 the World Cup will be played in the middle of the winter down in South Africa.
By Horn Guy Dos
June 11, 2006 11:08 PM | Link to this
Wendy oh Wendy, I see that ABC’s broadcast style has taken over your brain and your blog!
When are they going to realize that before and at halftime of a MEXICO VS. IRAN game, we don’t want to hear Musberger (nice shoes, sir) and Lalas talk non-stop about the United States, about McBride, blah blah blah.
And people wonder why I choose Univision.
Anyways, I must salute my Iranian friends who made it to the Brewhouse this morning to outnumber us Mexican fans 20-1. Luckily we were on the winning side. Hopefully Jared isn’t injured too bad.
By ATL fans
June 11, 2006 11:50 PM | Link to this
Go USA! You heard it here first US 2 Czechs 1…..Should be a good game, lets hope the US builds on 02’s experience and results.
By Nicholas Irwin
June 12, 2006 2:24 AM | Link to this
I’m really excited about this, as I’m sure all U.S. fans are. I can’t wait ‘til tomorrow. We need at least a point or we force ourselves to beat Italy, so we can’t come out sluggishly. We fairly frequently have games where we come out and get a goal in the first 10 or 15 minutes, and it would be very nice if tomorrow would be one of those. As far as the lineup goes, on defense, I wouldn’t be altogether too upset if we sat Pope and played Mastroeni as our second central defender. I trust his defending more than Pope’s. Also, since we’re playing against a team with a more attacking style, maybe it would be better to keep Lewis as a sub and start Bocanegra at LB. We already have an attacking fullback in Cherundolo, and I’m afraid that if we have two, we’ll get caught. Against Italy, and their defensive style, put Lewis back in. O’Brien can’t go 90 minutes, I think that’s pretty clear, so I guess we can pick who we want are other central MF to be at the start. I think I’m gonna go with Chris here and say start Donovan as a CAM and put McBride up there with Johnson (or Wolff if Arena wants to send us all to an early grave). Then what happens during the game can dictate what we do. If we need attacking later, we can keep it that way, but if we have a lead midway through the second half, we can take Johnson off and put O’Brien in. In any case, with Mastroeni back on defense, that opens up a midfield spot for Convey, allowing us to have both Convey and Beasley on the field at the same time. I recognize that Beasley didn’t play particularly well in the send-off friendlies, but I would find it very difficult to sit him. Besides, even though he was in seemingly poor form, he still did a great job on defense, so he would still be valuable even if he hasn’t found it yet.
By John
June 12, 2006 8:27 AM | Link to this
Talking about the broadcast commentary, I think that the poor broadcasting affects the sport’s popularity. They just dont sound that professional. I mean, it used to be worse with the likes of Turn Off the Volume Rob Stone all the time, but imagine if these guys were calling the NFL playoffs or World Series? Ok, try not to imagine it, lol. Seriously, top notch announcers can greatly add to any type of sporting event.
Listen to Univision? Ok, maybe ABC and the backbackback boo ya networks talk only about USA, but Uni pukes everything great mexico. I get a headache from my eyes rolling back into my head. I never thought I would find myself rooting for iran, but rooting for mexico is like rooting for yew gee ay…yech!
By Horn Guy Dos
June 12, 2006 8:42 AM | Link to this
It might be pro-Mexico, but only during the Mexico games.
Unlike ABC and ESPN, where EVERY GAME reeks of pro-USA propaganda.
By indocumentado
June 13, 2006 12:11 AM | Link to this
To John: Viva Mexico, cabron. The US team can come home anytime.