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DEL.ICIO.USBetter late than never
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For England, two goals in the final seven minutes yielded an underwhelming 2-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago.
The scores were exceptional, a Peter Crouch header off perfect service from David Beckham, and Stevie G’s world-class move to lose a defender and strike with his left foot. Reporteth The Guardian’s live blogger: “What an amazing goal. What an amazingly flattering result.”
Here’s a preview of the skewering to come from the rest of Fleet Street: “That was abysmal. Expect the Germany-Ecuador game to end 17-16, as both teams try to throw the game for the right to meet this utter shambles of a side.”
A side that’s moving on to the second round.
Ecuador is looking mighty, mighty good after throttling Costa Rica 3-0, advancing both the South Americans and Germany.
Tough day for CONCACAF. We got just as many teams (4) as South America. It’s a scandal, really. I’m guessing FIFA will alter the possibilities for 2010. They better.
As for team USA, it’s quite obvious the Yanks are not on the same page. Far from it. If the players and the coach still can’t agree on what happened during a game four days ago, how can they possibly be ready for Italy two days from now?
And Arena still can’t admit to anything, except under direct questioning. It’s easy to say you take responsibility — high government officials do it all the time, as a matter of course — but it’s another thing to mean it.
Comments
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By Ekkehart
June 15, 2006 2:29 PM | Link to this
Wendy: Your beloved three lions won, but you must concede they have been anything but average…
By Wendy Parker
June 15, 2006 2:40 PM | Link to this
MY beloved Lions? Hah! One half of Off the Ball’s bloodlines are German/Prussian/Pomerianian, the other side is Scots-Irish.
Inger-land, no way!
On the other hand, it was Liverpool 2, T & T 0. Now THAT makes me happy.
By Henry
June 15, 2006 2:41 PM | Link to this
What is this Wendy? How many pints have consumed today?
By I think with a drawl
June 15, 2006 4:00 PM | Link to this
Americans don’t care about football! We care about FOOTBALL!!!!
By Ekkehart
June 15, 2006 4:48 PM | Link to this
Say what you will Wendy—but I got you pegged as a closet English fan…I am just reading between the lines.
By Chris
June 15, 2006 5:02 PM | Link to this
FYI Wendy, South America lost their play in game CONCACAF won theirs. Next World Cup South America should have five. I don’t see the Soloman Islands or New Zealand putting up much of a fight in a play in game after Australia moves to Asia for qualifying.
By Nicholas Irwin
June 15, 2006 5:56 PM | Link to this
Man, it does not look good at U.S. camp. I don’t know why Arena’s being so stubborn about it. If more than a few players are saying it, isn’t it perhaps possible that some players were confused? How the hell does he know what they’re thinking? And on the other side, mightn’t it be better if the players told him, “Hey, we’re confused,” instead of just talking about it in the media. Unless this is all an elaborate ruse to lull the Italians into a false sense of security, we’re in big trouble here. I wish someone (Claudio Reyna? He’s the captain after all. Maybe Donovan could if he weren’t busy calling his girlfriend and thinking about how homesick he is.) would tell everybody to shut the hell up and worry about the Italy game. If this continues, we may see the Czech Republic game as a good result by the end of the Italy game.
Oh, and if this is all an elaborate ruse to lull the Italians to sleep and we actually pull it off, Bruce Arena gets a free pass from here on out, as far as I’m concerned. It would take no small amount of genius to pull that off. I’m afraid though that we won’t be that lucky.
By Nicholas Irwin
June 15, 2006 6:01 PM | Link to this
Also, I think you may be overselling South America here. They do have two of the best teams in the world, but it isn’t that deep. Paraguay, the fourth-best team on the continent, is terrible. I wouldn’t be surprised if they can’t even score a goal during practice. I would also not be surprised to see Trinidad beat them.
By Henry
June 16, 2006 8:00 AM | Link to this
Wendy I disagree and so would most of the countries at CONCACAF. South America has 10 countries playimg for 5 positons (they lost the 5th one to Australia. CONCACAF play for 4 positions out of 20 or so countries, and Trinedad and Tabago won their playoff game against an Asian opponent. A good thing, they are an asset to the World Cup. Leave it alone this is the most exciting Cup I have seen.
By Rutuger
June 16, 2006 10:34 AM | Link to this
I must agree with Henry that this is the most exciting World Cup group play I have seen. With that said, I am extremely disappointed in the mess our boys have become entangled in with each other. I can’t believe Arena actually said “the [Czech] game was closer than the score.” Funny, I have been thinking the opposite all week! We mustered a single shot and got torched, used and worked for 90 minutes. Not exactly close at all.
I really need to see something from Landon and also Beasley (who did, to his credit, work hard last game). I’m assuming Johnson will see more minutes this game to try and spread out the Azurri D, but we’ll just have to watch tomorrow and find out. Gooch was at best disappointment in the first game, so let’s hope he can get it together as well.
By Nicholas Irwin
June 16, 2006 11:14 AM | Link to this
So…are Argentina appears to be half-decent, no?
By Nicholas Irwin
June 16, 2006 11:14 AM | Link to this
So…Argentina appears to be half-decent, no?
By Nicholas Irwin
June 16, 2006 11:17 AM | Link to this
Sorry, it’s early.