Our Group... the group of death's cousin
Between Italy, Czechs and of course Ghana, not many people are giving the United States a chance. Hell I have my doubts.
Coming up we will look in depth at the other teams in our group and then of course the other groups. First off we will look at the Czechs. They are our first opponents and for any chance to move on, just to face Brazil, the United States needs a point from either the Czechs or Italians and a crushing performance against Ghana. First to present is the Coach of the 2nd ranked team in the world (eh FIFA rankings suck but who knows), Karel Bruckner. This is Karel's first World Cup after taking control of the team after the Czechs failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup.
Most deadly about this team is their attack. They have 6'7" forward Jan Koller just coming back into action after an injury spell. To offset the height they have the pace with Milan Baros. He was under-rated at Liverpool in my opinion and Rafa could have used him some more, but Villa is not complaining. Althought I know more than one person who says Baros focuses more on his hair than his play, some might even question his heart. In the midfield is the surprising Nedved, who at 33 had retired of the national team only to come back for the World Cup. In goal they have Chelsea number one Petr Cech, one of the best in the game currently.
What to US needs to do? Other than pray? With Gooch in the back marking with Koller, we need to push the counter attack with Dempsey and Beasley on the wings. This game is the game we settle for the tie, we can not push too hard and we hope that Italy ties with Ghana (Italy usually starts off slow in tournaments, maybe their press will be too harsh on them like usual - one bonus the US has unless you count the Sports Illustrated Curse). Just looking forward to the surprise first game like we had against Portugal in 2002.
Most deadly about this team is their attack. They have 6'7" forward Jan Koller just coming back into action after an injury spell. To offset the height they have the pace with Milan Baros. He was under-rated at Liverpool in my opinion and Rafa could have used him some more, but Villa is not complaining. Althought I know more than one person who says Baros focuses more on his hair than his play, some might even question his heart. In the midfield is the surprising Nedved, who at 33 had retired of the national team only to come back for the World Cup. In goal they have Chelsea number one Petr Cech, one of the best in the game currently.
What to US needs to do? Other than pray? With Gooch in the back marking with Koller, we need to push the counter attack with Dempsey and Beasley on the wings. This game is the game we settle for the tie, we can not push too hard and we hope that Italy ties with Ghana (Italy usually starts off slow in tournaments, maybe their press will be too harsh on them like usual - one bonus the US has unless you count the Sports Illustrated Curse). Just looking forward to the surprise first game like we had against Portugal in 2002.
2 comments:
Goup of death's cousin? Which do you think is the hardest group?
That aside, this draw presents the US with real problems. If the Czechs are really that good (I agree that the FIFA world rankings are a joke), the the US has to get at least one point here. But we're not sneaking up on anyone. There are too many US players who play in Europe now, so we're not going to surprise anyone. I also doubt that the Czechs will regard us as lightly as Portugal did in 02. They also have something to prove, not having qualified last time and they may want to show the world that their ranking is no fluke.
As for Italy -- well it must be ranked lower than the US. Does that make sense?
Maybe, just maybe, we're really better than we think. Maybe we're all just too insecure because of our lack of a soccer pedigree. Maybe this is the world cup that shows 02 wasn't a fluke.
By the way, neat graphic!
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