Well if some Americans say soccer is boring, it's because they clearly weren't watch today's games.
This group which was called by some the group of death (I guess all disputes about this title are resolved after today's games).
So here the wrap up:
Ghana vs. Czech Rep.
The Czechs (rank #2 by FIFA) went into the game as clear favorites, while the Ghanaians who have been called the Brazilians of Africa played well but failed to score against Italy in their last match. What happened? It was a near slaughter. The Ghanaians have incredible individual talent, but unlike in their previous game (and unlike the Ivory Coast), they finally clicked as a team forging incredible plays. This game could have easily ended 4-0 in favor of the Ghanaians if they had a natural striker ... or if the Czech goalie (appropriately named Cech) wasn't in top form. Next up for Ghana is the US. Meanwhile the aging Czech team has to regroup for a tough game against Italy.
Italy vs. USA
Unlike the previous game, this one was trench warfare. It featured a badly beaten US team against a cocky Italian squad. From the beginning both teams went at each other - playing very hard, very fast, and very sloppy. The Italians tried counter attack soccer (I hate that) while the US got some nice early chances. The US's biggest problem was their inexperience at the front ... and it showed. Eventually the Italians scored on a nice set play. But before you could say "Italy is in", an own goal tied the score (and it was a miserable blunder too). Then the match descended into chaos. De Rossi elbowed McBride in the face. Red card (and deservedly so). Then late in the first half, Pablo Mastroeni (of the US) slid in - studs first (two feet) and received his own red card (border line call). Finally Eddie Pope made a bad tackle and collected his second yellow of the game - another ejection. The Americans were worn out by mid-second half and barely survived 20 minutes of fierce Italian attacks. In the end the US played well and deserved the tie. It was a very emotional game -- full of hard tackles and tough plays. If two European teams played like that, there would have been riots after the game.
Tuesday Thursday we will see how the "group of death" is resolved.
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Well summarized. I watched both games, and they were indeed some of the most exciting (and infuriating) matches I've ever seen.
You left off "Il floppo". I hate Italian (and Argentinian) flopball.
P.S. The games are on Thursday.
Alex, you forgot to mention that Italy had the best player on the field ... the ref.
Hmm. The Czechs are not just old but they have a lot of injuries. It was a tough loss. Ghana was in top form and this did seem more like the group of death to me. Fantastic to watch. It is unfortunate that the ref had such a huge influence in not letting the teams play. Oh well...
Damn Italians.
Lets hope Ghana makes it out of the group!
RPM,
The Argentines are playing very well, I'd say they're the team to beat right now. (And thanks, corrections done).
Dad,
Yes the ref was a little too quick to call that red on Mastroeni. I wonder if it wouldn't have been a yellow if he hadn't given a red card earlier to the Italians. There were many bad calls against the Italians too (about 3-4 offsides thtat weren't, including one goal). Also I think that the ref started showing cards to gain control of the game ... but with all the scandals in Italy, you never know.
The Americans were playing the off-side trap. You would think that the Italians would have adjusted in the second half? Not too much in the gray matter as far as they are concerned. LOL.
OK, I am clearly partial (I'm Italian), but what do you expect from the ref, if before the game some idiot players make belligerant comments talking about the game as war, and stuff like that?
The game started very physical, with the US running like crazy after every ball, and (in part as a consequence of the intensity) quite sloppy. This brought lots of late tackles, pushes etc which further raised the tension. Then DeRossi deservedly got his red card for his unbelievable foul, and things got even more edgy. Mastroeni's foul was extremely late, cleats forward with two feet on the ancle - sure, it may have been entirely unintentional, but it was a judgement call by the ref. It was a very bad foul at a very bad time, and the red card was severe but not outlandish. Pope's 2nd half foul would have gotten him a yellow in most games. Again, the ref could have let it pass with just a warning this time, but I guess it was his judgement that he wanted to quell any fireworks for the second half right away. Bad luck for Pope, but I guess it worked, because the 2nd half was less nasty (it also helped that both teams, and especially the US, were exhausted by the 60th minute).
As for the other ref errors, there were a couple of off-sides against both teams that weren't there, but that was more the linesmen's fault and it happens in every game. The offside on Beasley's [sp?] goal was clearly there.
Overall, a technically sucky game, made even worse by stupid pre-game statements that forced the ref to call a very tight and nervous game, further contributing to low play quality.
Arena's whining today is pathetic, however. Compared to what we saw in Korea/Japan, refereeing this World Cup has been very reasonable. Arena wanted a high intensity game to make up for the technical differential and for his team's opaque performance last week, and he got one. He should have told his players to keep their mouth shut, though. Games are won on the field, not in the newspapers.
"The Americans were playing the off-side trap. You would think that the Italians would have adjusted in the second half? Not too much in the gray matter as far as they are concerned. LOL."
dad:
it was precisely because the US were playing the off-side trap so regularly that the Italians kept pushing against it. If you time it right and break it just once, you have an excellent chance at goal - see for instance what Italy did in the second half against Ghana. The alternative in this game would have been painfully pushing through the midfield with the US players running on every ball like pitbulls. Within the context of the game, with the US pressing and getting progressively more tired, Italy's strategy made sense.
All this will be irrelevant since Spain or Argentina will end up winning this thing.
From today's NY Times:
Let the conspiracy theories begin.
Although it doesn't matter, I saw the replays and thought that the ref was right in all cases. All the attacks looked aimed to injure, and the ref made a good decision not to tolerate that behavior.