So says Eric Wynalda. The United States lost to Ghana this morning, 2-1, ending their World Cup hopes. A win would’ve gotten us through to the next round, as Italy did their part and took care of the Czechs. But we just weren’t capable.
And, ultimately… I think we just aren’t talented and skilled enough to play with some of the teams out there. We were in a tough group, with at least two (and evidently three) teams who are clearly a notch ahead of us. And on top of all that, Bruce Arena left himself plenty of room for second-guessing here.
I’m not going to call for him to be fired, and I think he’s done some phenomenal work in building the US Soccer program to this point. But it’s hard to disagree with Wynalda’s contention that he fucked this up. He played the 4-5-1 to death, even when we desperately needed goals. He actually super glued Eddie Johnson’s ass to the bench, even though he proved to be one of the few players on the squad capable of giving us a spark. Tactically, he might just not be a world class coach. Maybe we should hire a Dutch guy or something. Or hope that Germany flames out soon, and fires Jürgen Klinsmann, and see if we can scoop him up.
Unfortunately, there was another highly call, and it turned out to be extremely costly. Oguchi Onyewu was called for a foul in the box, and Dwyane Wade was awarded a penalty kick. Easily the weakest call that I’ve ever seen awarded a penalty kick. But it’s a Mavs-esque situation here. We fucked ourselves… Claudio Reyna absolutely handed them a goal, we wasted a couple of golden chances in the second half, and we just didn’t play that well. No fluidity, passing wasn’t crisp enough, didn’t get to enough 50-50 balls… Fuck.
This has to be considered a failure. Not because we lost to a good Ghana team, and not even because we didn’t advance… but because we played well in just one of three games. Maybe we shouldn’t have won all of these games outright, but we shouldn’t have been outclassed, and we were. And the players have to take some blame for that, but that’s on Bruce Arena, too. For whatever the reason, we just didn’t seem ready.
But hey, congrats to Ghana. Maybe we owe them one, since we kinda, you know… stole some people from there a few hundred years ago. And if you can remove our own failures from the situation, it’s hard not to feel good for Ghana. They drew a “group of death,” just as we did, but the little African nation found a way to get through. I’ll be rooting them while Brazil bends them over and sodomizes them.
HuangKong
Ghana! Argh. Ah well. At least we own the gold medal in Basketba…. um, well in the World Baseball Classic we… we…. shit…………….. um…
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
June 22, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Mr. Bojangles
Yeah, Ghana kinda deserves the win, as reparations for the slavery several generations ago. That Ozzie post must have put you in ‘guilty conscience’ mode, MJD. Careful, boss. Last time we went there, you had to restructure your entire blog to fight off the rampant race-baiting garbage in the comments.
Congrats to Ghana whupping some Czech ass and making us look like the subpar soccer team we are. Landon Donovan, the big fish in the tiny, dirty fish bowl of MLS.
June 22, 2006 at 12:46 pm
Biff
“Oguchi Onyewu was called for a foul in the box, and Dwyane Wade was awarded a penalty kick.”
Brilliant. (I actually went to middle school with Onyewu. Or so I’ve been told.)
Getting upset about the officiating, though, is complete BS. Please note that, even without the penalty kick, the US still managed only one goal in the game (in the entire tournament, actually, if you don’t count Italia’s own goal). Seeing as we needed a win and not a draw to advance, the US team has no room to complain.
June 22, 2006 at 1:29 pm
the mighty mjd
The slavery comment is what’s known as a joke.
June 22, 2006 at 1:47 pm
Rect Dogg
blaming the referees for this loss in an inevitability. Unfortunately no one on the US team, from Bruce Arena to Demarcus Beasley, seems willing to step up and accept blame for this loss.
Yes- some tough calls were made. It’s part of the game. you have to stay focused and try to roll with the punches.
this quote by Arena blew my mind:
“I am disappointed in the judgment of the referee in the penalty call. We would have liked to come out at halftime even, with a chance to win the game. That was a big call.”
That’s like the head coach of an NFL team that just lost comming out and saying, ‘Gee, it would have been nice to win, but seeing as how we were down by seven points at halftime, winning was really an impossible scenario.”
It makes me wonder what Arena said during halftime. “Boy guys, you really playd hard that first half…… but there’s no way we can win now. ”
He probably said that while giving Donovan and Beasley handjobs simultaneously.
which brings me to another issue I need to vent on: Landon donovan.
His performance has been absolutely pathetic. He clearly needs an attitude adjustment. He comes out and says things like, ‘My job is to come out and be dangerous; to come out, score goals, and If I can’t do that, create opportunities to score’ and then flushes two of our best scoring opportunities in the Gahna game down the toilet.
His body should be drawn and quarterd, and his body parts should be sent to the four corners of the empire.
June 22, 2006 at 2:01 pm
tony
Did Landon Donovan go to Duke?
He looks like he should have. I just want to kick him in the head everytime they show him.
THEN, I would like to bring up the subject of his poor play.
June 22, 2006 at 2:06 pm
RyanBeingManny
I followed Arena at UVA, he’s a fantastic coach. Fire him. He’s just not world class.
That being said, we looked like Windsock Mariotti. Constipated. Everyone was afraid to pull the trigger. Always made one too many pass. Trash, we should be embarassed.
I’ve decided to jump on the Portugal band waggon. gotta root for someone, and they have a great shot. One other prediction; Ghana gets a lead on Brazil (assuming, you know, Australia doesnt win 23-0 and Japan shuts down Brazil) ends up losing a 2-1 burner.
June 22, 2006 at 2:29 pm
King Dan
MJD, Speaking of Klinsmann, you might want to check out this article. http://blogs.foxsports.com/Nick_Webster/2006/06/18/Arena_OutKlinsmann_in
I’m not sure if it has any validiy to it. It is on the fox soccer website though. Oh we can dream….
June 22, 2006 at 2:47 pm
deucetrey
What was more frustrating – seeing Chad Johnson crush that penalty kick into the back of the net and knowing the chances of the US scoring a second and third goal were about nil, or seeing Kasey Keller smile “knowingly” like he was going to stop the shot – like he knew something we didn’t know – only to watch as Chad Johnson completely fooled him?
And just a question from a soccer newcomer…Landon Donovan was supposed to be good, right? I think I heard his name called about twice, he looked tentative and like he didn’t want the ball, crushed a free kick completely out of bounds and passed on a wide open shot towards the end of the game. I might be wrong, but he looked like a ‘fraidy cat to me.
June 22, 2006 at 2:57 pm
mazdak
I don’t understand how you could be so restrained now about the officiating, compared to after the Italy game. This time the US truly got screwed, when as I posted before I thorught the calls in the Italy game were justified. Is it because it was Italy? do people hate them that much, if so that is a sentiment i can agree with.
June 22, 2006 at 3:05 pm
Chris R
RIP, Bruce Arenas.
What I think would be a nice postscript on his coaching of the team is this: under his tutelage, he made a 1st round exit in the World Cup a disappointment and not an inevitability. Given where we were before he got here — 94′s automatic bid followed by a 2nd round bid and 98′s pathetic performance — that’s actually a compliment.
June 22, 2006 at 5:52 pm
UC
I didn’t think any American soccer player would ever enter my personal pantheon of hated athletes where the likes of Kobe Bryant, David Wells, and Isiah Thomas sit.
But I was wrong. Come on in, Landon Donovan. Relax. Sit down. I think you’ll be here a while.
June 22, 2006 at 7:27 pm
mshcch
The point is, at least people are disappointed about it. 10 years ago no one would have cared.
The US had better upgrade the midfield and forwards, especially since McBride won’t be around next time. And good luck finding any help in the MLS. The 2 players who produced for us this time, McBride & Convey, put the MLS in their rear view mirror long ago.
June 23, 2006 at 8:14 am