DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum World Cup Games (Non USA)

Swiss’ sweet upset? Born in the USA

By Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports
10 hours, 53 minutes ago

It was the most monumental of shocks and lit up what had been a sleepy World Cup. But while Switzerland’s dramatic 1-0 victory over tournament favorite Spain took place in Africa, the upset was born in the USA.

Swiss coach Ottmar Hitzfeld devised his game plan for shutting down the European champion’s destructive offense after witnessing the manner in which the United States stunned Spain in last year’s Confederations Cup, the warmup event to the World Cup.

Hitzfeld has built his reputation as one of the most respected coaches in the world thanks to his inexhaustible work ethic, which involves dedicated study of thousands of matches. But in the leadup to the World Cup, the former Bayern Munich manager turned to one game time and time again.

That miraculous result took place on June 24, 2009, at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein. On that night, an American team that had squeezed through the Confederations Cup group stage on goal differential defied predictions of a blowout loss to stun the soccer world with a 2-0 victory over the then-No. 1-ranked Spanish.

Hitzfeld broke down Bradley’s blueprint step by step, noting how his team specifically focused on a few key areas of the field to overcome a drastic difference in technical ability.

“We saw how the Americans played against Spain with a lot of interest,” Hitzfeld said. “You know that if you are going to have a chance against [the Spanish] you need to do certain things very well.

“The USA did not try to do everything. They accepted the fact that Spain has pace and width and simply made sure they kept the center of defense as tight as they could. It is not a perfect system, but it was a very interesting tactic and it worked.”

Spain has looked indestructible in recent years and has established itself as one of the great teams of modern times. At the European Championships two years ago, the Spanish conceded only three goals while scoring 12 in their magnificent romp to their first major tournament title in 44 years.

As well as having superstars such as Fernando Torres, Iker Casillas and Xavi Hernandez, Spain is blessed with solid role players (such as Gerard Pique and Carlos Puyol) who add so much to the team. And yet, on Wednesday, it wasn’t enough against Switzerland, just like it wasn’t against the USA.

Switzerland’s goal from Gelson Fernandes in the 52nd minute was scrappy and fortunate, but nothing should be taken away from the Swiss’ overall performance. The defeat was only Spain’s second in 50 matches.

“You are always going to need a little luck to beat Spain,” Fernandes said. “But we feel we deserve this. We worked very hard and the coach had a great plan for the game.”

A plan which stemmed, in part, from Bob Bradley, the man who hopes to lead the U.S. on a deep run in South Africa.

Martin Rogers is a staff writer for Yahoo! Sports. Send Martin a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

web page

Argentina looked good against Nigeria, and looks good again today. Maradona looks hysterical in that $4000 suit, however. lol.

3-1 Argentina now

This just in from NPR.. yes, the PUBLICLY FUNDED NPR.. if you don't love soccer you are white, conservative, and racist. Have a great day.

The Nation: Why the Far Right Hates Soccer
by Dave Zirin


Every World Cup, it arrives like clockwork. As sure as the ultimate soccer spectacle brings guaranteed adrenaline and agony to fans across the United States, it also drives the right-wing noise machine utterly insane.

"It doesn't matter how you try to sell it to us," yipped the Prom King of new right, Glenn Beck. "It doesn't matter how many celebrities you get, it doesn't matter how many bars open early, it doesn't matter how many beer commercials they run, we don't want the World Cup, we don't like the World Cup, we don't like soccer, we want nothing to do with it."

Beck's wingnut godfather, G. Gordon Liddy also said on his radio program,

'Whatever happened to American exceptionalism? This game … originated with the South American Indians and instead of a ball, they used to use the head, the decapitated head, of an enemy warrior."

Dear Lord, where do we begin? First of all, I always find it amusing when folks like Beck say, "We don't like soccer" when it is by far the most popular youth sport in the United States. It's like saying, "You know what else American kids hate? Ice cream!" Young people love soccer not because of some kind of commie-nazi plot conjured by Saul Alinsky to sap us of our precious juices, but because it's – heaven forefend - fun.

Among adults, the sport is also growing because people from Latin America, Africa, and the West Indies have brought their love of the beautiful game to an increasingly multicultural United States. As sports journalist Simon Kuper wrote very adroitly in his book Soccer Against the Enemy, "When we say Americans don't play soccer we are thinking of the big white people who live in the suburbs. Tens of millions of Hispanic Americans [and other nationalities] do play, and watch and read about soccer." In other words, Beck rejects soccer because his idealized "real America" - in all its monochromatic glory – rejects it as well. To be clear, I know a lot of folks who can't stand soccer. It's simply a matter of taste. But for Beck it's a lot more than, "Gee. It's kind of boring." Instead it's, "Look out whitey! Felipe Melo's gonna get your mama!"

As for Liddy, let's be clear. There is not in fact hard anthropological evidence that early soccer games were played with a human head. Interestingly, though, there is an oft-told legend that the sport took root in England in the 8th century because the King's army playfully kicked around the detached cranium of the conquered Prince of Denmark. Notice that this tall-tale is about Europe not "South American Indians". I think we're seeing a theme here.

But maybe this isn't just sports as avatar for their racism and imperial arrogance. Maybe their hysteria lies in something far more shallow. Maybe the real reason they lose their collective minds is simply because the USA tends to get their asses handed to them each and every World Cup. After all, as G. Gordon asked, "Whatever happened to American exceptionalism?" When it comes to the World Cup, the exceptional is found elsewhere. Could Beck, Liddy, and company just have soccer-envy? Is it possible that if the USA was favored to win the World Cup, Beck himself would be in the streets with his own solid gold vuvuzela? I feel that to ask the question is to answer it. In fact, this is as good a reason as any to hope for a mighty run by the US team. It would be high comedy to see Beck and Friends caught in a vice between their patriotic fervor and their nativist fear.

web page

My head is still spinning from that spin story. They will come up with any means to drag conservatives through the mud. This story has nothing to do with soccer. lol.

Does Nigeria have to play the 2nd half down a man as well?

Yeah

Thanks, no way does nigeria hold greece to one goal being down a man for over 60 minutes.

You guys see the Greek player crumble into a writhing mass of pain when the Nigerian dude kicked him? There was no need to imbelish, he tried kicking the guy, a red card was on the way no matter what.....but he still threw his head back, screaming, fell to the turf, and rolled around in massive pain. Sure enough, slow-mo replays show he BARELY touched him. Heck even if he conected full with that weak kick, your average 10-year old wouldn't cry. But this Greek...acts like a sniper nailed him from the roof.

I like watching this sport....but I can't seem to handle the acting. At some point, don't these "men" realize they're acting like well, boys. I know, not all act like this, but some do.

Vuvuzela Controversy Divides ESPN The Magazine

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5294242&categoryid=2378529

couldn't load onto page so you will have to click link, this is a pretty funny video.

haha

J/C

Yaaaayyyy for Greece.

Really, the team was lucky to make it to the World Cup, they are not nearly the team they were when they won the Euro championship.

South Korea was much more aggressive than I think they were expecting and I don't think they can even get a tie out of Argentina, but I'm just glad that they don't have to worry about being shut-out of the WC (and still technically alive for that 2nd spot out of the group)

But it looks like South Korea will advance with Argentina...although Argentina will probably field a weaker side as they are now guaranteed to advance, so Greece has a tiny bit of hope still.

Good for Greece.....but that actor, Vasilis Torosidis, got the winning goal. That makes it a sour ending. He should have gotten a yellow card for his reaction on the sideline.

Oh well.

Can't wait for USA and Solvenia tomorrow!

USA scored the most goals out of all the qualifying teams during qualifying so I hope we see some of that against weaker teams like Slovenia and Algeria

so, head-to-head doesn't matter at all?

that's just silly...what is this, the BigXII South?

thanks for digging it out.

Talk about a split second of stupidity...

For that experience just like the world cup. you can go to this website and have the vuvuzela playing in the background at work all day.

web page

J/C


0-0 at nearly the half. That is the final outcome that helps the US the most going forward.

as mentioned, a 2 goal US win will clinch no matter what else happens, but 0-0 helps us on multiple tie-break scenarios.

wouldn't we get in no matter what as long as we win?

we would be 1 win 2 ties, while algeriia is obviously out, and both the english or slovenia could end up with one loss or they could tie and engladn would have 3 ties which wouldnt be as good as our 1 win and 2 ties making us at least the second?

again, i don't know the exacts of world cup but it seems like if we win our next one we are golden.

If England ties or loses this game, the US advances with a win against Algeria.

England vs Slovenia wouldn't matter as US' 5 points would guarantee them a top 2 spot.

unreal, looks like algeria is going to tie the brits.

Sweet!! Win and we're in!!!

Add to that, we're in good position even if we tie and England/Slovenia ends in a tie. We've got 3 goals scored to England's 1. They would have to tie 2-2 or more, while we would have to not score.

it's kinda crazy that some of these supposed top powers are struggling, spain losing, germany losing, england has yet to win...

crazy.

if the u.s. kids can stop digging that early hole, maybe they have a real good shot at it.

I loved playing soccer all through high school, but this is why soccer is so hard to embrace... could you imagine March Madness like this?

Well, Syracuse plays Duke today in the Sweet 16... Duke can advance if it's a tie or if Duke wins by 8 or more, as long as Kansas beats Wake Forest by more than 4 and Kentucky doesn't beat Arizona by double figures.....

Heck even a US tie and a Slovena loss wouldn't rule us out if we can get 2 more goals scored than Slovena does.

Oh right ... my fuzzy math is off.

Here's the official scenerios ... it's like Week 17 in the NFL.

USA advances with:
(a) Win versus Algeria on Wednesday
(b) Tie and Slovenia-England tie IF England does not outscore USA by 2+ goals
(c) Tie and England loss

Slovenia advances with:
(a) Win or tie versus England
(b) Loss AND USA tie vs Algeria
(c) Loss and Algeria win as long as Algeria doesn't make up tiebreakers

England advances with:
(a) Win versus Slovenia
(b) Tie AND USA-Algeria tie AND outscore USA by 3 goals

Algeria advances with:
(a) Win versus USA AND Slovenia win/tie versus England
(b) Win verus USA AND Slovenia loss versus England AND makes up tiebreakers on Slovenia


Note: If the U.S. draws with Algeria and England draws with Slovenia, and England scores exactly two more goals than the U.S., the U.S. and England would be even on all tiebreakers for second place. The tie would be broken by drawing lots ... aka, a coin flip.

(Only way both USA and England advance is if both win.)

I hear If there's a coin flip, Romeo crennel will be brought in to conduct it

but the whole tie (or draw) thing goes out the window once you get to the knockout stage.

Theyve taken the whole regular season for the world cup and pared it down to 3 games per team...the easiest way to do that is round robin with 4 teams per group.

so when you only play 3 games to advance...a lot of those scenarios will come to be...

it happens, but its not a soccer issue...well maybe other than the issue of the draw...but thats how they do.