i caught a bit of the npr review of the port/ger game on the drive home and it sounded like ronaldo was gimpy in today's loss and they lost another guy (pepe?)to a red card
"With Pepe already off the field, another Portuguese defender joined him -- this time through injury rather than red card -- when Fabio Coentrao pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury and departed on a stretcher."
Well, losing Altidore hurt mightily in maintaining possession. Johannson shows a lot of promise, but he's no Altidore. Also, Bradley simply did not play well. To me, he played timidly and tentatively. I personally think we match up better against Portugal. Ghana may just have better team speed than about any team in the tournament. Johannson has to get more comfortable, if Altidore can't go, and Bradley has to come out of his shell. The back four can't play much better. They just need some rest with longer offensive possessions...
We need to attack more against Portugal, and not depend so on Howard and the defense. The humidity benefitted Ghana imo, should not benefit Portugal.
LOL! What a boner, proving you shouldn't mess around with other languages unless you really know them. "Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo wasn't lacking in effort but was as powerless as those around him to prevent Portugal being steamrollered by Der Mannschaft in Salvador." "Der" is the masculine article. "Mannschaft," as with all nouns ending in "schaft," like "Landschaft" (landscape) are all feminine, by grammatical rule.* ("Schaft" equates to our "scape," just as "heit" equates to "hood.") Therefore, it's really "die Mannschaft," although it's made up of a bunch of guys...
Have to agree. I don't think we had much choice after Altidore when down and it became obvious that we couldn't maintain possession, with the way the officials were calling the game. Towards the end, after we scored the second time, we started going out and picking them up earlier and playing active defense...
Agreed. No one knows who Portugal is at this point. Even Portugal doesn't know...
Alas, so long as DaMarcus Beasley's in at left back, it's like playing not one but two men down on defense. You might as well be running Student Body Left at a 12-year-old school crossing guard. Or to mix a sports metaphor, having Beasley's inept defensive self in the lineup is like asking Hoyt Wilhelm not only to be your starting pitcher but to throw a complete game and beat the opponent with his fastball.
we probably don't have to beat them.
Perhaps, but Asamoah was on the other side of the field and the US left him alone all night long. He ate the US squad up. I understand that he is Ghana's best player but there was no attempt to challenge his possessions.
I can see the US beating Portugal if Ronaldo is hurting - should at least get a tie. If Ronaldo is healthy and the US doesn't have Altidore back the BEST that we can hope for is a tie, IMO.
