A bit more collected look at our soul-crushing loss

June 22nd, 2006 | Posted by PostmanE

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Now that I’ve screamed myself silly for a few hours, let’s take a more analytical look at the U.S.’ 2006 World Cup appearance than the knee-jerk stuff I did directly down the page.

While I stand by the stuff I wrote about Ghana there, commenter Kevin is absolutely correct. I couldn’t possibly blame the loss entirely on Ghana - who, despite my achings, played the same strategy that I would’ve played going down the stretch in the second half. (Well, besides the constant diving and faking. I hate that stuff.)

No, Ghana is not entirely to blame here. The U.S. laid an egg in an admittedly tough group. Playing one game of spirited soccer will not get you into the Round of 16 in a group like this. Much of the same ills that plagued the U.S. in their stinker against the Czechs were evident here today as well - no energy, inability to string together productive touches, role confusion. The onus for the first two are on the players. The last, and perhaps most important, is on Bruce Arena.

Landon Donovan, for all his poor play, wasn’t put in a position to succeed this Cup, never getting the full-on forward or full-on midfielder nod that he should have. Instead, Arena played him as withdrawn forward in a 4-5-1 set. Same goes for DeMarcus Beasley. For all of his attitude problems, Beasley didn’t seem to understand why he was on the right side against the Czechs or in the middle against Ghana.Beasley came up with a huge assist for the U.S. Donovan controlled the pace of the game very effectively against Italy. Other than that, those two U.S. stars were no-shows, and the U.S. - hailed and praised and hyped and lauded - went home thanks to tiny Ghana.

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Ghana has WMDs, President Bush. Please bomb their country now

June 22nd, 2006 | Posted by PostmanE

ghana.pngI should take a little more time before we do any sort of analysis here, because I am losing my mind, I think, but man. This is a shitty day.

Eric Wynalda seems as angry as I am right now. He should be. This was a terrible World Cup.

And I never thought I would say this, but I…hate…Ghana…so…much. I hate them. They got lucky that Claudio Reyna is slow and old and incompetent with the ball at the back, and they got a terrible call in the box. That was that. Up 2-1, they can do what all inferior teams do when winning - sink back in and send no one forward. Game over. (Also, taking every opportunity to lay down on the ground in the second half helps too. With only 30 seconds recorded for extra time each fall, you probably killed 5-7 minutes there. Nice work, guys.)

So, congrats Ghana, whatever, great story, blah blah blah. I will hate you forever. Hopefully Ronaldinho scores 800 goals on you in the Round of 16.

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