US Wins!!!!!!!

[ChrisCavalier]

What an amazing World Cup match. I hope everyone had the chance to see it!!

Looking forward to the next round!

[ISA-Chuck]

The USA advance to the final 16 at the World Cup.

This is quite an accomplishment. Winning their group that included two European teams is even more impressive.

Congraulations to the US National Team !

[TNTtoys]

It was a great victory but a bittersweet one too...

We not only had the game winner disallowed in our match against Slovenia but we also had the would-be winning goal against Algeria disallowed at 20' today.

Let's forget today's call at 20'... We would not be in the pressure position to "do or die" in the final minute today if the 3rd goal in the Slovenia match was allowed as it should have been. 3 separate concurrent fouls on the field (all committed by the other team) and our goal is disallowed? I am still shocked by this one...

But back to today... the thought that kept running thrugh my head late in the game is that we were about to tie, while England was about to win... which is a scenario that would send Slovenia to the round of 16... a spot they truly did not deserve.

Thankfully we advance and we also have all of the tie-breakers to win the group... so now we play the 2nd seed of Group D... which is the best possible outcome. So, we now start again with a clean slate.

Who are we going to play you might ask? Well, I crunched the numbers, and the front-runner at this point is Serbia, followed by Ghana, Germany and Australia. It's actually mathematically possible to play any of the 4 teams, though the odds of facing Australia are very very slim.

[TNTtoys]

And sorry Chris, I had to move your thread to "General Sports Discussion"

[sox83cubs84]

What did the Cubs do last night?

Dave M.
Chicago area

[David]

It's impressive the US won the group. I went to university in England, and my English friends say the US played better than England and deserved.

[David]

I should add that I'm no soccer, er football, follower, but my friend explained the US won the group as they beat England in a tie breaker-- most goals scored. Minor victory perhaps, as US and England both moved on.

[TNTtoys]

It's impressive the US won the group. I went to university in England, and my English friends say the US played better than England and deserved.

I am not a huge soccer fan, but a sports fan in general. My assessment --

Match 1: US vs England -- England clearly was the better team and beat the US on both sides of the ball. The US defense held strong enough to keep England from scoring more than 1 goal; the English goaltender made a critical mistake allowing the US their lone goal.

Match 2: Agree with your friend's statement. The US played a fantastic second half of soccer (fueled by the dramatic comeback) and England was flat and lifeless in their match. The US should have won their match but had to settle for a draw in the end. This was not only because of the "goal that wasn't allowed" but because they allowed Slovenia to go out to the 2-0 lead in the first place.

Match 3: England did what they had to do; the US did the same.

If you ask me who the better all-around team is, it is England... but they are not worlds apart like they used to be. England is ranked 8th in the world; the US 14th.

If all stays the same in the current matches, the US will play Ghana and England will play Germany...

[MSpecht]

Landon Donovan came up HUGE throughout the qualifiers and in Cup play so far. Clearly a major influence on the team and the younger, less experienced. players... U S keeper Tim Howard is top-notch, but I'd also have the Algerian keeper on my team any day of the week. Great match and a well deserved advance for the Yanks.

Mike jackitout7@aol.com

[ISA-Chuck]

As painful as it seemed several days ago, we can put the USA's loss in the round of 16 in perspective - the team went farther than Italy, France and the hosts, South Africa.

They also went out at the same stage as England, Portugal and Mexico.

Though the above teams have more or less fallen, the USA has not improved from its best finish in 2002.

The games did set ESPN records and drew attention to a sport where the USA actually has competition. The Americans are no longer superior in baseball and basketball as they once were.

The domination of South American teams is prevelant in this World Cup.