USA! USA! USA!

Many wonder what’s going on in my head…most wonder if anything is going on, here’s a place to find out.

USA! USA! USA!

23 June 2010 2 Comments

Has everyone had the chance to catch their breath after watching the USA-Algeria match? That sure was a wild one but it’s the type of game that makes the sport so exciting.

Algeria basically admitted they weren’t good enough to beat the USA. Slovenia managed to score on them, England couldn’t and Donovan, thankfully, was able to find the net.

It’s not as if we weren’t the better side. We were. Algeria used their same game plan they’ve been using the last couple of weeks which is to put 11 men behind the ball and hope catch the opposition with too many men forward on a counter attack.

The USA, on the other hand, just couldn’t breakdown Algeria’s packed defense. They had opportunities but didn’t really create very many good chances. Yeah, there was, what seemed, a legitimate goal from Clint Dempsey ruled offside but there wasn’t much else. Algeria kept their shape well.

One thing American fans know is that the team doesn’t give up. How many late goals have we seen in recent years? The game on Friday vs. Slovenia and the Costa Rica game a few months ago come to mind right away. I wish I had remembered that at the time cuz I had just accepted that we were out of the Cup….It just wasn’t going to happen today.

Seconds later Tim Howard threw the ball half the length of the pitch to find Donovan. Landon ran with it a bit and fed it to Jozy Altidore who sent a cross through to Clint Dempsey who, (well, it wasn’t Clint’s day) ran into the keeper….but the ball popped free and into the stride of Donovan who made no mistake.

Oh, did I mention that it was the 91^st minute?

What a finish! USA 1 – 0 Algeria

USA qualifies for the 2^nd round. It’s just a question of who we’d play next. Well, England managed a 1-0 win over Slovenia. Both the USA and England were level on points at the top of the group. However, because the USA had to come from two goals down against Slovenia, they win the tiebreaker.

In the later matches, Ghana finished second in their group and will play the USA on Saturday and, get this, Germany gets to face England on Sunday morning. What are the odds?

What’s even better, should the USA get past Ghana, they’ll then face the winner of the Uruguay – South Korea match for a shot at a Semi-Final spot. It could have been worse, England play Germany and then the winner takes on the winner of the Argentina – Mexico match. How lucky did we get with our bracket?

Anyway, today’s match will be remembered for the last minute goal. What a match! I’m still buzzing. We have some momentum and people are actually following this run here.

Roll on Saturday!

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