RECIFE, Brazil– As if the drama surrounding the U.S. Men’s National Team’s decisive group finale versus Germany didn’t have enough drama, torrential rains have paralyzed the city here ahead of today’s all-important clash.
The task is simple for the Americans. Win and they top the group. Tie and they advance to the Round of 16 in second place. Lose, and they run the risk of being knocked out of the World Cup in the group stage (though if Portugal defeats Ghana by a narrow margin, and the USA loses a close one, the Americans could still go through).
SBI will be providing live commentary on today’s match so please feel free to follow all the action here. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today’s commentary is after the jump):
Omar, sorry I doubted you this game bro. Great game. Muller schmuller!
Thanks to Portugal and Ronaldo. So much for the poster who was saying before the game that they wouldn’t try.
You know that part I didn’t get. Why so many picked Ghana over Portugal. Its like people saw what USA did to Portugal and just assumed they were crap.
No its because we saw the game of Ghana against Portugal.
I picked Ghana over Portugal because I wasn’t sure about the fitness of the Portuguese coming from Manaus.
Yeah, I was one of them. Mostly it just what I feared. However I also knew Ronaldo didn’t want to go home with out a goal.
Sorry Slow, I that Ghana would care more about winning than their Money.
Seems I was wrong.
And besides that don’t be silly, Slow. You always have more motivation when victory actually means something. That gives you an edge that simple pride can’t.
Man of the match: Omar G. Never thought I’d say that.
I serious think Yedlin should start at right mid. We won’t have a lot of possession against Belgium and he could make a difference, especially against a CB playing left back. Can’t be worse than Brad Davis, who was not terrible but was pretty lost on the offensive end
Omar did a great job out there. He cleaned up everything. I would start Yedlin too. We just need to be quicker out there. We were really slow with Zusi and Davis. Again someone explain to me why Davis is on this team.
I gotta say Omar certainly can rise to the occasion, it seems like it’s the lesser games he struggles with concentration. Look at his Azteca performance, Dos a cero, MLS CUP final, and today. Problem is we don’t see this enough.
I rather have Yedlin develop as a rb. IMO his potential there is higher. But he might be better rm at this point
Your not going to start Yedlin at RB at this stage. Since we can;t hold the ball for crap I rather have him and Chandler in midfield as extra speedy fullbacks who can counter
MOTM is either Jones or Howard, not sure which. I’ve criticized Howard many times, but he did his work the whole first half … nothing spectacular, but plenty of work. Jones looked awesome all day, but in the end no goal, so don’t know what to say… maybe he should’ve bowled over the ref to make the shot on goal instead of falling down. He probably made the right call on that, though. Didn’t like the officiating, slowing us down, and with a few exceptions, helping out the other side. Oh well. At least we’re in. Belgium, bring it on.
I disagree. Howard didn’t really have any great saves that I can think off. All the blocks he had went straight to him. Howard was good don’t get me wrong but he wasn’t our best player. Jones had another solid game but on the offensive end he was below average. More then a few times he was the reason for our counter not doing anything from either running into Bedoya or not running at full speed from Demspey
Yeah, but a goalkeeper with 10 stops (or however many) in that slippery slop is doing a great job just by not slipping. But I won’t step up too much for him… his saves weren’t fantastic, but the shots weren’t all easy, and there were a lot, plus he came out a few times to stop the action and intercept crosses. Maybe he gets a 7 or 8 in the player scores and MOTM goes to someone else, but he looked good today.
You really don’t know much about goalkeeping do you? Maybe they came at him because of HIS POSITIONING???? Howard reads the game and commands his defenders well (an organizer). On top of that he occasionally makes the acrobatic save. I will really upon what professionals like Klinsman, R Martinez and some of the ex-players on ESPN say over you.
Would love to have Donovan in the knockout round. His corners and freekicks are notch above Zusi.
LMAO Landon a ghost for sure
Altidore had a few awesome freekicks, too. We’re crossing fingers. +1 on Donovan, but that’s what we’re living with: LD (among a million other possible ways to not mess up) also might’ve helped in the final minutes against Portugal. Coulda Woulda Shoulda.
Yeah… the LD folks are pining for is a ghost of World Cup pasts. Hasn’t done a lot in MLS for 6-8 months… no help in that scoreless defeat by Galaxy to the mighty Railhawks, that is for certain.
US advanced and Landon has done little or nothing to state his case and much against it vs poor sides. That horse has been beaten to a pulp and should be left to rest in peace.
Omar the man of the match?
LOL you do know we lost right?
Obviously meant for the US
That’s how I feel once again we left a game on the field Omar played well but we lost to a team that we could have gotten a result against. In the round of 16 we have to get those result
We did not. Only the end result matters. We are through and the rest is history!
Get out of here, troll.
We’re through!!!!!!!!
Shooohhhhh……
Fvck it invade Germany
We might qualify for the knockout rounds but losing to Germany just grinds my gears
Soooooooooooo many dives from the Germans today. Unbelievable.
U.S. attack really out of sync today, mainly because Dempsey hasn’t been able to connect on the final pass. And probably b/c guys are too tired to crash the box.
Ya, players look exhausted. Completely understandable given our circumstances.
Or maybe Germany is that much better then us on the ball.
It think its a little of both. Germany are one of the best teams in the world, chances aren’t going to be easy. But we also just came of short rest after playing in Manaus. No teams that played in Manaus won their next game.
You’re welcome.
Thanks !
Yedlin’s future as a midfielder is becoming clear.
Ronaldo!!!
Viva Ronaldo
Viva Ronaldo
Scored a goal today
helped the USA
Viva Ronaldo
Ghana throwing the game our way.
If we were Costa Rica, we’d be complaining to FIFA about the rain.
We need Pele, Michael Caine, Ozzy Ardilles, and Sly Stallone.
Man, I know the pitch is soaked, but maybe the Germans should just have a dip back at the compound instead of diving all over the pitch.
I’m thinking that when Beckerman gets his hair wet, it’s another weapon.
Good, I can’t stand Bastian Schweinsteiger. He’s such a whiny player.
We’re in trouble. Portugal falling apart.
Uh oh. Come on Ronaldo.
Dangerous header from Germany. Looked totally offsides to me, but non-call helping the Germans again.
Followed by a bogus free kick call favoring the Germans. We truly have to play against 12.
If the Portugal game remains 1-0, I think we should push forward around the 80th minute and go for the win. If we were to concede it would be highly likely that we still advance at that juncture.
We look good although I would like to see more from Davis. A change may be in store. Even if it’s Chandler/Johannson/Yedlin/Green for Davis.
Just got to get through 45 more mins.
Gonzalez has been playing good I was a little harsh. I hope he plays well second half.
Aside from a shaky clearance at the start, Gonzo has looked surprisingly solid. Let’s hope he keeps it up!
PLEASE TAKE DAVIS OUT
Amen they have literally attacked his side the whole game. He needs to go. Defensive liability
I think we should sub him out and put on some speed to challenge the German back line. Perhaps bring on Chandler in a similar role to Yedlin last game. Or we could go with Bedoya or Green.