photo by Joe Toth/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
The U.S. men's national team's World Cup run came to a close on Saturday, as it was eliminated for the second straight time by Ghana by the score of 2-1.
It was deja vu all over again for the United States, as it allowed another early goal when Ricardo Clark was dispossessed near midfield before Kevin-Prince Boateng hit a shot to the front post just five minutes into the game.
Landon Donovan would pull the Americans level, converting a penalty kick drawn by Clint Dempsey in the 62nd minute. The equalizing goal, which was a perfect strike that stung off the right post and went in, was Donovan's third of the tournament, tying him with five other players for the tournament's best.
The game entered extra time, and the American defense again unraveled early as Asamoah Gyan would score three minutes in. A gassed U.S. team pushed for an equalizer, but never found it.
Here are the match highlights, as well as from the Uruguay-South Korea match:
Superb Suarez strike sends Uruguay to quarters
Luis Suarez scored twice, including a splendid shot in the second half, to launch Uruguay to the quarterfinals of the World Cup for the first time since 1970 with a 2-1 win over Korea Republic.
Suarez opened the scoring in the eighth minute, taking advantage of a sleeping Korea Republic back line to get on the end of a Diego Forlan feed from close range.
Korea Republic would respond in the second half, when Lee Chung Yong rose to head a ball over Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera in the 68th minute.
Suarez would permanently reclaim the lead for Uruguay with a magnificent effort 12 minutes later. The Uruguayan striker received a pass on the left side of the penalty area, sidestepped his defender and curled a shot off the far post and into the back of the net.
Uruguay will face Ghana in the quarterfinals on June 2.
Here are the match highlights:
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What do you think of Saturday's action? Still can't believe the United States lost again to early goals? Think Ghana or Uruguay will reach the semifinals? Impressed by Korea Republic's showing at the World Cup?
Share your thoughts below.
Klinsman please!!!
COME ON…BORNSTEIN PLAYED WELL AND WASN’T THE PROBLEM!
GOOCH (WHO PLAYED INJURED) PLAYED TERRIBLE, AND CLARK (AS A DEFENSIVE MID) PLAYED AWFUL.
YEAH, IT STINKS SEEING THE TEAM YOU LOVE EXIT, BUT A COMPLETE REGIME CHANGE?
FIX THE PROBLEMS, i.e.
LETTING IN EARLY GOALS AND NOT SCORING ANY WITH YOUR FORWARDS!!!
THAT IS WHAT WE SHOULD REPAIR FIRST AND FOREMOST!
USA #1 IN MY EYES!!!!
DOLO…YES, I AGREE HE HAD A VERY GOOD TOURNAMENT
I WOULD HAVE TO SAY THAT THE ONLY U.S. PLAYERS THAT DIDN’T PLAY LIKE THEY BELONGED THERE WERE THESE 4:
FINDLEY
ALTIDORE
GOOCH (I SHOULD POINT OUT AN INJURED GOOCH)
CLARK
AND I THINK WE SHOULD HAVE SEEN MORE OF THESE 4:
BUDDLE
GOMEZ
EDU
HOLDEN (HOW COME HE DIDN’T EVEN GET A SNIFF?)
USA FOREVER!!!
yeah, and I think Defoe is much better than Rooney. Everyone thinks Altidore is soooo good and Wayne Rooney has such high expectations b/c of the same reason…Marketing by big sports and media companies.
Jozy Altidore was horrible the entire tournament. I’m sick of people saying “he holds the ball well” and “he’s only 20.” Muller from Germany is 20 and he scored two great goals against England no less. Anyone at this level should be able to hold the ball. Anyone should also be able to make those two simple assists he produced in the Slovenia and Algeria games.
Do you really need to be educated on how they trained after watching the team perform for 4 years?
Surely you’re not that inept but on the off chance you are, explaining anything in detail could cause further confusion.
I’m really anxious to know why evident facts elude you…
does anyone esle think that Howard should have covered the near post better on that first goal?
He left the near post wide open.
i agree with clark and findley. they were horrible and i stated that before the game. i wanted to see buddle.
bocanegra should have taken the yellow on that play and never let gyan loose.
ghana had zero goals in the run of play till they played us.
guess they wanted it more.
I agree with the fact about Bornstein. i was shocked at how well he played especially 1 v 1.
Really, how do you know this?
Neither of you are idiots, you’re just not taking everything in to consideration.
If Jozy were a 28 year old then I would totally agree that his spot is in question. However, at 20 years hold, Jozy has shown moments of promise that even our best players, young or old, are unable to replicate. Moreover, he has amazing promise and can develop into possibly one of the worlds best strikers/players. That’s not something we can say about many or maybe even any of our players. I’m not saying Altidore is completely immune to criticism. I’m saying that it’s silly to try and shun someone that young who has shown that much ability and that much potential.
All that being said, I think you guys are also blowing out of proportion the mistakes Jozy has made, especially in comparison to the good things we’ve seen from him this tournament.
This is the sad part of the loss where we start questioning everything and think with our emotions rather than our heads.
Jozy has shown excellent ability for a player of his age. Has he made mistakes? Of course, but he’s 20 years old, what the hell did you expect? As he grows, he’ll get better and we’ll look back on the World Cup and Confederations Cup knowing that he gained valuable experience from both. People really forget how young Altidore is and the fact that while he has shortcomings, we don’t have a single other forward that makes up for that.
Feilhaber and Edu should have started. Dempsey should have been up top.