USA WC Post-Mortem

I’ve been a soccer fan for just about a year now. Which is more than most Americans can boast, but for a real soccer fan…is laughable. I’m part of a google group that emails me soccer news almost 24/7. This isn’t a service, these are friends and friends-of-friends who love soccer. I’ll never be on their level. They make my love for football–American football–seem like a faint interest. They’re fanatics. That’s why I feel ridiculous saying I was saddened by the US loss on Saturday. Because it’s nothing like the sadness that some of these guys feel when their teams (Mexico or England) were eliminated this weekend.

The game was gut-wrenching but it seems like we didn’t have a chance. Ghana simply wanted the win more than we did and fought harder and longer. Their defense was amazing. The only goal we scored was a PK by Landon Donovan coming from a foal on Clint Dempsey. (I’m a fan Clint but it seemed like you spent the whole game on the ground. I need to go back and watch it because you were either flopping a lot or you got the snot beat out of you.)

Ghana had the weight of Africa on their shoulders, were the underdogs and beat us. They were younger, faster and hungrier. The goal we gave up in the beginning of the game was the killer. Ghana isn’t a huge scoring threat and when they stole the ball and went in for the kill it broke my heart. I knew that scoring on Ghana would be tough and it was.

Many people are calling for Bradley’s head but to be honest I’m not knowledgeable enough to know if we could actually get a better coach. Bradley made lineup mistakes, that’s for sure, but who could we get to replace him? In the end, I think Bradley didn’t put the right lineup out on the field and that mistake will haunt him. But he’s done a lot of things for the US team. I’m sure someone could replace him but the question is still who. I think the team did well, they could have advanced but weren’t able to strike. I’m proud of them but you have to give credit to Ghana for playing with heart and wanting it more.