US plays Italy today, I'd be stoked with a tie but I'm not counting on it.

US group is Italy, Brazil, US, and Egypt, Brazil beat Egypt today 4-3.

the other group is Spain, South Africa, Iraq and New Zealand

Spain is the class of this tournament I believe, they are #1 in the world in the FIFA rankings and it's not close, they are going to win that group with great ease. You have to believe it's going to be Italy and Brazil advancing in the other group, I'm glad the U.S. plays Italy first as Italy is notoriously slow starters in tournaments. (3-0 thrashing at the hands of the Dutch for instance in 2008 Euro)

Being the that I am, I'm going with the good old USA......

US loses 3-1 because of a Red Card in the 33rd minute by Ricardo Clark..... bush league call, it was a yellow card but definitely not a red. US scored first on a PK but just couldn't hold the lead through the 2nd half. Down 2-1 in about the 80th minute Donovan was fouled in the box but there was no call. If this game is played at full strength I fully believe the US would have at least got the tie. Very frustrating

bad choice lol

Aint that the truth.....

here is how group B played out today

going into today the standings were

Team..........W....L....D.......P......GD......GF
Brazil..........2.....0....0.......6.......4.........7
Italy............1.....1....0......3........1.........3
Egypt..........1.....1....0.......3.......0.........4
USA............0.....2....0.......0.......-5........1

(GD= goal differential, GF= Goals scored)

Brazil beats Italy today 3-0 and USA beats Egypt 3-0 so the group ends up like this

Team..........W....L....D......P.......GD......GF
Brazil..........3.....0....0......9........7.........10
USA............1.....2....0......3.......-2.........4
Italy............1.....2....0......3.......-2.........3
Egypt..........1.....2....0......3.......-3.........4

top 2 from each group advance

Goal differential is the first tiebreaker when it comes to group play, goals scored is the 2nd tiebreaker, therefore the US advances under the most unlikely of scenarios from the second tiebreaker. I'm so pumped you guys have no idea.

USA vs. Spain is going to be as close to an impossible game to win as possible, but I'm glad we get a chance to play it.

Wow...after that loss to Brazil I figured team USA was done....New life now....USA...USA...

Why are the commentators hating on Clint so much? Acting like it's been all his fault the last couple of games.

Because he doesn't fit in with the way the U.S. tries to play him, we want him to play outside when he is better in the middle of the field in more of central attacking role or even as a striker, he really played like trash for 60 minutes and then scored. He doesn't help on defense like an outside midfielder should, he doesn't really concern himself with that facet of the game and it hurts the team, especially since we have so many injuries in the back 4 as it is.

agreed, but they wont drop him from the line up because he is the new face of the US national team

the past two games (egypt and spain) as soon as he is moved to a striking position.. he scores. as an outside midfielder he doesnt want to do the defensive work sometime. play him as a forward.. no a midfielder

USA vs. Spain......#1 in the world from what I hear......

Shocking win by US. Not sure how this happened after their play with Italy and Brazil.

What was the score and who do they play next???

2-0
U.S. plays winner of Brazil vs South Africa (that game is tomorrow). In all likelyhood it will be a U.S. vs Brazil rematch but you never know. Going in I'm sure the world would have put easy money on a Spain and Brazil final

Spain and Brazil would have made a great final.. but im not complaining about the US being there instead of Spain.

Thanks...maybe the good old USA will pull this one out, too.....

I'd be satisfied with something a little better than the 3-0 pwnage we got last time

your not the only one.

It will be tough for the US without Michael Bradley.

what a jank call that was by the way, I didn't see Klejstans red but the other two have been trash

USA vs. Brazil for the championship....who would have thought......

on the brazil goal they were offsides. there was a brazil guy dancing behind the wall right in front of the keeper and no defender between him and the goal.

Did he touch the ball? No. Did he effect the play in anyway, absolutely not. Good goal

he was standing behind the wall on the 6 yard line in front of the keeper. if the keeper has to worry about him being part of the play he is offsides. he wasnt standing on the touchline but right in front of the keeper and those brazil guys can chip over anything.

so i guess u r saying if he was standing on the front post he wasnt part of the play because the ball went to the other post?

Don't think he interfered with the play at all. If there would have been a rebound he would have been called off

it was just a well taken free kick. i was starting to have my doubts about brazils coach until he put alvez in. then he looked like a genius.

u r correct about the rebound but the ref book says "if a player is in an offsides position when the shot is taken and he is in the position to "impede" the gk play on the shot he is offsides. he was standing right behind the wall between the ball and gk on the 6 yard line dancing around.

yes great shot but..........

the guy moved out of the way before the shot was taken to the point where he wasn't even in the goalie's view anymore, not like he screened the goalie or anything

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoBTTW57X4Y

he doesn't have to touch the ball to be offsides and i wasnt talking about him being in the keepers vision. was the player in a position if the ball was played to him he could be in a dangerous spot. YES.
so i guess he can stand on the other goalpost but becuz it was shot to the far post it doesnt matter.

stick to american football cranktree

Offside position...yes

Offsides...no

Good no call and great shot

So how's the game going????

2 very different halves. US up 2-0 at the half. Brazil gets go ahead goal with just over 4 minutes to go in the game and wins 3-2. It ended up not making a difference but it sure looked like Brazil was denied another goal midway thru the 2nd half. Good job by Howard staying with the play but I believe it was in.

Too bad....at least Team USA made a much better showing than anyone even hoped for......

you could see in the second half howard was gettin a little upset with how the defense was playing. they weren't closing out shooting lanes like they had been in the first half. game should of been 4-2 becaue of a missed call by the official...that ball was certainly in. turns out it doesn't even matter...however, the US is showing that they have some good potential on that team. maybe rossi will change is mind and play for the US instead of italy

also its great to see that clint dempsey is doing very well...always nice to have someone reppin east texas!

also its great to see that clint dempsey is doing very well...always nice to have someone reppin east texas!
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I have to disagree, I thought Dempsey wasn't good at all and would have much rather had seen Torres. Not sure why we have such a hard time marking in the back. If there is a service you can count that there is going to be a backside defender lost in the shuffle. That isnt just our back 4 either, our MF has the same trouble. I did think that Clark had an outstanding tournament, and Davies surely found himself some more time with the NT.

Aside from his assist on Donovan's goal, I though Davies was pretty brutal in this one. Way too many giveaways and poor choices on the ball. He has potential, but I would have like to have seen someone else get a shot in the second half.

im confused as to why he played bocanegra on the outside instead of the inside with onyewu. them two have played together more and have a better understanding of each other. not to down demerit cause he had a farely good tournament but i just figure bradley would have played moved bocanegra back inside. as for dempsey congrats to him. he got the bronze ball of the tournament. he did seem a little lazy on his defending in some games but overall he played very well.

A - Bocanegra needs to stay wide so he can get involved in the attack.

B - Demerit/Onyewu is a good partnership.

C - Dempsey is a poaching, goalscoring striker. He needs to be up top all the time, BUT, he is not the defensive high pressuring forward in a 4-4-2 that the US needed in the final against Brazil. He disappears during games then pops up and scores big goals. That is a good thing overall.

D - Klejstan? Klejstan???? KLEJSTAN?!?!?!? WTH? He showed he cannot play at this level. He needs to be dumped before 2010.

bornstein gets involved in the attack just as much a bocanegra. and i suppose the demerit onyewu partnership worked out great with passes being slipped between them quite a bit

i will agree with the klejstan though. same with clark. i didnt see much from either of them.. big loss missing bradley in the center

i have to agree with ptsoccer about the partnership with demerit and onyewu not being a good one. demerit not the answer at all and too many passes getting through. also agree with woody why we cant mark in the back at all at times.

bradley getting that red was stupid on his part and it didnt help at all not having him out there.