Why didn't US play harder to win late in game?

[MCS]

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Where have you seen a line on this game? I can't seem to find one on teh intarnet.

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this thread

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Hmmm, I missed that somehow. Okay.

Betfair.com, yo.

[Mik1w]

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Of course the US got totally screwed by the groupings and the officials, maybe because we are not real popular in the world right now.

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1. its a random group selection
2. the USA's group is NOT the hardest, I'd say the third hardest. Brazil/Croatia/Japan and Argentina/Holland are AT LEAST on par with Italy/Cz.
3. A general rule about football: 19 times out of 20, the referee is NOT biased against you (and the one time generally occurs at low league football, definately not at an international level)

[BadBoyBenny]

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Another thing the US has to be worried about is a nil-nil draw. A tie advances the Italians, and wins them the group if Ghana beats or ties us. Similarly, the Czechs are relatively safe with a tie, because of their goal differential advantages against the US and Ghana.

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It is big that we don't have to play Ghana before this game. Because Czech is out if Ghana beats us and they tie, this scenario isn't as bad as it could be. The Czech's will need to be aggressive and play for the win which could open opportunities for the Italian side.

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It could actually be rather important for the US to go on the attack early (and score), because this does more to ensure that ITA-CZE can't play for a draw.

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I think it is quite the opposite. Buth teams need to be worried if Ghana wins. If the US gets an early lead, then the other game playing to a gentleman's draw is more likely.

[mmbt0ne]

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2. the USA's group is NOT the hardest, I'd say the third hardest. Brazil/Croatia/Japan and Argentina/Holland are AT LEAST on par with Italy/Cz.

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Dude. Mike. Come on. Group E is, top to bottom, far away the best and most difficult group.

[betgo]

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2. the USA's group is NOT the hardest, I'd say the third hardest. Brazil/Croatia/Japan and Argentina/Holland are AT LEAST on par with Italy/Cz.

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Dude. Mike. Come on. Group E is, top to bottom, far away the best and most difficult group.

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It's a pretty tough group. It is not just Chech and Italy. US is a very strong team too. Also Ghana easily defeated Chech, which was ranked #2 going in.

[pudley4]

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2. the USA's group is NOT the hardest, I'd say the third hardest. Brazil/Croatia/Japan and Argentina/Holland are AT LEAST on par with Italy/Cz.

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Dude. Mike. Come on. Group E is, top to bottom, far away the best and most difficult group.

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Yeah, before the WC started, a case could have been made for the Argentina, Netherlands, S&M, IC group, but S&M has played far worse than any team in Group E; and Brazil's group doesn't have a second team on par with Italy/Czech

[mblax10]

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Of course the US got totally screwed by not being seeded instead of Mexico

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I FYP so that you have one valid argument in it. Mexico recieved the last seed over US despite the fact that the US is ranked higher (yes, these rankings are flawed but FIFA created them so they might as well use them). US has had the better of recent matches. Including the win in the 2002 WC which should carry more weight than the other matches.

9-3-05 USA 2 Mexico 0
3-27-05 Mexico 2 USA 1
4-28-04 USA 1 Mexico 0
5-8-03 USA 0 Mexico 0
6-17-02 USA 2 Mexico 0

The fact that US did not recieve a seed guaranteed there would be at least 1 and probably 2 better team in their group. If they were granted the last seed over Mexico and drew a weak European team (Croatia, Ukraine), they could've been the favorite to win their group.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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2. the USA's group is NOT the hardest, I'd say the third hardest. Brazil/Croatia/Japan and Argentina/Holland are AT LEAST on par with Italy/Cz.

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Dude. Mike. Come on. Group E is, top to bottom, far away the best and most difficult group.

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Yeah, before the WC started, a case could have been made for the Argentina, Netherlands, S&M, IC group, but S&M has played far worse than any team in Group E; and Brazil's group doesn't have a second team on par with Italy/Czech

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for the hundredth time, our group is not the most difficult group.

Argentina > Italy
Holland > or equal to CZ
IC > Ghana
USA is probably a bit better than S&M (who was awesome in qualifying, questionable here).

so Argentina/Holland > Italy/CZ, and the 3rd and 4th seeds are basically a wash.

[Bulldog]

Because they didn't have the momentum.

[The once and future king]

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I hope it's OK to start a new thread.

I didn't understand my Keller kept kicking the ball to the other side of the field at the end.

If they won, they would probably advance. With a tie, it is unlikely they will advance. Why not try all out for a goal and the win, even with 9 men. The US was 5th ranked going in and should advance. They have a strong enough team to score with 9 men. I would just play to win and not worry that much about losing rather than tieing.

Of course the US got totally screwed by the groupings and the officials, maybe because we are not real popular in the world right now.

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This post is an outrageous Insult to the heroic effort made by the yanks. They fought tooth and nail to get a win agianst great odds and then when those efforts had exausted them they dug deep to hang on for a draw.

To suggest that they some how failed by drawing when a man down against a team with alot more WC pedigree is just ignorant and insulting to the 9 heroes on the USA team.

If I a Brit am calling them heroes, then that is what they are, because I would much prefer to be going HAHA USA donkeys. How ever their performance last night was one of the gritiest I have ever seen so credit where credit is due.