Weirdness continued, Sunday; the middle game between Algeria and South Korea was also on ABC, and was completely missed. The late game, though, despite having the US in it, went back to ESPN. Good for me, but weird, in general.
So I was able to watch it very late, which was much better than not at all.
It started out very poorly for the Americans, with a very poor defensive play by the right back giving Nani an easy goal in the fifth minute (his first goal of the year, across all competitions; I knew he'd had an off year, but didn't realize how much so).
And for a few minutes thereafter, the Americans looked as bad against the Portuguese as they had for most of the Ghana game.
In the fourteenth, there was some contact weirdness. First, Mereira went down in a really terrible dive, rightly ignored. But while the staff came out to look at him, Postiga had to leave the field with an injury. No contact there, so I assume it was a hamstring pull, or something similar.
But the US settled down (important for a team that had never won after surrendering the first goal), and by the 36th minute, possession was only 56-44 in favor of Portugal. Not to imply that was a big surprise, the US was only finding offense by going over the top. And their shots were mostly from distance; the only in-close ones were blocked by the defenders.
Shortly after that, we had the first ref-called water break of the tournament that stopped play for a couple of minutes.
In the forty-fifth, Howard was called on to make a pair of saves. The first he made well, tipping it off the post, but was offbalance, and had to stretch to tip the ball over the net on the second.
I had to laugh, right after that, when stoppage time was announced at two minutes, since there were at least two stoppages that were individually longer than that (Mereira's "injury" and the water break).
But nothing happened during that time, so they went into the half with the US down a goal still.
The second half started with the Portuguese giving the US a bit more room, perhaps to keep their shape at the back better, and prevent shots over the top. Thinking back on one of the other games, I wonder if stopping the long ball works better by being tighter at the back or pressuring the kicks more.
The US did get a 5-on-2 break in the 51st minute, but Bradley's pass ahead was a half-step behind the forward, and they lost the momentum. Very disappointing.
Two minutes later, Bradley again did less than well. He had an open chance two minutes later, with the goalie completely out of position, but shot it directly into the defender, Costa, who was in the goal. Not his finest moment.
Ronaldo broke free, finally, about six minutes later, but fired the shot high and wide before the defense caught up.
A couple minutes later, the US finally equalized on a shocker. There was a pretty bad corner kick, but the ball went out to Jones, ten yards outside the box, and a bit off to the left side. He took it a little bit to his right, then fired a shot around Costa (in good position again) and into the far side of the net.
Play continued pretty even for quite a while, then. The US finally found some space with a great run down the right hand side in the 81st minute. Then there were three quick, nice passes, to Bradley to Zusi to Dempsey, going across the goal one way, then back for Dempsey to finish from the near side goal line.
That got the Portuguese to push forward, at one point managing to have five men offsides in one play.
As stoppage time went on, it looked like time was going to run out for Portuguese, but Bradley misplayed a ball at midfield, and the ball got kicked up to Ronaldo, who made a run down the right field side. From well back, he crossed into the box and hit a diving Varela for the header to tie the game.
Once the celebration was done, the ref only allowed a few seconds of play, so the game ended in a flabbergasting draw. A second center-back was subbed in in the last minute or so, and he signally failed his only charge. Disappointing doesn't even begin to cover it. A win would've cemented the US into moving on, and even given them a good chance to win the group.
Now, they'll need to beat Germany to win the group, though a draw would be good enough to get them into the knockout. Knowing the riskiness of playing with desperation, I suspect the US and Germany will play a very desultory game, with both teams looking for a draw.
Showing posts with label group of death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label group of death. Show all posts
20140624
Surprise addendum
The surprise continued in the second game, as Germany faced Ghana. Ghana was in red, this time, with Germany again in white with red trim.
With Germany ranked in the top four, and Ghana down at 37th, this was not expected to be a terribly competitive game.
Germany started out very conservatively, taking the ball and feeling their way around the edges for a while. In fact, Ghana got the first real chance in the sixth minute on a counterattack. Seven minutes later, Ghana managed a bit of sustained pressure, but the goalie was able to get across to get their one really good chance.
In the 28th, Germany finally tried to go over the top, and made a good run, though the only result was a corner kick. And the goaltender caught the cross on that corner.
In the 32nd, they had another decent chance. It was a long shot, from outside the box, but it was still a tough save for the keeper. In the next few minutes, the Germans got Oezil and Goetze behind the defense, but neither one was able to get a good shot off.
At the end of the half, it looked inevitable that the Germans would score, probably in buckets, but nobody had yet managed it.
In the second half, it seemed that the Ghanaians were pressuring much deeper, perhaps to make it more difficult to get those long shots over the top.
But it didn't work all that well, as it only took six minutes for the Germans to take the lead. There was a long cross to the middle of the field, where Goetze was charging in from the left, and he headed it in calmly.
It didn't take long for the Africans to equalize, though. And they did it on a very similar cross to the German one, except that there were three targets waiting, and the third, Ayew, put it in. It was interesting, though, as all three were tightly covered; so much for the German height.
In the 62nd minute, Ghana shocked everyone by taking the lead. It was a really terrible turnover by the German defense, leading to an easy score by Gyan.
Five minutes later, the Germans showed some desperation, bringing in Schweinsteiger and Klose for more scoring punch.
And that worked almost immediately, as Klose scored off a corner kick. But not with his normal header; he was waiting at the far post as Hoewedes flicked it on to him, and Klose tapped it in for his fifteenth career World Cup goal. It was also his fourth World Cup in which he scored. Both put him among the leaders, all-time. Kudos to Miroslav, and Poland (he's an ethnic Pole, and where he was born was part of Poland, prior to WWII).
One bit of weirdness in the 76th minute; the Germans had a free kick about ten yards outside the box, and they had three people run over the ball before Schweinsteiger finally kicked it over the net.
The Germans almost scored again in the 86th, but Oezil's cross to Mueller was deflected just before getting to him.
For the last few minutes, both teams were looking very tired, and that was the end of the close chances.
Ghana put up quite a showing, and probably got rid of any chance of German complacency. It also gave the US a pretty good chance to move on, as long as they could beat Portugal. It does mean that Germany needs a result against the US to be assured of moving on (and would win the group with a draw).
With Germany ranked in the top four, and Ghana down at 37th, this was not expected to be a terribly competitive game.
Germany started out very conservatively, taking the ball and feeling their way around the edges for a while. In fact, Ghana got the first real chance in the sixth minute on a counterattack. Seven minutes later, Ghana managed a bit of sustained pressure, but the goalie was able to get across to get their one really good chance.
In the 28th, Germany finally tried to go over the top, and made a good run, though the only result was a corner kick. And the goaltender caught the cross on that corner.
In the 32nd, they had another decent chance. It was a long shot, from outside the box, but it was still a tough save for the keeper. In the next few minutes, the Germans got Oezil and Goetze behind the defense, but neither one was able to get a good shot off.
At the end of the half, it looked inevitable that the Germans would score, probably in buckets, but nobody had yet managed it.
In the second half, it seemed that the Ghanaians were pressuring much deeper, perhaps to make it more difficult to get those long shots over the top.
But it didn't work all that well, as it only took six minutes for the Germans to take the lead. There was a long cross to the middle of the field, where Goetze was charging in from the left, and he headed it in calmly.
It didn't take long for the Africans to equalize, though. And they did it on a very similar cross to the German one, except that there were three targets waiting, and the third, Ayew, put it in. It was interesting, though, as all three were tightly covered; so much for the German height.
In the 62nd minute, Ghana shocked everyone by taking the lead. It was a really terrible turnover by the German defense, leading to an easy score by Gyan.
Five minutes later, the Germans showed some desperation, bringing in Schweinsteiger and Klose for more scoring punch.
And that worked almost immediately, as Klose scored off a corner kick. But not with his normal header; he was waiting at the far post as Hoewedes flicked it on to him, and Klose tapped it in for his fifteenth career World Cup goal. It was also his fourth World Cup in which he scored. Both put him among the leaders, all-time. Kudos to Miroslav, and Poland (he's an ethnic Pole, and where he was born was part of Poland, prior to WWII).
One bit of weirdness in the 76th minute; the Germans had a free kick about ten yards outside the box, and they had three people run over the ball before Schweinsteiger finally kicked it over the net.
The Germans almost scored again in the 86th, but Oezil's cross to Mueller was deflected just before getting to him.
For the last few minutes, both teams were looking very tired, and that was the end of the close chances.
Ghana put up quite a showing, and probably got rid of any chance of German complacency. It also gave the US a pretty good chance to move on, as long as they could beat Portugal. It does mean that Germany needs a result against the US to be assured of moving on (and would win the group with a draw).
20140617
Group of death, pt 1
The Iberian Peninsula was already smarting from Spain's humiliation at the hands of the Dutch, several days ago, when Portugal played Germany yesterday in the so-called Group of Death.
As an unrelated thought, I'm not loving the German jerseys. The 1990 German World Cup jerseys are probably my favorite jerseys of all time, but I'm at best indifferent to the current ones.
Be that as it may, the game started with Germany taking the ball, and engaging in a very long feeling-out period, where they weren't finding much in the way of openings. And after a few minutes, it got more even, as Portugal got the ball and fed Ronaldo as much as they could.
He had a couple decent chances, but wasn't getting much in the way of support, while the Germans were maintaining their composure and continuing to push, offensively.
They had one pretty good chance when the Portuguese goalie came out to play the ball, and fed it right to Khedira, just outside of the box. Sami couldn't put the shot on net, though, so a great chance was wasted.
A few minutes later, Pereira was carded for a foul in the box. It seemed a pretty obvious foul to me; enough that I was surprised it was only a yellow, but the Portuguese still argued it vociferously. But it was not retracted, and Mueller got a kick from the spot. Unsurprisingly, he had no trouble converting, and the Germans started celebrating.
The Portuguese got another chance in the 25th, but Nani put it a hair over the top of the net.
Hummels extended the lead seven minutes later; the defender Alves missed a cross coming off a corner kick, and Hummels came in right behind him to head it into the net.
Five minutes after that was where the train went entirely off the rails for the Portuguese. Going for a header, Pepe struck Mueller across the mouth (probably accidentally). Mueller went down, complaining (it probably hurt, but he certainly made the most of it). The ref didn't immediately make a call at all, so I was very surprised when, a minute later, he was showing Pepe a red card.
The replay showed that Pepe saw Mueller down there holding his jaw, and walked over, put his head against Mueller's, and complained about Mueller's complaint. Very odd, and complete, loss of composure.
From that point on, the Germans basically had the run of the field. It took them another eight or nine minutes to score, but they were threatening with regularity by then. The goal came when Mueller, at the top of the box, blocked an attempted clear, and then kicked it past the surprised goaltender.
And that's pretty much how the second half played out. The Portuguese had the odd threat by Nani or Ronaldo (both played very good games, despite the rest of the team. In fact, it was the best game I'd seen by Nani in at least a year), but mostly the Germans were controlling the play and threatening at will. The only thing really odd was that Ronaldo was never subbed out to prevent injury.
It might have had something to do with Coentrao getting injured in the 65th minute; that used their third substitution. Hard to say.
In any event, Ronaldo did his best, but it wasn't nearly good enough (nor would anyone's best, I think).
The final score came in the 78th, when a cross by Schuerrle deflected off the goalie's hand, and right to Mueller's feet. Reacting with impressive speed, Mueller kicked it in without worrying that he'd fall over from the effort.
All in all, an impressive effort from the Germans, and a pretty terrible day for Portugal. As I said, Ronaldo and Nani looked very good, but the rest of the team was quite bad.
And things don't look great for the Lusitanians, going forward, as Pepe and Coentrao will be unavailable against the Americans (and Coentrao might not be for Ghana, either; I don't believe that is yet known). Portugal's chances of advancing do not look good.
Germany, on the other hand, should win the group pretty handily, barring them taking someone lightly. I'll talk about the rest of the group's chances in a bit.
As an unrelated thought, I'm not loving the German jerseys. The 1990 German World Cup jerseys are probably my favorite jerseys of all time, but I'm at best indifferent to the current ones.
Be that as it may, the game started with Germany taking the ball, and engaging in a very long feeling-out period, where they weren't finding much in the way of openings. And after a few minutes, it got more even, as Portugal got the ball and fed Ronaldo as much as they could.
He had a couple decent chances, but wasn't getting much in the way of support, while the Germans were maintaining their composure and continuing to push, offensively.
They had one pretty good chance when the Portuguese goalie came out to play the ball, and fed it right to Khedira, just outside of the box. Sami couldn't put the shot on net, though, so a great chance was wasted.
A few minutes later, Pereira was carded for a foul in the box. It seemed a pretty obvious foul to me; enough that I was surprised it was only a yellow, but the Portuguese still argued it vociferously. But it was not retracted, and Mueller got a kick from the spot. Unsurprisingly, he had no trouble converting, and the Germans started celebrating.
The Portuguese got another chance in the 25th, but Nani put it a hair over the top of the net.
Hummels extended the lead seven minutes later; the defender Alves missed a cross coming off a corner kick, and Hummels came in right behind him to head it into the net.
Five minutes after that was where the train went entirely off the rails for the Portuguese. Going for a header, Pepe struck Mueller across the mouth (probably accidentally). Mueller went down, complaining (it probably hurt, but he certainly made the most of it). The ref didn't immediately make a call at all, so I was very surprised when, a minute later, he was showing Pepe a red card.
The replay showed that Pepe saw Mueller down there holding his jaw, and walked over, put his head against Mueller's, and complained about Mueller's complaint. Very odd, and complete, loss of composure.
From that point on, the Germans basically had the run of the field. It took them another eight or nine minutes to score, but they were threatening with regularity by then. The goal came when Mueller, at the top of the box, blocked an attempted clear, and then kicked it past the surprised goaltender.
And that's pretty much how the second half played out. The Portuguese had the odd threat by Nani or Ronaldo (both played very good games, despite the rest of the team. In fact, it was the best game I'd seen by Nani in at least a year), but mostly the Germans were controlling the play and threatening at will. The only thing really odd was that Ronaldo was never subbed out to prevent injury.
It might have had something to do with Coentrao getting injured in the 65th minute; that used their third substitution. Hard to say.
In any event, Ronaldo did his best, but it wasn't nearly good enough (nor would anyone's best, I think).
The final score came in the 78th, when a cross by Schuerrle deflected off the goalie's hand, and right to Mueller's feet. Reacting with impressive speed, Mueller kicked it in without worrying that he'd fall over from the effort.
All in all, an impressive effort from the Germans, and a pretty terrible day for Portugal. As I said, Ronaldo and Nani looked very good, but the rest of the team was quite bad.
And things don't look great for the Lusitanians, going forward, as Pepe and Coentrao will be unavailable against the Americans (and Coentrao might not be for Ghana, either; I don't believe that is yet known). Portugal's chances of advancing do not look good.
Germany, on the other hand, should win the group pretty handily, barring them taking someone lightly. I'll talk about the rest of the group's chances in a bit.
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