OT: World Cup

[LA_Mustang]

Dempsey is the man!

[PoconoPony]

Real battle. I'm worried about our last line of defense. Hope we have the speed to stay up in the 2d half.

[Stallion]

Jozi Altidore pulls hamstring-probably out

[LA_Mustang]

Dempsey gets kicked in the face. Ghana has controlled the ball since the early goal.

[Big12Mustang]

1-0 now we need to keep it up.

[malonish]

I hope that we Ghana win this game.

[Stallion]

The Americans still lack the technical skill to control the ball and build an offense-but Demsey's goal was great

[LA_Mustang]

Ghana is getting way too many quality chances

[zimo]

I feel like we're just waiting for Ghana to score.

[Stallion]

BTW for those that don't know-Group opponent Portugal lost 4-0 to Germany and Point Differential counts so its essential to get a victory here

[Stallion]

Great shot Lad

[ponyboy]

I hope that we Ghana win this game.

What the heck? That was a brilliant joke

[JasonB]

The entire US formation revolves around Altidore up top. Bradley was awful today, I am not sure what is going on there. I believe the US was planning on a 4-5-1 for the tough games in the group, but without a target forward that becomes exceptionally difficult.

[Dukie]

Biggest problem for us last night was that our training camp for the month prior to Brasil should not have been in Palo Alto. They should have been in the hottest, most humid corner of the southeast somewhere. Probably Houston to get good facilities. Bradley runs our midfield and he couldn't run by the second half. The injuries to Besler and Altidore are exactly the type that relate to conditioning as well.

[SMUer]

The entire US formation revolves around Altidore up top. Bradley was awful today, I am not sure what is going on there. I believe the US was planning on a 4-5-1 for the tough games in the group, but without a target forward that becomes exceptionally difficult.

You nailed it. I disagree that we lack technical skill; we have the ability to maintain quick, two touch passing for entire games (recently vs. Turkey and Nigeria). Our style demands massive work up top, and while Altidore isn't the most impressive strikers , he's a work-horse up top which allows our mid-field to push forward and attack. Bradley was bad yesterday, and he was also hanging back which cripples us in the middle. I guess they really respected Ghana's speed. I'm sure whatever happened with Bradley gets fixed by next game.