WCQ: USA vs. Guatemala [R]

Except he was onside. Refs are a joke.

Great series of saves and shots by both the keeper and Eddie Johnson. Completely obvious handball right in the middle of it, though.

Goal for Ralston.

Goal Ralston!!!

I now retract all previous statements regarding Steve Ralston's lack of international soccer prowess.

this has been really hard to watch with the missed chances, the Guatamalans diving, and Carlos Ruiz acting like a little snatch. Donovan's header was a thing of beauty. Stupid linesman

Carlos Ruiz should be on the Guatemalan Olympic diving team...what a cheat.

With that said...we (USA) should have won 3-0. I think the linesman forgot to read the offside portion of the FIFA rule book.

Good win but to reflect the run of play, the score should have been at least 4-0.

Yeah, that's probably true. I was surprised that Eddie Johnson didn't score on his attempted overhead.

It could have been 6 or 7-0

We played well, but we have to work on tha finishing.

GAM is such a good player.

My grades:

Political Science - A
English Literature - B
Statistics - B
Economics - B
Effective Communications - C

But now for my player grades:

Keller - 7.5 (did what he had to do when called upon)

Bocanegra - 6.5 (Mr. Coleman, Mr. Arena: for the 1,000,000th time, Los is not a left back)
Gibbs - 7.5 (wasn't tested too often)
Onyewu - 8.5 (absolute BEAST out there)
Cherundolo - 8.5 (what a quality right back he's turned into)

Mastroeni - 8 (another solid game in midfield)
Lewis - 8.5 (very much invovled in the offense)
Ralston - 8 (nice goal, and it shut Brian up)
Donovan - 8.5 (THAT's what I'm talking about)

Ching - 6.5 (missed some pretty good chances)
Johnson - 8.5 (He's not just a man, he's the Grown Ass Man)

Bocanegra's a CB? Shifty...

ronnifan9 said:

Bocanegra's a CB? Shifty...

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Yes, yes he is.

If Ching could finish it would of been 4-0. Great game by USA. We just simply outclassed them. Everyone had a solid performance. I just dont like Bruce's timing on subs. The three players should of came on at 65 75 80. And Dempsey should of been on in the 65th for Mastroeni (he got tackled pretty hard anyway). The 2 minutes that Dempsey was on he had a yellow card and nice play that led to a shot on goal.

And im almost positive that Bocanegra plays left back for Fulham, and he seems to be doing good there seeing that he starts every game.

xxxFLYERxxx said:

And im almost positive that Bocanegra plays left back for Fulham, and he seems to be doing good there seeing that he starts every game.

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The only good left back Fulham have has been injured for awhile. They wanted to sign a guy from Man City in January to play that position, but the move fell through. Coleman has stated several times that Los is a center back playing left back out of necessity. From most of the reports, Bocanegra has been mediocre at best as a left back for Fulham. But then again, their whole defense is sh*te anyway.

Volz is a good right back Zat Knight is young and has alot to learn, and Los is definitely better in the CB position.

Good match for us tonight. Johnson looked excellent.

BTW, Run DMB, what does your avatar mean? Somebody at school was wearing a shirt with that on there.

Effective Communication

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Sounds like my old classes "Individual in Society" or "Critical Thinking", or at least it probably ranks with them on the Generic-named-liberal-arts-horsesh*t-o-meter

Boca does alright at leftback for Fulham, but you can tell it's not his natural position.

Am I the only one who thinks we are WAAAAAAAAAAAY too arrogant against these smaller nations? We go in there and make mistakes that shouldn't be made because we think we can do anything against the Guatemalas and the Belizes of the world.

Oh, and EDDIE JOHNSON!!!! What the hell, I buy him in CM4 and he turns into a great player and now he's pimp **** of US Soccer. I don't know how or why, but I just find some rediculous players on CM who turn good in real life. Oh, and am I the only one pissed that the European bid for Johnson was turned down? LET THE MAN PERSUE A CAREER MLS!!!!

Whatever, good win and hopefully we'll keep this good run up through summer 2006.

ShiftyPowers said:

Oh, and am I the only one pissed that the European bid for Johnson was turned down?

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Hopefully. It's better that he stays in MLS for now, rather than going to a European club where he will rot on the reserve side.

Well it's not like it was Real Madrid making the bid. I think Johnson could start for a handful of top flight european teams.