Group E: Italy vs. USA

Shevchenko-[7] said:

seriously, when did Pirlo dive?

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I mean I love Pirlo as a player but when he got tackled by Mastroeni he kinda over did it (in terms of acting lol).

Pizarro14 said:

I mean I love Pirlo as a player but when he got tackled by Mastroeni he kinda over did it (in terms of acting lol).

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It was two feet tackle, studs up on his ankle???

Pontiakos post is still a bit stupid, either way...

Who was MOM this game?

I think it should of been Pirlo he played today unlike vs Ghana.

Keller was MoM.

NGAFOOTBALLKING said:

Who was MOM this game?

I think it should of been Pirlo he played today unlike vs Ghana.

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hah? he was MoM vs Ghana.

IMO he should have been MoM in this game as well. I dont see how two decent saves from Keller makes him MoM.

Shevchenko-[7] said:

hah? he was MoM vs Ghana.

IMO he should have been MoM in this game as well. I dont see how two decent saves from Keller makes him MoM.

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Keller was probably made MoM because of those "two decent saves," the US lives to fight another day. It was more the importance of the saves to the game. And the saves were very camera-friendly

Luis Ah-Hoy said:

That suggests that you think that the only thing a team must do to deserve a victory, is to score... and that's a bit stupid......

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well you can't win if you don't score, however neither team really could score, Italy hardly made any really good chances since the USA shut them down so well, plus neither team could make their man advantage count. Their offence was no match for Italy's defence who are just way out of most players leagues plus buffon is the best and keller isn't too far off either. The USA played way too aggresive though, they paid for it with 2 reds and a bunch of fouls, they had like twice the fouls than the italians. The USA got away with a lot, I wouldn't consider it a brave performance, hacking at players legs and pulling jerseys is hardly brave. It was that that, took away for me atleast, a good solid performance from the USA who looked very threating at times and who had shut down the italians very well. Italy just didn't seem at anypoint a team to be reckoned with, they didn't pose as much as a threat as the USA's counter attacks.

Limberopoulos21 said:

well you can't win if you don't score

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i think that's pretty obvious...

i just don't agree when someone generalizes that a goal makes a team deserve the victory... and it's an absurd to say that USA didn't even deserve a tie in this game against Italy...

Like I predicted, the Italian media slaughtered the team in their morning editions describing the team as weak, scared and confused omg

This was an ugly game. However, I was pleased because the US team decided to show up and play. Too many fouls though. I'm glad they played aggressive because that is what they needed to do but generally they were overly aggressive. They should have settled down and been a bit more careful after seeing the ref's attitude. Ghana will be a tough game despite losing both starting forwards. The next game is basically a must win game even though an almost impossible amount of good luck could still see them through to the next round with a draw.

Cheers to those who made comments about sticking with your team through the good and the bad. I too am very tired of fairweather fans. So many times I've heard people say they don't watch soccer because our team isn't any good. But these same people continue to watch American Football (gridiron) even when their team hasn't had a good season in 5-10 years or more.

All I hear is how disgraceful the ref was... but why? It wasnt his fault the players were so dirty.

Anybody who doesnt feel De Rossi and Mastroeni's reds werent 100% justified shouldnt even pretend to know anything about soccer, and Pope's was a second yellow, not a straight. I think it was still kinda harsh, but ive yellows for less.

Beasleys disallowed was another good call, McBride was blocking Buffon in an offside position.

Anyways, I really wanna give the US credit for keeping us off scoresheet a man down, but I think Lippi's idiotic tactics/subs are the main blame. Del Piero is a joke.

Anyways, De Rossi is an embarassment, but at least we have Gattuso to replace him. Hope the States join us in round of 16. Itd be too dangerous to cheer for Ghana, considering a win for them and loss for us knocks us out.

I think Bruce's reaction to Beasleys disallowed goal was probably the funniest thing Ive ever seen.

Mastroeni's red card deserved a red imho. It was a yellow and Pirlo flailed to make it look worse.

Shevchenko-[7] said:

seriously, when did Pirlo dive?

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The only player I remember being carted off more than once was Cannavaro. And while I was completely villifying the Italians for their acting during the entire game to anyone that would listen to me, I don't suspect Cannavaro of anything less that 100% fair play. Cannavaro is a sportsman and no one can suggest different.

To me, Mastroeni deserved yellow. First of all, it wasn't two feet which someone said. Secondly, yes it was absolutely studs up, but you see guys go studs up into the ball all the time. If you're making a long slide it's a lot easier to play the ball with the bottom of your foot than it is with your toe. Thirdly, I think it's clear that he was going for the ball. It wasn't a deliberate attempt to break Pirlo's ankle, it was a very poorly timed strong challenge. It may have been reckless, but I don't think it was deliberate. Therefore it's definitely debatable, but I would have given a yellow.

About people saying "the USA played too aggressive", oh give me a break. Let me break down what I saw here. In the first 70 minutes the ref called any contact. A lot of times when it was clearly a no call, he'd stop play. Hell, some of the yellows he gave should have just been fouls with no card. It seems like he always escalated the punishment by 1. A foul was a yellow, a yellow was a red, strong fair play was a foul. Secondly, the Italians were without a doubt dramaticizing it. They're infamous for pretending challenges are stronger than they really are. I didn't see overly aggressive play.

But then again, I've grown up over here playing in the USA style my entire life. To me this game was average or a little light honestly. Except the difference over here is that we fight through every challenge if we can, so knowing that everyone does that the tackles can be harder. Plus refs are usually reluctant to give out cards. And finally, there are a lot of jerks out there who won't even bother to disguise it if they're trying to injure someone, they'll just do it. If you think this was a rough and aggressive display by the Americans, you play a game that isn't even comparable to the one that we play and fully deserve the "field fairy" moniker that all soccer players over here have fought to disprove.

Moratti1 said:

to be fair, US didn't have one shot on target, not one... They fought well and hard, but if you can't get a shot on net then you should be fortunate to come away with the draw.

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thank you that is all Im saying ...yeah the U.S played tough, Italy did too....a bit dirty....but hey that is catanazzio......So out of the two....

1)the U.S played tough

2)Italy played their game.

The result is unfair. Fair is tha Italy scores, the US plays tough and it scores and ties. Thats fair. Anyway....every dog has his day and good dogs have two.

Good luck to the US and Italy in their next game.

Well I think Mastroeni deserved a yellow and Pope didn't deserve to get booked for the second one; and we were controlling the game up to that point. I call that unfair, but I'm not a whining bitch, so I'll accept the game for what it is and take my point.

ShiftyPowers said:

To me, Mastroeni deserved yellow. First of all, it wasn't two feet which someone said. Secondly, yes it was absolutely studs up, but you see guys go studs up into the ball all the time. If you're making a long slide it's a lot easier to play the ball with the bottom of your foot than it is with your toe. Thirdly, I think it's clear that he was going for the ball. It wasn't a deliberate attempt to break Pirlo's ankle, it was a very poorly timed strong challenge. It may have been reckless, but I don't think it was deliberate. Therefore it's definitely debatable, but I would have given a yellow.

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it doesn't matter if he goes for the ball, if he goes for it and takes the player down in a reckless way that can seriously injure the player, then its a red card (he could have easily injured the player), 90% of players getting red cards are going "for the ball" so that could never be an excuse to save a player from getting a red card. even blatter said the red cards were correctly given.

Both strange results that as far as Im concrned mess up the group and the latter knockout matches. I was expecting both Italy and the Republic to go thru and now it seems like one of them will not..

btw, just my opinion.

Lol, no... USA HAS to win, no draw at all.

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My bad. That's spot on. They have to win and have a bit of luck.

Both strange results that as far as Im concrned mess up the group and the latter knockout matches. I was expecting both Italy and the Republic to go thru and now it seems like one of them will not..

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I think everyone did. But, I hoped that maybe the US could get through somehow. Now it looks like they have a slim chance but a chance nonetheless.