Ghana VS USA 6 PM EST

[Skerpokes]

Says the guy who has how many posts in the Soccer forum?

Hang on....

 

[Skerpokes]

7. I have 7 posts

 

[Tainthappening]

Getting down to business, I am not a big Jermaine Jones fan, but he played outstanding tonight. Beckerman as well. Bradley needs to step it up - as he didn't look very good.

Hopefully Jozy is ok. Our inability to hold the ball up top really showed.

Agree wholeheartedly, Jones came up big and Beckerman played well and the other central defenders as well. They forced Ghana to take their shots on goal from distance. Tim Howard also had a great game. Felt #7 and #13 had their way with Beasley.

Bradley had a horrible game... could not keep possession and his passes lacked touch. If he rebounds for the next game I like the USA´s chances vs Portugal.

If Jozy could have placed his shot on goal better, US could have easily had 2-0 lead... I was very disappointed with that touch. But without his presence up front, I felt that really hurt the States after injury.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Do you think starting the game will have a positive impact on Johanssonn as opposed to unexpectedly coming off of the bench? Do you think it is at all mental and that he can be more of a threat moving forward or is what we saw yesterday what we can expect?

 

[romeo212000]

Do you think starting the game will have a positive impact on Johanssonn as opposed to unexpectedly coming off of the bench? Do you think it is at all mental and that he can be more of a threat moving forward or is what we saw yesterday what we can expect?

Johanssen had zero service, but he did a decent job of keeping the back line occupied and not letting them push too high all the time. To answer your question, yes I think he'd be better if he started, but we'd also have to run a different attack. To this point, our offense has been dependent on Jozy as a target forward. We don't have anyone else to can play the position so whichever player we replace him with is going to need to have someone creating underneath him. This is where Bradley must have a better game. I think you need to have two players playing underneath him (Dempsey and Bradley) to give him opportunities to finish because he's not going to create them for himself.

 

[RegentDenali]

Some good news.

Besler MRI comes out with no problems and Klins says he should be available for Sun. Altidore's status is "uncertain".

 

[romeo212000]

Some good news.

Besler MRI comes out with no problems and Klins says he should be available for Sun. Altidore's status is "uncertain".

Wasn't worried about Beasley. Am worried about Jozy.

 

[RegentDenali]

Wasn't worried about Beasley. Am worried about Jozy.

That hamstring looked bad. I can't see him playing any of the group stage games. It is what it is. At least it gives Klins time to prepare a game plan for Portugal and Germany.

It's a big loss for tUSA but it is what it is. Got to just play on.

 

[romeo212000]

That hamstring looked bad. I can't see him playing any of the group stage games. It is what it is. At least it gives Klins time to prepare a game plan for Portugal and Germany.

It's a big loss for tUSA but it is what it is. Got to just play on.

Agreed on all points. We're going to have to find a different method of attack for sure.

 

[HuskerinBig10]

Wasn't worried about Beasley. Am worried about Jozy.

Just to clarify

Beasley is the black guy that has played in four world cups?

Besler is the white guy and this is his first world cup. Pulled up with a tight hamstring not too long after Altidore pulled his hammy, but finished the first half.

Pretty sure Altidore will not play this cup. If Klinsman is smart he would pull him and replace him now.

 

[romeo212000]

Just to clarify

Beasley is the black guy that has played in four world cups?

Besler is the white guy and this is his first world cup. Pulled up with a tight hamstring not too long after Altidore pulled his hammy, but finished the first half.

Pretty sure Altidore will not play this cup. If Klinsman is smart he would pull him and replace him now.

I meant Besler. Sorry about. Second, you can't replace players. Hard to say if Jozy might get to play in the knockout stage.

 

[wildturkey]

I'm afraid Jozy is done. If he does play, then Brazil must have some super PEDs hiding away in the Amazon.

 

[xpuctaqpGT]

I'm afraid Jozy is done. If he does play, then Brazil must have some super PEDs hiding away in the Amazon.

It's Tuesday now. Our match against Portugal is Sunday. Figure Jozy will not play in the Sunday match.

Option A. We win against Portugal without Jozy. We have 6 points going into the Germany match on the following Thursday. (9 days from now). We can rest Jozy again because we're already guaranteed to get out of group. Jozy would have almost 2 weeks of recovery time before our first round of 16 match.

Option B. We tie against Portugal, but Germany beats Ghana. At this point the standings would be Germany 6, USA 4, Portugal 1, Ghana 0. We could still rest Jozy against Germany because we have a huge goal difference against Portugal. We'd be +1, they'd be -4. We just have to keep the game against Germany close. And Germany would have no real motivation to run up the score.

Option C. We tie against Portugal, but Germany either loses or draws against Ghana. At this point we'd probably use Jozy as a late game sub in the Germany match if at all. The standings would be close, but not desperate.

Option D. We lose to Portugal. This is where it would get ugly. We might need Jozy's skills, but at what cost?

I'm hoping for Option A.

 

[romeo212000]

It's Tuesday now. Our match against Portugal is Sunday. Figure Jozy will not play in the Sunday match.

Option A. We win against Portugal without Jozy. We have 6 points going into the Germany match on the following Thursday. (9 days from now). We can rest Jozy again because we're already guaranteed to get out of group. Jozy would have almost 2 weeks of recovery time before our first round of 16 match.

Option B. We tie against Portugal, but Germany beats Ghana. At this point the standings would be Germany 6, USA 4, Portugal 1, Ghana 0. We could still rest Jozy against Germany because we have a huge goal difference against Portugal. We'd be +1, they'd be -4. We just have to keep the game against Germany close. And Germany would have no real motivation to run up the score.

Option C. We tie against Portugal, but Germany either loses or draws against Ghana. At this point we'd probably use Jozy as a late game sub in the Germany match if at all. The standings would be close, but not desperate.

Option D. We lose to Portugal. This is where it would get ugly. We might need Jozy's skills, but at what cost?

I'm hoping for Option A.

Jozy would actually have almost 3 weeks recovery time by the first knockout game, though I'm not sure that's enough. In any case, lets just beat the dog shit outta Portugal and the Germany game doesn't matter.

 

[bksballer89]

JK sounded upbeat about Jozy. I feel like he will be available in some way (may not start) for the round of 16 if we make it that far

 

[romeo212000]

JK sounded upbeat about Jozy. I feel like he will be available in some way (may not start) for the round of 16 if we make it that far

I haven't seen any news about it. JK is playing this very close to the vest. We've already heard the news on Besler, but nothing on Jozy they both had MRI's today. Not sure if this is gamesmanship for Portugal or what, but I guarantee they've already got a pretty good idea what a timetable for his return.

 

[bksballer89]

"We've got to see how he now reacts the next couple of days with his hamstring, and we're full of hope that he comes back still in the tournament," Klinsmann told reporters at a Tuesday news conference held at Sao Paulo FC's training facility, the Yanks' home base while in Brazil.

"That's what we're going to work on every day. The medical staff is doing a tremendous job [for] weeks, so we still have the hope that Jozy will be back. How quickly, that is down to his healing process."

United States injury update - 'Full of hope' Jozy Altidore can return, Matt Besler OK - ESPN FC

 

[romeo212000]

"We've got to see how he now reacts the next couple of days with his hamstring, and we're full of hope that he comes back still in the tournament," Klinsmann told reporters at a Tuesday news conference held at Sao Paulo FC's training facility, the Yanks' home base while in Brazil.

"That's what we're going to work on every day. The medical staff is doing a tremendous job [for] weeks, so we still have the hope that Jozy will be back. How quickly, that is down to his healing process."

United States injury update - 'Full of hope' Jozy Altidore can return, Matt Besler OK - ESPN FC

He's not really saying anything. He's being pretty coy. If there really is the possibility that he can be back before the end of the tournament (a pretty broad statement) it must not be worse than a grade 1 strain. It looked pretty damn bad when it happened. I was immediately thinking grade 2 and out for the tournament. I still think there's some gamesmanship going on from JK. I'll just pray real hard I guess.

 

[RegentDenali]

WC coaches love their smoke and mirrors. Portugal was playing it up with all the talk about Ronaldo having to rest leading up to the WC opening because of knee and joint problems. The media was giving it all kinds of coverage and then voila!!! as soon as he's playing WC games, he's in perfect condition.

Klins has been sandbagging a bit during our WC warmups and putting up the smoke as well about the capabilities of the roster. He can play those mind games as good as anyone.

 

[romeo212000]

WC coaches love their smoke and mirrors. Portugal was playing it up with all the talk about Ronaldo having to rest leading up to the WC opening because of knee and joint problems. The media was giving it all kinds of coverage and then voila!!! as soon as he's playing WC games, he's in perfect condition.

Klins has been sandbagging a bit during our WC warmups and putting up the smoke as well about the capabilities of the roster. He can play those mind games as good as anyone.

Basically we have no idea whether Jozy can realistically return by Germany or the knockout stage.