OT - World Cup draw for USA

[Marat]

The one of the few times that the U.S. has a good team, they end up with a terrible draw: Germany, Portugal, and nemesis Ghana. I was hoping to see them possibly advance, but would be extremely difficult now.

 

[superjohn]

Killer draw, the groups seem very unbalanced.

 

[UConn Dan]

Killer draw, the groups seem very unbalanced.

That's what happens when FIFA puts Switzerland as a seeded team -- should have been Portugal headlining that group (E).

 

[bobbygt]

Absolutely brutal draw for the US. I hate to be pessimistic, but it will take some lucky breaks for them to advance. I suppose the only good thing is that they're not opening with Germany, who would probably beat us soundly and hurt our confidence.

Groups B and D are also tough, but I think our group is the strongest.

Maybe this will be the year the US breaks through though?

 

[Mots010]

Its bad, but there's an opening in here. Ghana has had our number, but I'm not sure they are as strong as 2006 or 2010. Playing them first is key, and is a must win, which I think is possible. The other piece is Germany may be qualified by the time we play them, which may leave very small chance to pick up a point, or at least not completely destroy our goal differential. I do have visions of Ronaldo scoring 4 goals right through Brad Evans however.

At the very least, it will be fun to see the US go against some world class competition.

 

[B1GEast]

Brutal, just brutal

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Absolutely brutal draw for the US. I hate to be pessimistic, but it will take some lucky breaks for them to advance.

Yeah, but in fairness to US soccer, some "lucky breaks to advance" was going to be best case scenario no matter what the draw, so it's hardly pessimistic.

 

[intlzncster]

Yeah, but in fairness to US soccer, some "lucky breaks to advance" was going to be best case scenario no matter what the draw, so it's hardly pessimistic.

I think they would have advanced straight up in Mexico's bracket. And to think we ushered them in.

With our current bracket, we should change "lucky breaks" to "acts of god". More appropriate in this scenario.

 

[Jaker]

WOW, that sucks

 

[SubbaBub]

Portugal is overrated (not England overrated, but overrated) , but they have one of the two best players in the world so how he plays will be critical. We could get 0-6 pts in the first two matches. Need at least 4 and hope Germany crashes or isn't playing for anything in the third. My guess the second spot comes down to goal differential which doesn't favor the US>

 

[msgordon]

Yeah, but in fairness to US soccer, some "lucky breaks to advance" was going to be best case scenario no matter what the draw, so it's hardly pessimistic.

not really, usa would have a great shot in most of the groups

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

not really, usa would have a great shot in most of the groups

Depends on what you mean by "great" and "most" i think.

 

[SubbaBub]

A, C, E, F, and H all would have made a US pass through more likely than not. B would be about the same level of difficulty and D would have look tougher than it was. UK and Italy have a history of bombing out of S.A. world cups.

 

[msgordon]

Depends on what you mean by "great" and "most" i think.

greater than 50% in 6 of the 8 groups if seeding were 'random' or done properly i guess

 

[housekeys]

The one of the few times that the U.S. has a good team, they end up with a terrible draw: Germany, Portugal, and nemesis Ghana. I was hoping to see them possibly advance, but would be extremely difficult now.

Very tough on paper, but not as bad as we all think.

1) Germany - Excellent team, that in the past has not matched up well against US teams. I thinks this continues, and Klinsman as our coach will only help. Clearly the favorite, however.

2) Portugal - No doubt Ronaldo will need to be held in check- if at all possible. No single US player can do it, so it will be a team effort and require a strategy that Klinsman will come up with. He will succeed. Also, Portugal is a good team, not great, as their second place finish to Russia in europe shows. They play to the level of their competition, as 1-1 vs N. Ireland and difficulty putting away Luxemburg shows. Still my guess is they will have the sentimental Portuguese fan support in Brazil.

3) Ghana - This is our chance to distance ourselves, but history has shown this as a tough matchup. If we truly are deserving of advancing, this will be the time to show it, otherwise we do not belong.

4) USA - We are very good, IMO. Much better than most people think. IMO, we are the second best team in the group, slightly ahead of Portugal. We need players to be in form and the blue collar spirit of the team to show up. If that happens we will go through. We could have been in better/easier groups, but this group is not impossible in reality. On paper, yea it is brutal.

 

[UConn Hoops1]

The one of the few times that the U.S. has a good team, they end up with a terrible draw: Germany, Portugal, and nemesis Ghana. I was hoping to see them possibly advance, but would be extremely difficult now.

All they(USA) need to do is get information to Cristiano that, for the past five years, he has been using the wrong hair gel. He will be so distracted and pissed off that Portugal might as well book a return flight to Lisbon tonight.
GO HUSKIES!!!

 

[Waquoit]

Hey, you have to play someone. Just beat Ghana and go from there.

 

[intlzncster]

All they(USA) need to do is get information to Cristiano that, for the past five years, he has been using the wrong hfair gel.

You never know, Ronaldo might be focusing on the museum he's building to himself. Hilarious Link.