A Rant for You

I shall start off by saying that I never had high hopes for the US team in the World Cup.  The US men struggle to compete.  Their highest finish was 80 years ago, in third place.  They reached the quarterfinals in '02.  I believe we have the talent to get further and even win, but it's difficult for them to pull it together.  This year just seems to be a disaster.  The defense keeps falling apart and letting only halfway decent goals through.  Right now it's halftime at the Slovenia game, and they're down 2-0.  It's all because of defensive breakdowns, and it appears that Onyewu is the main culprit.  Talk, people!  Tim Howard, I feel sorry for you.  You're hurting but playing anyway, and I give you props for that, but you have no support from your back line.

I also have a problem with the team's style.  I've watched several teams play this week, and I was blown away by just how beautifully Spain and Italy play.  Their passing is just gorgeous!  Hardly a stray pass or bad touch - they just link passes together like...I have nothing to compare it to.  Then I watch US.  Ugh.  It's like passing was completely skipped in training.  They pass to other teams' players, empty space (with no one there), the sideline.  They try to push through with brute force, and, honestly, sometimes it works.  They just had ten chances within about four minutes, but none of them found the net.  Slovenia actually has a defensive line that acts like they know what they're doing.

I'm not against teams having different styles, but the US isn't making theirs work for them.  I give them about ten years before they figure it out.  Until then, I'd much prefer watching the US women team.  Which reminds me, NEXT YEAR!!  :D

(and by that I mean that next year is the FIFA Women's World Cup - hecka yeah)

And now back to the game that USA needs to get back to as well...