Liverpool FC Forum

JoeTerp wrote:thats what I meant by "grinded out" that it was well deserved and tough battle, against a team with questionable fair play.  IF we just played poorly and luckily won I would have said 'Scraped by" or lucked out or escaped.  Did you see any of Austria's games Bad Bob? how do they look?  i really hope Altidore and the goaie Seitz are fit.

I only saw a part of their game against Canada so it's tough to judge.  On the one hand, Canada hardly turned up so they had a pretty easy go of it.  Having said that, they didn't look particularly good against easily the weakest team in the tournament.  On paper, the USA should brush them off with ease but we'll have to see how things turn out on the pitch.

I agree that having Altidore and Seitz back would give Americans a huge lift.  The back-up keeper aquitted himself fairly well last night but was prone to a few clangers whereas Seitz looked very, very solid when I saw them play in Ottawa.  Up top, Altidore helps make the side tick--he's a brilliant target man and a strong and powerful runner that causes panic in defenses.

(BTW, I was agreeing with your assessment, not criticizing it.    )

JoeTerp wrote:how would you rate Jozy's ability to make it somwhere in Europe?  He is the youngest player on the team, and I feel that maybe if he got picked up by Ajax or PSV he would be able to learn more about the game and develop his technical skills and possibly become the best striker in that America has seen yet.

JoeTerp wrote:New York Red Bull. I watched him play in DC in a playoff game last year and he scored youngest in MLS playoff history (16). They are in first place thanks to Jozy and Juan Pablo Angel

Bad Bob wrote:

JoeTerp wrote:USA grinded out a really ugly win, but advance to the 1/4 finals to play Austria, thank got Besian isnt play he would light us up.

The Americans showed great determination to win that match, mate.  Ugly it may have been but they came from behind and got the result when the chips were down.  Fair play to them.  As for Uruguay, I haven't seen a team dive and carry on as shamelessly as they did in a long time.  They were a disgrace and got exactly what they deserved.  They were poor losers too, with a few of their lads going after a couple of American players at the full time whistle.

What was a disgrace was the referee..

Fair play that the US came from behind and played better towards the end of the game than Uruguay, but the refereeing during the game was terrible. You can't blame the Uruguayans for being upset with what occured. How any US players didn't get sent off, and how the handball/foul against the keeper that occured during the plays that lead to goals was overlooked is upsetting. Any team would get off if they had un-fair treatment throughout a game. It's easy to critize people when you don't take notice or acknowledge what occured in the build-up to everything...

There's nothing I dislike more than when people call one party out for one thing, and ignore the other party's actions. Anyone who wasn't biased and watched the match would laugh out loud at you talking about the Uruguayans diving, when Szetela flung himself to the ground and grabbed his face like he had been hit with a hammer after a Uruguayan brushed him. Now that's shameful. He's a class player otherwise. 

Anyway, it's a shame what happened after the game and I don't encourage violence. But I understand why their players would be upset after that game.

The Specialist wrote:

Bad Bob wrote:

JoeTerp wrote:USA grinded out a really ugly win, but advance to the 1/4 finals to play Austria, thank got Besian isnt play he would light us up.

The Americans showed great determination to win that match, mate.  Ugly it may have been but they came from behind and got the result when the chips were down.  Fair play to them.  As for Uruguay, I haven't seen a team dive and carry on as shamelessly as they did in a long time.  They were a disgrace and got exactly what they deserved.  They were poor losers too, with a few of their lads going after a couple of American players at the full time whistle.

What was a disgrace was the referee..

Fair play that the US came from behind and played better towards the end of the game than Uruguay, but the refereeing during the game was terrible. You can't blame the Uruguayans for being upset with what occured. How any US players didn't get sent off, and how the handball/foul against the keeper that occured during the plays that lead to goals was overlooked is upsetting. Any team would get off if they had un-fair treatment throughout a game. It's easy to critize people when you don't take notice or acknowledge what occured in the build-up to everything...

There's nothing I dislike more than when people call one party out for one thing, and ignore the other party's actions. Anyone who wasn't biased and watched the match would laugh out loud at you talking about the Uruguayans diving, when Szetela flung himself to the ground and grabbed his face like he had been hit with a hammer after a Uruguayan brushed him. Now that's shameful. He's a class player otherwise. 

Anyway, it's a shame what happened after the game and I don't encourage violence. But I understand why their players would be upset after that game.

Not sure I know what handball/foul you're talking about, mate?  Which US goal did that occur in the build-up to?

As for the Szetela play-acting, you're right, it was equally disgraceful.  On the other hand, you could argue that he was just giving Uruguay their just desserts after they flopped about the whole game.  In my view Uruguay were the much bigger disgrace throughout the game than were the Americans but, as Carra says, it's a game of opinions.

In general, though, there has been some poor refereeing in this competition.  Spain did tremendously well to come from 2-0 down to Brazil to ultimately win 4-2 but would they have gotten back into the match if their first goal had been disallowed for a blatant handball?  It's doubtful.  How the linesman missed that I'll never know as he had a perfect view of it.  But, the goal counted and, coming as it did only a couple of minutes after Brazil's second and right before half-time, it was a real turning point in the match momentum.

Bad Bob wrote:

JoeTerp wrote:New York Red Bull. I watched him play in DC in a playoff game last year and he scored youngest in MLS playoff history (16). They are in first place thanks to Jozy and Juan Pablo Angel

Partnering Angel, eh?  What an interesting strike force.  Do many players leave the MLS for Europe?  I get the sense that if you're not signed by a European club as a teenager it's not likely to happen.

JoeTerp wrote:

Bad Bob wrote:

JoeTerp wrote:New York Red Bull. I watched him play in DC in a playoff game last year and he scored youngest in MLS playoff history (16). They are in first place thanks to Jozy and Juan Pablo Angel

Partnering Angel, eh?  What an interesting strike force.  Do many players leave the MLS for Europe?  I get the sense that if you're not signed by a European club as a teenager it's not likely to happen.

Clint Dempsey. was in the finals of the MLS cup in November and then went to Fulham in January, scored a goal against us that kept Fulham up.

JoeTerp wrote:Bocenegra also with Fulham used to play for Chicago from 2000 to 04.
Bobby Convey with Reading used to play for DC from 2000 to 04 (still only 24 years old)

Also have 2 young guys who went straight to england:
Jonathan Spector (21) for West Ham
Frank Simek (23) for Sheff Wednesday

Kenny Cooper started off at Man U never played was loaned out to oldham and then came back to the US last year, was picking up his form right before Copa America but then someone broke his leg on a viscious tackle.  But he has a great frame (6'3'' and solid as can be and only 22 so I think he will be back in Europe soon)

Eddie Johnson almost went to benfica last year for 2.5m pounds but the league rejected the offer. looks dumb now because although he scored a hatrick 2 games in a row 6 weeks ago, he has really exposed himself in the last 2 international tournamnets as someone who just can't finish to save his life (not a good quality for  a striker)