*Confederations Cup*

Apart from rather unconventional and dogged defending, you have to say that The US defended like trojans tonight throwing themselves in front of every ball
 
Well done the USA, they did to Spain what Chelsea did to Barcelona.

Got after them and made it very hard work, its the only way to play against sides that are better than you.
The hardest part of it is accepting that the other side IS better than you in the first place.
 
I just read about this shock on the New York Times website. I got a feeling that Americans think the confederations cup is a proper tournament and not a kick about to test the stadiums before the real event in 12 months time, bless them.
 
jakeke said:
They've done well tonight, albeit they've been defensive but their tactics are spot on and they obviously saw that the Spanish defence are a bit dodgy against a bit of pace!

Edit - Ramos has been soo rubbish tonight, made so many poor decisions going forward and defensively, it seems as though every time I watch him he looks more and more like a headless chicken, still dunno how so many people rate him
Click to expand...

atpbx said:
Well done the USA, they did to Spain what Chelsea did to Barcelona.

Got after them and made it very hard work, its the only way to play against sides that are better than you.
The hardest part of it is accepting that the other side IS better than you in the first place.
Click to expand...


These seem to be the things the commentators constantly said, they were making out it was Stoke Vs Man U and stoke were happy to sit back and defend. Defending well doesn't mean the same thing as playing defensively. Chelsea played one forward and rarely had ANYONE in Barca's half, very very rarely did you see more than 3 people in Barca's half during an attack.

THe USA from start to finish when they got the ball threw themselves forwards with support, often with 4-5 people in a break and for prolonged possesion most of the team in Spain's half. They won the ball all over, pass VERY well, created chances, attacked the wings and through the middle, their attacking movement was brilliant and far more direct than Spain.


The things I thought were huge, ALonso was terrible, constantly giving it away, Xavi was having a bad game, Fabregas was class but being played out of position. Spain picked it up in the 2nd half and before Fabregas went off, from the right wing, had put in every single dangerous cross/pass in the previous 15 minutes, the USA couldn't get out of their half. Fabregas went off and Spain didn't get in the USA's penalty box for the next 10 minutes, coincidence? I think not. ALonso defensively isn't a patch on Senna, offense isn't really his game anymore with Fabregas/Iniesta and Xavi a mix of offence and defence. Without Fabregas they had no creator at all, their "wingers" were terrible. Villa had a terrible game and taking off Fabregas, the only solid performer of the day, killed the game for them. Frankly Senna is the biggest miss from the team, their defense has NEVER been fantastic, but Senna covered them like ALonso can't come close to. Xavi simply isn't as great a creator as people like to think its all Iniesta/Fabregas and not playing either makes the team 1/10th as good as it can be.

Xavi and ALonso combined to give the ball away for the second goal with woeful passing and not paying any attention to who was around them. Likewise Ramos is an utter joke of a player, runs the wing well, as in he's kinda fast, if someone plays him on the overlap he'll put a full power cross in which once in a while goes somewhere useful, mostly not though. Defensively, he can't tackle, positioning is horrible, marking is awful and just never gets anything right.

USA deserved it, better offensively, defensively, more effort, more heart, more fitness. AS for the red card, it was barely a yellow, one footed, not studs up, in control not off the ground, not a huge amount of contact, can't for the life of me see how its a red.

Great game to watch though, people forget, they outplayed Egypt with ease, they outplayed Italy, with a man less for 70minutes, losing to Brazil means not much.
 
Last edited:
Pigeon_Killer said:
He was as bad as every other Spanish player on the pitch.
Click to expand...
Got to agree there, thought he looked weak and couldn't hold it upfront.

Personally I thought Spains biggest problem came from the lack of strength in midfield and the unwillingness to go forward as a team.

USA just didn't take any crap and looked strong and worked as a team. Xavi, Alonso and Fabregas where very, very poor in the first half and the entire team where sloppy in possesion.

As for Ramos... my god, what a terrible performance. Just seemed brainless and unfocused.
 
And nobody can say the WC isn't really wide open now, it seems to be Brazils for the taking.

There are several teams like the USA in the WC that could cause an upset by just shutting out a team.
 
Woah Spain got beat??:eek:...wow thats a bit of a shocker tbh...didnt expect the Americans to beat them if anything...was thinking that Spain was going to shred them to pieces...hmmm oh well means that Brazil should easily run rampant over the Americans if they get to the final...think they are playing SA arent they??.

Another easy trophy for the Brazilians:D.
 
How are people shocked, the USA isn't a joke team anymore and wins like this will only increase the sport over there, I think eventually they will have a world beater for a team
 
People forget that football is played a lot at young ages in the states, but its the lack of Uni level football that is the down fall of usa football. They will get even better over time.
 
USA's defending is the reason they won last night.

Spain had the chances but USA threw themselves in front of every shot. Top marks to them. Doubt they'll be able to do the same against Brazil though.
 
Just watching Spain V South Africa.
There are 4 games on BBC Iplayer so I shall be watching those tonight.

Garth crooks ? is a fool, knows nothing about African football, why can't they get someone in who actually knows who people are.
 
Thats easily the worst display from Brazil during the tournament yet they still won. I feel sorry for SA because they actually played a good game, just didn't create nearly enough chances!

I can't see the USA winning, but they may do if Brazil play that badly again. The main difference between the way Spain and Brazil play is that Spain tend to like to build things up slowly whereas Brazil are all about suddenly changing the pace of the game, and also about hitting teams on the break. I doubt USA will be able to cope with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom