Days 5 & 6

Day 5.   The US beat Ghana 2-1, in an extremely tense game.  Dempsey scored in the first minute (the fifth-fastest goal in World Cup history), and the whole US team looked terrific the first ten minutes, a fact forgotten given how the game subsequently went.  In the second ten minutes, Ghana grew into the match, firing in some crosses from their right side.  Around twenty minutes in, Altidore injured his hamstring and was stretchered off.  Johannsson came on for him, but, whatever AJ's considerable merits, he is not a hold-up forward.  And that turned out to matter, a lot.  Without a credible, powerful target, it was more difficult for the US to relieve Ghanaian pressure.  It did not help that Michael Bradley played the single worst game I have seen him play (going back to 2007).  With Altidore gone and Bradley useless, the US was forced to defend for 70 minutes.   Which we did, manfully. 

The strategy was to force Ghana to the flanks and deal with crosses (rather than letting them play through the center to Gyan).  Ghana relentlessly attacked our left side, and did whip in many crosses, but very few were troubling.  Beasley, while clumsy on the ball and on his feet, did a very good job at a defender's most important task: to keep your body between the ball and the goal.  Ghana wasn't beating Beasley to the touchline; they were playing in front of him and crossing from there.  And when they attempted to play inside from (our) left, they ran into Jones and Beckerman, both of him were absolutely excellent. 

Besler and Cameron, particularly Cameron, were also strong.  All game Gyan only got away from Cameron twice; the rest of the time GC was all over him.   For all of Ghana's possession and balls into the box, there were very few truly nervy moments until very late, when approximately half the team appeared to be exhausted or suffering from muscle cramps.  Besler, in fact, was forced off at halftime, replaced by John Brooks.  Brooks' first play was a near disaster, a muffed clearance, but after that he played well defensively.  He also, as the nation well knows, scored the winning goal (86'), off a Zusi corner, and then collapsed in one of the most sincere expressions of joy I've seen on a soccer field.  Fairy tale stuff.

Ghana had tied the game at 82' on a beautiful backheel from Gyan to Ayew.  Cameron was on top of Gyan but could not stop the backheel; no one could have.  To blame was Fabian Johnson, who lost Ahew, by committing the cardinal sin of letting the attacker get between you and the goal.  Ayew beat Howard to the near post, which was surprising, because Brooks was closing Ayew down and a far post shot would have been exceptionally difficult.  Yet Howard was leaning far post, which I think is why he was beaten.

I watched the game twice.  My impression the first time was that the US was grossly outplayed.  My impression the second time was different; the Altidore sub changed things considerably, and the US only really started to look desperate after about minute 60 or so.   Which brings me to the biggest problem with Klinsmann.  First, it seems obvious that he over-trained our players.   Altidore, Besler, Cameron, and Bedoya all had muscle issues of varying severity.  Second, leaving Landon Donovan home was a colossal mistake.  How much better would our chances against Portugal look (or the game against Ghana went) if we had the option of playing Donovan anywhere along the front line? Pushing Clint to the top with LD as the SS would probably work the best, but we can't do that, because JK left off an iconic player smart enough to realize, and point out, that JK's excessive fitness training was too much. 

As for our Group G opponents, Germany crushed Portugal 4-0.  The game was over after Pepe got himself sent off for a head butt on Mueller, but Germany was clearly better before that.  Portugal looked tired and disorganized, which gives me hope for Sunday.    Germany looked utterly fantastic going forward; truly terrifying.  Defensively Germany showed a small measure of weakness, with some minor miscues early, but I'm just grasping at straws.  Germany put in the best performance of the tournament so far.  

Iran and Nigeria also played a boring 0-0 draw, the first real squib in an exciting tournament.  Iran is simply not good.  Nigeria is horribly coached.  They have talent but always play poorly. 

Day 6.  Belgium beat Algeria 2-1, but only barely, after two late goals.  Belgium, like Argentina two days earlier, looked like they were playing a warm-up game rather than an actual World Cup match.   They'll both need to improve.  Russia and Korea played an entertaining 1-1 draw, with Korea scoring only because the Russian keeper made a horrific blunder.  Russia is interesting.  I think they could easily surprise Belgium.

The game of the day was Mexico-Brazil, who played an extremely exciting 0-0 draw.  That's not sarcasm.  Ochoa made a series of amazing saves, and the Mexicans grew in confidence throughout the game, as they realized that Brazil, for all its myth and pomp, is not a terribly creative side, once Neymar is dealt with.  Fred was particularly awful.

The first round of group matches is over.  The best teams overall (and also, obviously, the best European teams) were Germany, Holland, France, and Italy, in that order.   The two best South American teams were Argentina and Brazil, although neither looked particularly impressive.  Argentina seems more a case of simply being slow out of the blocks (and having a very difficult opponent), whereas Brazil looks like a totally different team than the one that dominated the Confederations Cup last summer.   Brazil will go through, of course, because Cameroon is terrible, but if I were a Brazilian counting on lifting the Jules Rimet trophy next month...I'd be pretty worried.

FF