2014 FIFA World Cup

[MDK]

[Gazz]

I dozed off and woke up just in time to see Brooks score, thinking it was 2-0 with 30 minutes to play rather than 2-1 with 30 seconds to play.

I was confused.

[Rafael]

I don't fancy the USA containing Ronaldo or Nani. Portugal don't have as weak as a team as people are making out. Germany just have a very strong one albeit weak up front.

USA doesn't need to contain Nani, he's shit.

[EddieG]

I don't fancy the USA containing Ronaldo or Nani. Portugal don't have as weak as a team as people are making out. Germany just have a very strong one albeit weak up front.

USA doesn't need to contain Nani, he's shit.

Man U and Portugal Nani are two different players.

[Kaney]

I'm pretty sure they're the same person :/

[Rafael]

He was really shit against Germany.

[brenchill]

I'm pretty sure they're the same person :/

I just looked on wikipedia. I can confirm this is true.

[EddieG]

Same person, different players.

And yes, he had shit moments against Germany when the whole team stopped giving a crap, but he was good at the beginning of the match, something he hasn't been in a long time for Man U.

[Lineker]

Russia coach Fabio Capello has banned his players from using Twitter during the World Cup.

He hasn't learned

[Gazz]

Eddie's right, Nani for Man Utd is anonymous whereas for Portugal he's actively shit unless he's playing against a country whose population would fit inside Old Trafford.

[gunnar hendershow]

I'm gonna let revenge feel good tonight and then remind myself tomorrow we played like shit, our fitness is awful, and we had no business winning.

Ehhhh. Ghana had nearly three times as many shots as us and yet we still had one more shot on target than they did. We made our chances count, they didn't.

We still left ourselves open in the back all match and did nothing to try and force Ghana out of our box. They didn't take advantage of it with their shots often missing target for sure but that sort of good fortune isn't gonna carry over in every match this tournament.

And Nani doesn't worry me that much, but Ronaldo does of course.

[TCO]

I was impressed by Dempsey, Jones, and hugely by Fabian Johnson. The rest of the US team are very average and can't see them getting another point. They were the better team for about 10 minutes last night.

It's a shame because I'd love to see them do well. Nani will have a field day against them if DaMarcus Beasley is left back again.

[Rafael]

Hey! Aron Johansson is good!

[METALMAN]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/17/iran-president-tweets-world-cup-chillout

[TCO]

Hey! Aron Johansson is good!

Meh, he looked out of his depth last night and did nothing of note.

They can't possibly play Beasley left back against Portugal though. He kept getting caught out of position way up to pitch and didn't have the legs to get back quick enough. Ronaldo and co will tear that defence apart. Johnson played left back a lot at Hoffenheim, should just put him there with Chandler on the right or else move Cameron around to accommodate another actual defender.

[HailtotheYo]

DEMPSEY !!!!!

BROOKS !!!!!

FUCK YEAH !!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!

Ok yeah, that's really crap about Altidore. About the only slightly positive thing I could see coming out of it is that Johnsson lets the attack be a little more free flowing which should bring Dempsey into it a bit more.

Dempsey and Fabian Johnson were great.

I might be in the minority but I thought Beckerman had a very good game. Bradley and Jones were much more open in the midfield. Bradley just had an off game but even with that it was enough (which is encouraging). Jones had his usual 50/50 game but he tracked back on defensive very well and had some crucial moments where he was the man that made the play.

Brooks had some shaky decisions but he did well overall (of course, the goal and stuff was kinda ok) ... loved his agility and recovering ability. Played smart outside of the decisions where he was a little too aggressive.

Beasley was just kind of there which is a good thing. Outside of the run later in the second half he was pretty quiet. Again, good thing especially against the team that overall was going to provide the biggest speed challenge. I'm happy with the fact that there's really nothing else to talk about.

Now, the injuries are a concern. We got lazy as all shit at times and thankfully Ghana just couldn't string together an offensive effort as a team for 30 minutes. If they could have we'd have had a rather large issue on our hands. I know Bradley is capable of more than what he had out there and honestly feel that Portugal is a much better opponent for him. Not sure what Bedoya's issue was with his grabbing at the leg. While I'd rather have Besler in with Cameron, I'm ok with Brooks after last night.

In closing:

[HailtotheYo]

Portugal's head of medical services estimates that Coentrao & Almeida will be out "between 10 days and three weeks" http://t.co/O3IsAYNHkl

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC)

June 17, 2014

[GoGo Yubari]

Hey! Aron Johansson is good!

He's good but he was put in a shit situation, having to replace a type of striker he's not with no time to warm up. In the US setup he's best served as being a second-half sub, which he can't be now unless we decide to use Chris Wondolowski. It's pretty maddening that we really didn't bring an actual Jozy Altidore replacement, though Eddie Johnson was the architect of his own downfall on and off the pitch.

Also I'm excited for this one. So many Spurs players!

[King Ellis]

Let's go Belgium! *Claps*

[Baddar]

Hoping Belgium impress today.

Turned on at the right time too, as ITV just informed me that they'll "be turning their attention to the Belgium-Algeria game", despite being on for 45mins already. Wonder what they've been talking about all that time...