World Cup Wrap-up Ok, so it's over, can you believe it?  Well, yeah, part of it seemed like it was over awhile ago (the, um, American part).  So let's revisit some of my predictions, found in this post here:


U-S-A all the way. Well, not really, but they'll get out of their group (though historically, they have SUCKED in Europe.)
-Well, I guess they came reasonably close to getting out of their group, but I think the emphasis was more on sucking in Europe this time.  0 for 1.

Germany suffers a major disaster of some sort.
-Germany had a great tournament, and Americanized coach Jurgen Klinsmann silenced the critics.  However, I think you could classify what happened to them in the semi-final as a disaster -- and I'm sure plenty of Germans feel it was major.  Giving up 2 goals to Italy in the final minutes of extra time, only a few heartbeats away from perhaps winning in PKs and going to the final -- that qualifies.  1 for 2.

Italy plays an entirely inspired cup, in spite all of the soccer scandals that people are now saying will distract them.
-Um, yeah.  I nailed this one.  They never gave up an opponent-scored goal during regular play, and as a result are now proud owners of that shiny Cup.  2 for 3.

Brazil sells lots of shoes for Nike, with those awesome Joga Bonito ads (yeah, I know they feature different players and teams, but have you seen that one of the Brazilian team kicking it around in their locker room?)
-I don't know about this one.  Did their poor performance vs. France lead to a decline in Nike shoe sales?  Only time will tell.  Those ads were great.  No rating.

Trinidad & Tobago (you know, my second favorite team) does something cool, highlight-worthy, even if they get their butts kicked otherwise.
-Yeah, and they didn't even get their butts kicked.  A gritty draw vs. Sweden, plus nearly tying England as well, certainly qualifies.  3 for 4.

A few final thoughts:

The US truly was in the Group of Death.  They didn't play particularly well, but they still had a chance on the last day, and were it not for a bad call or two, who knows?  A great point I read somewhere: The scheduling of the games in the group worked out best for the Italians, worst for the Americans.  Italy got to play the dangerous but low-on-experience Ghana squad in the first game, and got to finish out the group vs. the Czechs, who were skilled, experienced, but old, and didn't have the legs to compete in 3 games within such a short amount of time.  Plus, Jan Koller, that massive striker the Czechs have, scored vs. the US right away, then got hurt, then no one else had to face him for the rest of the tourney.  Sucks, huh?

There is a contentious debate regarding the US team, the role of our domestic Major League Soccer in developing players, and the corresponding role of the European leagues.  Donovan, The Goat who still plays in MLS after two failures in Europe, might have proven that his return to the domestic league prevented him from pushing himself to the highest levels, and thus pushing himself to perform better on the world's biggest stage.  Oguchi Onyewu, on the other hand, plays in the Belgian league (not even a top 3 league in Europe) and showed a true confidence and focus during the big games.  BUT -- what about Clint Dempsey, who was perhaps the most exciting player for Uncle Sam's team?  He plays in the MLS.  Same goes for Jimmy Conrad, who came into the Italy game after we went down to 9 players, and was a rock at center back vs. the charging Italians -- he plays for Kansas City.  The debate will rage on, some players will go to Europe, some there already will come home to end their careers (Claudio Reyna playing for NY, anyone?).  Anyway, I have no idea if this blog will still be around come 2010 and South Africa for the next cup (I will be THIRTY! wtf?).  But rest assured I will continue to blog about US Soccer, plus anything else interesting in the Greater Football Universe.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

  ¶ 11:48 AM