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U.S. crumbles and Japan's cheating goal
June 12, 2006Ask and I shall receive.
I wanted a blowout in this World Cup, saying as much in yesterday’s blog. I didn’t want it to happen to the United States, though.
But that’s exactly what occurred when the Czech Republic took the U.S. behind the woodshed in a 3-0 loss. People walking around South Oak Cliff don’t get whipped this badly.
Here’s what went wrong:
1) The United States decided it wasn’t important to mark the wide-open outside midfielder who placed a perfect cross to 6-8 Czech Jan Koller for the first goal five minutes in.
2) Eddie Pope, who is not 6-8, marking Koller on the goal.
3) A general lack of defense, which led to the other two Tomas Rosicky goals - both of which were well-struck. The second was off a bad U.S. clear that he ripped from 30 yards out and the third was on a breakaway while the U.S. was pressing.
4) I’ve seen 10-year-old rec league kids pass the ball better.
The one good thing about the loss was it came with Landon Donovan and DeMarcus Beasley out of the lineup. (What’s that you say? Oh, they actually played. Well crap.)
Next up for America is Italy, who looked impressive in a 2-0 victory over a scrappy Ghana team.
That was another fun one to watch. Lots of back-and-forth action. These African teams can run, but they shoot with the accuracy of a Shaq free throw.
Worst goal award
So far we’ve seen great goals, great games and great individual performances. Today there was an unbelievable three-goal comeback in the last eight minutes by Australia, which earned their first World Cup victory.
Now we’ve got the worst goal scored in this World Cup, a real stinker.
Japan’s only tally came when Shunsuke Nakamura crossed the ball into the six-yard box. The Aussie goalie comes out to snag it, but a Japanese forward blatantly ran into him, and the ball slowly bounced into the goal.
The lone tally looked like it would stand up as the game-winner, but thankfully Tim Cahill scored in the 84th and 89th minutes to bring back the Socceroos.
As a former goalie, I was appalled by the second-degree assault Japan got away with on the play.
And who do I feel sorry for the most in this debacle: former Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner. Why you ask?
Because this poor sap - the guy who let the ball roll through his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series - can’t even watch a World Cup soccer game without his name brought up.
ABC’s studio crew mentioned him during halftime when describing the play. Let the man live in peace.
Stat of the day: Aussie’s Cahill became only the sixth player in WC history to come off the bench and score two goals. Also, I saw where teams that score first in the World Cup lose only 14 percent of the time.
Looking ahead: We finally get to see the defending champs play Tuesday, as they hook up with Croatia in the late game. France is another Cup contender worth watching vs. the Swiss at 11 a.m., and I know everyone is excited to see South Korea-Togo at 8 o’clock.
Speaking of which, I heard the Togo coach, who quit a couple of days ago because his players weren’t being properly paid, came back. Kinda reminds you of that ‘80s song - “Should I stay or should I Togo.”
My quest: Another three games watched, just like clockwork.
Majorly disappointed in the cell phone alarm clock failing to wake me up on time, causing me to miss the first 10 minutes of Australia-Japan.
But major props to my friend Derek - who called at 8:10 a.m. to make sure I was watching futball. Derek works at a hotel in Austin, and he had just gotten off work and was enjoying “Morning Happy Hour” at a bar.
Downing mimosas probably weren’t a bad idea at about noon - drinking was the only way to get through that U.S. disaster.
Posted by Zach Duncan at 04:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Comments
I think you're too wrapped up in this soccer thing. Have you noticed that the NBA Finals are going on???
