More like a glorified friendly/gentlemen's agreement fussball scrap.
So it wasn't as bad as I thought then.
More like a glorified friendly/gentlemen's agreement fussball scrap.
Nah, just a regular, tightly-contested World Cup game.So it wasn't as bad as I thought then.
Well thats probably the gayest post iv seen in a while, congratulations on your lifestyle choice.
Well thats probably the gayest post iv seen in a while, congratulations on your lifestyle choice.
If it does end up being Belgium in the next round.......
I like the matchup. Player for player, they're the more talented team. No question. But if you want to compare them to Portugal and Germany, they're definitely more similar to Portugal. Ridiculously good LW is the star. Striker is big and strong but not a world beater. RW is fast and flashy, but not as good as the LW. Attackers like to dribble and go at defenders 1-on-1. Midfield 3 is talented, can go box-to-box, can play physically or with finesse, etc. Belgium's back line and keeper are better than the defensive setup we saw from Portugal, though.
In other words, I think the setup and tactics we used against Portugal can be successful against Belgium as well.
I agree. I expect Fabian Johnson to be our most important player. We're going to want our fullbacks overlapping against their back 4 often. Johnson is going to need to be smart and attack but be able to get back and cover Hazard. I wonder if we might bring in Cameron into the right back position and let Johnson free on the left. Would also add some height in the back 4. Key battle will be on the wings. If we can stifle their attack there, I like our chances.
The real big question mark is how much intensity Belgium play with. Particularly Lukaku. If he's invovled in the game more than he has been in other games, that could be dangerous. Otherwise, Belgium will be restricted to long shots, which is fine by me with Jones and Beckerman protecting the back 4 and Howard back there.
I wonder if Wilmots will let Hazard cherry pick, a la Ronaldo, or if he'll want him coming back on D to help out. At Chelsea, Mourinho got him to be better and better about coming back to help. If he cherry picks though, it's a double edged sword for us. More room for Johnson and the mids to attack down Belgium's left, but also the possibility of a lightning quick Belgian counter.
Belgium will be rested and fresh though; that's for sure. They made what...7 changes for this game?
Yeah, that's sort of why I like Cameron at right back and Johnson at left back for this game. Cameron will stay at home more and we don't lose one of our most effective attackers in Johnson.
One complicating factor (in a good way probably) will be if Altidore is back. If he plays, I wonder if we go back to the diamond ... which means our fullbacks attacking will provide most of the width.
That means no Beasley though, and he's been too good to take off. (shout out to @[user]OU11[/user])
Plus, Johnson is a little quicker and more agile than Cameron, which is important against Hazard. And Belgium could always move Hazard to the other flank and spoil whatever switches Klinsmann made to account for him.
Anyone being up Johnson at RM and Cameron at rb? Limit rb going forward but Johnson more opportunity of attacking Belgian weakness.
@Travis7401 making a case to change his handle to Trappist7401.To the untrained eye, it may have appeared that way, but that was our plan all along. We were toying with them, to be honest. Trapping the trapper.
We didn't break out our best tactics for this match, obviously, otherwise Dempsey would have scored 30 seconds in. We wanted to give Germany a false sense of confidence moving forward while simultaneously getting rid of any bad luck/juju/refs before the knockout games. Bradley in particular is still playing possum, looking worse and worse each game, while waiting for my criticisms to pile up so he can make me look dumb all in one glorious performance.
Guzman needs to get the start and who do we have to start over Bradley?
@Travis7401 making a case to change his handle to Trappist7401.
Travis as a Trappist from Belgium. Note the beer thing on the right side.
Ha! G8R be on to ye, @Travis7401! More at 11.In Travis's 16th life he was a voluptuous Trappist from Belgium who swallowed 50 loads from fat bar patrons in one sitting after drinking a tall glass of Sake
Trap spotted, trap avoided.
it was in your hands guys ... you could've done it, been praying that you guys actually do something.. you proved it against Germany and wasted a win in the bag cause of bad defending... your defense is horrible and costed you the draw with Germany and the loss of today, you did so well upfront had the ability to score goals all you needed was not to concede..just a solid defense and you would've been on top of this group... :/
so gyan also ready to fight journalist in mixed zone, and has to be held back?
Must be something in brazilian water because people are acting totally out of character.
total madness has infiltrated blackstars... it will take a long time to come back from this.
That's it. The government and black stars haven't been fair to Ghanaians. We are coming home. Germany did us a favour and we messed it up to add sore to injury.
say sack all the players who made a sticky out of not being paid. Obviously the GFA is broke and was waiting to be paid by FIFA. I wonder why this was not effectively communcated to the players instead of promising them the money in Brazil.
All players must go, along with the coaching staff and the management.
We need to start afresh with the talents who were not invited in the first place.
coughcoughjordanayewcoughThey would've gotten out of other groups. It was the group of death, it happens. KPB and Muntari are surely gone for good, but they still have a young team as it is.
That doesn't look like match fixing to me ... it looks like African goalkeeping.
I agree 100%…. just never has been consistent enough though.What happened to GAM? Could use him up top right now.