It Wasn't Enough, But Thanks for the Memories

Today was the beginning of the elimination rounds and I couldn't be happier. While there was definitely some high drama in some of the group stage matches, most notably being the United States vs Algeria game, nothing can quite compare to the elimination matches where you know that if you lose, you're out. I started off the day incredibly on edge about the USA vs Ghana game later in the day, but first there was the Uruguay vs South Korea game to take in. Luckily, we started things off fantastically.


South Korea vs Uruguay

This game started with a bang, or perhaps a thwump, when Park Chu-Yung took a free kick from the left side off the box and curled it off the near post. It was a very, very well taken kick and a bit unlucky for South Korea because the keeper was beaten on the shot. Uruguay made them pay immediately when Diego Forlan was able to turn away from two defenders and put a deceptively quick cross along the face of goal in the 8th minute. South Korean keeper Jung Sung-Ryong was unable to get to the ball and Luis Suarez took the gift at the back post and put it in the open net. Forlan created the chance (as he often does), Suarez finished calmly (which is unsurprising), but the key to this play was the keeper not getting to the ball. If you are going to come out and leave your net completely exposed, you absolutely have to get a touch to the ball at least to divert it. Regardless of blame or competence, South Korea was now in a hole that they desperately needed to get out of.

Uruguay played more defensively after scoring the opening goal, but it was a high pressure defense rather than a soft version that would allow the Koreans to make it into the offensive third before clogging the middle and denying chances. The best way I can describe how Uruguay played would be by comparing it to an aggressive forecheck in hockey. Defenders put pressure on nearly any Korean player with the ball and easy simple balls along the ground up from the fullbacks were challenged. I didn't count how many times a South Korean player was stripped of the ball fifty plus feet from goal, but it happened over and over in the first half. South Korea retained much of their game plan despite being down a goal and played disciplined defense while looking for the counter. Because of these two styles clashing, there were a lot of turnovers in the midfield and it was generally a game played in the neutral third with not much continuous possession by either side. South Korea has a couple of half chances, including a shot wide by Park Chu-Young and a dipping shot over the top by Cha Du-Ri, but the half ended with Uruguay still up a goal and South Korea looking for answers to their persistent defense.

Whatever the South Korean coach said at halftime, it worked because South Korea came out as the obviously better team in the second half. I don't know if it was because South Korea strung together more passes together in midfield and forced them out of it, or if Uruguay made a tactical defensive change, but there was no more high pressure as Uruguay shifted to more of a defensive shell strategy, a strategy that I was not a huge fan of as it ran counter to the good that Uruguay had done with their other system. As a result, South Korea started piling up offensive chances that presented a serious menace to Uruguay. Park Chu-Young dummied a ball in the 50th that left Kim Jae-Sung with an excellent chance, but he couldn't beat his defender to the ball. Then a minute later, Kim Jae-Sung had an open shot in the box but put it just over the bar when he should have done much better and at least challenged the keeper. Cha Du-Ri put an excellent cross into the box in the 59th minute and Park Ji-Sung flashed an superb header on goal but couldn't get enough power on it and Uruguayan keeper Fernando Muslera was able to save it fully outstretched on a dive. All of this led to the 68th minute when a defensive header by Uruguay only popped up in the air toward the back post and Lee Chung-Yong connected on his header to bring South Korea back to level. This was a long time coming for the Koreans and was much deserved as they had dominated up to this point in the second half.

To their credit, Uruguay flipped the proverbial switch after this goal and really controlled the game until the final whistle. Suarez was the man of the second half as he was everywhere, challenging defenders and making creative runs. In the 73rd and 74th minutes, he beat the offsides trap twice to get in on goal. The first time he launched a shot at the near post upper ninety from a bad angle that the keeper was forced to save and the second time he badly misjudged a header and put it harmlessly over the endline. He was looking very dangerous though and Uruguay did in general as well. It made you wonder why Uruguay seemed content to sit back and defend when they obviously had this ability to seek out a second goal and at the very least counter the South Korean attack. Whatever the tactics were, right or wrong, Uruguay had their form back and unsurprisingly it was Suarez that made their good play count in the 80th minute. On the left hand side of goal, he was able to shake his defender and cut in slightly to the right before curling a perfectly, perfectly placed ball that rang off the inside of the far post and into the back of the net. Magic. Absolute magic. One of the contenders for goal of the tournament, though I think I still prefer David Villa's run and upper ninety shot to put Spain on the board against Honduras. Regardless of overall accolades, Suarez's individual effort was fantastic and gave Uruguay the lead they needed to make it through to the quarterfinals. This was an amazing game to watch and an amazing start to the knockout rounds. I give all credit to South Korea, but Uruguay was simply the better team today.

Uruguay 2 - 1 South Korea


Ghana vs United States

I was incredibly nervous about this game going in because I know that Ghana's strengths lay in solid wing play and Asamoah Gyan creating from his striker position. The first blow came when the starting lineups came out and to be honest, I was livid. First complaint: Jonathan Bornstein starting. I know that Oguchi Onyewu would most likely be scratched due to health, but I thought that coach Bob Bradley needed to do everything he could to keep Bornstein off the field because he can't contain wingers with pace. Second complaint: Ricardo Clark starting over Maurice Edu. How do you bench the holding midfielder that played through an intense victory over Algeria? Why would you mess with a successful starting lineup? There was no reason to keep Edu on the bench to start the game and putting in Clark, the worst of all the US options at central middie, was unforgivable. Third complaint: Robbie Findley starting over Edson Buddle or Hercules Gomez. I understand Bradley has gone with Findley whenever he could but his pace is not enough to make up for his lack of touch on the ball and general unimpressive play up top. Both Buddle and Gomez have that "maybe they'll score right now" quality. Findley doesn't and I can't believe he started. In my opinion, Bradley was zero for three on important decisions before even hitting the field.

It's worth noting here that we watched this game at our local bar, Irish Village, which is an excellent place to watch a match like this. Enough people to get good reactions but not enough people to make it too crowded to move. Fantastic bar. Because of how we chose to watch the game, I did not take notes so you'll be getting emotional outbursts and an analysis based on memory. Since the latter is not my strong suit, be ready for a reactionary response to the match.

Fuck. Five minutes into the game, Clark proved why he should never had started this game. He tried to take on a defender in the defensive third when he had no reason to and was rightfully stripped of the ball. Kevin Prince-Boateng did an excellent job of progressing play, crossing over defender Jay DeMerit, and slotting a shot inside the left post leaving Tim Howard with little chance at a save. This was a bad, bad turnover from Clark and unfortunately the US were punished for his transgression. Credit to Prince-Boateng for remaining calm and having the intelligence to set up his left foot for the near side shot. Howard could perhaps have played tighter to the near post but it's easy to nitpick when you get 583 different views from 25 different angles. The moral of the story is the Clark gave the ball away terribly when he didn't need to and Prince-Boateng finished well.

After the goal, the US didn't seem to get their sense of urgency going. They seemed content to play mostly as they had coming into the game, trying to get a counter off of their defensive efforts. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), Clark forced a change when he went recklessly into a Ghanaian player and drew a yellow card for the poor challenge. Great. So not only did our worst player on the field turn over the ball when he had no cause to, but he also took a stupid yellow by trying to rashly make-up for his mistake. I still can't believe Bradley started him. Thankfully, Edu was substituted for Clark in the 31st minute and order was restored. I can appreciate Bob Bradley essentially admitting he was wrong by taking out a player in the first half when an injury wasn't involved, but that still doesn't explain why he was started in the first place. Clark proved exactly why he should have been on the bench at the start of the match and hopefully Edu could do something to rescue the US from this hole.

It can't be said enough how devastating this was for the US fans in the bar. In three out of the four games, the US had given up a goal in the opening fifteen minutes of the match and it was simply deflating. Now your team needs to come back from a goal down and then score the go-ahead goal to get a win. I don't understand why the US needs to be losing in order to play their best, but they do and maybe this was actually what they needed. It took some time for the US to get moving again, but once they did, they started hitting the forwards with through and long balls and got them involved in the match. Altidore specifically had a great game by being able to hold the ball on forward attacks and distribute appropriately. The US created chances but Ghanaian goalkeeper Richard Kingson played a fantastic game and was able to shut down most of what the US pushed forward. The match went into halftime still at 1-0 and we started to wonder what Bradley would do coming out of the half. Though I dogged Bradley for his decisions at the start of the match, he has a track record of making fantastic substitutions based on the need of the match, so I had faith in him putting a good team out on the field. His response to being down a goal at half was to sub in Benny Feilhaber for Findley and I fully agreed with this. Feilhaber has been fantastic as a substitute and he had the potential to give the US a much needed spark moving forward.

In response to the changes and the obstacles in front of them, the US came out and played a great second half. For the first twenty or so minutes. the US was the obviously better team and created chance after chance. I'd love to tell you exactly what they were, but I didn't note when they pushed forward well due to the general lack of note-taking. The crowd in the bar was anxious, not because they didn't believe, but because everyone knew that the US needed a goal and no one was sure when it might actually come. As it turns out, it came in the 62nd minute when Dempsey was cleared out on a great run through the right hand side of the box. After touching the ball around a defender, Dempsey has a great chance at a pass/shot option but was tackled hard by Jonathan Mensah. The penalty resulted in a free kick and Landon Donovan stepped up to the spot with the hopes of a nation on his shoulders. Donovan got Kingson guessing the wrong way, but he struck the ball off of the inside of the post before it nestled in the back of the net. Jesus God this PK gave me a heart attack. I saw Donovan beat the keeper but it wasn't until I saw the ball firmly in the goal before I could truly celebrate. I mean, it was the perfect PK since it gave the keeper absolutely no chance, but it's not exactly something you aim for. Regardless, excellent take by Donovan and the US was back to level.

The rest of the second half played out fairly normally. The US had chances, Ghana had chances, and some of them were very close. But no one could find the back of the net and we finished out the first ninety minutes even at 1-1. The entire bar was nervous. Everyone knew what was needed but anything could happen in the overtime period so you can't take anything for granted. As it turns out, Ghana had the superior play in the extra frames as Asamoah Gyan split the US defense in the 93rd minute by chesting the ball down to his left foot and putting a spectacular shot over Howard. This was absolutely devastating, but there is no denying the skill involved. Gyan settled the ball incredibly well while still streaking to goal and then lifted a shot just past a sliding DeMerit and a committed Howard. It pains me to give credit to this goal, but it is just. This was a fantastic play by Gyan and this is why he is regarded as the next possible African superstar. The US tried to comeback from this and did put some very close chances on and around goal, but it just wasn't enough. Ghana held on for the last twenty-seven minutes and made it through to the next round.

Ghana 2 - 1 United States


This was painful. It is always terrible to see your team lose but I would say that it's even worse to see it happen in the World Cup, the only truly high caliber international competition (sorry Olympics, your sports don't matter nearly as much), and one that only comes around every four years. The crowd at the bar was deflated and there's really no way to describe it. You hate seeing your team lose and it's even worse when it's your country as well. It will be tough to get over this, but credit has to go to Ghana for their win. They played a fantastic match and deserved to go through as they did. Gyan is already making a name for himself in this tournament and this will only add to his hype. I liked Ghana a lot going into this match and while I'm sorry to see the US lose (of course), I will be pulling for Ghana from here on out. The last African side making a deep run into this tournament would be a great storyline and something that is well deserved for such a quality side. The US can only sit back now and wonder at would have been, but we can at least take heart in making it this far and coming so close. I will never be an American apologist when it comes to soccer and I still think the US should have done better. That being said, I can't bitch and moan about losing a game where the opposing side did more with the chances that were given to them. It was a fantastic run and for all of the heartbreak that I feel right now, I will still always have Donovan's goal against Algeria to push me forward. I still think that the future for US soccer is bright and I have no doubt that we'll be back here in four years to try again. Thank you for what you did and thanks for the memories.