Redemption time.
Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy!
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16 Jun
USA vs. Ghana: Live Commentary
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The Shin Guardian 
Posted by aztri81 on 2014/06/16 at 1:44 PM
U S A! U S A! U S A!
Posted by Sean Tuxill on 2014/06/16 at 2:02 PM
Oh, Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Yanks…
(volume increases dramatically)
THEY’RE SCORING DOWN THE CENTER AND THEY’RE SCORING FROM THE FLANKS
WE’LL BEAT YOU EVERY TIME AND YOU CAN TAKE THAT TO THE BANK
THE YANKS ARE MARCHING ON
Da chills, gentlemen. They’ve been with me since around 2PM this afternoon.
Posted by Mike on 2014/06/17 at 7:47 AM
Why are we not chanting that again? Well done.
Posted by Josh on 2014/06/18 at 1:37 PM
That is awesomely fantastic, Sean.
Posted by Scott William Ladley on 2014/06/16 at 2:43 PM
I’m holding the barstools down in Toronto….make this yank in the north feel proud boys!
Posted by Scott William Ladley on 2014/06/16 at 2:48 PM
A desperate Jay DeMerit has made the CBC pregame broadcast about 15 times now in Toronto…let’s give a better highlight reel here boys!
Posted by aztri81 on 2014/06/16 at 3:09 PM
Wow. Dempsey dropping some freedom in the first minute of the game.
Posted by Mark Walsh on 2014/06/16 at 3:31 PM
If Ghana continues to get this much possession, they’re going to score sooner rather than later. The U.S. has got to keep the ball better and build their attacks through the midfield instead of sending in these long balls. More composure needed on the ball.
Posted by dth on 2014/06/16 at 3:38 PM
Bradley’s been very sloppy in possession and Beasley has looked very unbalanced.
Posted by Mark Walsh on 2014/06/16 at 3:50 PM
Where’s Fabian Johnson? He’s been invisible in the attack.
Posted by chris_thebassplayer on 2014/06/16 at 4:01 PM
Ghana targeting Beas, pulling JJ out wide…making us rotate over every time…pulls MB very deep to help cover the middle…takes him out of our attack…my worst fear realized…JK needs to have a contingency plan, we badly need some possession…Ghana has effectively minimized MB ability to distribute up field. Looks like we’ll need to put the storm windows up for the whole second half…Maybe we see Chandler for Beas?
Posted by WatertownMA on 2014/06/16 at 4:05 PM
Panic-ball has set in. USMNT needs to rediscover its confidence and play w/ composure. Bradley needs to stop dropping back and stop w/ the long balls. Johannsson needs to work harder for the ball and play a little nastier. Beasley….play w/ on your strengths.
I’m concerned that the next 2 subs are Brooks for Besler and Chandler for Beasley.
Posted by dth on 2014/06/16 at 4:16 PM
Bradley, ooffff, not his best game. Inaccurate, poor touch.
Posted by John mosby on 2014/06/16 at 5:12 PM
Put a sock in it dth!!! Why on earth would you take off any of jones beckerman, or Bradley in this situation? Come on, you’re to much…..
Posted by jeppley on 2014/06/16 at 5:50 PM
Given the double “o”, I read that as a drawn out “oof”, not “off”. I totally agree with both of you. One of the worst performances I’ve seen from Bradley and, no, you can’t take him off.
Posted by John mosby on 2014/06/16 at 7:05 PM
Then my apologies if it was just an oooffff, not an offffff. What it was in the end was a gutsy performance from USA and pretty much every player on the pitch, and onward and upward. One more game and we could have both feet into the second round, wow!
Posted by Arthur on 2014/06/16 at 7:09 PM
Who would’ve thought the US wins with injuries to Altidore, Dempsey, Besler, and Bedoya, along with a subpar Michael Bradley performance?
Posted by dth on 2014/06/16 at 4:22 PM
Would like to see Mix for Dempsey as the last sub.
Posted by kurtosis on 2014/06/16 at 5:48 PM
Someone graded Beasley a four. Really? Guy was under siege all night as Ghana attacked his side, but Ghana Did Not Score on his side. Kudos to Beasely for withstanding the onslaught! Fabian got half lost on the Ghana goal by comparison. As many of us feared, Bradley just does not play his best in the creative role. He missed passes tonight that he usually would complete blindfolded. Beckerman and Jones were critical. Bedoya very solid on defense. I would like to see Mix get some minutes as well. Overall, a great win!
Posted by twewlife on 2014/06/16 at 5:55 PM
Dude. Beasley was terrible. Yes he was under siege. But he didn’t perform. Ghana just failed in their link up play – gc TSG on the USA pushing Ghana to the wings.
I wonder whats up with Bradley. He really has been up and down in the last four games….His performance is going to be key against Portugal.
Question: who starts up top going forward. I think you have to say Wondow…
Posted by kurtosis on 2014/06/16 at 6:03 PM
We were lucky that Ghana’s crosses were very poor. But, still, Ghana’s attack was 90% on Beasley, and they didn’t score there. No way that’s a four imho.
Posted by Larry Montanez on 2014/06/16 at 6:46 PM
in Klinsi’s PC, it sounded like they were willing to concede the attacks down the flanks, because he didn’t seem to think Ghana was too good at crosses. he said they were just kicking it into the middle, to no one in particular, and we’ll take that. i guess he just really didn’t want them going down the middle. when the ball went wide to our right, JJ was in standing in the middle of the field. i was yelling at the TV at him, but that might have been by design
Posted by jeppley on 2014/06/16 at 5:56 PM
Beasley had a rough start to the game, but I thought he improved vastly the game went on. Jones, too. He was a beast tonight.
What’s up with all the hammys though? Klinsmann didn’t have a chance for a single tactical sub.
Jozy, Besler, Bedoya . . . even Cameron was stretching out his calf. Was the heat that bad? Were they out of shape? Did they over-train?
Posted by Kprather on 2014/06/16 at 6:10 PM
Just like england when ur chasing the ball for 90 mins and only playing into space when u have it ur gonna wear down. Losing jozy was immense i think we wouldve had a much better handle on this game if he stays in. Wouldve been nice to have had ej to come in against that high line of ghanas. Great victory though to lose jozy early and come back after tieing goal was awesome
Posted by Chazcar2 on 2014/06/16 at 7:02 PM
Besler got stepped on. He is american so he popped right back up and no one noticed.
Posted by Adrian Garza (@agarza34) on 2014/06/16 at 6:36 PM
Here are the concerns: 1) Strains (hamstring in particular), 2) game was at night not day time with sun out, and 3) up to three possible players could be out from Altidore, Besler, and we’ll have to see if anyone else was hurting… no way Deuce will not play.
I am not a major Twellman fan but I really doubt the players weren’t hydrated enough rather Twellman could be on to something about how the players muscles were over worked. We know Jurgen trains them hard and that could be part of the problem so it will be interesting to see how they train going forward with Besler’s hamstring, cramping of Cameron, Bedoya landed awkwardly.
Man of the match for me was Jermaine Jones. Sure Deuce put us up and it was a great sequence but after that (partly due to taking that kick to the face)… defense was key and Jones stepped up.
Posted by Larry Montanez on 2014/06/16 at 6:39 PM
Kudos to the American fans, that helped cheer the team on when they needed it. It sounded like a home game. Remember when we couldn’t get a home crowd, even on our home soil? now we get one in Brazil.
Posted by gino744 on 2014/06/16 at 7:58 PM
You think the crowd in the stadium sounded great? You should try watching the next game in a local bar. Provided the Nats don’t lay an egg against Portugal, the experience should be exhilarating. Much better than in your living room with the door closed and the curtains drawn!
Posted by Josh on 2014/06/18 at 1:40 PM
1,000 percent. The USA fans were tremendous and we could hear them 2000 miles away. Just awesome.
Posted by MattB on 2014/06/16 at 6:40 PM
As frustrating as it was to watch Ghana have all that space down the wings and whip in cross after cross, it certainly played to our defense’s strength. All 3 center backs looked good dealing with all the balls in the air, and may have struggled for pace on balls played through the middle. Mostly just excited for the 3 points and hope we can make tactical adjustments going into Portugal.
Posted by chris_thebassplayer on 2014/06/16 at 7:01 PM
I don’t think it mattered who was at LB for us. I thought the priority for Ghana was to pull JJ further to the left flank away from his middle support for Beckerman, to force Beckerman to cover more space. JJ and Beckerman really played well and put out a lot of fires, but we were living dangerously and dodged a bullet. MB had to drop deeper to help clog the middle and they closed on him quickly….he had much less time and few options to play to to relieve pressure…not a comfortable game for him. Going forward, he’ll need to get used to the extra attention.
Posted by gino744 on 2014/06/16 at 7:46 PM
Great points. Are you sure you’re not Matthew using a pseudo name?
Posted by chris_thebassplayer on 2014/06/16 at 8:37 PM
Haha, Gino you’re too kind. Matthew sets the bar quite high…I come here to learn and enjoy the high quality posts.
Posted by matthewsf on 2014/06/16 at 8:39 PM
I am reading along. I come to the comments to learn as well.
Matthew.
Posted by matthewsf on 2014/06/16 at 8:41 PM
I think what was interesting as well is what I talked about in the Bosnia game. Knowing–esp. after Jozy went down–that the US needed to get breaks and carry the ball up the pitch, the US sent Jermaine forward–like he did on the opening goal–in hopes of gaining possession and positioning up the field through his ability to carry with a man on.
I was stunned by Jones’s physicality even though I had thought he’d be the key player. Hopefully US fans saw the merit in Jones’s continual selection tonight.
Posted by matthewsf on 2014/06/16 at 8:42 PM
https://twitter.com/shinguardian/status/478726808171339777
Posted by Sean Tuxill on 2014/06/17 at 4:52 AM
Forget box-to-box. Jones was endline-to-endline last night.
Posted by FellainisFro on 2014/06/16 at 7:06 PM
Thought Jones was MOTM. He was putting out fires left and right.
Posted by gino744 on 2014/06/16 at 7:43 PM
Agree about Jones. Who woulda thought Jones would have been our defensive stopper? Except for that dicey moment when he flirted with a yellow card after being taken down hard, he played a nearly flawless game. I think the US will have many heroes in this tournament. Today it was Jones, Deuce and, another pleasant surprise, Brooks.
Posted by aquatoad on 2014/06/16 at 8:28 PM
That Ghana team was extremely physical. Extremely. The “worst” team in the group this year… but which of the teams in the group last cycle could have bested the Ghana team that showed up today? None. I hope they give Germany an equal pounding. That was a brutal game. Rabbit from a hat though!
Posted by matthewsf on 2014/06/16 at 8:34 PM
That was a very good Ghana team. The scoreline flattered the US.
Posted by gino744 on 2014/06/16 at 10:03 PM
Agree. The best team did not win today (dodging tomatoes and insults as soon as I click “Post comment”). I always feared Ghana more than Portugal in this group. That we managed to win despite being outplayed and losing so many to injury hopefully bodes well for the US, so long as only Jozy’s injury is long term (fearing the worst I’m afraid). A “W” in the jungle heat of Manaus and the only result left to fear in this group could be a Ghana pounding of Portugal. I’m definitely not counting chickens though. I think I would have preferred Portugal to have lost 2-0 to Germany instead of the 4-0 shellacking. Either they implode or they have their war paint on. I’m not counting on the former.
Posted by jon on 2014/06/17 at 6:07 AM
I was expecting to read from some that the US did not deserve the win, or Ghana was the better team in a few places, but it is clear to me that was not the case. The US, especially MB90, looked nervous and just off. Ghana, however, struggled to make anything happen and misfired equally many times. Their most defensive three players are their weak point, and Dempsey exploited that. I think both teams were thrown by that early goal. From there, Ghana had only 4 real chances by my count, and one of those was a half-chance that Gyan turned into a chance with a spectacular header from 18 yards just wide. The US had two chances and took them both. If Ghana had been just a bit better they probably would have won, but they were not, and I think the scoreline is fair. I do hope the US improves a lot, because, well, Cristiano Ronaldo seeing a lot of the ball is a scary thought.
Posted by Arthur on 2014/06/16 at 8:54 PM
Tim Howard is a fine keeper. (Insert here stats, kind words about his abilities.) But his distribution is horrendous. There were a number of balls he sent out of touch that set up Ghana’s attack. Howard’s goal kicks normally bend towards the touch line, making it difficult to keep possession. Ghana’s glut of chances expectedly came in the 50th-65th minutes when US possession broke down.
Posted by matthewsf on 2014/06/16 at 8:58 PM
I think that was the field. He’s not great on in play foot distribution, but that was clearly the weather and field.
Posted by Arthur on 2014/06/16 at 9:22 PM
Did a comparison at mlssoccer. Kwarasey had only two misplayed passes from nine attempts; Timmy scuffs four passes in eleven attempts, including two giveaways at the 59th and 66th minutes.
Posted by Arthur on 2014/06/16 at 9:28 PM
Unfortunately, it does not seem that goal kicks were recorded; none of the passes are from/near the six.
Posted by GeorgeCross on 2014/06/17 at 6:08 AM
For all of the formation talk pre-game, it rerally didn’t matter. Ghana were so dominant in possession, it reduced the US to two banks of four. The problem I think was that the midfield and forwards were too far apart, so the forwards were isolated. Never mind the usually solid Bradley had an ‘off-day’ but I guess you have to give Ghana some credit for that too. So many passes were uncharacteristically misdirected, under or over hit. So frustrating to watch.
It also did not help that Altidore got injured – he does offer some hold-up play which would have given the US midfield a little time to get up and support – or even break away from a flat four across the middle. Which was my biggest concern. It was too easy for Ghana to win the ball back, as it’s so much easier to press a square pass. Which is why ‘triangular’ passing is so important and 4 or 5 band formations obviously aid this.
But the reality is, even though it was not a great performance, 3 points is 3 points. And the first thing I said at the final whistle? An ugly win is better than a pretty loss.
Posted by matthewsf on 2014/06/17 at 6:14 AM
No hold-up player. The US saves so much unnecessary defensive work by having someone hold up the ball. Stain on Klinsmann.
Posted by Josh on 2014/06/18 at 1:42 PM
I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN. I’m still riding this. Portugal is now a death match.