Filed under: FIFA World Cup, US Soccer, U.S. Men’s National Team, Slovenia, United States
JOHANNESBURG — The day after the U.S. World Cup team all but upset scary ol’ England by winning a point in this tournament via a draw, its coach, Bob Bradley, was asked what he saw his team needed to improve on most to be successful against the rest of the world.
Bradley, in what is his haltingly cautionary answering style, pondered the query for several seconds. Then he said his charges couldn’t continue to play from behind early. England scored that game’s first goal four minutes in.
On Friday at Ellis Park Stadium in the U.S.’s second game, Slovenia scored first in the 13th minute. It netted the match’s second goal in the 42nd minute.
The Stars and Stripes didn’t learn. As a result, they had no one but themselves to blame for winding up with just another point by tying another game - certainly not a rookie World Cup referee from Mali who waved off what the U.S. squad and every U.S. fan thought was the potential winning goal booted in by Maurice Edu in the 85th minute. To blame it on Mali would only be proper as a movie title.
It wasn’t referee Koman Coulibaly, after all, who left the U.S. in the precarious position it found itself in Friday after 90 minutes of play, the first 45 of it quite lackluster, against Slovenia, the third smallest country ever to qualify for the World Cup. It was the players themselves and coach Bradley’s inability to light the fire beneath them.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Today on the Internet: Each week the top 10 pop songs changes. Stay up with the changes with this list of top ten songs.
Fri, Jun 18, 2010
World Cup Headlines