After a dismal performance against the Czechs, the U.S men played the Italians to a hard-fought draw, despite playing much of the match with a one-man deficit due to what few will argue wasn't extremely poor officiating. It got pretty scary towards the end, as the Italians had far too many chances in the last 10 minutes of the match considering the way the Americans had dominated them for the majority of the time, but they managed to hold them off thanks to a number of typical excellent saves by Keller.

Now, thanks to the Czechs' loss to Ghana, the U.S. still has a chance to go through to the round of 16, if they can just manage to pull off a victory over Ghana this coming Thursday. However, they're going to have to do a better job of finishing, to work on that goal differential. They had far too many excellent chances and shots in yesterday's match to have come away with none but an "own goal" by the Italians. McBride was where he needed to be when he needed to be there most of the time, but just couldn't seem to find the goal. A number of shots taken by the U.S. were embarrassingly weak and/or totally off the mark. They're going to have to do better to beat Ghana, much less have any hope of doing anything laubable in the round of 16 if they make it through.

Still, I was pleasantly surprised that they played so well against Italy. After hearing how poorly they fared against the Czech's (I recorded it but after reading the play-by-play I decided it wasn't worth watching), I was afraid it was going to be another embarrassing loss. I'm glad to see that it's definitely not over for the U.S team yet, and can't wait to see how they do against Ghana. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the outcome may wind up having more to do with the quality of the officiating than anything else, but one can still hope that yesterday's match was just a fluke.

Yesterday's officiating sucked royally! One of the few correct calls they made was the offsides on McBride when Beasley made that goal. Pope was screwed with that second yellow. We're gonna be hurting without him and Mastroeni when they face Ghana. The Ghana team gets 20K a piece for each World Cup win. That's one heck of a bonus! It would make me work really hard for a win, that's for sure! The Czech's looked so non-chalant against them. I guess they lulled into the mentality that it would be an easy win.

Not sure why the US never used it's last sub. Especially in the last 15 minutes or so when everyone on the field looked ready to die. I was scared they were going to give up a goal because they were too tired to shift back on D. Keller made some great saves, though!

Can't wait for the game on Thursday!!! So glad I'm off work that day!

Some very good matches so far. Watched brazil yesterday and was underwhelmed. argentina looked unstoppable the other day. I don't think the US will advance. Like moms said ghana has some serious incentive. My money is on Netherlands winning it all!

After their total screw-up agains the Czech's, one could rightly argue that the U.S. doesn't deserve to go forward, but stranger things have happened.

Well, it's all over. I've read that the PK Ghana got might have been inappropriate and there were too many yellow cards thrown, in keeping with the general trend in this WC of the officiating having far too much influence on results, but if they had played well enough to be worthy of advancing, our boys would have overcome that. They came out unprepared against the Czech's in their first match, and for that alone they didn;t deserve to advance. In the World Cup, you've got to bring your best game from the first minute of every match.

That said, they did have a tougher draw than many others, and their success 4 years ago was as much due to Portugal's dismal failure as their own success and luck. So expectations this time around were perhaps unreasonably high. Or at least mine were. I had certainly hoped for a far better showing, as I suspect most U.S. fans had. One can hope, at least, that this will humble them a bit and cause them to work a lot harder in preparation for the next WC.

Yeah, that PK was bs. Franlkly, Arena needs to be replaced. He didn't take half of the peeps who helped him qualify, then doesn't know when to sub. Ching had 4 header goals in one game, but they leave the poor guy on the bench when the ball spend so much time in the air in front of the Ghana goal. THen stupid Landon looked like he plenty of room somehwere around the 85th minute, with everyone congregated in the opposite corner, and noone but the goalie to stop him. Take the freaking shot with your left foot! You are a professional for pete's sake! If you don't want to shoot with your left, then push it with outside of your right, but do something! Pussyfooting with it then loosing it is not what you need to do late in the game and down a goal! Officiating wasn't great, but not nearly as bad as it was against the Italians.

All said, I'm happy for Ghana. They played well and deserve to go on and leave their mark on the world. They did win the bronze in the last olympics, so it's not like they shouldn't have been on the radar.

Oh, and I have the game on TiVo if you want to come over and vomit this weekend, B. The goal by Dempsey was sweet, but the PK will make you lose your lunch. Besides, what else are you gonna do all weekend with all this rain coming?!

Packing for and driving off to the beach. Hopefully getting away from all the rain.

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5724616

The coach says he's "Just an Idiot"

Brazil steamrolling its way through 3-0 against Ghana. my upset for the day France over spain 2-1!!

Zidane wins it for France!!! i was close I said 2-1 france over spain and it was 3-1.
Next up Brazil!

final 2 games! My prediction is germany over Portugal 3-1 saturday and France over Italy2-1

France will win the final, 2-1 over Germany. Or maybe even 1-0, in typical, insanely boring European style.

i would not be surprised if it went 120 mins and wound up 0-0. Can you say penalty kicks?
i am not a big fan of the boring defensive shell that the euros seem to favor either

Wow! After dominating for most of the match and overtime, it was France's to lose, and they lost it.

Zidane was an idiot and there's no excuse for his misbehavior, but I'm still waiting for word on whether the officials acted properly. Did the side judge or 4th official really see it or did they rely on the video replay, which of course would be against the rules.

In any event, it seems the Italian National Diving - err, I mean Soccer - team has won.

Its a shame that most people will now remember Zizou for this incident. I also just read a report that his agent said he will speak later in the week. One source is reporting the Italian player called him a terrorist
(he is of Algerian descent) and also told him he should be playing for his own country. He was born in France so last time I checked that makes him eligible. One of the greatest players of all time! As for the Italians and to some extent the whole tournament what a blatant exhibition of diving! these guys are 6' 180lbs and were falling like they were shot by a cannon if someone was within a foot of them. Officiating was terrible the whole tournament! gotta admit though that was one HELL of a headbutt

Yes I heard it was that or a similar racist comment. Of course I remember hearing earlier that Henry was the victim of a racial slur from some other nation's coach or player or some such. But it doesn't ever excuse misconduct.

He may be a fab player, but there's more to being an MVP than how many goals you score. How you conduct yourself (aka being a good sport) should also be a big part of that award, and IMO he didn't deserve it.

FYI, the voting for that award he won was conducted prior to the playing of the playing of the final match. That's why he won it.

Ah, thanks for the info, B! But didn't he have a history of being excessively "violent", or am I confusing him with another player? I don't have time to follow it all, so I could be confused...it's a common blond affective disorder!

I read today they may take it back. I doubt it though.

As a life long soccer-hater, this year's World Cup almost succeeded in pulling me in as a fan. I couldn't put my finger on why, but I was actually enjoying watching some of the games. Maybe it was how good they looked broadcast in hi-def, I dunno.

They had me right up until they decided the f'in championship on penalty kicks! What kind of whacked out sport decides a multi-national, month long, world tournament that only occurs every four years on whether a goalie correctly guesses a 50/50 chance to block a shot. Let the players play it out on the field. Sooner or later, somebody gets tired enough and makes a mistake that will break a tie.

What's next? The Super Bowl being decided on a best of five field goal kicking contest? A home run derby to decide an extra inning World Series game?

Soccer, you almost had me.

Actually the voting for the golden ball award didn't conclude until the end of the championship.

Sman- As far as the penalty kicks go your right. Especially in a championship game. I think they should play on and add an extra substitution for each 15 min. OT to get some fresh legs back on the field