Deutschland 2006: United States In The Semis?!?!?!
May 5th, 2006 by Emmett WilliamsFranz Beckenbauer admitted it. And the story goes that when the German writers were leaving the press room in Korea, they confessed to the American writers the same thing.
The United States outplayed and should have defeated eventual finalist Germany.
Though the Americans lost 1-0 at the quarterfinal stage of the 2002 finals in Korea, the Germans were the second best team. Unfortunately for the US, poor finishing from Landon Donovan on three breakaways, incredible goalkeeping from Oliver Kahn on those breakaways, and most importantly, a non-penalty call on a blatant goal line handball by Torsten Frings sealed the Americans fate.
But 2006 will see a more talented, significantly deeper and much more experienced team, evidenced by the roster selection this past Tuesday by US coach Bruce Arena. The Americans are at the point where they are so deep and there is such a competition for places that neither the Major League Soccer’s leading scorer and Most Valuable Player Taylor Twellman nor future Chelsea/Real Madrid striker Freddy Adu will find a place on the team.
And those that discount the American professional soccer/football league should note that the 23 players on this year’s roster are almost evenly divided amongst those playing in the US and in Europe.
Sadly, the US has been placed in one of the Groups of Death. To the casual observer, it may seem that it will be difficult for the United States to get a result against Italy, the Czech Republic, and Ghana. But on paper the Americans are more talented and have more experience than the Africans and match up much better against the Czechs than people realize.
And then there’s Italy (more about them on Monday). Of course they should win their group, which most likely pits the US against Brazil in the Round of 16. I’d be a fool to attempt to justify a US win over Brazil (or a group win over Italy), but out of the teams that surprised in 2002, the Americans are the most likely to shock once again.
Monday: Why The Italians May NOT Live Up To Their Potential (Again)
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May 5th, 2006 at 8:14 am
For all of the European pisstaking of the US football team I really think there could be a few big nations more than a little surprised by the improvement they’ve made over the past twelve years since USA ‘94 and another quarter final position (or better) may well be on the cards.
The one good thing about a Group of Death is that if you progress then you’re already up to full match sharpness after three tough games and will be in a much better position for the knockout rounds as a result.
The way I see it is that if you want to win the competition then you’ll eventually have to beat all of the other teamsa anyway so you might as well dispatch them in the group stages as the semis or the final. I’ll be watching the US with interest that’s for sure.
May 7th, 2006 at 7:54 am
Good call. It’d be nice to see them do well again, if only to increase the game’s popularity in the states.
The could squeeze results against those teams, even in that group, if they approach with no arrogance.