U.S. books World Cup berth (Soccer)

[sledgehammer]

Source: ESPN

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP) -- The U.S. soccer team is headed to South Africa for a chance to redeem itself in the World Cup.

Conor Casey scored his first two international goals in the second half, Landon Donovan added another and the United States clinched its sixth straight World Cup berth with a game to spare by rallying past Honduras 3-2 Saturday night.

"We did a good job tonight," Donovan said. "We're going to South Africa."

In one of the most thrilling end-to-end matches the U.S. has played in many years, the Americans took a 3-1 lead before Honduras closed on Julio Cesar De Leon's second goal of the game.

Read more: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=279519&cc=5901

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Go Team USA! Sixth consecutive World Cup qualification, woo-hoo!

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. And the rivalry with the ratones verdes continues

:-)

Both Concacaf powers are going, Mexico and the US... would be funny if they end up in the same group

[sledgehammer]

3. Yep, US and Mexico have developed a healthy rivalry

However, I think the way grouping is done, they avoid having teams from the same conference in one group (except, of course, for European teams due to their large presence).

Really hope the US can make it to the Round of 16 this time. Germany 2006 was a huge disappointment. The team looks much stronger and more organized since then.

The big problem is when the US takes the lead in any match, they tend to always go into defensive mode and it's often not pretty.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Why do you think we call the Ratones Verdes that way?

The US team is playing the way the Mexican team played for two decades, starting in the 1970s. Just recently they have started remaining more aggressive. It is not a coincidence since many of the Technical Directors coached them before they coached the US team.

I guess this is way too much inside soccer...

[sledgehammer]

10. Interesting, thanks for that insight! n/t

[xocet]

11. Aside...

Soccer is so much fun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9JNupQHwt4&feature=related

[rpannier]

16. You are correct

Teams from less represented regions like Asia, Cobcacaf, etc are prevented from being grouped together in the round of 32.

[T_i_B]

27. In fairness...

...The US had a very difficult group last time out. Italy were the eventual champions, and the Czech Republic and Ghana both had good teams. It was probably the most difficult of all the groups.

[Common Sense Party]

2. Go USA...maybe someday they'll make it past the first round.

I'd love to see the USA do well in the World Cup. I really would. But they're like the Cubs. As much as you want them to do well, they'll disappoint every time.

So meanwhile, I've gotta root for my faves:

[sledgehammer]

5. They have gone past the first round in 1994 and 2002

In 1994, they lost in the 2nd round to Brazil (the eventual champions).

In 2002, they lost in the quarter-finals to Germany (the eventual runners-up).

That's not too shabby a record, but it's not too great either.

USA has qualified six straight times, which says a lot too. Granted they don't play the toughest teams, but there are only 3 or 4 World Cup spots up for grabs among 35 teams (approx 1 in 10) in Concacaf (North, Central America, and Caribbean). As a comparison, Europe has 13 spots among 54 teams (approx 1 in 4), and South America gets 4 or 5 among 10 teams (approx 1 in 2).

(PS: USA reached the semi-finals in 1930, but that was a different era, so I'm more concerned with 1990 onwards).

[Common Sense Party]

8. I had forgotten they did that well in 2002.

I usually expect them to get eliminated fairly early, and they often are.

They do seem to be getting better, but they can't consistently compete with the powerhouse teams. I think we need more and more Americans playing in South America and Europe to get more international experience. The MLS is just not good preparation for World Cup level competition.

[PaulaFarrell]

15. Irrelevant

Most of the best teams are in Europe and South America. I think the ratio of 1 to 10 just shows that there aren't that many competitive teams in that division. Let's see, who are some of those teams? Montserrat, Anguilla - are you kidding me? they have about 5,000 people each so I'm surprised they can even field teams.

[sledgehammer]

18. Agreed. But that's exactly how they level the qualifying.

There's no reason for more than 3-4 spots from CONCACAF because of the lack of competition. But the small number of spots does it make pretty competitive.

Even UEFA has its share of no-hopers - San Marino, Licthenstein, Moldova, Armenia, Faroe Islands, Macedonia, etc.

And South American teams outside of the big two are typically pretty average. I do like it that at least one spot is contested with CONCACAF.

Overall it is a pretty fair process.

[tkmorris]

12. Your faves are in serious danger of not getting there at all

But good luck with that.

[SKKY]

4. Well done boys!!!!

And I take back everything I've ever said about Bob Bradley. I was throwing things when I saw that Casey was starting over Jozy. Then, Casey has a monster 2nd half and hangs a brace on Honduras. Classic stuff!!!

[sledgehammer]

6. Bradley does make some odd choices every now and again

But he's done well in the big picture.

Once the World Cup starts though, there's no time for experimenting. So he better get a starting lineup finalized soon. Hope there are some friendlies in the first half of 2010 to practice.

[SKKY]

9. I agree, but when Bradley gets it right, he really gets it right...

...I think he proved that in the last 3 matchs of the Confederations Cup. They'll probably schedule 3-5 friendlies between January and June. I'm still hoping that gives them time to see if this Jermaine Jones kid is going to work out. I've seen highlights of him playing in Germany and he's easily one of our 4 or 5 best players.

[tkmorris]

13. He is one of our TWO best players, next to Donovan.

Unfortunately we have yet to get him into the shirt. He has been injured, and just last week learned that he will be out another 3 weeks or so. It's going to be a real rush to get him back on the field and acclimated to the squad before the Cup.

[sledgehammer]

17. I would make it a top 3 and put Tim Howard in there

Howard has saved us time and time again.

[SKKY]

22. He certainly has. Man U is kicking themselves right now.

[tkmorris]

23. That's a good point about Howard

I guess I was thinking "field players" and left Howard out. We have been very fortunate to have had a run of excellent keepers in Keller, Friedel and Howard.

We really need to get a settled defense in front of him. It's nice to have a great keeper but I'd really rather we didn't need him to bail us out so often. Jones will almost certainly help there. Junior is no D-Mid and no one else has really stepped up into the role, at least not since Edu was injured.

Anyway, Go NATS!

[demoleft]

14. and i cheer to it. with italian wine. congratulations! n/t

[wpelb]

19. I hope the referees are better in 2010

I don't think this will affect Team USA's chances to win or at least make it deep into the tournament, but I hope we don't see embarrassments like a referee giving the same player three yellow cards in a match before pulling out the red one.

I also hope we don't see a star player doing something stupid like intentionally butting an opponent in the head during a critical match, like the final.

Let's also hope we don't see a repeat of what happened with Colombia in 1994, when a player who gave up an own-goal (or made some similar defensive mistake) to the U.S. ended up getting assassinated on his return to the homeland.

[rpannier]

25. He was a heavy gambler

It turned out he owed lots of money to gambling interests and that was more likely the reason why he was killed

[rabs]

26. I remember there were gambling insterests involved

But it was not on the part of Andres Escobar.

He scored an-own goal to give the United States a huge 1-0 upset. Colombian cocaine cartel bosses were reported to have bet heavily that Colombia would win.

So when Escobar returned to Medellin (the murder capital of Colombia) a few days later, he was shot to death at a night club. The man who shot him yelled "gooooooool" 12 times, one for each bullet he pumped into Escobar.

An estimated 120,000 people attended Escobar's funeral. The man who shot him served only 11 years in prison and was released in 2005.

more here

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://knol.google.com/k/idan-seggev/the-tragedy-of-andres-escobar-1967-1994/2o1w6bc2errno/5&h=297&w=308&sz=35&tbnid=5wPBnIv7FRu5fM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=117&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dandres%2Bescobar%2Bphoto&usg=__7GlDIdrRm9t18B9qIH32VLizPxs=&ei=rLvSSpy8HsittgfvoOj9Aw&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&ved=0CA8Q9QEwAw

[T_i_B]

28. "A referee giving the same player three yellow cards in a match before pulling out the red one"

That referee was the attention seeking Graham Poll. I was at the first match he officiated after the World Cup (Col U v Barnsley). He didn't endear himself to the crowd by waving at everyone during the warm up, or his obvious fake tan. Needless to say that he got a fair few chants of World Cup, and you f**ked it up thrown his way.

Poll has since quit refereeing and is now a columnist for the Daily Mail, whose football coverage has become more focused on the referees then the players as a direct result.

[nyy1998]

20. Congrats!!!

South Africa here we come!!!

[IndianaGreen]

21. If Obama cheers for the US Team, the GOP will condemn him for it

[rpannier]

24. They're awaiting the draw now

So they can buy the 3 jerseys from the other countries

If the US draws France as one of their preliminary round opponents they won't know what to do.

[Haole Girl]

29. Go Team USA!!

:bounce: