interesting stadium.

like it was first a hipodorm, after that a supermarket and a hotel...

8 minutes into the game and it looks like a mid field chats.
min 10. usa is dominating before they melt away in front of italian goal.
min. 14. us wins a free kick from the mostdangerous area. wasted and turns into a corner kick. us is definatly settling into italian half.

An exciting game! We've already blown three great chances today - but hey - we've CREATED three great chances so far today, in the 16th minute.

20 min. into the game. italians look like they had too much pasta last night.
both of the teams look like they could only be an apetizer for both ghana and chechs.pope gets a yellow.
22.nd. goal. italy. the problem is those guys can eat all the pizza and pasta and still score like nobody can.

Wow - what a game -

The US defense completely tanks one minute to give the italians a goal, the Italian defense tanks the next minute, and now the Italians get a player ejected - a great oppotunity for the yanks...This is turning into an unexpected classic.

us have to bring some quick creativity to this game. they need an aggressive and fast player.
27. goal. goal . goal. equilizer... own goal by italy.and a red for rossi .... italy down to a 10 men.
alrewady.. worst can happen to a team accept a goal and than lose a player..
us is going to take adv. there is blood there is life ...

i have heard italy won some games even with 9 men.
mc bride is backin the match.x man of bandaid...

us still need that fast energizer a fighting man.

stakes are high but it is not an engaging game...
usa have not found a way to take advantage of 10 men italy...
min.40 usa is pressing with candy ass finishing...
italians seem a little tense and traditionally they can freeze dry. only to burst into the action unexpecdetly.
mastoerini sends a rocket into his geneology. us a is definatly more...
it is going to be theory heavy talks in the locker rooms, coaches pondering how to break the deadlocks.
this is def. nerve game now. both teams down to 10 men. problems for usa.
good thing it happened close to first half end which doesn't give italians enough time to score on it...

that last red card was garbage...no way!

the US looks good, though. I'm sick of seeing the Italian players dive, especially the tall skinny forward guy...Gianluca something...

controlling possesion doesn't mean anything if you can't finish. only one worthy shot on goal by mastuerini. although not facing elimination, a tie will not get you into the 2nd round. attack attack attack!

half time

funny thing was, i thought this game was being played two men too many. now seems like there is more space in the field. and u s is looking more energetic.
italy has the experience and the hardship of eurepean tournaments. but they are clearly not themselves today.
second half have the potential of being a memorable one.

where is that kid? johnson. us needs him now. they need a god heavy gun who can penetrate the italian defence with strong shooting. us has a real chance winning this dealing with less than avarage italy.

still though, i think this is the worst stadium remodel i have seen.
but f. c. kaiserslautern is one of the strong teams of bundesliga who does financially well.

darkred, nice prophecy regarding Italy getting a red...you were one short, though.

I agree AP - the Italians have started to show their thesbian qualities. That red card was absolute rubbish. The US has surprised me, and for once, I agree with Balboa that the 4141 is helping their cause. Their midfield has been setting things up from the outside, and have been able to penetrate fairly well from the outside. Landon Donovan, to no surprise of mine, has lost the ball 4/5 times, but did have one pretty touch to reina. Donovan needs to be benched.
McBride has played well I think but hasn't been in the right spaces today. We need our central midfielders to finish better, as you all have justly noted.
Gooch is playing well again.
The most important thing is that we need to control the midfield. I think if we continue to do that, and Reina starts to attack a bit, we might have a shot in hell. And you know that Italy will have another couple of beautiful attempts on goal, so Keller needs to show us why he's the #1 keeper.

does arena looks like tranquilized or is it just me?

2nd half begins...

DOUBLE YELLOW POPE! NO WAY!

This ref is incredible. We're in trouble.

yes, yes indeed.


uruguay is my least favorite country today (where the ref is from).

pope out 9 men usa...that was not very smart... risking red for not so dangerous situation. inexperience shows in moments like this.
this is going to be a nerve game now. indeed.

refree is also trigger happy.

I agree with Beckenbaur - too many cards in this tournament.

dynamics of the bigger picture changed. it is italy who has to win this game now...

Dempsey's a quick learner...
Dive alert.

When did Del Piero shave his head?

poor attempt by Reyna. pitiful.

put eddie johnson on already.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!



what?!?!?!?!!?!?

ya....fair enough...

electrical contractors next door who are bunch of soccer dads, were watching the game and all of a sudden they shot the tv off and left after us lost another player to red card. americans still not passionate enough for the game. if anything happens to italy today people are going to kill their tv's..

17 min. us just showed a highly disciplined insurgency into italian side. good finish a bit off.
20 goal goal qand goal a perhaps the biggest goal in american soccer. 9 men usa 2-1.

ugh. actually a good call. damnit.

nice save!

if you're going to throw cards around. a yellow should be given to the italiens for diving. plenty good ones to choose from.

italy looks like they want to defend the score 1-2
min 25. italia gaining some pressure and speed but they are doing it like desperate.
nice to see donovan charged up.
italy is now doing long passes and being real dangeraus.
faster game is being played. regardless of -3 players.might bring an early burn out for italy.
us is all confidant and unintimidated now.they attack with an idea at the seems..

absolutely.

(absolutely comment directed at dot's yellow card statement)


the field looks empty...

i thought this was 3-1 us all along...
well nobody is perfect. i am also doing some drafting also

"no team has ever scored with 9 men."

quote from screen graphic on abc.

HA! your comments confused me...ya, that one goal got called back for a legit offsides.

if draw,

italty MUST win over czech
US MUST win over Ghana since they have the goal diff advantage

is that how it works?

there are a few possibilities...

yes.
If Italy and US win, Italy will have 7 points, US will have 4, and Ghana and Czech will have 3. With our awful goal differential, thats our only hope.

good result by the us today. They proved that they could at least hang with the big teams - although italy didn't perform at their best. The US took advantage of it and got a result.

Ghana will be a very tough game. They have speed that can devastate us. But it sets up a very exciting Thursday.

If Italy wins and we win, we go to 2nd round.

If Czech wins, we have to win and make up the goal differential (against italy - in this scenario, Italy and US would have 4 points, the team with a better g.d. would go through)

...

it's possible, however unlikely.

italy suffered some injuries, however they have the national pride thing to put them over czech. they'll come out hungry.

mastuerini out v ghana is a loss, but pope was a liability anyway.

p.s. the fact that the US has not put one in the net (themselves) is a cause for concern

if ghana plays like they did today, we have no chance. cze and gha are the best teams in the group.
why was 15 J Pantsil of ghana carrying an israeli flag anybody know?

i wondered that myself

good point dot re: US scoring a goal.

ya, the israeli flag threw me off too....good research there^

yeah, u-s-a! u-s-a! u-s-a!


wait...did we actually win? i was too busy drinking & dancing to notice the score.

u-s-a! u-s-a1

what a day that was huh ? ...

first Portugal puts 2 past an extremely physical Iran !!

then the true shock of the tournament... Ghana beats Czech !! I mean wow !! .. and they are by far among the best teams that's played so far !!

and USA holds Italy !!!

anyway ... I'm waiting for todays Brazil-Aussie game ... should be a cracker if Brazil plays the way they did against Croatia ...
but if they regain form .. it's gonna be a goal fest !!