manU721

I hate being a ###### American...The only way we will beat Italy is if they play very bad and we play very good. Same with Ghana

wont officer Pekinpaugh coach?

no he has no time, they will have to hire a coach who knows something about the game of soccer.

There is no way the US is making it the 1st Round no matter who shows up to play. Maybe in 2010.

really, why do you say that? Italy is just not that good, they are just a name. With all their talent, Italy should win the world cup every 4 years, but they don't. They were slaughtered by the Koreans in 2002, and they Italians were so much stronger then than they are now! We tied the Koreans in 2002, and should've beat them, remember? The Czechs just dont have the athletism to keep up with the US, and thats that. We will beat Ghana because they just don't have the forwards to beat us.

Have faith! The World Cup is crazy! If we win our group, it is set up perfectly for us to go to the semis!

What is everyone's projected line-up for the Czech game?

Here is mine:

Fowards: McBride, Johnson

Mids: O'Brien, Donovan(attacking), Renya(holding), Beasley

Defenders: Lewis, Pope, Onyewu, Cherundolo

Keeper: Keller

 

The USA is too suspect at too many positions. If the Czechs and the Italians are on their game or even near it the USA won't be able to score. If the USA pushes too many men forward they'll give up too many scores to the counter attack (aka Morocco).

 

That said - I like this team better than any of our previous teams. Thank god we no longer have to suffer watching Jeff Agoos, Chris Armas, John Harkes, etc.

well, I agree with you on Agoos and Armas and the like, however if Bruce decides to play Wolffe, Ching, and Convey we may be stuck with more of the same..

I just curious when I ask this, but what positions are we suspect at? Just curious, I'm not trying to start a fight or anything...

Here are my predictions:

USA-1 Czech-0 (I think that the Czechs have SO many injuries, that the chemistry and fitness just won't be there for them, although Donovan and Beasley will be so tightly marked, we will need a big game from Eddie Johnson and McBride, also O'Brien and Renya will HAVE to play excellent. Onyewu and Pope will have their hands full with Baros and especially Nedved. We also will finally see if Eddie Lewis can really play left back, and we will all pray that Cherundolo's mistake against Morroco was his last one. If these players don't play out of their minds it won't matter if the Czechs are out of shape, we will lose.)

Ghana-2 Italy-1 (Upset pick of the Group stage, Ghana has nothing to lose and I don't think the Italians will have an answer to stop Essien, I believe he runs free early and finally two Italians will have to mark him later in the game and that will open space for the no-names of Ghana, who you can bet will have tons of speed. This is another France vs. Senegal from 2002. If you remember, Zidane had an injury right before the 02 WC and that killed the French team, I see a big comparison between what Zidane's injury meant to France and what Totti's injury means to Italy. Don't forget that little scandal, as well.)

USA-2 Italy-2 (again, speed and age is a question on Italy's back line, and expect Eddie Johnson to create lots of space for Mcbride, Donovan, Beasley, and O'Brien. However, I think Italy's offense finds its chemistry and runs right by the suspect defending of Cherundolo and Eddie Lewis. I hope I'm wrong about our wing backs, but I dont think I am. A draw is fine though.)

Ghana-1 Czech-1 (The Czech's solid play returns and Ghana won't find space. Essien has a good game and gets a goal, but he has to concentrate on getting back to help his defense and won't be able to get forward often. This is the end of the tourney for the Czechs, and everyone finally will realize that this team is WAY overrated. Good, but overrated.)

USA-3 Ghana-2 (Renya has to have the game of his career, because Michael Essien will be his job this game. He will follow him everywhere and keep him frustrated. Cherundolo and Lewis will have a BIG game going forward, smacking in crosses for the heads of McBride and Johnson. I think Donovan has to stay forward as well. The USA will win this game, and the group.)

Czech-2 Italy-4 (Neither team will hold anything back, which might make this the best game in the group stage. Italy will push everyone forward, and the Czechs will get their goals on counter-attacks. However, the Italian attack is too much, but it will show up too late.)

Takes these for what they are worth, give me some imput on my predictions..

In soccer, the most prepared team wins the game. In 2002, the US went into the game against Portugal with a plan, and they won. Greece went into Euro 2004 with a plan, and they won. If you can exploit a team's weakness, you can beat them, and that makes you better. You may not have more talent, but if you can exploit a team's weakness, you are the better team. Period.

Who is this Bradley kid that the US keeps playing? Is he on the roster?

"The only way to stop Adriano from scoring is to turn off the stadium lights" -Claudio Ranieri after his team was defeated by Inter Milan 5-1

"I can see in the dark, too" -Adriano

Arrogance is a part of soccer, and fans love it.

Dyersburg is loosing 13 seniors. only 2 starters will be back. they will be young and no experience.

yep. Expect this team to be not as competitive the next couple of years, but wait until David Grueser is a senior and you will see a very strong Dyersburg team, compariable to the 2006 team.

 

i just think that if hhs played bhs again, their would be a different outcome.

 

thats the case for every single soccer game ever played.

I'm sure there are some who may disagree, but I thought the officiating was first class this year. We (Catholic) had three different crews and all were very consistent. All of them seamed to understand that the games were high level and they were goning to be physical. They really let the boys play without blowing the whisle every time players went shoulder to shoulder. Overall, I was very pleased with the officiating. (I just wish the posts were more generous)

I agree. In the Catholic/Dyersburg game, I believe that head official was the best Dyersburg has seen all year.. aside from Malcolm Pierce, who was at the Spring Fling as a Linesman.

Madison`s soccer coach has stepped down. Eddie Poteete did a fine job of leading Madison`s 3 year program in both girls and boys soccer. The Madison girls team went to the state tournament last year and the boys came within one game of being there. I guess there is a job opening at Madison now. Best of luck and thanks Coach Poteete,

Is Madison gonna hire a soccer coach or just put a teacher in there who knows nothing about soccer?

 

Lima's comments in the paper after the FR game illustrate the arrogance.

 

what did Lima say?

If Italy is so good, then why have they not won the WC in so long? If you dont like the ranking system, then you know that the Czechs are overrated and are incredibly old for a national team. Ghana is terrible because they were coming after Freddy Adu and were promising him a spot on the team..Italy has ALL the talent, but they are just not a well-organized team, and with all the scandal going on over there, I think that they will fall apart.

I think that the US does have some world class talent. Donovan could be a force in the EPL if he wanted to, that league is tailor-made for his style of play. Same with Beasley. This World Cup will also show the world that we have other world class talent in Eddie Johnson, Clint Dempsey, and Onyewu.

To go far in the WC, I am convinced it is just who is hot at the right time and who is lucky. Turkey and Korea played in the 3rd place game last year, and Germany made it to the final. Nobody predicted this. If our team uses its strengths (speed and one touch passing) we can win our group and hopefully keep advancing..

why does everyone think that they won't win their group? Why can't the US win the world cup?

not being able to make the state cup and also being an underclassmen myself, who are some of the underclassmen that are stepping it up in AAA,A/AA, and D2? and who are some underclassmen to watch out for in the championship games?

David Grueser for Dyersburg had a good tourney scoring a goal, hurt one of his hamstrings in the Catholic game, but he still played excellent..

I saw this very appropriate and classy quote in the paper today from Coach Chatham of Dyersburg:

 

"They represented West Tennessee well and walked off the field with their heads held high," Chatham said after the Trojans fell to Knoxville Catholic 2-0 Thursday in the TSSAA Class A-AA semifinals. "Those guys from Knoxville know West Tennessee can play some soccer. That meant as much to me as anything."

 

He is exactly right. The boys from Knox Catholic know they had a dog fight with you last night and Catholic's coaches have described your team and its effort in very flattering terms.

 

It's never fun to lose, but you made your coach and your fans proud of you in a hard fought effort. Congratulations on a fine season and a job well done! I'm sure we'll be hearing from Dyersburg again in A/AA soccer.

Thank you.good luck in the championship

please somebody tell me why Josh Wolffe plays??? Is he related to Arena?? Is Arena going to start Wollfe over Johnson?

good luck to USJ, get into those semis!

this game should be a great game, good luck to both sides, lets have a clean match and enjoy playing high school soccer on its biggest stage.

I like to say Dyersburg to win for obvious reasons..So I read that CA prefers a small field to a larger one because of their style of play. Is that true?

ok whoever the person is that keeps saying cpa is going to win is insane.....i play for pigeon forge and when we played cpa in the usn tournament in april we dominated them and we mainly just played a ton of through balls bc their defense was extremly slow....CAK is the best team in the state...so good luck with that one.....but the prediction for me is CAK 4-0 and thats only bc they will pull back and play keep away prob

why even play the games, mrudder? why not just give CAK the title right now. How is your team doing by the way??

What are some predictions on this game to decide who will advance to the state semis? Good luck to both teams.

Ridgeway has not been ranked in any polls all year. But they have stepped it up and truely showed that they can play. Congrats Ridgeway!!

I would love to see Ridgeway win this thing. Good luck, fellas