<p>I agree soccer is a young man game, watching Germany team one year, all young players, beat all the seasoned soccer players from UK.</p>
<p>There is a great ESPN series :March to the World Cup playing now. You can see episodes 1-4 on You Tube, or if you have a DVR, they are repeating them on ESPN. It’s a documentary about how the team was chosen over the past several months until today. Last episode airs June 10.</p>
<p>I am watching USA -Turkey on Univision now. USA had a good 3 letter o goal.</p>
<p>Dimsey just made a second one!</p>
<p>The first US goal was superb. There are some real worries with defending.</p>
<p>our defense is in trouble… </p>
<p>I am surprised we are playing these games with 2 forwards and a diamond midfield. I can’t imagine we are going to use that formation against Germany and Portugal. I’m wondering if maybe JK thinks we need to use it and risk leaving the defense exposed because we NEED to beat Ghana to have any chance, so we are going to throw players forward and hope we finish more chances than they do.</p>
<p>Bradley is not the ideal player to play the top of a diamond formation either, but he’s the best we have. I would be more comfortable with something like:</p>
<p>Altidore up top
then 3 midfielders with Dempsey in the middle
then 2 defensive midfielders (Jones and Bradley)</p>
<p>this gives our defense more help, so I think we might see that in the Portugal and Germany games. It also reduces some of the defensive responsibility on the 2 guys playing in line with Dempsey… today those players did not play defense at all; it was constantly Altidore, Dempsey, Bradley + 2 up near the goal and then a huge gap back to Jones and the defense. Too much open space that will be exploited in the world cup.</p>
<p>one more game on Saturday, then off to Brazil!</p>
<p>Time to bump this. I can’t wait! Hoping Croatia can beat Brazil. A tall order, I know.</p>
<p>My coworkers and I will watch that first game in a sport bar tomorrow.</p>
<p>My order is taller than yours: Ghana and USA beat Germany and Portugal. I don’t care we can beat Ghana or not.</p>
<p>I want the USA to beat Ghana. They have been our bogey team.</p>
<p>Sure, in the 2nd stage.</p>
<p>It’s World Cup time! 
We’re a soccer family and everyone is getting in the spirit of the games. Similar to March Madness, we have all thrown our opinions into an online bracket for fun.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in teaming up with friends or family in some fun spirit competition you still have a few hours to set up a bracket:
<a href=“http://bracket.mlssoccer.com/”>http://bracket.mlssoccer.com/</a></p>
<p>As of now, 9:30am EST, there are 6 hours left to get your bracket in. :)</p>
<p>We can play with Germany and Portugal – we usually get up for the big games. That said, we cannot look past Ghana. And they can’t look past us for the sane reason. That one is going to be a cracking game.</p>
<p>As for the tourney, I think it’s Brazil or Argentina likely hoisting the Cup.</p>
<p>If the US or Italy can’t win it, I’m pulling for a Colombia/Belgium final. Both teams are returning to strong form after roughly a decade of poor play. It would be a fresh result. I’m getting sick of Spain.</p>
<p>Ronaldo had to leave practice early today. I hope Portugal doesn’t play the odds and rest him against Germany so he can help beat the US and Ghana.</p>
<p>It will take a miracle for the US to grab a single point in Brazil. Home turf will be a huge boost but this is a wide open WC with several teams having very good chances. </p>
<p>So far, it looks as the games will be more pleasant to follow than during the abysmal last one. No uber annoying vuvuzelas and a stadium filled with fans who actually understand what soccer is. They react as the plays develop! </p>
<p>This should be a nice event. Hopefully it will give us a worthy champion. For a change. </p>
<p>Shameful. Brazil does not need more help. They had enough in 2002 with the corrupt Peter Prendergast. </p>
<p>Everything that’s wrong with soccer was on display in Brazil’s 2nd goal: a pure diving act rewarded by a referee in front of the home crowd. </p>
<p>Followed by a series of poor calls in the penalty area of Brazil. The foul on the goalkeeper is just as bad as the penalty, meaning pure fantasy. </p>
<p>How does such a poor ref get chosen to open the WC. The only worse choice would have been the Mexican Dracula. </p>
<p>Any team playing Brazil is going to be playing against 12. Shameful.</p>
<p>Terrible start for the “beautiful game”. At least everyone can see that Brazil isn’t all that . xiggi, are you rooting for Spain tomorrow? I know I am.</p>