*Wipes egg from face after England winning World Series jibe from another thread* Well, you could knock me down with a feather. I was under the impression that the USA struggled to score goals but obviously if the opposition stand around like statues this doesn't apply. Congratulations to the USA on an immense victory. So, where now? Korea look an excellent side and could easily win the group at this rate. The Poles looked hopeless against them, but surely can't play as badly again? Portugal are a far far better team than they displayed today and could also easily win their remaining two games. What a great open group. Qualifiers from this group will end up facing probably Mexico or Italy if I've read my World Cup wall chart correctly. Now beating Italy in a competitive game, *that* would be an upset. I just hope the American public takes note.
salmacis: I think there's less of an incentive for last game carve ups this year, because of the dynamics of the draw. (Although I think it may work against England, because of France's early defeat.) Come second in Ireland's group, and you'll more than likely face Spain in the second round, and you'll have to travel to Korea to do it as well. Win the group, and you'll still have to travel, but you'll be facing (I suspect) one of Paraguay or South Africa, which is a little less daunting. And as squealy says, this makes Group D astonishingly competitive now, so that every match is likely to be played as if it's a knockout tie. No-one will want to face Italy from the look of them, even the hosts on home territory. And yes: congrats to the US team. I know it was fun last time when Iran beat them, but damnit, I want American sports writers (and news stations) to have to take the world's game seriously, and you could have no greater shot in the arm.
Three minutes into the game (as the U.S. slammed one in) I knew this game was going to be an upset. Figo did look tired and Baia, the goaltender, seemed to have no focus. Although I dont want to discredit the U.S. offense or Mcbride's attacks, I have to say that the Portuguese defense had the substance and strength of cardboard. Portugal will have to worry now about Korea. It'll be tough because the Koreans are playing strong as if they have nothing to lose.
Nicky Butt. heh. I had no idea the US was supposed to be so bad. I mean, I knew we weren't good, but I didn't realize this was going to be such a shocker... almost makes me mad that I didn't watch....
Bern: the thing is we aren't that bad. Last I checked we're 13th in the FIFA World Rankings, which isn't exactly Portugal [3rd or 4th] but it isn't exactly chopped liver, either. But 'we' are the US, and so in soccer, anytime we accomplish anything it is a shocker to the rest of the world, even when it shouldn't actually be that surprising.
I went ahead and looked up the official FIFA rankings, and France is #1, Senegal is #42, Portugal is #5, and the US is #13. So... as flattering as it is, the notion that US-Portugal is the greatest upset in WC history or even close is pretty laughable- it isn't even close to the biggest upset this week.
If anybody believes the FIFA rankings, they need their head examined. A better systems can be found at World Football Elo Ratings. The US win pushed them up 7 places to 15th according to this system.
Another system here by Ron Kessler is also better than FIFA's. The last update from just before the World Cup put USA at 17th. Interestingly both systems have USA comfortably ranked as 2nd seeds for their group.
Um.... what's that last little comment? It doesn't look like a properly formatted post at all, not even close.
So that's what Jeff Lynne has been doing since his musical career went tits up.
Yeah, the FIFA rankings are bizarre: France hasn't played a World Cup qualifier since the team failed to get to the USA in 1994, so according to the ranking guidelines its number one position is based almost entirely on the performances in France '98 and Holland/Belgium 2000.
