We don't want to ruin this for those of you planning to watch on tape delay, so here are some non-spoiler nuggets from this morning's USA v. Japan Olympic opener...
Why it's important to have good wing play...
-The entire game was played in a haze not unlike after halftime at the Super Bowl, when the remnants of the firework show cloud the field.
-Japan has players named Honda (2) AND Toyoda
-The Hemingway of Modern Football, Brad Guzan, must have trashed his memo on "The Olympic Spirit."
-If you weren't 100 percent certain, I did some heavy-duty research and found that Beijing is 12 hours ahead of us. Now you know.
-With the competition heating up in the following matches (Holls next), this match against a middling Japan team was a definite must-win for Jozy and the Lads.
-Balboa and Dellacamera are about what you'd expect with the announcing. Not horrendous, but really, if I need this much explanation about the very basics of what I'm watching (football), then I'm probably not watching in the first place.
-Italy and Brazil won their openers.
U.S. results after the jump...
The USMNT beat their Japanese counterparts 1-0 on a goal from Stuart Holden in the 47th minute. Japan keeper Shusaku Nishikawa got a finger to the ball, taken off a clear cross from Marvell Wynne, but there was enough mustard on the shot and it trickled on past the line.
That's about all. Guzan picked up a yellow for wasting time toward the end. Freddy Adu and Michael Bradley were also booked. Jozy (for McBride), Feilhaber (for Hero Holden), and Szetela (for Robbie Rodgers) all got into the game after the 74th minute. We'll follow up on what the guys thought of the weather once the post game pressers are done. Until then...
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Beijing Balls
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5 comments:
Me thinks that picture is going to get heavy rotation in the next two weeks. BTW we are now banned from China, probably.
By the way, anyone see any of the Chinese matches? They were down in both and got late goals in both to equalize. Just wondering how partial the refereeing was in both instances.
What's really annoying about JP and Balboa is really that they still act as if the US being up or winning in a game is a novel concept. Saying stuff like, "the US has to learn how to guard a 1 goal lead" and "it was important to score from open play because they hadn't been doing that."
Also annoying was listening to how they thought the US was just "lucky" to avoid two penalties, after saying Adu "went down too easily". Adu was clearly being pushed from behind -- not hard, mind you, but hard enough -- and the Japanese player in the second purported 'incident' went down just as easily. They need to figure out, as was said here, that the people watching the game at 6:30 AM Eastern are ones who watch enough football to know what the hell is going on.
I'd much rather have Harkes over Balboa. Also, here's to hoping we see a Mcbride/Altidore pairing up top with Adu as the attacking mid to start the next game.
As a former keeper, I hate shots in that area of the body. They always feel so cheap when they trickle in.
That goal is doing nothing to abate my new found man-crush on Holden.
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