Slaughterhouse five

Way to celebrate getting the #5 world ranking by looking like absolute ass, United States. I realize that this was by no means a full A-team, and when you find yourself saying "let's start Brian Ching at striker" that might be a clue that you're not trying as hard to win as maybe you could. But I'm less concerned with the offensive showing - which, like the game against Germany in Korea, was one of those "controlling the pace for a while, but not quite able to break through" games that are so unendingly frustrating to watch - and much more concerned with the defensive showing. The announcers were busy flattering the U.S. defense in the first half, which made me wonder what game they were watching - sure, the Germans didn't score, but it wasn't for lack of trying on the Americans' part. There was way too much space all around the box, as though three guys couldn't be bothered to come back upfield to defend, during large parts of the game. The back-passing was frequently way too dangerous. The fact that the U.S. lasted the whole first half without giving up a goal was less a testament to the U.S. defense and more a testament to the ineptitude of the German attack in that half.

The second half presented no such problems. And the less said about that, the better. I will say that if you're looking to see why the U.S. lost so badly, just watch the tape on goal #2. Good shot by Neuville, but some of the worst defensive ball handling you will maybe ever see from a supposed top five nation was what allowed the shot to happen. And that's all I have to say about that.