Z/Web

I’ll be honest: I didn’t expect the U.S. to win this game. I figured we might be able to take the lead at some point, and perhaps finish with a draw. When I saw Bruce Arena’s line-up I was pleased. He went with a nice mix of youth and experience, and though I was disappointed that Clint Mathis wasn’t playing, I was still optimistic. (Claudia Reyna I feel is over-rated and it wasn’t such a big deal that he couldn’t play. In a few years Donovan can take over his role and do it a hundred times better.) Anyway, I was getting so excited about this match, dying to see how the U.S. team would play, that I stayed up and watched the match live! Sure, it was a 2 a.m. kickoff, but who needs sleep when you’re rooting for your national team?

The U.S. team did me proud! Starting things off aggressively, the Americans looked sharp from the kickoff, putting pressure on Portugal, who looked a little surprised. We quickly won a corner kick, and when Stewart put in a great ball, Brian McBride almost scored on a strong header. The Portugese keeper blocked the shot, but the rebound fell to the feet of John O’Brien, and he calmly slotted it home giving the U.S. the lead in just the fourth minute of play! Twenty-five minutes later, Landon Donovan’s cross is deflected off the back of the head of a defender. The deflection wrong-footed the keeper who dived wildly but couldn’t stop the goal. It was ruled an own goal for reasons I don’t understand: own goals should be when the opponent does something deliberately, but in this case the Portugese player knew nothing about it. So Landon gets credit in my book, but not officially. In the thirty-sixth minute of play, Donovan was again involved, quickly sending the ball up the right side to a streaking Tony Sanneh. Tony placed a pin-point cross over into the goal mouth which McBride caught with a diving header to give the U.S. an amazing three goal lead! That’s the first time the U.S. has scored three goals in a World Cup match since 1930, and the first time we’ve ever done it in one half. Minutes later, unfortunately, Portugual got a goal back. On a corner kick the attacker beat Jeff Agoos to a head ball, but his shot was rejected by O’Brien. Unfortunately, his wimpy clearance gave the ball right back to the same player and he finished off the second chance. In the second half, Portugal put on gobs of pressure, and though the U.S. struggled at times, we managed to keep our lead until about twenty minutes left when Agoos’ attempt to clear a wicked cross deflected the ball into the U.S. net. An own goal both directions — justice? While the last twenty minutes were nail-biting, fortunately we managed to hold on for the win — a win most are calling a bigger upset then the Senegal-France shocker. I was especially impressed with how the U.S. played the final few minutes. The players were obviously exhausted, barely able to kick the ball, yet they got the ball into Portugal’s side of the field and wouldn’t let it out! Great time-wasting, and it obviously frustrated Portugal.

This was just a fantastic game. It wasn’t that Portugal played badly — the U.S. just played well. Figo was very good, very dangerous, but it’s possible he wasn’t up to his world class standards (he’s rumored to be nursing an injury, though he played the whole game). I think this was a case of the Portugal under-estimating the Americans. I was most impressed by the U.S. attack: I greatly favor offense over defense and I felt that the speed and skill of DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan was what won the game for us. Some great mid-field play by O’Brien and the others kept the ball well, allowing them to feed the ball forward giving some great chances for the forwards, and that kept Portugal from moving too many men up in the attack. The defenders fought hard and worked hard, and though Goose had a couple critical mistakes, he actually had a good game overall and saved a few plays. Even his own goal would have resulted in a goal anyway if he hadn’t blocked the shot (there were two Portugese players waiting for the ball on the other side of Goose). In short, this was a great team victory, with every U.S. player putting on a great show, playing with heart (Pope had an excellent game), and working very hard. Now they just have to do it again against South Korea! Final: 3-2 USA!

Director: Kevin Smith

Unusual entry in the Kevin Smith “view askew” universe. It’s almost a parody, with sequences that mock Star Wars and Scooby Doo, as well as lots of star cameos in self-mocking appearances and even jabs at Smith’s previous films. Uneven and more of a straight comedy than Smith’s previous outings. Unfortunately, still extremely foul and crude but without the character insights of his better films. In short, okay if you’re a Smith fan. (Certainly better than Mallrats but nothing like Chasing Amy Chasing Amy.)

Okay game. Tunisia looked very interesting — a nice aggressive style — but their finishing was incredibly poor, with guys putting point-blank chances well wide of the goal. Russia should have dominated easily, but they struggled a bit, and didn’t look especially sharp. They finally got their goals, the first on a mistake by Tunisia’s keeper, and the second on a penalty kick, but if it wasn’t for either of those one wonders if they would have scored. Karpin had a terrific game, though. Final: 2-0 Russia.

Routine game for the most part. Germany got on the board mid-way through the first half and really didn’t look back. Ireland pressured, but couldn’t break through the German defense. Late in the game the tall guy, Niall Quinn was put in, and injury time his knock-down header dropped between two defenders and in the path of Robbie Keane. He pounced on the loose ball and coolly stuck it in the net to tie the game. Germany’s hopes of a victory and advancement to the second wrong faded and Ireland’s huge point save keeps them alive in the group. With Saudi Arabia left to play, they’re in great shape. Final: 1-1.