USMNT has by far the easiest path to the semi-finals
Ghana, then the winner of South Korea/Uruguay
Compare that to:
England (Germany, Argentina), and vice versa with Germany
Argentina (Mexico, Germany/England), and vice versa with Mexico
Groups E-H have the top five teams in the world, according to FIFA.
I'm not saying they will actually make the last four, but the path could not have worked out more favorably.
One step at a time. There are no easy paths.
this looks good....
agree that at this stage nothing is easy, but i would rather play an athletic team then a strategic euro team right now
Lets ride the momentum of today all the way to the semi's.
The US does not match up favorably with Uruguay. Definitely should pull for Korea in the first game.
I shudder when I think about what South Korea will do to our defense.
Uraguay is very good.
You could probably say the same thing about Ghana.
I like that your name is just "brad"
Let's not forget we needed 91 minutes to beat Algeria.
Ghana needed a very fortunate handball/penalty late in the game to beat Serbia (there was no danger and the flailing defender just happened to hit the ball). They got another penalty (one they did do more to earn) against Australia and got to play against ten men for 65 minutes but only managed a draw. The only reason they advanced is because Australia got butt-slammed by Germany in the opening game.
Not saying the game will be easy but I'd rather play a team that hasn't scored from the run of play and is missing its best player than have to face Germany (or pretty much any other team that will be in the Round of 16).
We needed 91 minutes to beat Algeria because the refs were terrible. We shouldve had a goal earlier, but it was disallowed. We were the better team for most of that match, which can translate into wins if we capitalize on these opportunities in the next rounds.
the point is that we should be putting teams like Algeria away. True, we dominated that game, but we still couldn't score. I always hate the "we would have won except for all these mistakes" argument. Great teams don't miss that many scoring opportunities. Great teams don't get down 2 goals to Slovenia.
Look, at some level were talking past each other. Yes, we have an easier route to the semis than the average team. But it would be a fallacy to interpret this as an "easy route" in the absolute sense. This is all I was trying to point out.
Uruguay is a very good team, and although Ghana lack a cutting edge they have looked very tough to play thus far. The pressing by their forwards today against Germany was very impressive. I'm worried about the US backline giving the ball away in dangerous situations when facing that kind of pressure. Although they are a young team I think Ghana will match the US for work rate and athleticsm, Should be extremely fun to watch.
Ghana is also the only African nation left, the vuvuzelas are going to be extra annoying during their games.
we don't match up well with either U R Gay or Korea and I'm not sure we have the D to stop Ghana if they play like they did in the first half today.
Brodie's back!
...but seriously, U r gay. wow
That's a Simpsons reference.