Goal Differential Muppets Comment Count

Brian

HELLO THERE WILL BE LITTLE CONTENT TODAY BECAUSE OF TERROR SO MUCH TERROR

BUT HERE YOU GO

And you can't have one without the other…

GROUP OF DEAD AMIRITE

Comments

MGJS SuperKick Party

June 26th, 2014 at 2:23 PM ^

Woooooo!!!! So exciting!!! Group G looks beatable too! Most likely we see Argentina to go into the Semis!



Also! For those of us who bought tickets for the game at Michigan Stadium - there has to be a better possibility of us seeing Rooney and Ronaldo with their early exits!

Don

June 26th, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^

This is heresy. Muppets should be reserved exclusively for Michigan victories.

Team America puppets would be more appropriate here.

MichiganTeacher

June 26th, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^

Survive and advance, baby.

Only one thing to say about Belgium:

I believe that we will win!

 

FreddieMercuryHayes

June 26th, 2014 at 2:34 PM ^

It's amazing how one last minute header by Porugal changes everyone's feelings and perceptions. But either way, the US earned this. Congrats gentlemen! Rest up and be ready for Belgium.

SpinachAssassin

June 26th, 2014 at 5:56 PM ^

Yet I wasn't that inspired by today's performance.  A near 2:1 edge in possession favoring Germany and it felt even worse than that since we could barely clear the ball out of our own half most of the game.

The squad manned up and kept it from turning into a Portugal-esque laugher yet we have to play like we did against Portugal if we are to have a real shot at getting past Belgium.

Let's hope Altidore comes back - we really need him!

mrguy

June 26th, 2014 at 2:39 PM ^

Trying to get a report finished by Monday. Total amount written today: "The model area is centered on ". I may have to work this weekend. Totally worth it though. USA all the way.

charblue.

June 26th, 2014 at 2:52 PM ^

and success in the world game. But after years of downplaying its importance worldwide and its growth nationally, you get the idea that we finally get it as a nation and why this game matters to everyone who follows it.

And so, maybe it took a foreign general with incredible optimism and a positive approach to get US out of the Group of Death, and not get perturbed by not winning against Portugal when winning time was at hand, and then being handled by Germany today. Hard to accept not winning as a means to an end, unless that means getting through to the end, which is what transpired. And because of that we ought to be proud of how thts team is maturing and progressing in this Wolrd Cup. And, of course, we do.

So, as we come up on another anniversary of our nation's independence, it is only fitting we get the extravangant gift of celebrating it with our national pride at stake with our national team turning heads internationally in a game that none of our foreign neighbors expected us to be a part of.

maizenbluenc

June 26th, 2014 at 5:49 PM ^

I am glad we advanced, but I don't get the process. We tied and lost and are better off for it. Seems pretty un-American.

Probably a good thing we have a German coach who understands these nuances.

Brian likely was posting sarcastically, but I just don't see how losing and lucking into the next round by means of point differential wizardry warrants muppets.

SpinachAssassin

June 26th, 2014 at 6:25 PM ^

1938 to 1998 was a pretty dismal stretch in US soccer's performance on the world stage.  We only once sniffed the knockout stage in 60 years.  Now we are building a trend of players and teams that can fight for spots (and win those spots) in the final 16.

The rules for the Cup are pretty straightforward and we advanced based on those rules.  That hardly seems un-American.

I'd much rather be us than a dynamic Portugal team that came out flat in game 1, or similarly a Ghana team that had their chances against us and couldn't capitalize.  We move on and they don't.  We're playing on Tuesday and it doesn't matter how we got there.  Nobody gave us anything.

formerlyanonymous

June 26th, 2014 at 3:07 PM ^

Because if starting Davis isn't a gamble enough, not using him in the only way that he is valuable is also crazy. 

Thank you Portugal, you gave us the breathing room we needed for this fixture. 

Also, Omar Gonzalez, thank you for finally playing the way you did before your big pay raise.  Those tackles in the box were fantastic. Best you've looked in a year at least.

Njia

June 26th, 2014 at 3:10 PM ^

But I'm having a little trouble with the cognitive dissonance. Maybe I just don't get the subtleties of The Rest of the World, but the FIFA system seems to make as much sense as the BCS. "Lose and you still go to the next round (or maybe not)! Win and you won't go (or maybe you will)!"

AnthonyThomas

June 26th, 2014 at 9:33 PM ^

It isn't hard. People just naturally bitch about something that is foreign to them.

Teams clinch divison and conference championships because of a result in another game in every American sport. People claiming to not understand it in this situation is the real case of cognitive dissonance. 

CasimirPulaski

June 26th, 2014 at 3:20 PM ^

Look at it this way: we played better against Germany than Portugal did. Both teams beat Ghana by the same score, and the two teams tied each other. By actually having a vaguely competitive game against the best team in the group we've proved we are the second best team in the group.

Njia

June 26th, 2014 at 3:44 PM ^

Look, it doesn't impact me either way. I'm going to go back to a good ol' American hate of soccer right after this month or so is over (sooner if we're out quick; unless we win the World Cup, in which case, I am DEFINITELY telling all my European colleagues how much they suck).

MICHandCHIPS

June 26th, 2014 at 3:48 PM ^

That really isn't how FIFA determines it though, because each team gets a crack at every other team in the round robin, so we know the outcome of the scenario: team A facing team C.



This differs from say, college football, where one team could advance to the conf champ game or playoff due to a considerably easier conference schedule on any given year.

FreddieMercuryHayes

June 26th, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^

I mean isn't it the same as hockey? You still get a point if don't win in certain scenarios. The teams with the most points advance. I've never seen anyone complain in any other sport that a team advanced to another round despite not going undefeated. It's sports. You don't have to win every game if you played well enough in other games.

yossarians tree

June 26th, 2014 at 3:23 PM ^

The entire first round is a single, 4-way contest. Add up the points at the end. We beat Portugal and Ghana today, it's just that they weren't in the same stadium as us.

You silly, simple-headed, stupidhead American philistine mwahahahahaha!

/

 

Ron Utah

June 26th, 2014 at 3:31 PM ^

I did not agree with either starting 11 change, but Klinsmann sure was right about Gonazlez.  I think I was right about Davis.  I was also hoping Yedlin would come on sooner.

What will be interesting will be to see what happens with the line-up and formation if Jozy is back on Tuesday (and I pray he is).

Acutally, we played a pretty good game today, and the referee was no help at all.  But I believe Germany is 2nd-best team in this tournament, and we were more than respectable.

AA2Denver

June 27th, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^

Columbia has been fantastic and now they are playing a Suarez-less Uraguay.

Given '94 debacle and subsequent program collapse (see 2 Escobars), this is a huge story that is getting very little attention.

Rufus X

June 26th, 2014 at 4:59 PM ^

Although I hate ties, I understand the round robin format, so save your "stupid american" blasts.  I am very glad we made it through.  I am enjoying watching this team grow up and develop before our eyes.  I watched this game, and I will watch the elimination games.  

But no freaking way does the USMNT making it to the round of 16 earn Muppets.  It's like beating Indiana or getting into the NCAA tournament as a 10 seed.  Muppets are for excellence.  This is not excellence, it's nice progress.  We finished ahead of Ghana and Portugal.  A little perspective here would be nice.