Noch Lebendig

Very impressive day of soccer today. There was blood, there was sweat, and there was definitely tears. How did the US fare?? More on that in a moment. But first off, we head to Frankfurt, Germany where Portugal and Iran would close out the second round of play for Group D. The Iranians desperately needed a win to secure any hopes of advancement. Ultimately the superior Portuguese were just too much for Iran to overcome. Final score, 2-0 (Iran is going home). Second on today's schedule, the Czech Republic (who cut the USA down to size in their fisrt match), took on the team from Ghana in Cologne, Germany. Although no one was really expecting much from any of the participating African nations, mostly everyone appears to be rooting for them. I guess we all just like an underdog story. That being said, Ghana blew me away today. With their level of ball control, teamwork, and enthusiasm, they easily outplayed the Czech team, who was looking oddly uninspired. (What happened to the team that took down the US?). In the end, despite so many advances by the Ghana team, the final score was ONLY 2-0 in Ghana's favor. (It could have easily been 4 or 5). And finally, in the match of the day, Kaiserslautern, Germany bore witness to USA vs. Italy, in where the US was desperately clinging on for dear life. It was "Win or Go Home" for the Yanks, and they definitely demonstrated the desire to win. This was a completely different team than the one the Czechs demolished 3-0. There was talk of dissidence amongst the players and Head Coach Bruce Arena, where the Coach singled out various players as cause for their initial loss. But today, the US knew they needed any points in order to keep their World Cup dreams alive. It was a very exciting game, both teams playing extremely well. There were casualties on both sides (1 red card for Italy, and 2 for the US), blood (McBride got an elbow to the face), spectacular saves (Keller was in rare form today), and miracles (USA is still in this due to an Auto-Goal by the Italians). Final score, 1-1 tie, which gives the US a much needed point. We need to win against Ghana next week, and Italy needs to win against the Czech Republic in order for us to have any hopes of advancing to the Round of 16. So, at the end of today's games, Groups D and E look like this:

Group D:
1. Portugal (6 pts.)
2. Mexico (4 pts.)
3. Angola (1 pts.)
4. Iran (0 pts.)

Group E:
1. Italy (4 pts.)
2. Czech Republic (3 pts.)
3. Ghana (3 pts.)
4. USA (1 pt.)

Tomorrow: Japan vs. Croatia, Brazil vs. Australia, and France vs. Korea Republic