[gwnn]

lol sorry, this is a soccer thread.

Probably the least likely last round qualification (in the context of a 4 team round robin) ever. Three teams in contention to the very last minute and the a priori 1% chance team prevailed.

For those of you who have no idea what happened (and care), these were the results:

Brazil-Egypt 4:3
USA-Italy 1:3

USA-Brazil 0:3
Egypt-Italy 1:0

So

1. Brazil 6 10:3
2. Italy  3 3:2
3. Egypt  3 4:4
4. USA    0 1:6

So USA needed to beat Egypt by at least 3 goals and Brazil to beat Italy and the goal differences to be at least 6 combined.

And so it was

USA-Egypt 3:0
Brazil-Italy 3:0

Up until the final minute, either Italy or Egypt could have made the semis if they had scored.

[kfay]

This just goes to show, I think, that the US really does have some heart in their program.

I know if I were on the team I might have just laid down on the field. But maybe after that first, extremely lucky goal, they took some heart.

In either case I'm definitely watching the match v. Spain and am going to be going crazy.

[Gerben42]

Congratulations to the US squad, this is a great performance (although a bit lucky).

As usual, almost everyone is happy when Italy is out

[jdonn]

Luckier for Spain than the USA. Go USA anyway!

[bb79]

2-0 wow!!! well played!

[PassedOut]

Now that's an upset! Well done.

[jdonn]

Wow.

So how do the world rankings in soccer work? It says US was 14th before this tournament, is there some way to tell where they would be ranked should they either win or lose in the finals? Just wondering...

[mike777]

bb79, on Jun 24 2009, 03:22 PM, said:

2-0 wow!!! well played!

Amazing, the usa is beating someone in Football? Wow!

[Aberlour10]

mike777, on Jun 24 2009, 04:42 PM, said:

bb79, on Jun 24 2009, 03:22 PM, said:

2-0 wow!!! well played!

Amazing, the usa is beating someone in Football? Wow!

Someone? They have won vs a team which was unbeaten in last 35 matches.

But most of the spanish players had to be enormous tired after this very long soccer season, Champions League inclusive. Next year, same time, we will see this team in a top trim.

[mike777]

Aberlour10, on Jun 24 2009, 05:40 PM, said:

mike777, on Jun 24 2009, 04:42 PM, said:

bb79, on Jun 24 2009, 03:22 PM, said:

2-0 wow!!! well played!

Amazing, the usa is beating someone in Football? Wow!

Someone? They have won vs a team which was unbeaten in last 35 matches.

But most of the spanish players had to be enormous tired after this very long soccer season, Champions League inclusive. Next year, same time, we will see this team in a top trim.

I figured that we must have beaten an exhausted Spain team from a long season........
I note Egypt did not have two top players and had been robbed by prostitutes.....

We can only hope that whoever we face next does not have their top players and is exhausted and visits prostitutes the night before.

[gwnn]

LOL

[Codo]

Aberlour10, on Jun 25 2009, 07:40 AM, said:

mike777, on Jun 24 2009, 04:42 PM, said:

bb79, on Jun 24 2009, 03:22 PM, said:

2-0 wow!!! well played!

Amazing, the usa is beating someone in Football? Wow!

Someone? They have won vs a team which was unbeaten in last 35 matches.

But most of the spanish players had to be enormous tired after this very long soccer season, Champions League inclusive. Next year, same time, we will see this team in a top trim.

Why do you think so?
They will play 35 matches + CL next year too, so they will be tired again.

This is why the Spains "never" wins anything despite being one of the top favourites every year.
I real like the way they play, so besides the fact that they bet my team, I really enjoyed watching them to win the EC at last.

[Aberlour10]

Codo, on Jun 25 2009, 01:54 AM, said:

Why do you think so?

Because there is a huge difference between preparation for a minor exhibition tournament like this one and the World Championships. The soccer season in Europe will finish earlier next year, so there will be enough time for regenerating.

Also I see the difference between the past major tournaments where the spanish team showed very often deficits in tactical discipline and fitness. Both were significant improved in last years, we saw it during the last European Championships.
So if they will able to keep it on high level, I see them as a top pretender to win WC.

Robert

[Fluffy]

Oh *****, I knew I would find a post about this lol.

This is very funny because as always the spannish were betting about how many goal difference would Spain win with. Some were saying 5 or 6 LOL.

The stupid spanihs press has been saying nonsense about Spain being overwhelmingly superior to anyone and almost won already the world cup next year. And also some more things about beating the straight matches without losing record of Brasil (35, we tied, but didn't beat it). And also about the straight matches winning (15, I think we didn't even tie this one by 1 match).

USA played great, really great, perfect on defence, lethal on attack. Spain was overconfident.

In Eurocup we played a tight match against Italy wich was very similar, but there the coach set up a steady defence for us, not willing to risk what happened here. Match ended up 0-0 and we went on by penalties despite being superior at field.

[gwnn]

Gonzalo, I'm pretty sure Spain now hold both records.

[Gerben42]

Quote

This is very funny because as always the spannish were betting about how many goal difference would Spain win with. Some were saying 5 or 6 LOL.

The stupid spanihs press has been saying nonsense about Spain being overwhelmingly superior to anyone and almost won already the world cup next year. And also some more things about beating the straight matches without losing record of Brasil (35, we tied, but didn't beat it). And also about the straight matches winning (15, I think we didn't even tie this one by 1 match).

Sounds like the bad influence of too many Dutch football players in the Spanish league

[kfay]

I watched the match. Very exciting.

Sadly I was the only person in the whole bar watching. I had a friend at another bar who said the same thing. Maybe ears will perk up a little in the future, hopefully especially for the World Cup.

Sure it's a minor tournament but it's still exciting. Plus this will really help with our draw for next year come Dec. 10.

[Aberlour10]

kfay, on Jun 25 2009, 08:47 AM, said:

Plus this will really help with our draw for next year come Dec. 10.

I took a look at the current FIFA Ranking, these points will be not enough to be seeded as a head of the group, but it is pretty sure that the team USA will be drawn in a second "8-teams-pool">>> should help a lot to avoid 2 other very strong opponents in the own group.

Robert

[jdonn]

So what was the least likely scenario? Making it out of the round robin after the standings with a game to go, beating Spain by two goals, or the a priori odds the US would make their first FIFA final ever in this particular tournament?

[gwnn]

I think qualifying from the group after the first two rounds was way less likely than either two because as far as I know the first one is absolutely unprecedented whereas there have been similar upsets, especially in Confed Cup.