World Cup: USA vs Italy

GO GHANA! Woo-HOO! With our draw, the group is wide open. Who knows how it will go?

I thought our match against Italy was about as packed with drama as you can possibly ask for. When you get right down to it, we werejust lucky. What are the chances of a player good enough to be starting for ITALY in the WORLD CUP whiffing on a ball so bad that it hits his plant leg and rolls into his own net? That's crazy.

But there is a WHOLE LOT to feel good about if you were pulling forthe US. This draw constitutes our first ever WC point on European soil andwe looked great, like we belong there. We just went up against aperennial power and held our own while playing short-handed. Thescope of that can't be overstated. That's amazing.

The US played so much better as compared to their first match.There really weren't as many changes in the lineup as I expected tosee, but everyone showed up with the energy and game speed that wasso lacking against the Czechs.

I guess that was a 4-5-1 we came out in, although Balboa (the coloranalyst) called it a 4-1-4-1. This scheme really paid off for us.Well, at least for as long as we had our full complement of players,that is. We outmanned Italy in the middle of field and this went along way to allowing us to control much of the flow of play.

Also, McBride is the right choice in a scheme like this because heneeds good service from the midfield, his specialty being to win theaerial battles and get his head to the ball by any meansnecessary. So you make him the target player and flood themidfield. Good choice. Chalk another one up to Bruce Arena's credit.

I was not surprised to see Bocanegra at left back. Nor was I surprised to see Dempsey on the right wing. But those were the only changes to the starting eleven from the first game. I would like to have seen Lewis out on the left, although Convey played well.

Bocanegra IS our left back for this tournament. He belongs in the starting line-up and I should think that's where we'll find him foras long as the US stays in this thing.

Dempsey, to me, had his most impressive showing yet for his country. He immediately got involved in the attack and continued that throughout. More than anyone else, IMO, he set our pace. He's emerged in the last year as a clear mainstay in the future of our midfield.

The ejection of de Rossi was very obviously justified. It was aneasy call for the ref once he saw McBride's impression of Ric Flair on a bad night.

I loved the shot of McBride getting taped up on the sidelines, helooked like a boxer ready to push his cut man away and run back intothe ring. I think that moment completely captures what BrianMcBride is all about.

Moments before being sent off, Pablo Mastroeni had that wicked shotthat was dipping dangerously above the goal. He had the keeper beaten but it just didn't dip quite far enough. Fantastic shot.And OH COULD YOU IMAGINE if that had connected....

I know I'm biased but I really don't think Mastroeni deserved thered card. It's a hard tackle and deserving of a yellow, but we've seen that play so many times in other matches and it's never resulted in a straight red.

Pope's ejection is a little more understandable, as it was his second yellow. His foul was yellow card-worthy. True, as Balboa pointed out, in most cases a ref would warn the player before resorting to the second yellow.

Regardless, I thought the US continued to dominate most of thesecond half despite playing 9-on-10. Italy mounted some threats late, but Keller came through for us. That diving, one-handed save of his was incredible, yet typical of him. Could be the best save yet in the WC.

Again, I was surprised at Arena for the substitution he made in the second half. He put Beasley in for Dempsey. One, Dempsey was hisbest player out there. And two, he's on the RIGHT SIDE. I don't know why he keeps putting Beasley in on the right. Unless Dempsey was just completely out of gas (which I didn't see), you keep him in the game. Bring Beasley in on the left wing. I don't get it.

Also, I agree with Balboa on the idea that Arena should have brought Eddie Johnson in for McBride. Once we were short handed we didn't need a target player up top, we needed someone with more speed who could drop back more into the midfield and help out.

Too bad we didn't score a goal. But I thought we played well enough to deserve a draw. Very exciting stuff. A hard fought battle thatcaptures in a nutshell everything about the high stakes of a WC match.

The absence of Mastroeni and Pope in the next match will hurt us alot. Mastroeni may even be the bigger loss. I say that just because Arena bases so much of his tactics and gameplans around agood defensive midfielder. For his first four years, Arena usedChris Armas in this role. Since WC '02, it's been Mastroeni. Now he's stuck with really no one on the roster that can completely take Mastroeni's place.

My prediction is he'll still use a defensive midfielder, and that the player will be John O'Brien. O'Brien is usually more of an attacking player, but I think he's versatile enough Arena will turn to him for the next match. All of that depending, of course, on O'Brien's fitness, which is a huge question mark.

I suppose with Pope gone we might see Bocanegra slide to a central position, with Eddie Lewis back again on the left side. I don't like Lewis in the back, but it's like to be either him or Gregg Berhalter. Either one is a better choice than Chris Albright, which I believe is our only other option.

We just gotta win. But then, if you can't beat Ghana maybe you aren't going to go far in the tourney anyway. (Tell that to theCzechs.) We take care of that business then pull for Italy. And from what I'm reading, it's very realistic that Italy should win.The aging Czechs don't even have an eligible forward at this point, according to one article I read.

Thursday should be verrrry interesting.