You never know. Butler was a shot at the buzzer that almost went in from winning the National Championship.
Add that to the fact that these teams only have very limited time to practice and play as one unit. Some teams just click faster.
A lot of shit has to happen for the US to win the whole thing. Namely the futbol gods shining down upon them. Brazil still the heavy favorite.
The problem is the futbol gods don't shine down, they shit on your head. The god if football is Fortuna and as she tempts with hope and glory, she then rips your heart out and throws it to the other fans. Yes, I am still bitter. That being said....this is the most over-the-top goal call ever, times 2. The Pope is on the Argentine's side.
With the US winning the first game and the build up to a big game against Portugal (led by a huge star) on a Sunday afternoon with little else going on in the sports world, the average American was tuned in. Going down a goal early but rallying to take the lead late was the perfect script to get our country really into the The World Cup (for once). That late goal created a situation that many casual fans (like myself) have complained about soccer in the past. A tie? One team is devastated by the tie while the other is elated. The extra minutes thing is confusing also. I'm assuming they can't add extra minutes twice? Were our guys pretending to be hurt in the extra minutes to keep the clock ticking? If so, why don't they just keep getting hurt one after the other until the five minutes are up? I'll be working on Thursday and may try to catch part of the game at lunch. Hopefully they can advance so that I can maintain my interest a little longer. Working at an international company (along with keeping in touch with my Brazilian exchange student from 20 yrs ago) may help me continue to follow when the US is out.
Players do try to get away with soaking up the extra minutes but at any point in the game the refs can card you for flopping or just holding up the game on purpose. Which is significant because if already have a yellow and 2nd will kick you out of the game and play with one less man the rest of the game. And the cards carry over so could miss the next game if already have a card from a previous game. In the round of 16 no ties anymore. Will go to 2 overtimes and then penalty kicks. In group play goals matter not just in the game you are playing but in all group games because goall differential is a tie breaker. Only the top 2 teams in each group advance. Wins = 3 points and ties equal 1. Standings right now off the top of my head are: Germany 4 points: +4 Goal Diff USA 4 Points: +1 Goal Diff Ghana 1 point: -1 Goal Diff Portugal 1 point: -4 Goal Diff So Germany gets top spot (easier road in round of 16) with a tie or win vs USA. If USA wins we get top spot. If we lose by lets say 1 point to Germany and Ghana wins by 2 or more points vs portugal then Ghana gets second spot. Portugal would need to beat Ghana by 4 plus points to pass up USA. However, I am not sure what the tie breaker is if Portugal and USA have the same points and same goal diff given we tied them in our game. We have the win Tie Breaker vs Ghana.
Here's what I found.... goal differential in all group stage matches goals scored in all group stage matches points in matches between the tied teams goal difference in matches between the tied teams goals scored in matches between the tied teams If none of the above works, FIFA decides by drawing a name out of a hat We really need to win or tie. And if we lose, we really need portugal to win or tie. And if they lose, we really need to score a lot of goals, and if we don't score lots of goals, we need ghana to score very few goals, and if it's still a tie, we need some good ole fashioned luck on the coin flip. Clear as mud?
One of the only other complete World Cup games I've seen was in 2006 during an international flight (think game was live but not sure). It was England, led by David Beckham, and pretty sure they were playing against Portugal. Beckham was subbed out late in regulation. The game went through both overtimes and was still scoreless. Portugal (if I'm remembering correctly) won the game in the final shootout. I remember thinking that it was an odd way to decide the game and that I had watched for many hours but technically never saw a goal.
Thanks so points scored will likely decide it if Portugal happens to blow out Ghana. We have a 2 goal lead as of now over Portugal. What I don't like is now all of a sudden we have 2 games played at the same time and this will continue until the end of round 1 of final 16. So we won't know exactly what we need given our game and the Ghana/Portugal game will be live at the same time.
you say we have a 2 goal lead over portugal. You mean Ghana. The issue is, if we lose to germany by 2 and ghana wins, they're in. That would be a 3 goal differential swing. We're actually not in good shape on the goal differential assuming we lose and ghana wins. We're in much better shape against portugal so yes, unless they blow out ghana or we get blown out, we'll be good to go against them.
