USA 2-0 Over Mexico--who still has words for USA after the loss - Page 2

RedDread · 09-04-2005, 04:37 AM

Keller blanks Mexico to lead USA to World Cup
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- There was no better way for the United States to make the World Cup than with a shutout victory over Mexico.

The Americans are headed to next year's soccer championship in Germany after beating the Mexicans 2-0 Saturday night thanks to goals by Steve Ralston and DaMarcus Beasley five minutes apart in the second half.

"We had one blemish on our record when we lost in Mexico City," coach Bruce Arena said, "and it was nice to get that back, and it was very special to qualify against our archrivals."

U.S. star Landon Donovan said it more strongly: "They do a lot of talking. They haven't beat us in a long time here. I'm kind of sick of it. There's no better scenario than to beat them easily."

It wasn't all that easy, and it took those two quick strikes after a sloppy and chippy first half to lift the United States into the 32-team tournament with three games to spare. It was the first time since 1934 that the Americans were the first team into the World Cup from North and Central America and the Caribbean.

It will be the fifth straight World Cup appearance for the Americans, who are ranked sixth in the world, one spot behind Mexico -- for now.

The win avenged a 2-1 loss in Mexico in March and gave American goalkeeper Kasey Keller his 50th career victory for the national team. The United States has not lost to Mexico on American soil in seven games since 1999, and has not yielded any goals in that span, either.

On both U.S. scores, Mexico seemed confused who should be where on set plays. Eddie Lewis' 35-yard floating free kick was headed by Oguchi Onyewu, whose 6-foot-4 height came in handy as he soared over the smallish, befuddled defense. His shot hit the goalpost and bounded into the air directly to the unguarded Ralston, who got his second career international goal.

"It was about the easiest goal I've scored," said Ralston, who has only 13 international appearances and never can be sure if he'll be in the lineup. "It was a scrappy game and we showed a lot of heart."

The goal woke up the flag-waving, red-white-and-blue clad American fans, who began pounding the bleachers with their feet. The noise seemed to further unnerve the visitors, and they were out of position on a short U.S. corner kick by Donovan.

The ball came to Claudio Reyna, and the unmarked U.S. captain fed an equally wide-open Beasley. His twisting left-footed kick soared over goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez, who had no chance.

From there, it was a matter of getting another shutout for Keller, who has blanked five straight opponents in qualifying and has a scoreless streak of 507 minutes in all. The Americans are 6-1 in the final qualifying round and play at Guatemala on Wednesday, when most of the regulars will be excused.

Mexico (5-1-1) still needs another point in its final three games to make Germany 2006. Its coach, Ricardo Lavolpe, was not impressed by the winners.

"The U.S. is a small team," he said. "They play like my sister, my aunt and my grandmother."

At the final whistle, most of the 24,685 fans chanted "U-S-A! U-S-A!" as several players ran off the bench wrapped in U.S. flags. All of the Americans were handed flags, which they then draped on their shoulders or waved to the crowd as fireworks lit the sky.

"Obviously, this is a relief," said U.S. coach Bruce Arena, who guided the U.S. team to the quarterfinals in the 2002 World Cup. "The whole purpose at the beginning of qualifying is to quickly make the World Cup, and we did it before anyone else."

The strong U.S. showing in the second half helped ease the ugliness of the first 45 minutes, in which neither team truly threatened until the final minute. Keller needed to make a diving hand save on Ramon Morales' free kick in injury time.

Otherwise, the visitors seemed satisfied to keep the scoreboard empty -- and to keep fouling midfielder Beasley, who was victimized four times in the half, five times overall.

In turn, U.S. defender Frankie Hejduk committed four fouls in the opening 45 minutes.

"The first team to make a mistake would not win, and Mexico made the mistake," Lavolpe said.

Here's a thought: when you get blanked, it's best not to spew insults at the team that just whupped you. 'Cause whatever you say about them, they just kicked your ASS!!! nlm

carlos3652 · 09-04-2005, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metrolike

What a ****ing moron, U.S. is the opposite of the littel girl style he mentions. Usually it's the Southern teams like Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, etc. who play like little girls, they're more technical than physical (well I'm not sure about Mexico - never really payed attention to them - but I assume that's what they do as well).

Also, here's a little tidbit that nobody cares about - Ukraine was the first European team to qualify yesterday. Boooya!

Congrats on Ukraine... I wouldnt say Brazil plays like a girl.... they are a finess team...

Hopefully you get an easy group... qualifying is easy, its doing something in the WC that is hard... Argentina qualified a few months ago, they have a long wat to go to prepare for WC...

**RealSNR** · 09-04-2005, 07:24 PM

One day there will be a time when the US will win a World Cup. Entire countries will be riled up for weeks and months in support of their team to represent their honor and glory in the international sport that they all worship. And there our guys will be with the championship trophy, with less than ten percent of our population paying close attention... and much fewer than that will have been cheering on the US team before the World Cup qualifying games.

I remember the last time we upset Mexico and knocked them out of the world cup. Children crying in the street, masses of villages in mourning for their pathetic excuse for a soccer team getting beat by a country where soccer is at most the 4th most popular sport.

I once had a friend in high school who lived in England the first 9 years of his life. He was always trying to explain this crappy game to me and how much better it was than all the other American sports. It's so funny how Europeans and other countries love that sport so goddamn much.

Pants · 09-04-2005, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carlos3652

Congrats on Ukraine... I wouldnt say Brazil plays like a girl.... they are a finess team...

Hopefully you get an easy group... qualifying is easy, its doing something in the WC that is hard... Argentina qualified a few months ago, they have a long wat to go to prepare for WC...

That's what I meant, a finess team, not a physical team. Physical teams are England, Germany, Danemark, Sweden, etc. So if you want to say a team plays like a girl - the closest thing is the southern technical style. I'd say teams like Argentina and France are a mix and utilize both, like Netherlands and Italy, etc. Then you got your African teams which just dominate you speed and endurance wise...

And yeah, carlos, I douldn't say qualifying is very easy in Europe. We had Danemark, Turkey and Greece in our group alone (we also had some shitty ass teams) which are all pretty known soccer powers in the World. Ukraine also almost qualified the last two years but lost in the play-offs to Croatia in 1998 (they finished 3rd in the WC that year) and they lost to Germany in 2000 (they finsihed 2nd in WC that year). So we've been really close, just could never overcome the last *huge* bump. This time we got the first place in group, not the usual 2nd and don't have to through the play-offs. I'm pretty stocked... hopefully they won't choke.

Ultra Peanut · 09-04-2005, 11:02 PM

The US is a melting pot of styles, really. I find that appropriate.

**Rausch** · 09-05-2005, 12:35 AM

I'd love to piss in Europe's oatmeal this year.

I really thought we'd do it about 10 years ago when Lalas and co were playing...

Valiant · 09-05-2005, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rausch

I'd love to piss in Europe's oatmeal this year.

I really thought we'd do it about 10 years ago when Lalas and co were playing...

Our players still have a ways to go to compete without alot of luck... We need to be twice as good as lalas and those teams just to compete...

**Rausch** · 09-05-2005, 12:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valiant

Our players still have a ways to go to compete without alot of luck... We need to be twice as good as lalas and those teams just to compete...

I understand that now, but back then I was 17 and there was actually some PR behind our team...

Demonpenz · 09-05-2005, 01:08 AM

i thought this was a court verdict over vick

Ultra Peanut · 09-05-2005, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valiant

Our players still have a ways to go to compete without alot of luck... We need to be twice as good as lalas and those teams just to compete...

There is absolutely no comparison between now and then. We are light years ahead of where we were back then. We have vastly more talent, depth, and experience, even with -- no, especially with -- the 20-23 year olds, than that pool of players could have ever imagined.

**Saul Good** · 09-05-2005, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNR

I remember the last time we upset Mexico and knocked them out of the world cup. Children crying in the street, masses of villages in mourning for their pathetic excuse for a soccer team getting beat by a country where soccer is at most the 4th most popular sport.

It's nowhere near the 4th most popular sport in the US. I can name at least 8 sports that are more popular in the US than soccer. Not necessarily in order:
1. Football
2. Baseball
3. Basketball
4. NASCAR
5. Boxing
6. Golf
7. Hockey
8. Tennis

09-04-2005, 04:37 AM
RedDread Veteran Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Back in KC Casino cash: $10007771	USA 2-0 Over Mexico--who still has words for USA after the loss Keller blanks Mexico to lead USA to World Cup Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio -- There was no better way for the United States to make the World Cup than with a shutout victory over Mexico. The Americans are headed to next year's soccer championship in Germany after beating the Mexicans 2-0 Saturday night thanks to goals by Steve Ralston and DaMarcus Beasley five minutes apart in the second half. "We had one blemish on our record when we lost in Mexico City," coach Bruce Arena said, "and it was nice to get that back, and it was very special to qualify against our archrivals." U.S. star Landon Donovan said it more strongly: "They do a lot of talking. They haven't beat us in a long time here. I'm kind of sick of it. There's no better scenario than to beat them easily." It wasn't all that easy, and it took those two quick strikes after a sloppy and chippy first half to lift the United States into the 32-team tournament with three games to spare. It was the first time since 1934 that the Americans were the first team into the World Cup from North and Central America and the Caribbean. It will be the fifth straight World Cup appearance for the Americans, who are ranked sixth in the world, one spot behind Mexico -- for now. The win avenged a 2-1 loss in Mexico in March and gave American goalkeeper Kasey Keller his 50th career victory for the national team. The United States has not lost to Mexico on American soil in seven games since 1999, and has not yielded any goals in that span, either. On both U.S. scores, Mexico seemed confused who should be where on set plays. Eddie Lewis' 35-yard floating free kick was headed by Oguchi Onyewu, whose 6-foot-4 height came in handy as he soared over the smallish, befuddled defense. His shot hit the goalpost and bounded into the air directly to the unguarded Ralston, who got his second career international goal. "It was about the easiest goal I've scored," said Ralston, who has only 13 international appearances and never can be sure if he'll be in the lineup. "It was a scrappy game and we showed a lot of heart." The goal woke up the flag-waving, red-white-and-blue clad American fans, who began pounding the bleachers with their feet. The noise seemed to further unnerve the visitors, and they were out of position on a short U.S. corner kick by Donovan. The ball came to Claudio Reyna, and the unmarked U.S. captain fed an equally wide-open Beasley. His twisting left-footed kick soared over goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez, who had no chance. From there, it was a matter of getting another shutout for Keller, who has blanked five straight opponents in qualifying and has a scoreless streak of 507 minutes in all. The Americans are 6-1 in the final qualifying round and play at Guatemala on Wednesday, when most of the regulars will be excused. Mexico (5-1-1) still needs another point in its final three games to make Germany 2006. Its coach, Ricardo Lavolpe, was not impressed by the winners. "The U.S. is a small team," he said. "They play like my sister, my aunt and my grandmother." At the final whistle, most of the 24,685 fans chanted "U-S-A! U-S-A!" as several players ran off the bench wrapped in U.S. flags. All of the Americans were handed flags, which they then draped on their shoulders or waved to the crowd as fireworks lit the sky. "Obviously, this is a relief," said U.S. coach Bruce Arena, who guided the U.S. team to the quarterfinals in the 2002 World Cup. "The whole purpose at the beginning of qualifying is to quickly make the World Cup, and we did it before anyone else." The strong U.S. showing in the second half helped ease the ugliness of the first 45 minutes, in which neither team truly threatened until the final minute. Keller needed to make a diving hand save on Ramon Morales' free kick in injury time. Otherwise, the visitors seemed satisfied to keep the scoreboard empty -- and to keep fouling midfielder Beasley, who was victimized four times in the half, five times overall. In turn, U.S. defender Frankie Hejduk committed four fouls in the opening 45 minutes. "The first team to make a mistake would not win, and Mexico made the mistake," Lavolpe said. Here's a thought: when you get blanked, it's best not to spew insults at the team that just whupped you. 'Cause whatever you say about them, they just kicked your ASS!!! nlm
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09-04-2005, 11:02 PM	#19
Ultra Peanut v^V^v^V^v^V^ Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Holland* Casino cash: $10005177	The US is a melting pot of styles, really. I find that appropriate. __________________
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09-05-2005, 01:08 AM	#23
Demonpenz Woman should only make babies Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Apartment "G UNIT!" Casino cash: $-463864	i thought this was a court verdict over vick __________________
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