Telling It All Podcast With Ben Goodman - NCAA Final Four, LeBron James, WGC Match Play, US Soccer

Topics Include: Teams Fulfilling Or Transcending Their Reputations (2:45). The Coach K-Dillion Brooks Incident (5:15). Great Sports Gamesmanship Moments (11:45). Quality Of Play Of The NCAA Tournament (18:00). LeBron James Unfollowing The Cavs On Twitter (26:40). Jason Day's Win At The WGC Match Play (29:30). The Adam LaRoche Controversy (32:00). The State Of United States Men's Soccer (34:40).

SoundCloud Podcast Homepage: https://soundcloud.com/ctellallsports

The Very Positive Performance By The United States Should Not Be Lost In Their Disappointing Tie With Portugal

It is the 94th minute and there are just 40 seconds left in the match from the steamy Arena da Amazonia in Manaus, Brazil between the United States and Cristiano Ronaldo and 10 other guys (Joao Moutinho is a very good player so maybe Ronaldo, Moutinho, and 9 other guys). Michael Bradley takes the ball down from the air on the top of his right foot and is 60 or 70 yards away from the United States goal where Tim Howard is patrolling in the back with the always disciplined Kyle Beckerman roaming in front of the defense, three fullback on the field with DeMarcus Beasley, Fabian Johnson, and DeAndre Yedlin, and three half backs in the game with Matt Besler, Geoff Cameron, and recent substitute Omar Gonzalez. Portugal has Nani on one wing, who will likely do a few step overs and then lose the ball, Eder at the center forward position, who is another largely ineffective striker in the Portuguese revolving door of front-men with Hugo Almeida and Helder Postiga, and Cristiano Ronaldo on the other wing, who has had a poor game for 94 minutes against the United States defense. By all considerations, the most reliable and steady player on the United States over the past four years has the ball at his feet with a fleet of defenders as large as the Spanish Armada behind him and the clock dwindling down in the game and on Portugal's massively disheartening World Cup, which would officially eliminate the nation that came in 4th in 2006 and made the semis of the 2012 Euros in the group stage for the first time since 2002 and effectively send Ronaldo home after just two games where he could watch Neymar and Messi steal all the glory, something a primadonna like Ronaldo surely would not be able to stand.

The United States is 40 seconds away from winning two consecutive games at the World Cup for the first time since the inaugural tournament was held in Uruguay in 1930 when they beat Belgium and then Paraguay 3-0 behind four goals in two games from Bert Patenaude (scorer of the first hat trick in World Cup history against Paraguay), a time when the competition had just 13 teams, Herbert Hoover was President of America, the Empire State Building was not yet complete, air conditioning was not even invented, and prohibition was still in place.

The United States is 40 seconds away from advancing to the knockout stage in consecutive World Cups for the first time ever and becoming just the 4th team outside of Europe and South America, along with Mexico (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014), Ghana (2006 and 2010), and Nigeria (1994 and 1998), to do so (the US made it past the group stage in 1930 in Uruguay, 1994 in the US, 2002 in Japan/South Korea, and 2010 in South Africa, but never in consecutive tournaments with the team losing their only game in the 1934 cup in Italy to the host nation 7-1, going out without a point in 1998 in France with losses to Germany, Iran, and Yugoslavia, and not having a victory in 2006 in Germany that included a 3-0 loss to Czech Republic and a 2-1 defeat to Ghana).

The United States is 40 seconds away from getting just their second win over a European opponent in the last 16 World Cups after just one win, nine losses, and three ties over that span (the US lost to Czechoslovakia, Italy, and Austria in 1990, tied Switzerland but then lost to Romania in 1994, lost to Germany and Yugoslavia in 1998, beat Portugal but then lost to both Poland and Germany in 2002, lost to the Czech Republic and then tied Italy in 2006, and finally tied both England and Slovenia in 2010).

The United States is 40 seconds away from getting their biggest soccer victory since the Red, White, and Blue pulled off the "Miracle on Grass" by beating a stacked English side 1-0 in the 1950 World Cup in Belo Horizonte, Brazil (I do understand, however, that others would argue that the biggest win by the US is when they beat Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 in a CONCACAF qualifier in 1989 behind Paul Caligiuri's "Shot Heard Round The World" to get the squad into the 1990 World Cup for the first time in 40 years, but it is just a matter of semantics).

The United States is 40 seconds away from becoming America's most beloved team since Abbott and Costello, since Ab and Mary, since the 1992 Dream Team.

The United States is just 40 seconds away, which is all the time you need to be able to determine that James Harden is just atrocious defensively (the fact that Harden got two votes for NBA all-defense is the most comical thing that has happened in the association since the Pacers traded Gerald Green, Miles Plumlee, and a lottery-protected first round pick for the aging Luis Scola with the Suns).

But as the San Antonio Spurs learned in game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals, it can all crumble way to easily in the final 40 seconds. Michael Bradley takes a touch down on the top of his cleats to settle the ball and is facing the United States goal with four Portuguese defenders coming to surround him, one on each side, but all of them a fair distance away on his first touch. At this point, any soccer fan understands what Michael Bradley needs to do, which is first off to not loose the ball because that will spring a Portuguese counter attack in their desperation period in stoppage time, but also to try and bring the ball down in the corner to waste time and end the match. Bradley's first touch takes him too far backwards, so attempting to bring the ball into the corner is not a legitimate possibility because of the limited options he has around him and the Portuguese players coming on to him.

Nonetheless, after Bradley takes his rather poor first touch, he then looks around for a second, tries to take the ball with the outside of his right foot towards the Portugal goal, and is pushed off the ball by the bigger Eder, for despite his finishing problems, is a very strong player. Immediately after Bradley takes his first touch back towards his own goal, a clearance anywhere would have worked, whether it be towards the Portuguese defense or preferably even into the stands at this late point in the game (you might as well give the Brazilians a ball since the tournament is costing them billions and they are getting nothing back in return, which is FIFA in a nutshell, the most corrupt organization since the Federal Reserve Bank).

However, Bradley not only neglected the chance to just launch the ball anywhere down the field on his first touch, but in the 94th minute of a World Cup match, he took way too long to do anything on the ball in the middle of the field and gave it away at a crucial point in the game. In the game against Ghana less than a week earlier, Bradley made a similar mistake by trying to play a ball forward that eventually went right to the Black Stars goalie Adam Kwarasey instead of just playing the ball into the corner and running the time out in the game as it was reaching its final few seconds, a mistake that would not hurt the US in their 2-1 win against Ghana, but would be a costly blunder in their match against Portugal.

After Bradley loses possession because of the strong challenge by Eder to push him of the ball, Beckerman is caught a little too high up the pitch and cannot prevent the ball from quickly getting back up the field towards the US net. Nani takes two touches and then spreads the ball out to the right, as surprising as that sounds, you did read it correctly because in the dying moments Nani actually decided to not do any moves or scissors but actually just play it quickly out wide after just two touches, which is a rare sight in itself and is almost as surprising as the goal to come by "A Seleccao." At that moment, every fan of the United States gave out a collective groan because Cristiano Ronaldo was isolated in a one on one situation with a lot of room in front of him against DeMarcus Beasley. For the entire game, the United States had done an incredible job of not giving Ronaldo time, sending multiple bodies towards him when he had the ball, and making sure he did not have a lot of space in behind to run in, but somehow in the 94th minute of the game, Ronaldo ended up in a one on one with Beasley (this reminded me of how Iran worked so hard for an entire game to stop Messi by crowding his space and then in the 93rd minute with the score tied at 0, they let him get on to his deadly left foot and score an incredible goal for the Argentinian victory).

The speedy Ronaldo, 7-time UEFA Team of the Year member, 2-time Ballon d'Or winner, and a player that has 252 total goals in 246 games with Real Madrid in all competitions, up against Beasley, a player so old that he was apart of the 2002 US World Cup squad, so obviously Beasley has to give Cristiano some space in fear of getting beat down the line or even more dangerously into the middle. This allows Ronaldo to pick out the cross he likes because Beasley does not have any cover to try and make a challenge since he is on an island with Ronaldo with no other help from his US teammates, which I still don't understand how that actually happened. Ronaldo puts in a picture perfect cross that displays his true world class brilliance into a spot in the box that makes sure that if a Portuguese player gets a head on it, the ball is going into the goal, but also a position where Tim Howard cannot come out of the net to punch it away. When Ronaldo picks up the ball, there is only one player in the vicinity of the box, who is Silvestre Varela.

Varela began his run on the midfield line when Nani picked up the ball and was just a little bit in front of Fabian Johnson. It is the 94th minute of the game, so why Johnson is not running as hard as he can to get back in behind Varela is still beyond me. Not only does Johnson continue to only jog backwards and let Varela get ahead of him for an impending cross, who isn't even sprinting yet, but he doesn't communicate at all to Geoff Cameron about the Portuguese player coming on behind him. Ronaldo puts in his incredible cross, Cameron doesn't see Varela behind him at all, which is mainly Johnson's fault for not saying anything but also on Cameron for not looking around the box for any incoming players, and the substitute heads home, past Tim Howard for a shocking 2-2 draw between the national sides.

Portugal's Second Goal Against The US

There have been very few games more gut punching than that US-Portugal fixture in the second slate of contests in group G from the middle of the Amazon in Brazil (I'm looking at that, of course, from a United States perspective although the result still does not really help the Portuguese in the grand scheme of things because they will need their biggest miracle since "The Miracle of the Sun" to make it out of the group stage for their third World Cup in a row and try to have their best finish in the competition with an all-time great player like Ronaldo since they got 9 goals in 6 games from Eusebio and also had Jose Augusto, Jose Torres, Mario Coluna, and Vicente in their team and finished 3rd in the 1966 cup in England). 

In 1965, the Philadelphia 76ers were on the precipice of winning the Eastern Conference Finals after facing elimination at home in game 6 against the Boston Celtics, and were set to return to their first NBA Finals since they were the Syracuse Nationals and beat the Fort Wayne Pistons in 7 games all the way back in 1955 behind the play of Dolph Schayes and Paul Seymour. A team led by Wilt Chamberlain and Hal Greer was on the verge of helping the 76ers finally beat the Celtics and Bill Russell, who had knocked the team from the playoffs in the Division Finals in 1957, 1959, and then again in 1961. Down by one point with 5 seconds left in game 7 and with a terrific chance of getting to the NBA Finals to play the much weaker Los Angeles Lakers, Greer's inbound pass from under the Celtics basket was stolen by John Havlicek and tipped to Sam Jones for the Celtics victory in one of the most agonizing losses you will ever see a team suffer in any game, let alone to in an Eastern Conference Finals win or go home battle of such grave magnitude. 

"Havlicek Stole The Ball"

Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills have not been in the playoffs for 14 straight seasons, which is the longest active post-season drought in the NFL, and have only finished over .500 once in that span (2004), which is entirely because they are still heartbroken over the shocking music city miracle in the AFC Wild Card Game in 2000 against the Tennessee Titans, who would go on to make their only Super Bowl appearance to date before losing to the Rams and Kurt Warner 23-16 in Atlanta. The Bills were up 16-15 on the Titans with 16 seconds left before Frank Wycheck threw a much disputed lateral (it was a lateral to be fair) across the field to Kevin Dyson, who would take the ball all the way from his own 25-yard line into the Bills end zone for the most jaw dropping touchdown in NFL history, which is the most tragic thing that has happened to Buffalo they learned Donald Trump was attempting to buy the team and precisely run it into the ground. 

"The Music City Miracle"

Among many other heart-breakers in sports, the Phillies were just a half-inning away from getting a chance to play in a game 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays from Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia for the chance to win their 2nd World Series in franchise history to go along with the one that they won in 1980 by beating the Royals in 6 games behind the pitching of NL Cy Young winner Steve Carlton and the hitting of NL MVP winner Mike Schmidt (19 times in MLB history a pair of teammates have won the Cy Young and MVP in the same season including in 1957 when Hank Aaron and Warren Spahn did so with the Braves, in 1961 when Roger Maris and Whitey Ford accomplished the feat with the Yankees, in 1967 when Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Lonborg did so with the Red Sox, in 1990 when Rickey Henderson and Bob Welch did it with the A's out in Oakland, and most recently in 2013 when Miguel Cabrera and Max Scherzer did so with the Tigers). Philadelphia was up by a run with closer Mitch Williams on the mound and after walking Rickey Henderson and eventually letting up a single to Paul Molitor, Joe Carter hit a walk-off three run home run off Williams to give the Blue Jays their second straight World Series (the Yankees won from 1936 to 1939, 1950 to 1953, 1961 to 1962, 1977 to 1978, and 1998-2000, the A's three-peated from 1972 to 1974, and the Reds went back-to-back in 1975 and 1976 as the three other ballclubs to win multiple championships in a row since 1930) and break the hearts of every sports fan in the City of Brotherly Love once again.

Joe Carter's Walk-Off Home Run

The feeling of complete disbelief that so many US fans and players felt following Varela's header goal on essentially the last touch of the game for Portugal is just as crushing as everybody involved with the 1964-1965 76ers, the 1999-2000 Bills, and the 1993 Phillies felt following their respective teams calamitous losses in such significant games to the Celtics, Titans, and Blue Jays. It was literally right there for the United States to qualify for the round of 16 after just two games and two wins over very formidable sides like Ghana and Portugal, which would have been an absolutely heroic effort for a team that was expected by so many to finish dead last in the group of death. No matter how you want to look at it, the last goal of the game was truly devastating because of all the errors that the US made on the final exchange that may come back to haunt them forever if they don't get a result against Germany. However, unlike most other heartbreaking contests, the USMNT still has a terrific chance to accomplish everything they could have wanted from the group stage of the World Cup. The 76ers had to wait a full year to get back to the Division Finals after their tragic game 7 loss to the Celtics, and when they did, they lost to Boston once again anyway, this time in 5 games because of John Havlicek averaging 25.4 points per game in the series including scoring 32 in the clinching game 5. The Bills have still not been able to recover from the music city miracle, maybe more so because of their horrendous QB play from Kelly Holcomb, J.P. Losman, Trent Edwards, and Ryan Fitzpatrick since 2000, but the game definitely plays a part in the curse over the Bills, and the Phillies had to wait a full season just to get back to a strike shortened MLB year and went without a playoff appearance all the way until 2007, where they were promptly swept by the Colorado Rockies in the NLDS 3-0. 

However, the United States have an outstanding chance to quickly rebound from their rather devastating tie against Portugal and do something that the 76ers, Bills, and Phillies never had a chance to do, which is come out the very next game and put that heartbreak immediately to rest. While the other teams in this discussion were right out of the post-season after their crushing blows, the US have as good of a chance as ever to make it into the knockout stage. With a victory over Germany from the Arena Pernamuco in Recife, the United States would top group G on 7 points and would almost certainly get to play either Algeria (they will be happy to not see Landon Donovan back on the field if that matchup happens) or the Fabio Capello led Russians (Capello is getting paid nearly 12 million dollars a year to coach Russia, more than double what any other coach is making, so he better make it to the knockout stage for the first time since Russia were still the Soviet Union and did so in the 1986 cup in Mexico), which gives the United States a terrific chance to make their 2nd quarterfinals appearance since 2002. A tie against Germany would still ensure the United States a place in the final 16 with a likely game against Belgium, a very talented side that has not looked great as of yet with their late 2-1 win against Algeria and a lackluster 1-0 victory over Russia at the Maracana in Rio (the two were supposed to play a close door friendly in Sao Paulo before their opening matches but Belgium cancelled because of traffic, you don't here that everyday, so the contest may still go on but this time from the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador). The United States could even lose to the Germans and still make the round of 16 with a Portugal-Ghana tie while a Portugal or Ghana win might still not be enough for those sides to advance, especially for Portugal, who need to make up a huge goal differential to come in second. 

Whether it be Havlicek stealing the ball, the music city miracle, Joe Carter's walk-off home run, or some other memorable heartbreaking moment like Bill Buckner's error in game 6 of the 1986 World Series for the Red Sox, Isiah Thomas's inbounds pass to Bill Laimbeer that was stolen by Larry Bird in game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals, or Kentucky losing to Duke on Christian Laettner's buzzer beater in the 1992 Elite Eight, every team in the world faces a few agonizing defeats over the years. 

However, for as disappointing as it was to give up that last goal, and it was truly an unacceptable goal to allow in the final seconds of the game, people have to remember that the US did not actually lose that match against Portugal. As much as it feels like America did in fact lose that game, an actual defeat by the Stars and Stripes would have been catastrophic after an opening game win against Ghana behind the heading prowess of John Brooks and the Yanks did get a positive result from each of their first two games against two of the top sides in the World Cup. In fact, the United States is one of just five teams along with Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and the Netherlands to avoid a loss in both of their first two games in each of the last two World Cups, which doesn't make up for their very disastrous end to the game against Portugal but does show the progress of the national team and, more importantly, that if they continue to play as they have in their first two games, they should be moving on to the final 16 teams in the World Cup. The unsatisfactory ending of the US game against Portugal, and trust me I'm still as upset as everybody else about the play of the team in the final minute, should certainly not take away from the entirety of their performance against "A Seleccao," which was full of quality and positive signs for the rest of the tournament.

In their first game against Ghana from the Arena das Dunas in Natal, the United States played a ton of defense against the Black Stars and had very little of the ball. Ghana out passed the US 456 to 275, had at least 60 percent of the ball possession, and had 38 crosses into the US box as compared to the 8 that the Red, White, and Blue managed to get into the box of the Nsoroma Tuntum. Some of the ball dominance that Ghana had throughout the 90 minutes can be pointed to the fact that the US was playing with a lead from such an early stage in the game. 

As great as it was for Clint Dempsey to score in his 3rd different World Cup (he scored against Ghana in the 2006 group stage and versus England, thanks to Robert Green's gaffe, in the 2010 group stage as well) and net a goal 30 seconds into the match, the 5th fastest World Cup score of all-time (the only goals that were faster were when Hakan Sukur scored 11 seconds into a match for Turkey against co-hosts South Korea in the 3rd place game in 2002, when Vaclav Masek of Czecholsovakia scored 16 seconds into a group stage game against Mexico, when Ernst Lehner netted a goal for Germany against Austria 25 seconds in the 3rd place game in 1934, and finally in a 1982 group stage match when 27 seconds into the contest Bryan Robson of England scored against France), the goal put the US in defensive mode for way too long in the match. After any team scores a goal in a game, the natural reaction is to try and hold onto that lead and do everything you can to prevent a goal promptly coming back the other way by letting your guard down. Nonetheless, it is exceedingly difficult to play such a defensive style without any of the ball and be successful for the entirety of a match and the US were way to dependent on maintaining their lead rather attacking a shaky Ghanaian back four of Daniel Opare, who was benched against Germany, John Boye, who let Desmpey get behind him on the first goal, Jonathan Mensah, and Kwadwo Asamoah, who is absolutely tremendous going forward but not great when you make him defend.

Now, aside from the fact that the US were attempting to protect their one goal advantage for as long as they could and not pushing as many guys forward as they normally would, they were also very poor in keeping the ball and there is no way around that, even with the excuse that they were inclined to let Ghana have the ball and were intent on staying compact in the back. I know it seems like I am picking on Michael Bradley, but for as good of a player as he is in distribution, he was downright terrible against Ghana and it was the worst game I have seen from him play in a US shirt. His passing accuracy was just 65 percent in the opposing half and he was constantly giving the ball away and being careless in the midfield. 

Alejandro Bedoya played for 77 minutes and was virtually non-existent in the game and completed just 12 passes all match long despite being picked ahead of the creative Graham Zusi in an outside midfield role, who was deservedly apart of the MLS best XI in 2012 and 2013 and scored against Jamaica and Panama in World Cup qualifiers. Meanwhile, although Jozy Altidore received as much criticism as Billy King when he made the Gerald Wallace trade for scoring just 1 goal in 30 league games with Sunderland in the EPL and not scoring at all for the US in 2014 until the United States' final pre-World Cup friendly against Nigeria, he is such an important piece to the Yanks. With his 6-1 frame and his commanding presence up front, Jozy provides terrific hold up play for the USMNT when he is on the field in the lone striker role. Altidore's big body and physical nature up top allows the Stars and Strips to give him the ball so that they can get their opponents out of their third of the field because he is so good in his holdup play and allows the US an outlet whenever they need to keep the ball for a little bit and do not have enough bodies forward right away to mount an attack. When Jozy went out of the game in the 23rd minute due to a hamstring strain, it killed the United States because Aron Johansson is a much different player than Jozy and does not provide that same holdup play. Since Klinsmann did not change up the formation and kept Johansson up front on his own, the team was not able to have any sustained possession because they were unable to relieve the pressure from Ghana without that big body up front to track down some loose balls.

Despite all of the things that went wrong for the United States in their opening match to go along with their poor play in keeping possession of the ball, they were able to scratch and crawl their way to a 2-1 victory, which showed their true character and mettle, something every team in a World Cup needs to have in order to be successful because every game does not go according to the same blueprint and you have to adjust to each unique circumstance in the frenzy of the one-month tournament. The biggest concern for Jurgen Klinsmann going into the tournament was his defense, something he did not have to worry about at all when the West German team he played on in 1990 won the World Cup and conceded just 5 goals in 7 games in route to their last title on the world stage. With a back four of Beasley, Cameron, Besler, and Johnson that had very little experience playing with one another, especially since at one time not long ago it seemed as if Omar Gonzalez and even Clarence Goodson or Timothy Chandler could possibly be apart of that US quartet in defense, that doubt and worry over the defense was certainly warranted. In their friendly against Turkey (granted Chandler played rather than Beasley), the US back line looked very shaky to say the least and there was wide too much space in behind them to attack and if the Wolfs had a little more quality than just Borussia Dortmund midfielder Nuri Sahin (they really missed captain Arda Turan and Galatasaray striker Burak Yilmaz), they could have hit the US for a lot of goals because they had so many opportunities around the box. 

However, just a little more than two weeks after that very worrying display in the back, the US defense miraculously looked way more in touch with one another against Ghana and turned in a really solid performance in the match. After the match against Ghana, Klinsmann had to have gained an immense amount of trust in his defense for their spectacular play in keeping the Ghanaian offense down for so long and having an incredible 44 clearances away from their third of the field. While some of that can be attributed to the Black Stars lacking creativity going forward and just floating in too many crosses from all areas of the pitch, the US back line surprisingly looked to be as stout as any other team in the competition, which is what you need in a World Cup and was a great sign going forward, especially when the US were destined to turn in a better all-around performance in the future.

US-Ghana Highlights

After playing one of their poorest games from an offensive standpoint in a long time, many teams would have folded right away, but the US remained very strong throughout the game. As good as the Stars and Stripes defense was against Ghana in one of those games where the team needed to have a lot of resolve because they were nowhere near their best and as extraordinary as it was to see the entire side display unmatched toughness and spirit with their late goal after Andre Ayew of Marseille equalized in the 82nd minute for the Black Stars, the US knew that they would not be able to make it out of the group stage relying on extreme grit and fortitude alone because it is very hard to sustain success when the other team has such much of the ball in games. 

However, the United States rebounded in a very big way against quite a strong Portuguese side and showed in their performance against one of the top European teams the quality of their entire squad and their ability to be a very dangerous team going forward in attack. As everybody saw versus Ghana, the US is more than capable of grinding out victories and being organized defensively in the back when they need to be, but they demonstrated against Portugal that they have the capacity to play a much more fluid, attacking style of soccer when it is called upon, which was a very positive sign for everybody involved with the Stars and Stripes. Ever since Jurgen Klinsmann took over in 2011, the United States have had some very impressive performances under the German manager including their 1-0 victory over Italy at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa in 2012 for their first win over a World Cup title winning side since 2002, a 1-0 win over Mexico in 2012 at the Estadio Azteca, their first victory in the stadium after previously being 0-19-1 in Mexico City, and their 1-0 victory against Panama in the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final, for their first confederation championship since they beat Mexico in the final 2-1 back in 2007. However, despite the fact that the US gave up that late goal to the Portuguese (it stinks that we have to say despite at all in this sentence), their performance in tough conditions in Manaus was about the best we have seen from the team since Klinsmann took over, which is a very positive sign for the progession of the US in the World Cup, especially in their upcoming match against Germany and once Klinsmann understudy in Joachim Loew.

For the most part, the back four was solid for the United States once again against Portugal and while it didn't quite match their showing against Ghana, it was still a very respectable and fine effort by Beasley, Cameron, Besler, and Johnson in the US defense. Let's put aside the egregious error that Fabian Johnson made at the end of the game just for now because you can only blame a guy so many times unless it is Matt Millen because then you can just go at it all day long if you like (if I didn't say it already, damn you Fabian Johnson on that last sequence in the game). For as difficult as it was for Fabian Johnson to get forward from his right back position against Ghana because of the Black Stars left back Kwadwo Asamoah from Juventus constantly shooting up the field and the very dangerous Andre Ayew on that side of the pitch as well, it was just as easy for him to tear up the right side of the field against Portugal and make them pay for leaving him so much space. Don't get me wrong, Johnson is a capable defender, as he showed against Ghana, because he kept Asamoah and Ayew in check for large portions of the game when the African side had their attack centered around those two very dynamic players, but he has a much larger impact on the game when he is allowed to be a big part of the US going forward and when he is providing width in attacking areas. 

In the game against Portugal, Paulo Bento set up his team in a 4-3-3 with Nani and Ronaldo as the two wingers in the front three. While Ronaldo was lined up in the formation on the left side for Portugal, his role was more so as a roamer throughout the pitch rather than on Fabian Johnson's side in particular, leaving Johnson wide open at times along the right. Since Nani and Ronaldo did very little tracking back (presumably Ronaldo by design and Nani by his laziness), there was a ton of room for Fabian Johnson to operate from his right back position and on that whole side of the field with the front three of Portugal not getting behind the ball and foolishly expecting the midfield three of Raul Meireles, Miguel Veloso, and Joao Moutinho to cover all that space. Johnson, who is going to Borussia Monchengladbach in 2014 after being with 1899 Hoffenheim for a while in the Bundesliga, showed why I think he is the most dangerous player for the United States because he is so fast and can just fly down the flanks of the field unlike any other player on the field in most instances. Johnson was given a lot of room to run into because of all the unoccupied space left by Ronaldo and he was able to use his quickness to cause the Portuguese defense all sorts of trouble, which is what Klinsmann wants in his system with fullbacks shooting forward to get into the attack so that they can put in crosses and give the US numerical advantages in the final third. Johnson was a menace for newly implemented left back Andre Almeida all game long, specifically in the first half before the Portuguese finally made some adjustments, because Johnson was much to quick for him and the Benfica man was given very little cover from his teammates for any help in defensive areas. 

For example, in the 10th minute Ronaldo was not marking anyone and was squeezing up high so when Zusi got the ball, Almeida had to step to him, so Zusi played the ball one touch back to Jermaine Jones, who was then able to hit the space behind Almeida and give the ball to Johnson in a dangerous area of the field. Although Johnson's shot was eventually blocked by Bruno Alves, the US were able to get their best player on the field in a one on one situation on the ball in the box, which is all you could ever ask for as a coach. Johnson took a pass from Clint Dempsey in the 32nd minute and had a rocket of a left-foot shot from outside the box that was just a little wide of Beto's goal, but was an alarming moment for the Portuguese and was another occurrence where the biggest threat for the United States was coming from their speedy right back. In the 55th minute, Fabian Johnson had another stroke of brilliance that had me saying that attacking fullbacks like Ricardo Rodriguez, Jordi Alba, Marcelo, Dani Alves, Leighton Baines, David Alaba, and Seamus Coleman should move over, which may have been me just getting a pretty big man crush but felt pretty genuine because of just how good his attacking presence was against Portugal. Once again it was Jones and Zusi combining to set up the very dangerous Johnson for an opportunity that really should have leveled the game at one if Michael Bradley had finished off the play. Jones picked up the ball and slotted it to Zusi, who had peeled off Miguel Veloso and played a terrific through ball in behind Almedia and into the path of Fabian Johnson. Johnson used his extreme quickness to stay in front of Almedia and then when Beto came out to try and take the ball from Johnson's feet, he slid a pass with his right foot perfectly to the streaking Michael Bradley coming from behind, who really should have scored right in front of net with only a defender on the line to block it away. Johnson used his pace to torture the Portuguese back four all game long and his rare dribbling ability for a full back should continue to be utilized by the United States because he provides one of the best options for the team going forward.

Although I love to praise the work of Fabian Johnson because I just think his attacking abilities are just outstanding, Matt Besler and the wily veteran DeMarcus Beasley also did a very good job of containing Ronaldo, Nani, and Eder for most of the game, which is another really good sing for the United States. As everybody has come to expect from Matt Besler ever since his emergence with the US National Team in 2013, he was the most reliable player in the back for the United States against the Portuguese and their attack that scored 24 goals in 12 UEFA qualifying games to get into the World Cup including 8 of which came from Ronaldo. The 2012 MLS Defender of the Year is the steadiest player in the US back four and whenever he has the ball, every fan of the Stars and Stripes should have a sense of calmness because Besler makes very shrewd decisions and is a very good passer from the left side of central defense. After leaving the game against Ghana at halftime with a hamstring injury, he looked more than fine versus Portugal, as he led the team with 12 clearances, 5 pass interceptions, and a 93.6 passing accuracy from the back. Besler's very long legs because of his length enabled him to make a lot of tackles against Eder up front and his height allowed him to command most of the aerial challenges in the box, including an important header away from Ronaldo in the 34rd minute. The Sporting Kansas City defender will have to continue to be the rock in the back for the United States as he has been for so many games in the recent months because his smart distribution from the center of defense sets the tone for the entire team.

Meanwhile, although DeMarcus Beasley does not have the legs he once did to run by people so effortlessly, he is still able to read the play very well from his left back position. His anticipation of where the ball is going to be played and where each player is on the field allows him to cover for his teammates whenever they get beat and keeps him in the right spot of the pitch for defensive support and as an offensive outlet if need be on the left side. Clearly, Beasley could not close down Ronaldo on the final play because he is just not that quick anymore, and there are very few guys in the entire world at any age who are that fast, but his overall ability to see the game a step ahead always shows itself on the field. Beasley is not a guy who is going to win the US a game anymore because he just doesn't have that in him at his age, and the attack from the fullbacks will almost completely come from the speedy Fabian Johnson on the right, but Beasley never neglects his defensive responsibilities. He is never going to cost the US anything because he is as astute a player as anybody on the pitch when it comes to where to be, where to play the ball, and who to mark, which allowed the 32-year old Beasley to have a very sound game against an attack that featured Nani and Ronaldo, two of the fastest players in world football.

The only worrying sign for the United States coming out of their match against Portugal could possibly be the play of Geoff Cameron in central defense, but I'm absolutely positive that Cameron is going to be fine and I'm not just saying that because I'm feeling optimistic about this team's chances against Germany and in the rest of the tournament. The first goal of the game for Portugal five minutes into the match was a harrowing mistake by Cameron and there is just no way around that. The first time ball into the box from Veloso went right off the left shin of Cameron as he was trying to clear the ball out of the box and fell perfectly to Nani right in front of the net for the goal to put the US in an early 1-0 hole. There is not much you can say about the score because the mistake is a brutal one from Cameron and is just about as disastrous of a clearance as you will ever see in a match, especially from a guy the game before that played so well and had 15 clearances from the center back role, way more than anybody else on the US team. I've heard people say since the end of the game against Portugal on Sunday night that since Cameron played primarily as a right back for Stoke City in the Premier League because of the presence of Marc Wilson and Ryan Shawcross in center defense for "The Potters" that he had not dealt with enough crosses in that role and that he was unprepared to deal with all the balls that come flying into the box as a half back during a full match. However, Cameron was more than likely the man of the match for the United States against Ghana and dealt with crosses from Christian Atsu, Andre Ayew, Daniel Opare, and Kwadwo Asamoah exceptionally well for the entirety of the match to keep the US in that game. As much as this is a cliche, sometimes things happen on the field and I'm sure Cameron will never slice a cross like that again for the United States in the center back role or so I can hope. On the goal in the final seconds of the game, while I understand that Cameron does have to turn his hips a little bit and locate any incoming runners, I put that goal more so on Fabian Johnson for not communicating with him and letting the big 6-3 center defender, who is very good in the air and is a dominating aerial presence, know that there is a man behind him coming in for the cross. Cameron was nowhere near his best against Portugal, but he is a good enough player to fix the mistakes he made against "A Seleccao."

Nani's Goal On Geoff Cameron's Mistake To Put Portugal Up 1-0

I fully expect Geoff Cameron to recover from his poor performance against Portugal and play a very strong game versus the Germans with his very reliable center back partner Matt Besler while DeMarcus Beasley will continue to read the game to perfection and allow Fabian Johnson to get forward from his right fullback role. It also helps the United States when you have a goalkeeper in net that can make some incredible saves like Tim Howard, who I would take over every other goalie in this year's competition except for Manuel Neuer of Germany, Thibaut Courtois of Belgium, Hugo Lloris of France, and the Guillermo Ochoa of Mexico against Brazil that was literally a brick wall. Despite Howard badly misplaying a Nani shot from distance and getting some major help from the post, his recovery to stay on his feet as he was losing balance and tip Eder's rebound attempt over the bar was world class and prevented Portugal from going into halftime with a 2-0 lead with all the momentum in the world, which is a kind of save that a team needs their top five goalkeeper to make once in a while to keep them in the game as Tim Howard did for the United States. Germany scored 36 goals in 10 qualifying games in UEFA against Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Kazakhstan, and the Faroe Islands, by far the most of any team in the confederation, and with attacking options on the field to begin the game of Mesut Ozil, Thomas Mueller, and Mario Gotze and Bastian Schweinsteiger, Andre Schurrle, Lukas Podolski, and Miroslav Klose coming off the bench, they are very dangerous. However, the US defense with Timmy Howard behind them has looked very strong, except for one bad Geoff Cameron mistake, and should not fear the German attack once so ever, especially after a solid performance against Ghana and then thwarting the dynamic attack of Portugal led by Ronaldo for most of the game.

Another positive from the game against Portugal for the United States was that they looked much more calm and composed in the midfield against the Portuguese than they did against the Ghanaians when they were utterly useless in the middle of the park versus Sulley Muntari, Mohammed Rabiu, and later on Kevin-Prince Boateng when he came on for Jordan Ayew and played down the center of the pitch for the Black Stars. Despite all he accomplished with the United States as their head coach from 2006 to 2011 including winning the Gold Cup in 2007 and taking the team to the round of 16 in the 2010 World Cup, Bob Bradley was often criticized for playing a very direct style of play and rallying on route one rather than the retention of the ball for success. Under Bradley, the US had so many games against less talented opponents where they either barely squeaked out a victory or lost the contest because they were not able to assert themselves on their inferior opposition since they did not have enough of the ball to do so. The team sat back way too much under Bradley and really never took the game to their opponents like they should have on so many occasions. When Jurgen Klinsmann was hired by the US in 2011 to be their national team coach, he brought a new fluidity to the side and stressed the importance of keeping the ball much more than Bradley ever did. Ever since Klinsmann took over, he has been much more prone to allow the US to have a real attacking nature in games rather than the more defensively disciplined style that Bradley employed. In their game against Ghana, we saw that the US can adapt and can still play that very organized style that they so often did under Bradley with maintaining their shape, but the great quality they showed going forward against Portugal and the freedom they had to do so, which you need in order to make a run in the World Cup, was a very obvious difference between the Bradley and Klinsmann era.

The United States midfield was just so much better as a whole against Portugal than in their display less than a week earlier against the Ghanaians in Natal, which is a very positive sign because so often matches are won and lost in the World Cup depending on which country controls that middle third of the field and is able to dictate the flow of traffic for the entirety of the game. In their match against Ghana, the United States midfield was not nearly poised enough on the ball and they had so many careless giveaways throughout the game, especially from Michael Bradley. Since they lacked the sense of calmness that you so often need in tight areas of the midfield, the US constantly tried to play balls over the top of the Black Stars defense, which led to the team giving the ball right back to Ghana after they had just had a long spill of possession. Since the US midfield of Kyle Beckerman, Jermaine Jones, Michael Bradley, and Alejandro Bedoya had such major problems in keeping the ball, 13.1 percent of the team's passes eventually wound up going long and not to feet, which is way too high of a number when attempting to enjoy some of the ball. This led to the United States having a very poor 58.6 passing accuracy in Ghana's half of the field, displaying the team's lack of composure in the midfield to do something productive with the ball.

But against Portugal, the US showed a real sense of confidence and equanimity in their midfield play and seemed to be much more comfortable in possession and in their combination play in the middle of the pitch, especially between Jones and Zusi. This allowed the United States to have continued pressure on the Portuguese back four, much more so than against Ghana, when they did not have enough of the ball to do so. The US fired off 15 shots against Portugal as compared to the 8 that they were able to muster against Ghana because of their sense of coolness on the ball to find openings in behind the Portuguese back four and also in front of them with players checking to the ball from high areas on the field. This was because the percentage of passes that went long from the US was only at 8.8 percent, high enough where the defense can't just squeeze everybody forward but still low enough where everything isn't a ball over the top, which enabled the US to have a much higher passing accuracy in the opposing half of 75.5 percent and kept them on the ball for scoring chances in the Portuguese third.

This is something I wrote before the World Cup about the United States midfield, specifically Jermaine Jones and Kyle Beckerman: "Klinsmann went with a center mid pairing of Jermaine Jones and Michael Bradley against Azerbaijan although I still think Bradley, who has the keys to the US offense with his distribution abilities, plays his best with Kyle Beckerman of Real Salt Lake playing in behind him. In Klinsmann's system, where the outside backs are encouraged to get forward and join the attack, especially a player that is accustomed to doing so like Fabian Johnson, the US need a strong defensive midfielder to cover for the attacking runs of any player from the back four, which Beckerman does a better job of than Jones. As Jones showed against Azerbaijan, he is pretty good with the ball at his feet in playing to the outside backs and he showed his strength in winning most of the 50-50 balls against the Azeris, but he is too wild and reckless to be that steady holding midfielder for the US team. Jones does have a pretty good strike on him, but it is a blessing and a curse because he can get in on the goals, but it forces Bradley to sometimes play too deep because Jones likes to go forward and join the attack. Since the US need Bradley as high up the field as possible so that he can be the creative engine of the team due to his vision being superb by any standards, Beckerman is more suited to play in the hole behind the midfield and in front of the defense and I am not just saying that because he has great deadlocks (ok, only partly). Much like how Shane Battier knows his role on the Heat to flop around a little bit on defense and stretch the floor for any threes, how Draymond Green will attempt to guard anybody on the floor from the 1 to the 5 to help the Warriors, or how if you get near Erik Karlsson or Jason Spezza Senators enforcer Chris Neil will let you know about it, Beckerman understands his role on the USMNT really well, much better than Jones, and would allow Bradley the freedom he needs in midfield to set up wingers Graham Zusi and Alejandro Bedoya, who I thought had way too many careless giveaways with nobody on him against Azerbaijan, and Dempsey and Altidore up front. Bradley did not take enough risks against Azerbaijan because he needs to be further up the field to be at his best."

Everything I said about Kyle Beckerman has held true in the first two World Cup games against Ghana and Portugal. It should not come as a surprise for anybody that has watched Beckerman play with Real Salt Lake, but the holding midfielder does his job for the team as well as you could ask for as a coach and he does not stray from it at all. In every sport, every team needs a guy that realizes he isn't a star player, but does all of the dirty work for a team, especially with all the 50-50 balls in the middle of the field in soccer and that is what Kyle Beckerman provides for the US team and why he has made the past five All-Star games in the MLS despite not scoring more than 3 goals in a season from 2009 to 2011. With the ball at his feet, Beckerman is very safe with it and always makes the easy pass forward or backwards, as 56 of his 61 passes against Portugal were short passes. Since Beckerman is so careful with the ball and always plays quickly and the way he is facing to not complicate things, he had a 90.2 passing accuracy for the game against Portugal, which is something you need from a player that is not in a creative role but you so rarely get because guys try to play the Hollywood ball over the top so often.

Without the ball, Beckerman shines on the field because he sits in front of the defense and reads the play so well from his deep-lying midfield role and is able to cover for his fellow midfielders and cut out a lot of passes that are trying to be thread through, as he had 4 interceptions against the Portuguese attack, the second most on the team behind Matt Besler. Beckerman rarely commits himself to far forward, so the US is rarely caught out in the back and their center defenders do not have to step to a player in front of them too often because Beckerman has that space under wraps. Also, since Beckerman covers so well, it allowed the very dangerous Fabian Johnson to get forward all game long against Portugal, something that was instrumental to the US attack in that game and was a direct result of Beckerman's discipline on the field to stay back and prevent Ronaldo and Nani from having yards of space in the middle of the field to attack.

Meanwhile, everything I said about Jermaine Jones has turned out to be completely wrong, especially after his wonder performance against Portugal to help the US get a point out of their fixture from Manaus although they should have had all three. I would honestly argue that through the United States' first two matches in the group stage, their best player for the tournament has been Jermaine Jones in the midfield and he has more than made up for the lack of quality that we have seen from Michael Bradley against Ghana and in front of goal and in the 94th minute of the game versus Portugal. Jones had one of the early goals of this World Cup in the 64th minute to help the US finally break through the Portuguese defense and get the equalizing goal to tie the score at one early on in the second half of the match. After a Graham Zusi corner kick was headed away off the front post by Eder, Nani being Nani had a terrible header (what a surprise) right out to Jermaine Jones, who was standing just above and to the left of the arc behind the box. The Besiktas midfielder collected himself, took a touch to the right, and curled the ball around Portuguese defender Ricardo Costa and into the far post past a helpless Beto for an absolutely filthy goal for the US. Along with Tim Cahill's volley goal for Australia against Netherlands, Messi's free-kick yesterday versus Nigeria, and possibly Robin van Persie's flying header goal against Spain and Iker Casillas, Jones's goal could be thought of as the best of the tournament, especially considering the magnitude of the goal and just how difficult it was to hit it around a player and bring it back in for a score.

Obviously, any time you score a goal like Jones, it makes any performance you put forth on the field a good one, but Jones played the best game for the US against Portugal even without that amazing goal. Jones was everywhere in the midfield and was constantly making challenges in the middle to win the ball back from Moutinho, Veloso, and Meireles, which was more so the aggressive and determined Jones than the wild and reckless Jones that I refereed to before the tournament began. Aside from his combative nature in winning 50-50 balls, which has always been there, Jones has been the best US player at linking play between the midfield and players running in behind the defense, which most people, including myself, thought would be the role of Michael Bradley. However, Jones has looked far better at connecting with his teammates when they are making runs forward and has been the main US option in taking the ball and making something happen from the midfield, as only Zusi created more chances than him for the US against Portugal.

Jermaine Jones's Goal Against Portugal

Finally, Clint Dempsey had a very good game up top for the United States against Portugal in the lone striker role, showing that the US can still manage to make some things happen going forward without the holdup play of Jozy Altidore, something they were unable to do against Ghana for almost the entirety of the game. In the 81st minute, Dempsey scored his 4th goal for the Red, White, and Blue in the World Cup, joining Bert Patenaude and Landon Donovan as the only US players to have more than 3 goals in the world's biggest international tournament (Patenaude had 4 goals in the inaugural tournament in 1930 and Donovan had two goals in the 2002 World Cup versus Poland in the group stage and Mexico in the round of 16 and three in 2010 with two in the group stage versus Slovenia and Algeria respectively and also the United States' lone goal against Ghana in the knockout stage). The finish by Dempsey was a very nice one because as the ball went out to Zusi, who was wide open to the left of the goal after Bradley's left foot shot from DeAndre Yedlin's cross was blocked, Clint waited patiently right on the six so that he could remain on-side with Bruno Alves on the ground and then went forward to finish the goal off his chest when the ball eventually came in from Zusi (that ball into Yedlin to set up the whole play was done by Jermaine Jones once again, which further emphasizes how important of a role he played when they US tied Portugal). Dempsey is typically at his best when he is playing off of a striker as a second forward player, as shown during his best year at Fulham in 2011-2012 when Matin Jol would play Andy Johnson, Bobby Zamora, or Pavel Pogrebnyak at the striker role and Dempsey in behind one of them, which helped Clint score 17 goals in 37 league games and 23 goals in all competitions for "The Cottagers" that season, the most for the team in the top division since Allan Clarke scored 24 league goals for them all the bay back in 1967-1968.

However, Dempsey looked very very comfortable playing up top on his own with Alejandro Bedoya and Graham Zusi on the wings and Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones attempting to combine with the players going forward. The concern with Dempsey as the lone striker was that he would only check to feet when Bradley or Jones had the ball and that the Portuguese back four of Joao Pereira, Ricardo Costa, Bruno Alves, and Andre Almeida would not be stretched enough because Dempsey would not provide enough depth down the field for the US. But Dempsey was constantly making runs off the shoulders of Bruno Alves and Ricardo Costa and in behind the Portuguese defense, something that gave the US so much more space in the midfield to work with because Alves and Costa were not pressing as high as they would have if Dempsey did not make those runs over the top. Nonetheless, it was a team effort to get forward that really helped the US because Fabian Johnson was consistently shooting forward and Graham Zusi was running in behind from his left midfield spot as well to open up the field for the Yanks and give them the necessary space to operate. As the game went on, Dempsey began to get on the ball more and more after he had loosened up the Portuguese defense, which the US needs because he is such a dynamic player when he dribbles at people in the attacking third and is taking shots from distance to threaten the goalkeeper.

 

Clint Dempsey's Goal For The US Plus Some Random Reaction To It

There is no way around it, the United States missed a golden opportunity to advance to the round of 16 with the late goal by Varela from Portugal and they now have a very tough game against Germany ahead of them in their final group match from Recife. Since 1954, Deutschland's results in the World Cup are 1st in 1954, 4th in 1958, 7th in 1962, 2nd in 1966, 3rd in 1970, 1st in 1974, 6th in 1978, 2nd in 1982, 3nd in 1986, 1st in 1990, 5th in 1994, 7th in 1998, 2nd in 2002, 3rd in 2006, and 3rd in 2010, so it is safe to say that the Germans are a soccer powerhouse like few others. They have tons of quality in their midfield with Lahm, Kroos, Khedira, and Schweinsteiger, who looked very lively when he came on against Ghana and I think he will start in place of Khedira against the US, along with their dynamic front three system of Ozil, Muller, and Gotze although we could see Podolski, or Schurrle up there instead of Gotze for the game against the USA. Germany plays with four true central defenders in the back with Boateng on the right, Mertesacker and Hummels in the middle, and Howedes on the left, but Joachim Loew often instructs his fullbacks to stay back and not get forward, which should help the US because Germany often play very narrowly and in Klinsmann's 4-5-1, the midfield is very compact when the other team has the ball, which Germany will see a lot of with their talented stars. After showing their toughness and strength against Ghana and then turning in a really high level performance against a strong Portuguese side, there is no reason that the United States should not get a result from their match with Germany and move on to the final 16 to try to make some serious noise in Brazil.

2014 FIFA World Cup Group F and Group G Podcast - Nigeria vs Iran, Germany vs Portugal, and United States vs Ghana

 

 Germany vs Portugal Highlights

United States vs Ghana Highlights

Biggest Questions Heading Into The 2014 World Cup

It has been 3 years, 10 months, and 20 days since Andres Iniesta gave Spain their first ever World Cup with his crazy 116th minute goal in extra time against the Dutch to help La Roja join West Germany as the only team to win the European Championship and then follow up that triumph with a victory at the world's biggest international tournament (West Germany beat the Soviet Union 3-0 in the 1972 Euro Final behind two goals from legend Gerd Muller and then beat the Netherlands and Johan Cruyff in the 1974 World Cup Final 2-1 behind a game-winning goal from Muller once again).

It has been 150 weeks and 5 days since Giovanni van Bronckhorst scored an absolute rocket of a goal with his left foot against Uruguay in the semifinals from an unthinkable range (honestly, he took that shot from Zambia and that doesn't even border South Africa) and sent the Netherlands to their first World Cup final since they lost 3-1 in extra time to Argentina in 1978 (that goal has to be up there with some of the best World Cup goals ever like Maradona's solo run against England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals, Carlos Alberto's goal in the 1970 World Cup Final against Italy, or Dennis Bergkamp's goal for the Dutch in the 89th minute of their 2-1 quarterfinal victory over Argentina in 1998).

It has been 1,399 days since FIFA finally realized that we need goal-line technology after Frank Lampard's chip goal over Manuel Neuer, which clearly hit off the crossbar and went over the line, was not ruled a goal and not only continued the Three Lions disappointment at the World Cup because the game went from being tied at 2-2 to Germany running away with things in their 4-1 victory, but also the Germans dominance over England in head-to-head games (Germany is 3-1-1 against the English in their contests at the 1966, 1970, 1982, 1990, and 2010 World Cups).

It has been 34,152 hours since the Netherlands beat Brazil 2-1 and Germany destroyed Argentina 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the competition, sending both South American teams home before the semifinals in the same tournament for just the third time in the last eleven World Cups (1982 when they both exited in the second round to eventual champion Italy, who finished at the top of their group, and 2006 when Brazil lost to finalists France behind a goal from Henry and Argentina lost in penalties to Germany being the others).

It has been 2,059,200 minutes since Jay DeMerit and Carlos Bocanegra left a big enough gap for OJ's Ford Bronco to fit through when Asamoah Gyan scored in extra time against the US to help Ghana become just the third African nation along with Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002 to ever reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

It has been 123,033,600 seconds since Ghana and Uruguay played the most dramatic World Cup quarterfinal match I have ever seen, a game that included Luis Suarez's infamous hand ball to prevent a goal in the final minute of the second extra time period, Asamoah Gyan's missed penalty that would have ended the game on the final kick, then Gyan's subsequent beauty of a spot kick in the penalty shootout, and finally Uruguay's victory that helped them earn their first semifinal appearance in the World Cup since 1970.

However, after such a long wait there is only one number that really matters anymore, which is 14, the number of days until Brazil and Croatia finally kick off the World Cup in Sao Paulo on June 12 (I was tempted to say the only number that matters is 42, but I'm not sure how many of my readers are familiar with the answer to the ultimate question in life according to The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy). As good as the last World Cup proved to be, and it was that amazing even without any head-butting or Italian defensive wizardry, there is just something extra special about this World Cup.

The soccer world has not seen a World Cup in South America since Argentina won the tournament in their home nation behind Mario Kempes and Daniel Passarella in 1978 and Brazil have not hosted the cup since they lost in the final to Uruguay 2-1 all the way back in 1950 (that was so long ago that Mark Hamill, Geoffrey Rush, and Robin Williams were not even born yet). Thus, the Brazilians will face an unprecedented amount of pressure to bring World Cup glory back to their soccer crazy nation for the first time since Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, and Ronaldo led them to the trophy in 2002 with a 2-0 victory over Germany. In 2006, Germany faced the pressure of playing in front of their home fans and their third place finish was seen as a respectable result under now United States manager Jurgen Klinsmann, but a third place finish for the Brazilians at the World Cup would be the worst thing for the nation since Anderson Silva went down to Chris Weidman in December.

Meanwhile, Spain are looking to become just the third nation to defend their World Cup title four years after winning it, which would put them in a category with Italy, who did so in 1934 and 1938 due to the play of Giovanni Ferrari and Giuseppe Meazza, and Brazil, who did so behind Garrincha and Pele in 1958 and then again in 1962. La Roja have already won three straight major international tournaments with Euro 2008, the World Cup in 2010, and the European Championship for a second consecutive time in 2012, so a fourth title in a row would make them the greatest international soccer dynasty of all-time, ahead of the Brazilian teams in the late 1950's and early 1960's and the separate group in the early 1970's (Pele and Rivelino), the great German teams in the mid 1970's (Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller, and Paul Breitner), and the incredible French teams in the late 1990's and early 2000's (Zidane, Vieira, and Henry). There have been some great dynasties in sports that include the New York Yankees in the 1950's (Berra, Mantle, Rizzuto, and Whitey Ford), the Montreal Canadiens in the 1950's (Maurice Richard, Beliveau, Doug Harvey, Plante), the Boston Celtics in the 1960' (Cousy, Russell, Sam Jones, and Havlicek), UCLA in the 1960's and 1970's (Gail Goodrich, Lew Alcindor, Lucius Allen, and Bill Walton), the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970's (Bradshaw, Harris, Greene, Ham, and Blount), the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980's (Magic, Worthy, Wilkes, and Kareem), the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980's (Gretzky, Messier, and Paul Coffey), and the Chicago Bulls in the 1990's (Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman), but the Spanish National Team would be right there with every last one of them if they were able to take the World Cup Trophy back to their home nation once again.

The scary part about this discussion is that I've only talked about the two favorites in the field with the 2013 Confederations Cup Finalists, Brazil and Spain (Brazil is the only team to play in the Confederations Cup Final and then the World Cup Final the following year when they did so in 1997 and 1998). All 32 teams have so many stories to follow whether it be can Mexico turn things around after winning the Olympics in 2012 but having a dreadful qualifying campaign, will Joel Campbell of Costa Rica or Christian Atsu of Ghana be the break out player at the World Cup (they could go back to Arsenal and Chelsea respectively and each leave their loan deals with Olympiacos and Vitesse with a good tournament), or can a team like Chile or Colombia make a dark-horse run deep into the competition (Belgium is no longer a dark-horse in my book)? Here are the answers to all your pressing questions with the 2014 World Cup right upon us at last.

Will Didier Deschamps and France Regret Leaving Samri Nasri Off The Roster?

Although there were some big names in the soccer world that were left off world cup squads the past week including Isco, Lucas Moura, Philippe Coutinho, Kaka, Carlos Tevez, Mario Gomez, Michael Carrick, and Gael Clichy, Samri Nasri has to be the best footballer not going to the World Cup on a team that will be playing in Brazil (Nasri will join Petr Cech, David Alaba, Neven Subotic, Aaron Ramsey, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Zlatan Ibrahimovich, Robert Lewandowski, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Gareth Bale as the best players not going to the World Cup at all this summer). There was widespread speculation for weeks that Nasri would not be included in the French national side and his exclusion is not a real stunner to anybody that has closely followed his deeply strained relationship with French coach Didier Deschamps (anytime a player says, "I'll watch the World Cup on TV," and then defends his own abilities by saying, "If starting games in a club like Manchester City and winning two titles isn't enough, too bad, I won't regret anything," you know that things are going pretty poorly, even for the always tumultuous French National Team). Nasri's time playing for France, especially since Didier Deschamps took over Les Blues for Laurent Blanc after France's disappointing 2-0 exit in the quarterfinals of Euro 2012 to eventual champions Spain, has been rocky and tense to say the least, making his omission not something totally out of the blue, unlike the Cavs taking Anthony Bennett or the Jags selecting Blake Bortles.

However, it is still hard to fathom that a player of Nasri's quality, when he is at his best, has been left off a World Cup roster entirely. As you can say for any attack-minded Manchester City player this season, except for Alvaro Negredo at the end of the year, Nasri thrived in City's free flowing offensive movement under first year manager Manuel Pellegrini (City finished just 1 goal shy of tying Chelsea's record for most goals in a Premier League season, which they set in 2009-2010). Nasri's incredible outside of the foot goal in the League Cup Final against Sunderland, which helped give City their first League Cup since their 2-1 victory over Newcastle in 1976, showed his world class technical ability that few players have the ability to emulate around the box. He was instrumental in giving City their second league title in three seasons and making them just the third team in the last thirty years to do the League and League Cup double along with Chelsea in 2005 and Manchester United in 2009. Unlike his time playing under Roberto Mancini during his first two years at City, which was often characterized by his baffling inconsistency from game to game, Nasri was one of Man City's most reliable players this season. Yaye Toure, who I think had the best season for any midfielder in the world, was the only City midfielder to play more games than Nasri in the Premier League and the Frenchmen had more goals in his 2013-2014 campaign than his past two years with City combined. It is safe to say that Nasri had his best professional season in a World Cup year, another reason why his omission has some legitimate basis to be questioned.

When thinking about the biggest enigmas in sports, names like Nene, Starlin Castro, Andrei Arshavin, Hatem Ben Arfa, and Samri Nasri immediately come to mind (we just saw the good Nene that was determined to show the world he had enough of hearing about Joakim Noah and his Defensive Player of the Year Award, the first by a Bull since 1987-1988 when Michael Jordan had one of the best seasons in NBA history, when Nene averaged 17.75 points and 6.5 rebounds in the Wizards domination of the Bulls in 5 games and then we saw the run away and hide your children Nene when he averaged just 11 points and 4.5 rebounds in Washington's 6-game series loss against the Pacers). Before his very impressive season with City this year, Nasri's play with his club could be characterized by a very good performance where he would attack the back line and continue to move into open spots in midfield for passes followed by a game in which he would be content with passing and receiving the ball from side to side and showing very little interest in proceedings or in going forward. Nasri's maddening inconsistency for a player of his caliber was the reason why he was so often be passed over in the lineup prior to this season at City for guys like James Milner, Javi Garcia, Adam Johnson, Gareth Barry, and Nigel de Jong in the midfield. While his very frustrating erratic play stopped for club this year under Pellegrini, it sometimes still rears its ugly head for the French National Team. Nasri did have some real bright moments for France in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup that showed his quality as one of the world's most gifted midfielders, especially his goal against Belarus in Gomel that gave France a much needed 3-2 lead in the game and an eventual victory to secure their spot behind Spain in group I. However, in the first leg of France's World Cup playoff against Ukraine, Nasri was caught dribbling around the 18-yard box much too often and had a very poor performance in Les Blues 2-0 loss to the Yellow-Blue in Kiev. The defeat put the French on the brink of not making the World Cup for the first time since 1994 before they narrowly took the tie with a 3-0 win back in Paris in the second leg without the sometimes up and down Nasri in the lineup.

Despite his poor performance in the pivot first leg against Ukraine, most of the French team including Ribery, Remy, and Koscielny had terrible games as well, so Nasri's exclusion has more to do with Deschamps belief that Nasri would plague the chemistry of the squad (we all remember the disaster of a World Cup that France had in 2010 with the team boycott after the incidents with Anelka, Evra, Ribery, and Toulalan, so making sure that the French would play together, much easier said than done, was very important to Deschamps). Not only did Nasri serve a three game suspension for his altercation with a reporter after France's loss to Spain in Euro 2012 (he was one of four players along with Menez, M'Vila, and Ben Arfa to be reprimanded for their actions at the championships, another instance of French insolence that Deschamps has been trying to stop), but Deschamps also pointed to the fact that Nasri's "not happy when he's a substitute," giving more credence to the fact that Deschamps did not want to hurt the harmony of his squad by bringing on the sometimes disgruntled Nasri. Even if Nasri was not going to start and the French were going to play Matuidi, Pogba, and Cabaye in the middle with Ribery and Valbuena on the wings, Nasri could still provide a different option for Les Blues. Ribery and Valbuena are both very quick outside midfielders and can use their pace to get around players and put balls into the box for Benzema or Giroud. However, as we saw this season with Nasri at City when he played in beautiful little triangles with Toure and Silva, Nasri can play intricate football in the middle of the field and undo a defense if the dribbling on the wings is not working against the outside backs of Switzerland for example, who have the experience Juventus right back, Stephan Lichtsteiner, and the 21-year old rising star at left back from Wolfsburg with Ricardo Rodriguez, a player that was only topped by Reus and Max Kruse in terms of Bundesliga goal scoring chances created despite playing half back. Obviously, France could not take Nasri on the squad if he was truly unwilling to play the various roles that Deschamps would ask of him (I question the validity of this anyway because his teammates at City have never said anything bad about him), but there is no doubt that they will miss his passing ability and cleverness in midfield. Carrick had a terrible season at United and missed out on the England squad, Mario Gomez missed most of the season for Fiorentina and was not picked by Low, Clichy played a reserve role behind Aleksandar Kolarov and was not selected by Deschamps, so it is odd that Nasri will not be on the plane to Brazil after his finest year in England for City.

Will Adam Lallana Be In England's Starting XI?

A little more than three years ago in 2010-2011, Adam Lallana was playing in the third tier of English football with Southampton and competing for the Football League Trophy and promotion just to get one step closer to the Premier League (Southampton did win the Football League Trophy in 2010) rather than playing in the League Cup and England's highest footballing division. On the other hand, in 2010-2011, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard were coming off their second World Cup trips and Lampard scored 10 goals in the Premier League for Chelsea, marking the 8th consecutive year he bagged at least double digit goals in the league, dating all the way back to the 2003-2004 campaign when the blues finished 2nd to "the invincibles" of Arsenal. Gerrard also showed his quality in the 2010-2011 season when he came on as a substitute and scored a second half hat trick against Napoli in the group stage of the Europa League (Gerrard's only other hat trick in European competition came against Total Network Solutions in the first leg of their first round qualifying match in the Champions League in 2005-2006, the year after Liverpool beat AC Milan in their famous final in Istanbul). Meanwhile, in 2010-2011, Wayne Rooney was in the prime of his career with Manchester United, netting his 100th career goal with the club during a 4-2 game against West Ham where he scored a hat trick, scoring the best goal of his career on a ridiculous bicycle kick against rivals Man City, and helping United win their 3 league title in 4 years (they became the 6th club to accomplish the feat and joined Liverpool as the only English team do so since Arsenal won three titles in a row in the early 1930's. Two weeks ago I would have made a joke about Arsenal winning trophies, so it saddens me that they actually won something that isn't Champions League qualification by finishing 3rd or 4th in the league, which they have done for 9 straight seasons, when they narrowly came back against Hull for their first FA Cup title since they beat United in penalties in 2004-2005). With all that being said, it is crazy to think that Lampard and Gerrard, two players that rank in the top 8 in English international caps with more than 100, and Rooney, who is 5th in international goals for an English player and should eventually catch Bobby Charlton for the all-time lead in the category, could conceivably be relying on a player in Brazil, if Roy Hodgson starts him in midfield, who after the last World Cup was playing two divisions below Chelsea, Liverpool, and United all the way down in league one in Adam Lallana.

To begin with, England's midfield is not as talented or as deep as any of the other so called top teams in the field (can we still call the Three Lions a top team when they have not reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup since they finished in fourth in 1990 and when it would actually be a mild surprise if they made it out of the group stage with Uruguay and Italy also in group D). The only definite in the England midfield is Steven Garrard, who is going to play in front of England's back four after he showed this season with Liverpool that he is as good as any defensive midfielder in the world, which includes players such as Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi, and Sami Khedira. Gerrard's ability to play long balls over the top with pin point accuracy will help an English team that could have some real pure speed up front to get behind defenses. However, the rest of the English midfield is a bigger mystery than a Harlan Coban novel. While James Milner is a very good player to have on a squad because he can play anywhere in midfield and works very hard to win the ball and keep it, he is not dynamic enough to start for the English. Although Ross Barkley is a terrific talent at just the age of 20 and has the ability to become England's next great midfielder following in the footsteps of Beckham, Scholes, Cole, Gerrard, and Lampard, Hodgson is not going to start a player with that much inexperience (he has yet to play double digit premier league games in a season). On the complete other end of the spectrum, Frank Lampard is no longer the same guy that became the first player in the Premier League era to score more than 20 goals in a league season as a midfielder and will likely not feature in England's starting XI after playing behind Ramires, Nemanja Matic, and Oscar for Chelsea this season. If Rooney is going to start up front with Sturridge playing off him in some sort of formation, that leaves six players (Wilshere, Henderson, Ox, Sterling, Lallana, and Welbeck) vying for three spots in the English midfield and wide areas and with Welbeck a much better fit up front than on the left and Wilshere just coming back from a left foot injury that kept him out nearly two months, Lallana does have the inside track to start.

Although Lallana is not trying to crack the Spanish midfield, it is not like he is the tallest midget either because for all their promise to let you down, much like Ivory Coast, the English do have some talent to provide some fireworks at the World Cup, especially if they start Lallana. With the likes of England internationals Rickie Lambert and Luke Shaw along with players such as Steven Davis, Jay Rodriguez, Dejan Lovren, Jack Cork, and Jose Fonte, Southampton had a very solid squad this season to help them come in 8th in the premier league, which was their highest finish in the top division since they came in 7th all the way back in 1989-1990. However, everything that the Saints did under Mauricio Pochettino in their best campaign in nearly 25 years was centered around Lallana, as evidenced by the fact that the 26 year old was put on the Premier League Team of the Year in midfield along with Gerrard, Toure, and Hazard and was on the shortlist for Premier League Player of the Year with Suarez, Gerrard, Sturridge, Toure, and Hazard. If Lallana can perform on the international level like he did all season long for Southampton, he provides something a little different than anybody else on the English team because no other player in midfield, except for maybe Wilshere, has the creativity to set up goal scoring chances like Lallana. Although Lallana only has three caps for the Three Lions, he showed his quality to make the players around him better when he set up Daniel Sturridge's header at the doorstep of the goal for England's only score in a 1-0 friendly win at Wembley against Denmark in March. While England do have players with pace like Sturridge, Welbeck, Ox, and Sterling and some players that are real good distributors of the ball like Gerrard, Henderson, and Lampard, Lallana is one of the only players on England that enjoys playing in tight spaces and can keep the ball with his quick feet, something England could not do at all when Italy beat them in penalties in the quarterfinals of Euro 2012 (that game was just about the best single performance I have ever seen from a guy that didn't score a goal because Pirlo dictated the whole game from a deep lying midfield position). Lallana can play both sides of the field equally well and is very good with the ball at his feet, which is why Hodgson should really start the Southampton man in midfield for the World Cup.

Will Their Be A Team Outside of Europe and South America In The Quarterfinals:

In my picks for the World Cup, the only team I had reaching the quarterfinals of the tournament from CONCACAF, the CAF, or the AFC was Ivory Coast out of group C, but past history shows that it is entirely possible that we could have our final eight teams all from the European and South American confederations. In 1986, Mexico made a run to the quarterfinals of the World Cup and Cameroon did the same in 1990, but they were one of only two teams, along with Morocco in 1986 and Costa Rica in 1990, to even make it to the knockout stage from CONCACAF, the CAF, or the AFC in those two respective tournaments. With Saudi Arabia losing to Sweden 3-1, the US going down to eventual champions Brazil 1-0, Mexico losing in penalties to Bulgaria, and eventual finalists Italy beating Nigeria in extra time 2-1 in the round of 16, the 1994 World Cup did not see one team from a confederation outside of Europe and South America in the quarters. In 1998, Europe and South America swept all eight spots in the quarterfinals of the tournament once again with Nigeria losing 4-1 to Denmark and Mexico falling 2-1 to Germany in the round of 16. The only real good year for nations in CONCACAF, the CAF, and the AFC came in 2002, when the United States and Senegal both made it to the quarterfinals before losing 1-0 to eventual finalists Germany and 1-0 to Turkey on a golden goal in extra time respectively and when South Korea made it all the way to the semifinals of the World Cup, marking the best finish for the federation at the world's biggest international tournament. Back in 2006, all of the teams in the quarterfinals were from Europe or South America, as Mexico lost to Argentina 2-1 in extra time, Australia fell to eventual champions Italy on a penalty kick goal from Francesco Totti in the 95 minute right before extra time, and Ghana were killed by Brazil 3-0 in the round of 16. Most recently in 2010, Ghana was the only team to reach the quarterfinals from a region outside of Europe or South America after they beat the United States behind Asamoah Gyan's goal in extra time in the round of 16 (I'm still bitter about that goal so of course the soccer gods put US and Ghana in the same group once again for this World Cup for the big rematch in Natal on June 16). Since the competition went to this current format in 1986, there have been just 6 teams to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament not from Europe and South America in the last 7 World Cups combined.

Now, the landscape of international soccer has certainly changed of late and teams from all over the world have become much more equipped to compete against the powerhouses from Europe and South America since the turn of the century. Some of the most gifted players in the world right now come from CONCACAF, the CAF, and the AFC including Yaya Toure, Kwadwo Asamoah, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mehdi Benatia, John Obi Mikel, Keisuke Honda, Son Heung-Min, Shinji Kagawa, and Javier Hernandez. The Asian confederation has improved with the addition of Australia, a team that has made three straight World Cups and even made the round of 16 back in 2006. While the rest of the teams in CONCACAF are still coming along at a slower pace than anticipated, which is a nice way of saying that they are struggling (Honduras is likely the 4th most successful team in the confederation and they have never had a World Cup victory), Mexico took home Olympic gold over Brazil in 2012 and have made it to the knockout stage in 6 straight World Cups that have participated in (they were banned from the 1990 tournament) and soccer in the United States has seen an undeniably growth over the past decade and will continue to rise in popularity until it becomes one of the most popular sports in all of America (the US has made 7 straight World Cups after missing out on every tournament from 1954 to 1986 and the MLS has expanded from the 10 teams it had in its inaugural season in 1996 and will have 21 teams by 2015 with the addition of New York FC and Orlando City SC with teams in Atlanta and Miami likely coming by 2017). Although there are teams outside of Europe and South America that do have some real promise for not only the present but also the future (calling on you Julian Green, Lacina Traore, and Joel Obi), they have not been able to put it together as of yet, so this World Cup will serve as a very important referendum for the progress and the state of soccer in CONCACAF, Africa, and Asia on a global platform.

Based upon the quality of their squads, their World Cup groups, and their chances of getting hot in June and making a surprise run in the field, here are my rankings of teams from CONCACAF, the CAF, and the AFC from least to most likely of making the quarterfinals of the world's biggest international soccer competition, which has been a rare feat for teams outside of Europe and South America: Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Mexico, Japan, United States, Ghana, Cameroon, Algeria, South Korea, Costa Rica, Honduras, Iran, and then finally Australia (it is amazing that 40 percent of the field are teams outside of Europe and South America and yet they will be lucky to have one of them reach the final eight clubs left in the World Cup). Starting at the bottom, you can easily make a case that Algeria, South Korea, Costa Rica, Honduras, Iran, and Australia are the worst six teams in the entire World Cup field with Greece being the only team keeping Cameroon out of the bottom seven. In arguably the toughest group in the tournament with the two finalists from 2010 with Spain and Netherlands and the very dangerous Chilean side, Australia is going to be a horror show (I'm calling it now that the Socceroos will become the first team since El Salvador in 1982 to conceded at least 13 goals in one World Cup). Despite having some talented players with PSV midfielder Bryan Ruiz and fellow playmaker Joel Campbell, Costa Rica are in a very difficult group with England, Italy, and Uruguay, all ranked within the top 11 in the world in FIFA rankings, and will almost certainly be knocked out in the group stage for the third time in four tries. Unlike Costa Rica, Honduras and Iran are not in terribly difficult groups, but they are just plain bad teams and there is no way around that, so they will likely exit the World Cup early as well. Finally, Algeria and South Korea are in the same group and will play in Porto Alegre with chances to pick up points, but Belgium and Russia are heavy favorites to make it out of group H. I would be more surprised if Algeria, South Korea, Costa Rica, Honduras, Iran, or Australia made it to the quarters than if the next Transformers movie didn't have any autobots, meaning in an odd roundabout way that it is not going to happen.

Although there are some really poor teams featuring in the World Cup from CONCACAF, the CAF, and the AFC (essentially, the confederations are a pseudo NBA Eastern Conference), the regions do have some clubs with the capacity to make a run to the quarterfinals of the tournament. Cameroon and Mexico are both in group A and will more than likely be fighting for the second spot in the group behind Brazil as long as the natural order of the world remains intact. Mexico are the more likely to make it out of the group and have a chance at probably Chile or Netherlands in the round of 16 although Cameroon do have some pretty good individual players with Samuel Eto'o, Pierre Webo, Stephane Mbia, Alex Song, and Benoit Assou-Ekotto. Mexico had very little variety in the offensive third in their horrendous qualifying campaign when they scored just 7 goals in 10 games in the hexagonal. Giovani dos Santos and Oribe Peralta will both have to be less predictable going forward and Javier Hernandez will need to start finishing the opportunities his movement around the box provides for him in order for the Mexicans to reach the final eight teams. Of all the teams outside of Europe and South America, Ivory Coast is the only squad I would pick ahead of the United States and Ghana, but their group of death with Germany and Portugal is just so difficult that making it into the knockout stage would be quite an accomplishment for the clubs, which is why I had them behind Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Mexico, and Japan in terms of likelihood to reach the quarters. The US take on the Black Stars in the first set of games in group G, so if either team suffers a loss in the opening game their hopes of a run past the group stage would certainly be all but over.

Meanwhile, Japan and Ivory Cost, my pick to win group C and then beat Uruguay in the round of 16 to make the final eight, are both in a group that hinges upon Radamel Falcao's availability for Colombia, meaning that the clubs have a chance to make a World Cup run with the uncertainty of the Monaco striker. Everybody knows that Italy have a ton of world class defenders, Spain is stacked in the midfield, but Ivory Coast is actually the team with the best group of strikers in all of the World Cup (Germany, who if they don't play Miroslav Klose may deploy a false nine, could use one of Cote d'Ivoire's forwards). The Elephants have a loaded strike-force of Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Wilfried Bony, Seydou Doumbia, and Lacina Traore all at their expense. This Ivory Coast team is massively talented with Yaye Toure being the orchestrator in the center of midfield, Cheick Tiote of Newcastle playing in behind him, the speedy Gervinho playing on a wing, and Didier Zokora and Kolo Toure solidifying the defense. Will all the talent they have, if Cote d'Ivoire fail once again at a major international tournament, they will be the most disappointing sports team since the 1988 US Men's Basketball Team that lost to the Soviet Union and had to settle for a Bronze in the Olympics. Finally, the Super Eagles, who won the African Cup of Nations in 2013, could make a trip to the quarterfinals, especially since group E of France, Switzerland, Ecuador, and Honduras is not a very strong quartet of teams if Nigeria do happen to make it into the knockout stage. Argentina will more than likely top group F with Iran coming in dead last, so the game between Nigeria and Bosnia and Herzegovina in Cuiaba on June 21 could determine which team will move on to the round of 16 with a fighter's chance to get into the final eight.

What Did We Learn, If Anything, From The United States' 2-0 Friendly Victory Against Azerbaijan?

Let's get this out of the way first, the decision by the US Soccer Federation to play a friendly against Azerbaijan in one of the windiest cities in America at Candlestick Park in San Francisco is the worst decision by an American group since the SEC declined to investigate Bernie Madoff or since the government essentially let Lehman Brothers go bankrupt. The opponent for the US National Team made very little sense unless Klinsmann wanted to give the squad some confidence just 16 days before the World Cup because outside of their midfielder Vagif Javadov, who was apart of the CSKA Moscow youth system, the Azeris did not have a single player on the field with a skill set that was anywhere close to what the United States will be seeing in the World Cup. Azerbaijan's soccer history is about as detailed as the history of Timor-Leste or South Sudan, meaning that it is basically non-existent. In qualification for the 2014 World Cup, the Azeris had their most successful campaign to date and yet they had just one victory, which came over Northern Ireland, a team so bad that they lost to the Netherlands 6-0 in a friendly in Amsterdam in 2012. Looking at Azerbaijan's attempts to qualify for the World Cup in 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2010, and their hopes to make the European Championships in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012, they have only ever had one single victory away from their home nation in competitive matches, which came over the mighty powerhouse of Liechtenstein in 2010 World Cup qualifying, who make the Oakland Raiders look like a dynasty (they are currently 50th out of 53 teams in UEFA in the FIFA Rankings). More often than not, Azerbaijan had nine or ten guys behind the ball when the US was attacking, which is why the USMNT had 70 percent possession in the game. Although Klinsmann has instilled a sense of confidence in the US players to keep the ball and play out of the back while looking for combinations and balls over the top to the wings much more than Bob Bradley ever emphasized, constant ball possession and quick passing in the midfield is more of a weakness than a strength for the US.

The team is much more suited to play on the counterattack after observing pressure, which is why a club like Azerbaijan that gave the US the ball and waited to see if they could break them down made very little sense for an opposition because things in the World Cup will be much different. Ghana have a lot of midfielders that like to play around with the ball including the Ayew brothers, Kwadwo Asamoah, Michael Essien, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Sulley Muntari, and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, so the US will be looking to spring the counter against the Black Stars. When the USMNT take on Portugal in Manaus on June 22, the quickness of the Seleccao with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Silvestre Varela, Vieirinha, and Nani will put the US under a tremendous amount of pressure, so it will be of the utmost importance for Jozy Altidore to keep hold of the ball when it comes to him up front against the big Portuguese center backs, Bruno Alves and Pepe. Finally, with the midfield that Germany possesses of Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Toni Kroos, Ozil, Gotze, and Draxler (this is considering Podolski, Schurrle, Reus, and Muller as forwards), the most important thing for the US is organization rather than ball possession when they face off against Deutschland in Recife on June 26.

However, we can still get some takeaways from the United States' rather sluggish 2-0 victory over Azerbaijan in one of their final three World Cup tuneups (they are playing Turkey on June 1 at Red Bull Arena and finish up with fellow World Cup team Nigeria on June 7 at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, where the ghost of Blaine Gabbert can be still be found because he doesn't even make Rick Mirer, Joey Harrington, or Tim Couch look like terrible top 10 picks). Under Klinsmann, the United States has had a constantly evolving back four and since Jurgen has used so many different combinations in defense in qualifying and in World Cup tuneups, the back line has had a lack of stability with their inexperience in playing with one another. To begin, a strong central back pairing is vital to World Cup success because international games are typically not as high scoring as club affairs with teams less willing to risk sending too many players forward, especially with the knowledge that a few too many goals allowed in a game could prove costly in the four team round robin in group play if it comes down to goal differential. Therefore, teams like Brazil that have Thiago Silva and David Luiz (or Dante if they want, which is scary), Spain with Pique and Sergio Ramos, Italy that has Chiellini along with Barzagli or Bonucci, France with some duo of Sakho, Varane and Koscielny, Portugal that has Bruno Alves and Pepe, or Germany with some combination of Mertesacker, Boateng, Hummels, and Howedes are at such an advantage because they have a reliable tandem in central defense to keep them in ever game where goals need to be hard to come by.

I think last night's game showed Klinsmann that the best pair of center backs for the United States, which is still a question that needs to be answered before Brazil comes around, are Matt Besler and Geoff Cameron rather than Besler playing with the LA Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez or Hertha Berlin's very inexperienced John Brooks. The left-footed Matt Besler from Sporting KC, who was the MLS Defender of the Year in 2012, is going to start in center defense for Klinsmann, as he is really good with the ball at his feet, as he showed against the Azeris, and has the necessary composure to play in tense situations in the back. Meanwhile, with Marc Wilson and Ryan Shawcross playing in center defense for Stoke City and Mark Hughes having no problem with playing a very large back line of four, Geoff Cameron played primarily as a right back for Stoke in the Premier League this season (Cameron was a big part of a Stoke defense that helped the Stafforshire club finish in the top ten of the top division in English football for the first time since they finished 4th all the way back in 1995-1996). Nonetheless, Klinsmann likes his outside backs to get up and down the field with pace more so than Cameron likes to do and is capable of doing, so the German coach sees the Stoke man more so in center defense, which is where he needs to be next to Besler when the US take on Ghana in northeastern Brazil. At 6-3, Geoff Cameron is physically a commanding presence in defense and is very good in the air, a skill set that will help the US back line with any aerial balls or crosses that should come into the box. Granted it was against Azerbaijan, but Cameron looked very strong in the defense with Besler and very comfortable in the center back role that he has not played too much of in the past few seasons with Stoke.

In terms of outside backs, despite playing some left midfield with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga, it makes sense for Klinsmann to play Fabian Johnson at left back, as he did against the Azeris, because he can provide width for the US in attack and can float in crosses with his dangerous left foot. Although Cameron is good at moving the ball around the back, Johnson is much better at getting by defenders in one on one situations and is better suited to play outside back in Klinsmann's system where his defenders are encouraged to get forward. Johnson is the best half back the United States has in its squad and will start in one of the half back roles, so it will be between the Sounders very talented 20-year old DeAndre Yedlin, FC Nurnberg's Timothy Chandler, and the veteran on the squad, DaMarcus Beasley, who has the 5th most international caps in US Soccer history, for the right back spot. All three of the candidates played against Azerbaijan and Beasley, who got the start at one of the half back roles, has the slight edge because of his experience and smarts in anticipation and knowing where to be on the field although Yedlin has the raw speed that is very valuable in a right back.

The most valuable lesson that Klinsmann learned from the United States' game against Azerbaijan was about his back line quartet and the next two games will also serve most importantly as a test run for the US defense and their shape, but there were also some interesting things to note about the US in their more cemented midfield and attacking areas in their 2-0 victory over the Azeris. Klinsmann went with a center mid pairing of Jermaine Jones and Michael Bradley against Azerbaijan although I still think Bradley, who has the keys to the US offense with his distribution abilities, plays his best with Kyle Beckerman of Real Salt Lake playing in behind him. In Klinsmann's system, where the outside backs are encouraged to get forward and join the attack, especially a player that is accustomed to doing so like Fabian Johnson, the US need a strong defensive midfielder to cover for the attacking runs of any player from the back four, which Beckerman does a better job of than Jones. As Jones showed against Azerbaijan, he is pretty good with the ball at his feet in playing to the outside backs and he showed his strength in winning most of the 50-50 balls against the Azeris, but he is too wild and reckless to be that steady holding midfielder for the US team. Jones does have a pretty good strike on him, but it is a blessing and a curse because he can get in on the goals, but it forces Bradley to sometimes play too deep because Jones likes to go forward and join the attack. Since the US need Bradley as high up the field as possible so that he can be the creative engine of the team due to his vision being superb by any standards, Beckerman is more suited to play in the hole behind the midfield and in front of the defense and I am not just saying that because he has great deadlocks (ok, only partly). Much like how Shane Battier knows his role on the Heat to flop around a little bit on defense and stretch the floor for any threes, how Draymond Green will attempt to guard anybody on the floor from the 1 to the 5 to help the Warriors, or how if you get near Erik Karlsson or Jason Spezza Senators enforcer Chris Neil will let you know about it, Beckerman understands his role on the USMNT really well, much better than Jones, and would allow Bradley the freedom he needs in midfield to set up wingers Graham Zusi and Alejandro Bedoya, who I thought had way too many careless giveaways with nobody on him against Azerbaijan, and Dempsey and Altidore up front. Bradley did not take enough risks against Azerbaijan because he needs to be further up the field to be at his best.

Meanwhile, Mikkel Diskerud from the club Rosenborg in Norway showed that he can be a useful sub in midfield with his goal against the Azeris and he will be used along with Brad Davis, who we know is a specialist with his wicked left foot where he can bend balls in from anywhere on a free kick and has a real hammer of a shot, off the bench to supplement the likely starters in the US diamond midfield of Jones or Beckerman, Bradley, Zusi, and Bedoya. The only question that stands is whether Aron Johannsson or Chris Wondolowski will be the first forward to come in when Klinsmann calls on a substitute in Brazil. Despite Altidore's massive struggle in his first year at Sunderland, where he scored just 1 league goal in 30 Premier League appearances, he is going to start for Klinsmann because the US need a big, strong forward up front like the 6-1 Altidore to hold up play and allow the US to release some of the pressure that they will be facing in the group stage from Ghana, Portugal, and Germany. Johannsson did score 17 goals for AZ Alkmaar in the Eredivisie, the 3rd most in the Dutch league (Jozi scored 23 goals for AZ in 2012-2013 and that didn't really prove to be worth too much of anything for what it is worth), and he has a pretty powerful strike on goal while Wondo could be play the Man United Javier Hernandez role, where he comes in and uses his incredible movement and positioning around the box to score an important goal towards the end of a match (he is always in the right place at the right time as evidenced by the two chances he had off the Zusi free kick and the Bedoya cross in the first half against Azerbaijan and his MLS record tying 27 goals in a single-season, which he set in 2012 with the San Jose Earthquakes due to his ball hawking sense on the field).

Which World Cup Favorites Are In The Most Danger Of Not Making It To The Knockout Stage?

Please don't get me wrong, the World Cup is not even in the same stratosphere as March Madness (the closest thing soccer has had to the 1983 North Carolina St. team that won it all by beating prohibitive favorite Houston in the finals, a team that had future NBA Hall of Famers Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon on it, after they went a very average 17-10 in the regular season and needed to win the ACC tourney over Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins of North Carolina and Ralph Sampson of Virginia just to get into the Big Dance was when Senegal made it to the quarters in their first ever World Cup in 2002, and yet the Lions of Teranga were still three full victories away from hoisting the trophy), but there is always a certain sense of unexpectedness and fickleness that can be felt at the world's biggest international tournament. The unpredictability of the competition and the fact that one unlucky loss in the group stage can be catastrophic and that the knockout stage is only single elimination lends itself to the fact that no team in the field is safe from being getting knocked out early. Of course, the dream semifinal that so many people have in their pre-World Cup brackets of Brazil against Germany in Belo Horizonte and Argentina facing off against Spain in Sao Paulo is what looks destined to occur on paper, but the best four teams in the world more often than not do not all reach the semifinals of the tournament. In fact, in most sports, except for college football most of the time, the best team so rarely comes away with the title at the end of the season (since 2003, the Columbus Crew in 2008 and the LA Galaxy in 2011 are the only two teams to win the Supporters' Shield and then go on to win the MLS Cup. In the first 13 years that the NCAA began to seed in March Madness from 1979 to 1991, a number 1 seed was only able to take home the championship 4 times, being North Carolina in 1982, Georgetown in 1984, Indiana in 1987 and UNLV in 1990. In the NHL, the Detroit Red Wings in 2007-2008 and the Chicago Blackhawks last year are the only two teams since 2002 to win the Stanley Cup after receiving the Presidents' Trophy that season. Since 1990, the New York Yankees in 1998 and then again in 2009 are the only two teams to have the best outright record in baseball during the regular season and then become World Series winners. Finally, in the last 17 years, only the Patriots in 2004 and the Seahawks last season have had the best or tied for the best record in the NFL regular season and gone on to win the Super Bowl later that year).

All the time in the World Cup we see teams that are favorites to take home the World Cup Trophy not only fall short of winning the world's most important title, like in many other sports, but also failing to even make it out of the group stage, as they go three and out in very disappointing and embarrassing fashion. In 1994, despite it being just their third ever World Cup and only their 2nd in the last 8 possible tournaments since 1966, and never having made it to even the quarterfinals of the big competition, Pele labeled Colombia as one of the favorites for World Cup glory in the Untied States. The Colombians were in their golden generation of football with world class players such as Carlos Valderrama, Faustino Asprilla, Freddy Rincon, and Leonel Alvarez in their squad, who all played a very exciting and attacking brand of soccer. However, after losing 3-1 to Romania, who would eventually make their furthest World Cup run ever with a trip to the quarters, Los Cafeteros let their nerves and external pressures get to them even more than before because they suffered a shock defeat to a much undermatched US team 2-1 that essentially was their World Cup knockout blow (it was literally Andres Escobar's knockout blow because he was killed due to his own goal in the game). While many people picked Argentina to win the World Cup in 2002 (it was Argentina, France, and Brazil as the three favorites in the field) for the first time since they had Diego Maradona running the show in Mexico in 1986, the White and Sky Blue were so poor offensively that they did not even make it out of the group stage for the first time since the 1962 World Cup in Chile when they finished behind Hungary and England in the first round pool play. The much hyped Argentinian team of Walter Samuel, Javier Zanetti, Juan Veron, Hernan Crespo, Gabriel Batistuta, and Ariel Ortega managed to score just 2 goals in their 3 games, tied for their fewest in a single World Cup and they were shockingly sent home after finishing 3rd in the difficult group F due to a 1-0 loss to England behind a David Beckham penalty for the Three Lions and a 1-1 tie to Sweden that was only salvaged by a late Crespo equalizer. Meanwhile, in 2010, coming off of their World Cup triumph over France in penalties in Germany, Italy somehow tied both Paraguay and New Zealand 1-1 and lost to Slovakia 3-2 in the very weak group F, joining just the 1966 Brazil team and 2002 French squad as the only clubs to not move past the first round of the World Cup as defending champions of the tournament. Despite having a roster with 9 players that were crowned World Cup champions just four years before including Buffon, Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Daniele De Rossi, Gattuso, and Pirlo, the Azzurri did not even make the second round of the field for the first time since they finished behind Poland and Argentina in group play in 1974 and they failed to win at least one game at the cup for the first time in 17 trips to the competition.

I could see Netherlands as the team that is favored by many to make a Word Cup run that could leave the tournament before the knockout stage even begins, which would mark the first time since the 1938 World Cup in France that they would participate in the tournament and not make it out of the first round. The Dutch remind me of Argentina in that they have as much offensive talent and playmaking as the 2000 Rams or the 1983-1984 Oilers, but they are very susceptible in their defensive third (a pretty massive difference between the clubs, however, is that Argentina have Lionel Messi and the Netherlands do not although Arjen Robben dribbles enough to make it seem like he is trying to be Messi). Holland can plug in Nigel de Jong in the holding midfield role so that he can fill in any gaps defensively and provide some toughness in the center of the field, but it really comes down to the back five playing as a group in keeping the ball and winning any aerial challenges around the box if the squad want to have anywhere close to a performance like they did in 2010 when they were just 4 minutes away from reaching penalties with Spain for the World Cup title (Iniesta is a name that is not to be uttered in the Netherlands). The future Man United boss Louis van Gaal seems to be leaning towards playing a 5-3-2 formation with the Oranje, which puts even more importance on De Jong staying in the hole when the wing backs go forward and overlap the wingers. Regardless of what kind of tactical shape the Flying Dutchmen were panning on deploying in Brazil, they were going to struggle defensively just because they lack the top class talent that other teams have in their back line, but going to five defenders right before the tournament with very little experience playing in the formation is a very risky move by van Gaal. Although playing with three central defenders against teams like Spain and Chile, clubs that would much rather pass the ball through the middle of the field than swing in crosses, may still yet prove to be effective, Ron Vlaar, Stefan de Vrij, and Bruno Martins Indi are not exactly going to scare the Spanish midfield or the likes of Alexi Sanchez, Arturo Vidal, and Eduardo Vargas on Chile. Spacing in the back could also be an issue for a team like the Dutch that has not played with the formation in a lot of matches prior to their kickoff against Spain on June 13 in a World Cup Finals rematch from Salvador.

Even offensively the Dutch could find some trouble scoring enough goals against Spain and Chile to move on to the knockout stage. Losing Roma box-to-box central midfielder Kevin Strootman to a torn ACL really hurt the Netherlands because the Dutchman was not only a commanding presence in the middle of the field but also had very good vision to find his teammates, and van Gaal got more bad news when Rafael van der Vaart and his very dangerous left foot that is always good for an incredible goal once in a while was ruled out of the World Cup due to a calf injury. The Netherlands Euro 2012 disaster, where they scored just two goals in their three losses to Denmark, Germany, and Portugal in their worst European Championship performance since they were knocked out in the group stage in 1980, showed the lack of offensive cohesion among the many talented attacking players that the Dutch still possess in their squad. If the Oranje want a chance to make it past Spain and Chile in the very difficult group B of the World Cup, their three main offensive players - Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, and Robin van Persie - will all have to be on the same page and willing to play with one another (in other words, they need to have the exact opposite of what Drake details in his song, "Trust Issues").

There are some other high quality clubs, outside of the Netherlands, that have to be careful if they want to make it past the group stage of the World Cup and be the last team standing on July 13 in Rio de Janeiro at the Estadio do Maracana. Amongst the top ten favorites for the world's biggest international tournament that do not include the Dutch, I think that Uruguay is the most likely squad to not make it to the knockout stage. Everything about me picking 2-time World Cup Champions Uruguay to not make the final 16 teams of the field for the first time since they finished behind Denmark and Senegal in group play in 2002 feels wrong on the surface level. Los Charruas made the semifinals of the 2010 World Cup behind a combined ten goals from their offensive trio of Diego Forlan, Luis Suarez, and Edinson Cavani, their best result in the World Cup since they came in 4th place in 1970, won their first Copa America since 1995 when they beat Paraguay 3-0 in the final in 2011, only lost to World Cup favorites Brazil 2-1 on a 86th minute goal from Paulinho in the semifinals of the 2013 Confederations Cup (they also only lost in penalties to Italy in the third place match after a very solid 2-2 tie for 120 minutes), they have two of the best twenty players in the world to score all of their goals with Suarez and Cavani, and if they were to not make it to the knockout stage, it would most likely mean that England would do something they never do, which is overachieve and actually play well in a major international tournament.

However, I just see some flaws in the Uruguayan team that could result in an early exit for La Celeste (in honor of the New York Rangers making their first Stanley Cup Finals since 20 years ago in 1994, a Cup where they would eventually go on to beat the Canucks in seven games for their first title since 1940 when FDR was President, this is my Mark Messier-like guarantee for the World Cup). Suarez is fantastic in all facets of the game and he is coming off a season with Liverpool in which he tied Alan Shearer and Cristiano Ronaldo's record for most goals in a 38 game Premier League season with 31 (he set the Premier League record for best goals to game ratio at 0.94) and became the 6th Liverpool player to win PFA Players' Player of the Year Award, but he had a very suspect surgery on his left meniscus right before the World Cup and even Cavani admitted, "We're all a bit discouraged by what happened [with Suarez]." Suarez's injury is very alarming for a Uruguay team that relies so heavily on his ability to put the ball into the back of the net, especially since Oscar Tabarez has not said if Suarez will be ready for the team's opening game against Costa Rica on June 14 from Fortaleza. Even at full strength, Uruguay were still going to have defensive questions, as only Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru allowed more goals than La Celeste in South American World Cup qualifying, but with an injured Suarez, even the seemingly dynamic Uruguayan offense could have some troubles in Brazil.