USA v Ghana game day media coverage

I love the optimistic headline in the NY post.

Final now in Americas sights

That must be some zoom function.

Good luck with the game and may the best team win (I will be watching in a bar on a night out - kick off 7.30PM here)

Edit.

Having read a few other articles in the US I am beginning to think the US are expected (by the media) to sweep aside Ghana and get to the Semi Finals at least. They are well capable of beating Ghana and this side of the draw is favourable so it is certainly possible - if difficult. I just hope there is no backlash if they fail to beat Ghana because expectations were too high and instead the press stays positive.

 

I dont know what's worse no coverage at all or they ridiculous hype machine we are seeing.

We tied a team backed by it's own hype machine through a fluke goal.

We came back to tie a team that is not really that good, but solid.

We barely beat a team that hasnt scored in 5 years and might go another 5 before they do something about it.

But somehow we are world beaters?

I love the USMNT. Great team. But this tourney as it stands has the Dutch, Argies and Brazil looking like the top 3, with Uruguay, Paraguay and Germany looking like outside shots to make some noise.

Uruguay would take us apart. SK would be a very fun match, but no guarantee and first we have to beat down the Ghana door that stifled a very motivated German team and nearly got the result. My only hope at this point is that the Latin American teams don't take all four Semi spots.

 

I don't think we'd get "taken apart" by Uruguay but I do agree with the part above. We are turning into the English in this regard and although I'd love nothing more than for us to make it to the semis, it is ridiculous to think the backlash of sports writers who don't understand the game if we were to crash out now, in the quarters..or hell, even in the semis. If we were to beat Ghana and SK/Uruguay, they would truly be expecting us to win the whole thing which at the beginning of the tournament would have been preposterous.

Then again I know they are trying to sell papers, just a damn shame that they have to do it in such a way as to get people's expectations completely out of line. The general public aren't going to understand how a smaller, poorer, African nation could best us at ANY sport, even soccer and that is just ignorant if you compare talents. Oh well I guess any attention is good attention?

 

This is all about the promotion of soccer in this country. The players and true fans know it and that is why the players have become ambassadors of the game by doing every interview they can to promote the game.

 

Good point, and now that I've had a few minutes to reflect on my post I've decided that its mostly just me giving too much of a damn about the people who don't really matter. Anyone who is disgusted that we lost simply does not understand the game at its bare minimum/are fair weather fans...not really the people we want. Actually we want anyone at this juncture i suppose.

Then again I'll feel disgusted if we lose, but in a sick feeling way, just because i love this team so damn much.

 

The difference is our media does it out of ignorance. And I agree - the backlash will probably be bad.

 

I'm really suprised by the amount of hype, given that the USA hasn't been so great. Don't get me wrong they've done a decent job, but I don't think they've particdualry exceedede themselves.

1st game needed a bit of luck to get a draw against a poorly-pefrforming England. 2nd game drew with a team that are no great shakes after managing to undo a poor 1st half in the 2nd half. 3rd game, whilst they were the better team and had a goal wrongly called offside, were heading out of the World Cup until a goal deep into injury time.

A fairly decent showing, which most importantly got the job done, but nothing to get massively excited about yet.

Ghana I think will present a sterner test than any of the USA's group game managed to provide and I think the USA will have to take it up a notch, but then again they haven't been so great that taking it up a notch is such a huge ask.

 

Follow the moneytrail on this one. ESPN rolled the dice on hyping the World Cup and now soccer and the US team is the cool topic in the US at the time. The rest of the media has hopped on the bandwagon.

To be fair, it is not just in the US that this team is being talked about. It is around the world in the controversy they have been in (goals being called off) and the way they won in the 90th minute. It truly been the best story of the World Cup.

ESPN, USSF and the MLS wants the train to continue to roll. I hope that we don't make any big mistakes and finish opportunities and I think we will get the job done today.

 

Better the "hype machine" than the media flack for USA failing to get to the second round. In soccer, anything can happen; even another foray into the WC quarterfinals....

 

I've been buried in work most of the morning... Anyone have their eye on cable news this morning? Just wondering how the CNNs and Fox Newses and MSNBCs are covering today's game, if at all.

 

USA was hyped well in 2006, but the Czechs gave us the coldest of showers in our first game at Gelsenkirchen. If we go out today, I think the reaction in the media here will be dependent on "how" we went out. If we have trouble finishing good chances or our defenders get eaten alive, poor substitutions or tactics...well, I guess we would take a bashing. If we display superiority and win by a goal or two in dominating fashion, then I'd expect euphoria and perhaps some inflated articles about said superiority.

When USA makes the World Cup, I'm always excited about our chances. Our guys are going up against some of the best players in the world, and I like to see how we stack up against them. Prior to this World Cup, I thought Ghana had the best chance to shine among the African teams, but their chances were greatly diminished once Michael Essien was ruled out of the competition. I'm taking nothing for granted. You can honestly say both USA and Ghana fully deserve to be in the 16's, and you wouldn't be wrong in thinking at the same time that both are fortunate not to be heading home after the group stage for a variety of reasons.

 

You're right about our quality on the field...but coming back from 2-0 against the Slovenes, then having a good goal taken away, having another good goal taken away against Algeria, scoring late...that's pretty dramatic stuff, and that's what the media is picking up on. The drama.

Also there's a significant generational divide about the sport. Part of what is happening is that the old farts in the media are reacting to the "news" that people will pack bars to watch the World Cup.