We Really Only Have Ourselves to Blame

I'm not going to lie, I am disappointed that the US couldn't sprinkle some more heroic fairy dust on themselves to beat Ghana, but they still put on a worthy display of tenacity and guts. Yet, I can't help but think that our inability to make it to the World Cup quarterfinals is all on us and us alone.

Part of the blame (if not most of it) should be placed on the shoulders of Coach Bob Bradley. It was certainly a head-scratcher that he decided to start Ricardo Clark instead of Maurice Edu, considering Edu played so well against Algeria. Also, if my recent memory serves me right, it was Clark's fault that Gerrard nailed his early goal when we faced England. And you know what happened today, Clark effed up again to allow Ghana to go up 1-0 in just the 5th minute. Good call on that one, Coach! Then, Clark committed an idiotic foul that granted him a yellow card, and Bradley finally subbed him off in the 30th minute...about 30 minutes too late if you ask me. And who did he sub Clark for? Edu! If he had started Edu in the first place, that would have saved him a substitution later in the match, which would have helped since we went into extra time.

Then Bradley also decided to start Findley up front instead of a Edson Buddle or Herculez Gomez, both who played well in the last game. Naturally, Findley couldn't get it together on the attack and he was subbed at half time for Feilhaber, who ended up playing very well! Another substitution squandered by the complete dumb-assness of Bradley.

Speaking of Bradley, let's turn some blame to his son, Michael. Now, he certainly wasn't the only American that couldn't convert a scoring opportunity in this game, but he definitely had the most quality chance. What it is that coaches tell kids when they start playing soccer at the age of four? Look to where you are shooting/passing the ball. Did Michael do that when he was one-on-one with the keeper and had about five yards of space? Uh...no, he didn't. Instead of looking up for a split second and knowing where the keeper was so he could shot around him, he didn't look and hit the ball one-time right to the keeper. That could have been our second goal and our ticket to the quarterfinals. But I guess you can try in another four years, Mikey.

And last but not least, what is up with the US's inability to keep the other team from scoring first and in the opening minutes of the game. It happened against England, Slovenia and Ghana twice (if you count both first half of regular time and first half of extra time). We managed to right ourselves three out of the four times, but the last time we just left ourselves without enough time to get an equalizer. Well...we are nothing if not consistent with the allowing of early-game goals, but it's something that really needs to stop if we want to continue and advance in these world-class tournaments.

All these in-game and coaching mistakes shouldn't take away the fact that quality run in an extremely difficult tournament. Despite making it to the quarterfinals like we did in 2002, our performance in this 2010 World Cup could give the US the push it needed to really respect the sport of soccer with the kind of respect it deserves, a sh*t-ton of it.

My favorites SPAIN are still in the tournament, but they have a tough match in Portugal this Tuesday. Best believe that I will be anxious out of my mind until then. And go Germany...and Argentina!!!