USA still has a chance

With a minute left to play Michael Bradley could have booted the ball downfield and run down the clock. Instead, Bradley gave the ball away in a crucial moment. Michael Bradley is the  soccer equivalent of Tony Romo. And now everybody in America knows how it feels to be Dallas Cowboy fans. There is a lot of blame to go around, but it starts with Bradley. Geoff Cameron, the same defender who made the hideous blunder in the first five minutes of the game, made another mistake by not properly marking his man. His man headed Ronaldo’s beautiful cross into the back of the net. Ronaldo should have never had the opportunity to make that world-class cross. It was the mistakes of Bradley and Cameron that led to the Portugoal and the tie. Zero excuses for USA choking. 

It does not matter that Cristiano Ronaldo crossed the ball into the center of the penalty box. Yes he is a great player and great players always make a difference seem to make a difference, especially when it matters most. I do not know what is worse letting the goal in or Ronaldo’s haircut. America was confused whether Cristiano was trying to support Harry Potter with a lightning bolt shaved into his hair or if it was just a bad haircut. The worst part about it is that a poor kid that does not know any better that was watching the game might think that he is cool. Ronaldo epitomizes what American sport fans do not appreciate. He cries, whines, and flops. Even further he is an anti-blue collar guy. Ronaldo makes double the amount of money that the entire starting U.S. team makes. The United States head coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, wanted to put Ronaldo in his place, however that was not accomplished. 

Americans are not going to love a sport that gives extra time after regulation so the favored team can tie. Everybody seemed to be enjoying soccer until it ended in a tie. Maybe some of them were confused. I know Donavan McNabb was. Since the game ended in a tie, Americans are going to pretend this game meant little to them. This past game might not mean much to them, but Portugal means even less. Most Americans probably could not even locate it on a map. 

Bottom line is that USA still has a favorable chance of advancing and it is hard to be too upset about that. With a win or draw on Thursday against Germany USA can still advance to the next round. For the sake of throw a number out there, they have a 76% chance of moving onto the elimination rounds. Some people believe both teams should fix the game and decide to tie. This is so nothing would change in the group standings and both Germany and USA would be able to move on. This is moronic because the first place team in group G plays the second place team in group H. And vice versa. There is a big difference between Group H's first and second place team. USA still has hope to beat Germany. If you look at history, USA has a history of defeating Germany.  If United States does move forward we will have to start calling the head coach Jurgen CLlINCHmann.