Rough Road Ahead

June 10th, 2006 | By: Daryl | 2 Comments »

Grant Wahl looks a bit like Lex Luthor, but he’s fast becoming my favourite US soccer pundit.

Unfortunately, he’s not feeling too optimistic. In his latest Sports Illustrated article Wahl predicts a rough road ahead for the USA, suggesting four points won’t be enough.

Wahl believes the US will play some good football, tie the Czechs, lose to Italy and beat Ghana. He also predicts that Italy and the CR will go into the final game (where they face each other) with four points each, meaning both sides could play for a draw and still advance with five points.

The flaw in this theory (which Wahl acknowledges) is Brazil. Assuming Brazil win Group F, Italy and the CR will be fighting to top the group and avoid Ronaldinho and co.

Wahl also takes a stab at predicting Arena’s first eleven:

GK: Kasey Keller
D: Steve Cherundolo, Eddie Pope, Oguchi Onyewu, Eddie Lewis
M: DaMarcus Beasley, Pablo Mastroeni, Claudio Reyna, Bobby Convey
F: Landon Donovan, Brian McBride

With DMB moving to the right to make space for Convey.

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Comments

By Gene | June 10th, 2006 at 2:43 pm

4 points may or may not be enough. But if the U.S. were to somehow pull a victory in their first match, they would take GIGANTIC step towards at least a 2nd spot. Difficult – yes, impossible – no.

Posted from United States

By Jon E. | June 11th, 2006 at 4:12 am

A lot of what Wahl says makes sense, but I think he might be wrong on two counts:

1) I’m not convinced that the Czechs and the Italians are so much better than the US that we couldn’t beat at least one of them. Wahl doesn’t really consider that possibility.

2) Ghana isn’t the doormat that Wahl assumes. They Ghanian side might well tie or beat Italy or the Czechs. Especially if the US tires out the Czechs or the Italians come out overconfident.

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