{"id":1496,"date":"2009-06-28T16:46:06","date_gmt":"2009-06-28T21:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2009\/06\/28\/well-it-was-fun-while-it-lasted\/"},"modified":"2010-12-29T08:13:03","modified_gmt":"2010-12-29T13:13:03","slug":"well-it-was-fun-while-it-lasted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2009\/06\/28\/well-it-was-fun-while-it-lasted\/","title":{"rendered":"Well, it was fun while it lasted."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As they were getting ready to start the second half, I told my boys that the first five minutes and the final ten (if we were still in front) were going to be a nightmare.  Sure enough, we did it again.  Another quick goal; this time in the first minute of the second half!<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. never looked the same again.  Sure, there were a few quality opportunities, but for the most part they seemed to sit back and watch Brazil, until it was too late, and then they seemed like they were too winded to hold a solid defensive line.<\/p>\n<p>It is hard for me to be disappointed at a 3-2 loss to Brazil.  The U.S. should not have even been playing, much less taking a 2-0 lead into the half.  I am not sure how often FIFA tournament finals opportunities come around; this was a first for Team USA, hopefully it is a sign of a building team.<\/p>\n<p>We still lack quality strikers.  I just do not get why Davies continues to hold a starting forward position.  Maybe it is for the lack of opportunities.  In the first half the defensive backs played much better, but it just seems like we lack something.  I could be reading it wrong, but I think we need someone that can better connect the defensive backs to the midfielders.<\/p>\n<p>All in all, I am disappointed, but in this loss I see great hope for the future of American soccer, and I see the U.S. making a decent run in the 2010 World Cup, assuming they can get a decent draw.  The Confederations Cup has shown this team that they can win against quality opponents, so hopefully the team can build on this foundation.  Besides, how often do you get to say that we let one get away against Brazil?<\/p>\n<div class=\"addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content_bottom\"><div class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_ addtoany_list a2a_target\" id=\"wpa2a_1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share', '');\" class=\"a2a_dd addtoany_share_save\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/add-to-any\/share_save_171_16.png\" width=\"171\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\nif(wpa2a)wpa2a.script_load();\n\/\/--><\/script>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As they were getting ready to start the second half, I told my boys that the first five minutes and the final ten (if we were still in front) were going to be a nightmare. Sure enough, we did it again. Another quick goal; this time in the first minute of the second half! The &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2009\/06\/28\/well-it-was-fun-while-it-lasted\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Well, it was fun while it lasted.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content_bottom\"><div class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_ addtoany_list a2a_target\" id=\"wpa2a_2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share', '');\" class=\"a2a_dd addtoany_share_save\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/add-to-any\/share_save_171_16.png\" width=\"171\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[41],"class_list":["post-1496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","tag-u-s-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3275,"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1496\/revisions\/3275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}