Overconfident Americans throw away the Confederations Cup

The US were playing an effective and very ugly 6-2-2 / 5-3-2 in the first half. It was this same style that saw them beat Spain in the semi. They relied on the aerial strength of their defense and inch perfect tackling. I heard people compare them to Greece in 2004, it is not quite true, but the idea was the same. Any errors in their tackling would led to cards, which we saw in their group matches. For offense they rely on set pieces and the counter attack. Against Spain their counter attack looked more like a dump and chase, in the first half of the final they had a more organised counter attack going and it paid dividends. The US had 2 goals in the first half and their defense held the Brasilians to the outside. The US style gifted possession to the Brasilians, and though they were passing much better than the Spanish they didn't cause too many problems for the US.

Which leads me to the title of the post, I don't know why they did it and I hope to hear some explanation from Bob Bradley. They came out for the second half and seemed to have switched from their hybrid 6-2-2/5-3-2 to a 3-3-2-2. This gave the Brasilians a lot more space which they exploited. The US counter attack that had been organised in the first half became the more desperate dump and chase that they resorted to against Spain. The only advantage that this system seemed to afford the Americans was more of the ball if they managed to hold it up in the Brasilian half.

The only thing I can think of is that Bradley thought that switching formations would allow the US to have more of the ball and thus limit Brasil's chances. Implicit with this way of thinking is that the US was good enough to play against Brasil. This is nothing other than overconfidence in the fact that they were up 2-0, or perhaps they believed all of the hype that they had no doubt heard about themselves from the excited US media. Whatever the reason it was a stupid decision. The US looked lost for the entirety of the second half. Compounding the problem was that it only took Brasil one minute to get a goal in the second half. Brasil kept on coming and got a second through Kaka only the ref didn't notice that the ball had crossed the line (and didn't count it). A quick aside here is that on disputed goals the ref should blow their whistle the fourth official watches the replay on a TV and provides the correct decision. As you are no doubt aware Brasil kept coming and won the match 3-2. The US offered no resistance in the second half.

I believe that if the US had stuck with their ugly football through the 6-2-2, they may have won in regulation or forced extra time. The players on the US are not as good as the players on Brasil, but with the formation they started the game with they could have won. Why they changed their formation confounds me. The whole purpose of starting with a formation like the one the US played was to hold out for a draw or possibly grab a goal on the counter attack. So to be up 2-0 would have exceeded their hopes. I am not sure what they discussed at the half, but as far as I can tell they got overconfident and thought they could play the Brasilians. They couldn't and they lost.

In any tournament there is always a lot of talk about teams getting overconfident and looking past opponents. Surprisingly in the final the team that fell guilty to overconfidence was the under dog. They changed their formation and in the process threw away the title, that has got to sting.

Circle July 11th on your calender

Big news for Pompey fans! On July 11th the period of due diligence is set to be completed. That means if no problems arise between now and then, Dr. Sulaiman Al Fahim will takeover Portsmouth Football Club. There are rumblings that a lot of behind the scenes work has been going on and that there is a manager and as many as six signings lined up. The rumour also states that these transfers that are lined up will total more than £20M, also there are not going to be any more players sold for the time being. This is finally some positive news around the takeover.

Needless to say Portsmouth supporters are going nuts trying to guess the identities of the new boss and players. On the managerial front of the people linked with the post, Hart, Redknapp, & Sven have all been ruled out. That leaves Bilić, Mancini, Curbs, & Halilhodžić linked with the post. One rumour says that the manager is currently employed which would be Bilić (Croatia) or Halilhodžić (Ivory Coast). Unless you consider the odd predicaments of Mancini & Curbs who are both still settling financial matters with their former clubs, Inter Milan & West Ham respectively. Very few players have been publicly linked with Pompey.

Update: A story this morning has ruled out Halilhodžić. Pompey Chairman Peter Storrie said: 'It's complete and utter rubbish. There's nothing in it at all.'

At this point it could really be any manger along with any players. It is all a mystery until July 11th. As for me I will keep my ear to the ground and hope that when Carlos Tevez says he is deciding between Man City and one other club, that club is us.

Big weekend for Africa - Review

If you weren't able to watch the matches here is what happened. Algeria started things off by traveling to Zambia where they won 2-0. This result really puts the pressure on the other teams in their group. To advance out of Africa it is key to win your home matches and get as many points as you can on the road. With Zambia dropping a home match to Algeria, they now need to beat Egypt in Zambia and try to get road points in Algeria and Rwanda if they are to head to South Africa. Egypt are in a very similar place to Zambia, and will likely be level on points with them once they host the Rwandans on July 5th. They also face travels to Zambia & Rwanda and host the Algerians. Both Egypt & Zambia have a shot at South Africa if they win all of their matches any more slip ups by either team could spell the end of their World Cup dreams. Algeria's next two matches are at home - if they win both of those they stand a strong chance of making the World Cup. In fact a win over the Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets - Zambia) would essentially eliminate Zambia.

Tunisia hosted Nigeria in a big Group B encounter. I watched as much of this as I could and the parts that I saw weren't that exciting it was a hard fought 0-0 draw which doesn't do a lot for either side. Nigeria are still two points back of Tunisia and will be hoping for a victory in their rematch on September the 6th in Nigeria. If Nigeria win that then they are back in with a chance, anything less will rule the Super Eagles out barring a slip up by Tunisia against either of Kenya & Mozambique.

Burkina Faso hosted the Ivory Coast in the other clash of group leaders. This was quite a thrilling encounter with Les Elephants emerging with a 3-2 victory over their hosts. Burkina Faso showed a lot of fight and played well, unfortunately for them to have a chance at qualifying now they have to win in the Ivory Coast. The one thing that could drastically change the fortunes of the Ivory Coast is that their coach is talking about leaving. He has been linked with Portsmouth as well as clubs in France and Germany. As we saw with Uganda changing coaches can have a big effect on a team's performances.

South Africa managed to advance to the semi final of the Confederations Cup thanks to New Zealand holding Iraq to a draw. While Egypt collapsed against the United States 3-0. With Brazil beating Italy by the same score the Pharaohs only needed to lose by 2 to advance. Even with the Pharaohs bowing out of the Confederations Cup it was a good weekend for African football.

And yes the Springboks manhandled the Lions 26-21 in Durban. Test two goes on Saturday (9am Eastern) from Loftus for any Rugby fans out there.

Big weekend for Africa

There are eight African World Cup Qualifying matches this weekend and three of them are clashes between the top two teams. Those three are: Zambia - Algeria, Tunisia - Nigeria, & Burkina Faso -Côte d'Ivoire. All of these match ups are huge if any team emerges with a victory it will put them in the drivers seat for South Africa. If the match ends in a draw that would not be a horrible result for the away team who would hope to win the return leg. Due to the unforgiving nature of African Qualifying, where only the top team advances to the World Cup. It is crucial that teams win these matches which is why I feel that these three specifically will be the ones to watch this weekend. The other five matches are just as crucial and the teams playing there can afford no mistakes either.

Also with South Africa having & Egypt having a shot at the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup the spot light will certainly be on African Football. I know I am not alone in hoping that Africa puts on a hell of a show this weekend.

Asia wraps up

Asian World Cup Qualifying is just about over. So far four teams have qualified for South Africa, North Korea, South Korea, Australia, & Japan. All that is left is the playoff match up between Bahrain & Saudi Arabia. The matches between Bahrain & Saudi Arabia will take place on September 5th & 9th, with Bahrain hosting the first leg. The playoff winner will then host New Zealand on October 10th & travel to New Zealand on November 14th.

The playoff should be quite a good contest. The only team that both teams have played is Uzbekistan with Bahrain winning both of their encounters 1-0. Saudi Arabia lost in Tashkent 3-0 but won in Saudi Arabia 4-0. I will say that the advantage for the playoff goes to Saudi Arabia.

Looking at the playoff against New Zealand I don't think that it matters who they play they are in trouble. Watching them in the Confederations Cup has proven what a lot of you have told me already that they are just not a good team. But in a playoff anything can happen, if you were going to bet, I would bet on the Asian team.