This game started out in an absolute run!!! The United States, who lost to Brasil in the Confed Cup Final last year, was on fire...having several chances to score. Landon Donovan was bumped in the area, which should have resulted in a penalty. To his credit he stayed on his feet, which masked the foul.
Several of the Brasilian defenders were outclassed by the spirited American wingers and found themselves on their heels very early on.
The Brasilians were down in the Confed final by two goals and stormed back, so it's obvious they wouldn't take the USA lightly for this match.
In the 29' Neymar beat his mark to a header and scored for the Brasilians. Just two minutes later a bungling Pato scored after knocking over Tim Howard, but it was denied as the flag had already been raised for a foul in the box. Of course, the ultimate tool, Robinho, argued...to no avail. Still 0-1.
Just before the half, Pato was given a run without anyone marking him whatsoever...there was nothing Tim Howard could do...0-2.
The rest of the match was zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. USA actually scored with a Bradley header but it was called back for offside.
The score didn't change, although it could have. The USA keepers were fantastic tonight. They kept the score from being 0-8.
It's strange to look at the bright colors of the Brasileiros and not see the likes of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and other non-R Brasilian stars of old; the ones who gave the Brasilians their mojo and Samba Stars nickname.
New coach Menezes, who takes the place of outgoing and much-maligned Dunga, promises to bring back that South American flavor to a team that has struggled under the international pressure.
The stars of old, like Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, were bright stars and set the tone for international and club ball, but their personal demons off the pitch threatened their reputations and consequently their playing time for the National Team. Alexandre Pato found himself in disfavor with Dunga this year when it emerged that his AC Milan teammate, Ronaldinho, had taken him under his wing on the party circuit. Dunga dropped Pato from the WC squad, which also coincided with his divorce (his wife was tired of her hard-partying husband too). They have a long way to go to recover their Samba Stars title.
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