That's What I Said!

I know this is a little stale now, but remember how I was lamenting how no one on the U.S. team would rip a shot and take a chance of making something good happen? Well, it turns out I'm a genius. This is from ESPN.com's Michael Davies:

Let's get a few things straight. The ref, Markus Merk, made a controversial call in awarding the penalty to Ghana at the end of the first half. Other refs, perhaps the majority of them, wouldn't have called it. But that isn't what decided the game, or the USA's World Cup. The most damning statistic of the team is this:

Of all 32 teams in Germany, the U.S. will finish No. 32 in terms of shots on goal with four. The next worse is Trinidad and Tobago with seven. Iran have 19. England, 21. Germany lead the pack with 27.

If you don't have a playmaker, you rarely get good service to the forwards; if forwards fail to get clear-cut chances, they can't shoot on goal; if you can't shoot on goal, you don't score; if you don't score, you don't win; if you don't win, you don't advance.