Proud Maryland Coach On Ex-Terp Serving Up Winning U.S. Goal
Sasho Cirvoski is the head coach of the Maryland Terrapins soccer team. Sasho has led the Terps to 2 National Championships in 2005 and 2008. Sasho's former player at University of Maryland, Graham Zusi, took the corner kick that was headed in for the winning goal by John Brooks Jr. Brooks was the first sub for the United States to score a goal in the World Cup.
Sasho joined Ed and Steve to talk about Team USA's thrilling 2-1 victory over Ghana.
Terps Soccer Coach Sasho Cirovski
Sasho said that last night's game reminded him of the 2002 World Cup win over Portugal, and it was a great moment in USA soccer history it was "awesome." When asked about how the US matches up against Portugal, Sasho said he believes Pepe being out gives the US an advantage against an undermanned Portugal back line. Not being the underdog is sometimes an issue for team USA. Sasho says, "We couldn't have dreamed of a better scenario than we have right now... The only challenge we have, this is a warning sign, is that we're going to be the favorites going into this game because of all the things that happen yesterday. We sometimes struggle as a nation when we're the favorites... That's my only concern, that we stay aggressive and we're not thinking too much and just playing, I think we'll be fine."
Coach Cirvoski had a very proud moment when his former player served the ball over the middle for the game-winning header. He gives credit to Brooks for the goal but said that in his household "all the credit went to Graham Zusi because we all went nuts when he served that ball." He notes that the US team knew that Ghana struggled with set pieces (when the ball is returned to open play following a stoppage). The first goal was after a throw-in and Ghana "went to sleep" and were caught off-guard. Clint Dempsey, of course, took over and had a remarkable play but that's a key part of the game. Graham Zusi has been providing great service and scoring goals from his freshman year at Maryland to now and it's one of the reasons he is so valuable. He is just a brilliant server of the ball, striker of the ball. That was a magic moment at the Maryland household of the Cirvoskis."
#USA! How about @gzusi setting up the winner! Making Sasho Cirovski & @MarylandMSoccer proud!
What a game!
— Jason Yellin (@JasonYellin) June 17, 2014
The guys go on to discuss the rest of the Group Stage and if the US can match-up with a perpetual powerhouse like the German National Team. Team USA beat Germany 4-3 in a friendly match in 2013 but that was Germany's B team. Sasho says that Germany is clearly the top team in Group G but it's very possible that by the time they meet in group play they both could have already clinched a birth to the round of 16.
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