America could've had that just before 90 mins. Great team effort from them, just a bit short on finishing. USA will be a real power in the 2018 cup...
That's heart breaking. Say what you will about team USA one way or the other, but Tim Howard gave one of the singularly great performances. That was a rough way to go. Even then, the US fought to the end, so I'm glad for that. I will say I've never seen so many people excited to see a team hang on for dear life as the US did for much of the second half. Granted, they were playing well defensively, but it was still non-stop. But, of course, as soon as they show some promise on offense (particularly in extra time), that's when it all comes crashing down.
It looked to me as if Belgium might have gotten worn out near the end. The US really needs to improve their offense and particularly holding possession, something we seemed to improve at near the end, but again I think Belgium was getting tired. Belgium outclassed us in maintaining possession, as well as taking it away. Tim Howard was really outstanding. If he hadn't been so good, it would have been much more lopsided, and of course not even gone to the extra period. Just from the shear number of attempts on the goal, even all other things being equal (which they weren't), Belgium was bound to win. Still, the US team should feel proud for what they accomplished.
Sadness. Didn't expect to win, but that late goal from Green (really looking forward to watching his development, along with Yedlin's) gave me hope. Belgium really did look worn down in those final fifteen minutes, it's too bad the US couldn't capitalize. But they really need to figure out their midfield and their attackers before 2018. The defense held out as long as it could and Howard was spectacular, but the midfield could not maintain possession and nobody seemed to know how to finish once they got in the box. I think I'll be rooting for Colombia the rest of the way. I really like the way they play the game, and I think they've been the most consistently entertaining team.
Ach du Lieber! Although I'm pulling for Germany, I think the French have been more consistent and have a slightly better team... 2-1 France is my (reluctant) prediction. Unless the Germany that trounced Portugal shows up...
I would like to root for Colombia, but we're traveling to Bogota on July 11, and I don't really want to be recovering from an all-night flight with a one-year-old with a World Cup Final match on the 13 and the country going nuts. Rock solid reasoning, I know.
Brilliant! Amazing! I especially liked how they paraphrased Karl Marx's "don't interpret the world, change it" line. Bob
One of my fb friends described the bulk of the USA Belgium match as Brownian motion, which made me laff.
So, the situation we talked about up thread has happened. The US has been eliminated right out of the group stage. Is this enough to generate new interest in the US? Or does the country just back to its previous sports interests? One clue: the sports station (I was listening to the US/Belgium game on) cut the post game coverage of the game and went into analysis on the local baseball team.