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 Pacific wrote:

The US was never going to win the WC, but they fought damn hard and gave everything they had. Loved their team spirit, their lack of theatrics, and the never-say-die attitude.

Funny thing is, IF... and that's a huge if... IFF the US had won that game, there'd be so many people out here saying that we were going to win it


@ Piston... Agreed. And they should buy that dude who scored the US goal a beer..... ohh wait, he's not old enough to drink in this country.

Neuer, Ochoa, Enyeama and Howard should start a club about saving their team's collective skin

People in the US complaining about boring soccer were not at the same bar as I during that extra time!

 djones520 wrote:
Well... can we officially stop giving a crap about this sport now?

Yes!

Enough of this crap. Time to start preseason football hype!

 d-usa wrote:
People in the US complaining about boring soccer were not at the same bar as I during that extra time!

I can only imagine. I'm looking forward to seeing how the play in September and will definitely be following their international matches a lot more closely. It'll be interesting to see what happens in 4 years when those very young and promising players have got more experience under their belts.

I'm still annoyed we beat Mexico, I was so close to being free of all the orange fuglyness in the streets.

Tim Howard was a stud. He made Man of the Match, he is only the second player at this World Cup so far to get a perfect 10 rating on whoscored.com, and he set the record of saves at a World Cup (which shows how awesome he was, but also showed how horrible our defense was).

If we would have gotten that late equalizer I would have really liked our chances with him in the goal during a penalty shootout.

Sad news: It looks like he announced his retirement after the 17-18 season, so I hope he plays one more. But if this was his last World Cup game....then man what a performance to hang up your gloves with!

Belgium, hooray! Can't wait for Belgium-Netherlands

I actually think Belgium have got a good chance against Argentina. That was by far the best performance from them in the tournament, and it looks like the team is finally starting to gel well with each other.

We are definitely growing as a team... Now if we just manage to get past Argentina, we'll have the semi's everybody has been dreaming off against Holland!

It'll be good for the players to not start as favorites against Argentina as well... The pressure will be a bit less for the players. It's a game we can't really lose, we can only win it. Sort of like the situation the US was in against us. And that makes players bring their A-game.

I blame myself for that American defeat. Every time I've betted on a game involving the USA, something ends up going wrong. Because of the odds, I had my money on a USA victory.

I'm sorry America - please don't invade my house

In saying that, it was a gutsy performance from the USA. If Klinsmann is allowed time to oversee the grassroots transformation in US soccer, it will pay dividends in ten years time.

The American work rate and athleticism was exceptional. If they could get some quality in the final third, they could be a global force in the game, one day.


And finally, at least we know what team D-USA will be supporting now

A BBC radio commentator said it best, "The USA made a lot of friends at this world cup."

I thought it was a great game and I don't really watch football except at world cup time.

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:


The American work rate and athleticism was exceptional. If they could get some quality in the final third, they could be a global force in the game, one day.

That's the thing... If we can get more kids playing good, life altering sports like soccer and rugby, instead of nation-centric ones that don't really do much good for you like American Football, Baseball, and Basketball, we have such an extreme athletic pool that I believe we really could eventually put up teams to take on anyone at anytime.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:


The American work rate and athleticism was exceptional. If they could get some quality in the final third, they could be a global force in the game, one day.

That's the thing... If we can get more kids playing good, life altering sports like soccer and rugby, instead of nation-centric ones that don't really do much good for you like American Football, Baseball, and Basketball, we have such an extreme athletic pool that I believe we really could eventually put up teams to take on anyone at anytime.

That's why we established the American Empire. By building bases all over the world we can have our soldiers marry the local women, give birth to US citizens, let them grow up in soccer cultures where they learn to play the game, and then call them home to the fatherland to play for Team USA

I was proud of the team. They played well against a very good Belgium team that earned the win.

Hats off to the goalie. He's a keeper!

We will be alright...

Just...

Just give us a minute...

Okay?....

I want waffles now... Stupid Belgians

Howard should have tried this again:

Klinsmann brought a certain degree of professionalism to the US team and I'm sure that can get them really far in the future as well combined with their fighting spirit.

And hopefully, this will inspire American boys as well to play football more often. Countries like Brazil produce amazing teams because all kids there play the sport.

Klinsmann got a lot of crap during his short sting coaching in Bayern Munich, but when he coached the German team he did a lot of the same things: Focus on conditioning, focus on an attacking style of playing the game, focus on young guys vs. keeping around the old guard. And he did well there.

 Elmir wrote:


And hopefully, this will inspire American boys as well to play football more often. Countries like Brazil produce amazing teams because all kids there play the sport.

I doubt it, and a lot of the commentators on ESPN (former soccer players for the USMT, mind you) seem to agree that the US will have to advance much farther than this for it to have any major impact on boys playing soccer in the US. As it stands, most of our best athletes play basketball or football.

However, we do seem to be getting a huge influx of central american children these days, who perhaps could eventually be soccer players.....

 d-usa wrote:
Howard should have tried this again:

always feel terrible for the keepers who concede those, one midjudged bounce and that's them being hounded for it all season, if not longer.
Boruc's been getting gak for the same thing at the beginning of the season, despite generally being a very good keeper and, statistically, the best in the league for save percentage (80%), minutes per goal conceded (142; second place is Szczesny at 95), and third for clean sheets.

back on topic, I think France-Germany's going to be interesting.
Low's defense did seem fundamentally weak in the Algeria game, but France have very few fast strikers, so they could well get away with pushing so slow a defense so high up this time around. I fancy Germany to go through there, but not by much. France have been consistent and their defense is very solid, but other than Benzema they don't have a whole lot in terms of strikers. Germany on the other hand have Muller, Klose, Podolski and Schurrle. I reckon Germany will edge it. Never know with the French though, they are prone to bouts of brilliant (especially Ribery and Pogba).

Some people think that America won't take football/soccer seriously because of the popularity of baseball and basketball, but I have one word that will change all that: China!

Watched a documentary the other day about China's efforts to grow the game over there, and they are pouring a ton of cash and resources into the sport.

The free world needs America to take on this red menace. The free world needs a strong, competitive, American soccer team!

America, we look to the skies for your football players to parachute in and save us. We look to the seas for your football players to hit the beaches

Anyway, can't wait for the France/Germany game tomorrow.

OBABO SPEAKS!

 cincydooley wrote:

 Elmir wrote:


And hopefully, this will inspire American boys as well to play football more often. Countries like Brazil produce amazing teams because all kids there play the sport.

I doubt it, and a lot of the commentators on ESPN (former soccer players for the USMT, mind you) seem to agree that the US will have to advance much farther than this for it to have any major impact on boys playing soccer in the US. As it stands, most of our best athletes play basketball or football.

However, we do seem to be getting a huge influx of central american children these days, who perhaps could eventually be soccer players.....

The thing is though a lot of guys who have the physique for American football or basketball wouldn't suit football. Obviously it depends on position -- linemen would be useless in a football team. Receivers would probably do well. Perhaps you could convert basketball players to rowing.

 Kilkrazy wrote:

 cincydooley wrote:

 Elmir wrote:


And hopefully, this will inspire American boys as well to play football more often. Countries like Brazil produce amazing teams because all kids there play the sport.

I doubt it, and a lot of the commentators on ESPN (former soccer players for the USMT, mind you) seem to agree that the US will have to advance much farther than this for it to have any major impact on boys playing soccer in the US. As it stands, most of our best athletes play basketball or football.

However, we do seem to be getting a huge influx of central american children these days, who perhaps could eventually be soccer players.....

The thing is though a lot of guys who have the physique for American football or basketball wouldn't suit football. Obviously it depends on position -- linemen would be useless in a football team. Receivers would probably do well. Perhaps you could convert basketball players to rowing.

But there is enough of a population, enough infrastructure and money behind sports through college level to be good at all of those traditional US sports, and field a pretty good football/soccer team as well right?

And here we go. Reports are that the German team has the flu, are we just seeding the excuses early?

Last I heard it was flu-like symptoms, not actual flu, and was reported a day or two ago. I can't find anything newer to suggest that it's evolved into "XYZ has the flu". According to the BBC the German team isn't concerned and said a few players had colds, but weren't complaining of tiredness and should have recovered by kick-off (so, 8mins ago).

First five minutes are looking okay. But we really haven't had to absorb any pressure to give us a real look at our defense so far.

I know it's only been going 6~ minutes but I think Germany are going to see a winner here.