R16: Belgium vs USA - 1st July

Green

USA  

Betty La Fea wrote:I aint throwing salt, but if De Bench knocked my team out of the world cup I'd probably kill myself tonight.

i will pray for your soul

Best game of the tournament so far.

Belgium    

What a crazy game!!!

Belgium, so much the better team, showed towards the end just what happens to teams who are not used to these later stages in such tight situations. Complete panic in which they could have thrown it all away.

Also I can't quite recall when was the last time I saw a team create that many clear cut chances and miss all of them. Must have been Barca. Anyway if at the end of 90 minutes the score had read 5-0 it still wouldn't have flattered Belgium because such was the extent of domination. While Tim Howard did some great things I think it was mostly about poor shooting and finishing of the worst possible kind. Other than the shooting though they did make USA look like a team that just didn't belong in the last 8 and maybe not even in the last 16.

However I must give Belgium some credit as well. Very rarely in this world cup have I seen a team having assured touches on the ball, being able to pass it comfortably and hold on to possession. This team can do it. It actually has a lot of things going for it except for the lack of know how which makes them nervous and a top class striker although Lukaku did well in the end.

Above all though I have been ridiculing Belgium right since the tournament began almost betting that they won't go past the last 16 stage at most. Now that they have reached the quarter finals I think they have justified whatever their hype was. Anything more from here would be a big bonus.

So for once let's say kudos to Belgium. USA showed some great fighting spirit especially in extra time which is what we expect of them but football wise they were outclassed by some distance even though the result and the tension of the last few minutes just doesn't do that justice. Just for the quality of football played bar the finishing this was the second best performance of the pre-quarter finals after Colombia's.

Wondolowski was such a poor sub. Green did more in 5 minutes. Why couldn't Donovan go ahead of him?

USA, respect

Soul crushing

 my respect to all the teams which have gone out in this round
thoroughly enjoyed watching almost every match. The round of 16 was among the best one, from last 3 world cups which i have closely followed and probably also in last 4 WCs.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BrfMFI6CYAE71FY.jpg

Our attack was such shit.
There was zero communication and when we would get near their box we would crumble.

Last 10 minutes were INSANE.
Great fight from USA, Howard has been impressive, he did amazing saves, he clearly deserves to be the Man Of The Match (MOTM).
Courtois also did a great save in extra-time, he saved Belgium's ass.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:

Betty La Fea wrote:I aint throwing salt, but if De Bench knocked my team out of the world cup I'd probably kill myself tonight.

i will pray for your soul

Lukaku and Kev

Dat Chelsea influence

FC Bayern owning this WC

Even our B team players score at will

"JUILAN GREEEEN - HE SCORES WHEN HE WANTS HE SCORES WHEN HE WANTS..."

We only really showed up after 2-0 down. This is the one thing I really do not like about this team. We were set up so negatively. Like a provincial Serie B team against a Serie A juggernaut and allowed them to dominate us, relying on the keeper to keep us in it. That's not how you win games like this. That tempo we played at when 2-0 down is where we should've been all game. We truly had Belgium reeling and very shaky. If that happens in the 50th minute instead of the 105th, this game would've been a lot more entertaining. But no. We approached this game true to form, with this ridiculous Mighty Ducks syndrome. Unlike them, there was no hollywood ending.

Only when USA learn that they can't start playing real football in the dying minutes, will they truly be a force to be reckoned with. We have seen many glimpses of this all tournament, but not in one coherent performance. I know this team can hang with the big dogs because I've seen them do it. We all have. We need to get to that level and stay there. I still don't like Klinsmann and the way he set up this team and picked the subs doesn't improve on this, but from a mental and psychological perspective, he is indeed the right man to get us playing at a higher level. It's up to him to want to take us there. He clearly didn't during this WC run and for me that's the real shame here. I feel no shame or sadness for how we went out. I don't think the players do either. They know they could've done better. They don't need the fans to tell that. We appreciate their effort nonetheless. This was a massive improvement in so many ways. It's important to build on that so that we can surpass what was achieved here in the Copa America. On evidence, I fear none of those teams, especially in our own backyard.

The better team progressed in the end, I can't bring myself to be upset over the result. Proud of the fight the lads showed though.

It hurts a lot, but tbh Belgium deserved to go through. If we didn't have Howard this would've been ugly. Our attack was nonexistent until that Wondolowski miss on the 90+mins. How that scrub missed that I will never know

When all is said and done, your players are just not at the level of most of the other teams' players. Yet.

You worked well as a team though and gave Belgium a great game in the end.

Don't call me James wrote:It hurts a lot, but tbh Belgium deserved to go through. If we didn't have Howard this would've been ugly. Our attack was nonexistent until that Wondolowski miss on the 90+mins. How that scrub missed that I will never know

Honestly thought USA were through when I saw that, then he missed.

While I understood what was Klinsman's plan, I still find that the US plays much better when they have a positive approach. That being said, better team won today.

I don't have the knowledge to judge that, but I can't imagine Klinsmann picked really ALL the best players for the squad? There must be more ..

16 saves says a lot about our defense.

Witsel and especially Fellaini were absolutely atrocious today. Zero impact on the game.

No tackles won, no interceptions, no chances created. Nothing.

Hapless_Hans wrote:I don't have the knowledge to judge that, but I can't imagine Klinsmann picked really ALL the best players for the squad? There must be more ..

Have a look at how we played after the 2nd Belgium goal. Look at how we got at them and really began to focus on our attacking play. The passing was crisp and incisive, the runs were sharp and the end product was abundant. We've seen that type of play from USA at short spurts all tournament and it aws no surprise we got our goal. The Belgians had no idea what hit them. It's just a crying shame that happened too late in the game.

That's the potential USA possesses though and when they are in that zone, every team they have faced has struggled. That doesn't happen if your players are simply better.