R16: Belgium vs USA - 1st July

i desperately want to like him because he is tall and carries the ball so well, but whenever i watch him, it doesnt click.

6unner wrote:

B-Mac wrote:

6unner wrote:

I actually never predicted that the US would move past. I actually see that there were to many issues with the team. That all said and all Did someone fore get to tell
Croatia
Spain
Chile
CÔTE D'IVOIRE
Italy
Engalnd
Uraguay
Bosnia
Portugal
Ghana

Everyone of those teams are stacked with players from German, English, Spain and Italian leagues. Like I said, sometimes you can have all the supposed top rated talent you want and if you can not play as a team it gets you nothing.
Really do not see that a 2-1 win creates the overwhelming knowledge that these amazing Belgian superstars are a vastly better TEAM.

do the 16 saves howard had to make vs the 4 courtois made then?

16 saves allowing 2 goals from the amazing Belgian players or 4 saves allowing 1 goal from some kid playing in the 4th division in Germany.

Don't get me wrong I actually believe that Tim is one of the best Keepers in the world. Lukaku also had a great game. As for the rest of the world class Belgian's. Not really that impressive against the "second division team".

Belgium's backline was always suspect coming in tho, lacking any real true fullbacks. but i think the amount of chances they created and saves they forced howard into making give evidence that there attack and midfield aren't to shabby, not GREAT but not shit either.

are they as good as some people say, no, but they are a pretty young team and there only appears to be more talent coming so it is still wait and see with belgium still.

I just don't see how you can say the belgians weren't the better team when they forced Howard to stand on his head and make a world cup record of saves

Heartbreak

Michael Badley should just retire.

Tomwin Lannister wrote:Michael Badley should just retire.

Sarcasm?

Bradley was our worst player this tournament. Easily, imo. He ran around and worked a lot, but he killed almost every attack

l really wish mix got to play more.

Fellaini has to be up there as the worst transfer we've ever made

Can't believe we paid millions for this Everton scrub, ffs Moyesie

USA deserve the recognition for their efforts and must be proud of their cup yet all this romantic analysis of them should not take away from that fact that Belgium clearly were the better team, Their Evertonian talisman saving them from could have been a far more convincing result from the Belgians. The match in my view despite USA standing their ground, was by no means equal.

And saying Michael Bradley was USA's worst player is absolutely baffling considering from their midfield he was producing several different roles and facets to which average midfielders in the form of Jones, Zusi, Beckerman etc were not even close to, given all their puzzling hype.

Still the best American player by a mile.

VendettaRed07 wrote:Bradley was our worst player this tournament. Easily, imo. He ran around and worked a lot, but he killed almost every attack

l really wish mix got to play more.

How do people write things like this

I only watched the second half and ET, but Bradley was one of the very few that succesfully built attacks. Meanwhile some other players can't even make a short pass and Bradley is the worst player?

I wanted to the US to win as I live here now but frankly I'm not all that surprised that it hasn't. Great effort by the US but they went out to the objectively better team.

Harsh on Beckerman, Arq....has not put a foot wrong in any of his performances. Jones is a warrior as well. Neither of them had as bad a tournament as Bradley did.
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I'm going to say this about Michael Bradley though and then I'm going to shut the hell up about this game and move on.

Klinsmann asked him to play a position (trequartista) that he was clearly not a fit for. Yes, he learned vision and technique from a world class player like Francesco Totti, but that didn't transform him into a world beating unlocker of defenses. That has never been MB's role and it is truly baffling to me why Klinsmann played him so far up in midfield just as it was baffling why Zeman played him as a DM for Roma. He's clearly not a trequartista and he's clearly not a destroyer either and yet these guys kept playing him like one. And then when he doesn't perform in his natural position, people crucify him for it. That's rough on MB honestly and while I will admit he had the poorest WC of his entire career, this wasn't completely down to him and I think a lot of people lost sight of that.

I think it's important to remember that MB is a 2-way player. He is at his best when allowed freedom to operate in both phases of the game, normally from a deep position. When you place him at the tip of a diamond behind the strikers, this is not his natural position and so he will struggle to create consistently as ball retention and short pass vision are not his strongest quality. He was always going to struggle there and so that has happened just as when you ask him to sit in front of a defense and simply destroy attacks, he'll struggle with that as well as it shackles his freedom to get forward and join attacks instead of starting them.

Bottom line here is that when you restrict MB's ability to impact the game in both phases, you take quite a bit from his game. I saw that in every game he played in this WC. Too much emphasis on creative, none of his trademark ghost runs into the box, asked to start the attacks far too deep on the counter. None of that is his game and despite this, he never complained and he did his best, still managing to spring numerous counters and crafted some well executed balls over the top, but of course that doesn't fit the narrative that he's solely to blame for USA's failures, that Roma were right to sell him and that he's lost a step playing in MLS. That's simply too inconvenient for such arguments.

But by all means, let's continue to make MB the scapegoat because it was clear that HE and none of the chances we spurned was the reason we lost this game today.

Jurgen Klinsmann was obviously upset at the ref adding only 1 minute of stoppage time to the final 15 min overtime half. It seemed too few to me too. Is there any way that can be argued? I realize they can't change the outcome of the match but maybe an apology for the mistake? Or was 1 minute of stoppage time about right?

(Sorry if this has been discussed already.)

I thought there was at least 2 to be honest, I was screaming at the TV. I couldn't believe it. Then Belgium take 30 seconds to even put it in play and he calls it right at 121 minutes...

Probably wouldn't have made a difference anyhow.

Proud of my boys even with the loss. Belgium definitely deserved it though. Why can't we play like we're down when it's 0-0? This team is better than people think...we had Belgium reeling at the end. It's really too bad. The range of emotions I went through though...this is why we love football, this is why we love the World Cup, even though I'm heartbroken.

USA has created some of the best games this WC though what a blast it's been. Offering full support to James now

CBarca wrote:I thought there was at least 2 to be honest, I was screaming at the TV. I couldn't believe it. Then Belgium take 30 seconds to even put it in play and he calls it right at 121 minutes...

Probably wouldn't have made a difference anyhow.

Proud of my boys even with the loss. Belgium definitely deserved it though. Why can't we play like we're down when it's 0-0? This team is better than people think...we had Belgium reeling at the end. It's really too bad. The range of emotions I went through though...this is why we love football, this is why we love the World Cup, even though I'm heartbroken.

USA has created some of the best games this WC though what a blast it's been. Offering full support to James now

Thanks. I think I heard Klinsmann yell something like "WTF?!!" when he saw only one minute posted.

It was very sad -- the USA loss. And Mexico lost. The two teams I usually root for. Oh well . . . .

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

Altidore getting injured really through everything into a loop. He would have been perfect here. He's so crucial to our game.

This game screamed Altidore...

jil called this the save of the tournament

'Murica will rise again. For now we fade in darkness. All that's left for me is to support

La Liberte, Egalite, et Fraternite.

BartFargo wrote:Jurgen Klinsmann was obviously upset at the ref adding only 1 minute of stoppage time to the final 15 min overtime half.  It seemed too few to me too.  Is there any way that can be argued?  I realize they can't change the outcome of the match but maybe an apology for the mistake?  Or was 1 minute of stoppage time about right?

No offense meant, but thinking FIFA might apologise for anything does indeed show you are rather new to following football

Jürgen was really upset. His german accent really came through when he was shouting for more stopage time Although I think it only seemed short because the US did only start putting up a real fight in the last minutes of that game. And - yes - they had me convinced that with more stopage time they could do a miracle - yet - that would have in no way reflected the game.

as sad as it is, the out come is deserved on both ends....

CBarca wrote:Proud of my boys even with the loss.

Your boys? Are you an american? Where are you from?

Zizou wrote:Jürgen was really upset. His german accent really came through when he was shouting for more stopage time Although I think it only seemed short because the US did only start putting up a real fight in the last minutes of that game. And - yes - they had me convinced that with more stopage time they could do a miracle - yet - that would have in no way reflected the game.

as sad as it is, the out come is deserved on both ends....

I think that is exactly spot on.
Rarely is there more stoppage time for the 2nd half of extra time, and it's not FIFA's fault US had their strongest phase so late.

Ciprian wrote:

CBarca wrote:Proud of my boys even with the loss.

Your boys? Are you an american? Where are you from?

Yes I am. I'm from (and currently live in) Wisconsin. Why?

So that is how he did it.

Unlucky USA. I wanted them to win, but....just wasn't meant to be. They deservedly lost to the better team on the night.

Howard- Incredible performance. Could have been 6-0 in normal if it weren't for his saves.

USMNT should be proud of themselves. To qualify from the hardest group in the tournament, and have a team spirit to push teams all the way, is commendable.

Respect.

rwo power wrote:

BartFargo wrote:Jurgen Klinsmann was obviously upset at the ref adding only 1 minute of stoppage time to the final 15 min overtime half.  It seemed too few to me too.  Is there any way that can be argued?  I realize they can't change the outcome of the match but maybe an apology for the mistake?  Or was 1 minute of stoppage time about right?

No offense meant, but thinking FIFA might apologise for anything does indeed show you are rather new to following football

Yeah, I'm starting to learn that FIFA isn't the revered organization I thought it was.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote: 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.

That brings me to the question of all those who went out who earned our respect and/or sympathy most? My guess is Chile because they made it so close and even on paper they look qualified to make the last eight. What do you all think?