<p>That made me laugh, too. I am in too bad a mood to engage online right now. </p>
<p>The first Belgium goal was directly Besler’s fault: an ill-advised poor challenge leads to a break and then he over-compensates to get back in the play and doesn’t cover the man who takes the shot. I point this out not to dump on Besler but because the announcer kept referring to the need for “experience” on the US squad. No. What they need is more talented players, particularly on offense, and in this competition that meant the kids. </p>
<p>I was impressed with the US play, particularly running offensive plays, though they lack finishing talent. See Wondolowski’s miss. He’s 31. </p>
<p>Not to pick on Bradley, but you need to be more of a scoring threat when you have the ball so much. </p>
<p>Beckerman was effective in his supporting role. 
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<p>Fwiw, you got the play of Green, but also what Yedlin, the replacement of Fabian, did against Hazard and DeBruyne. Wonderful. This said, next to Howard, the best American was none other than Mathusalem on the left back. </p>
<p>To answer Lergnom, the weakness of the US, is none other than a poor midfield that cannot keep possession. They run all day, but one has to realize that it takes a miracle to survive 31 scoring chances of the opponent! Jones is a journeyman. Beckerman has no place at the WC, and Bradley is … well Bradley. </p>
<p>Obviously we are not strong enough to go to the next level.
We need more Michelin feet to hold and pass the ball.
We need more HS soccer coaches.</p>
<p>I thought I even saw Beasley serving popcorn at one point. I think his position was Left Side Of Field. I don’t fault Besler on the first goal. He took a risk against a fresh sub and it didn’t pay off. </p>
<p>Michael Ballack feels the US midfielders are not world class and that is why they lost. Maybe he is right.</p>
<p>Root for our CONCACAF neighbor, Costa Rica. Los Ticos made it to the quarterfinals. </p>
<p>Viva La Sele! ^:)^ </p>
<p>I was proud of them. So many countries didn’t even qualify! Who would have thought they would make it so close against Belgium? Surely not you guys who were bashing them since the first page of this post. You guys don’t care that in THIS country, the superstar athletes are recruited for American football, basketball and baseball. A small percentage go play soccer. There are VERY few D1 soccer scholarships in men’s soccer - all the $$$ is going to the other sports. </p>
<p>In most of the countries remaining in the World Cup soccer (football) is THE sport.</p>
<p>Kudos to the program for making huge improvements which I’m sure they will continue to make! </p>
<p>And…Go Costa Rica! I love an underdog.</p>
<p>Go back to Klinsmann’s quote before the tournament saying the US had no chance to win the Cup. He was skewered by the American media as well as the fans for giving a perfectly honest answer. He was proven correct. And chances are the final 4 will be Germany, Brasil, Argentina and the Netherlands. All teams which are light years ahead of our team. A great performance from our world class goalie and a maximum effort from the rest of the undermanned team but if looked at objectively about as far as they could possibly had gone.</p>
<p>The Germany-France match will be interesting. I like both teams and I don’t know which one to root for.</p>
<p>Teriwtt… :).</p>
<p>Tim Howard was fantastic. The last 30 minutes were great. The young subs show a lot of promise.</p>
<p>The better team won.</p>
<p>After the first extra match, I still hoped 3-2 or 2-2. </p>
<p>I wish I could take credit for the Tim Howard tweet. Just google twitter and Tim Howard, and there are all sorts of funny things out there. I only wish I could be so creative.</p>
<p>I hope this performance encourages more young American players to go to Europe to play. Take Julian Green. He’s 19 but is good enough for Bayern Munich to put him on its roster. No US club belongs on the field with Bayern. I doubt we have that many Americans raised in Germany but what matters is that he played in the European club system as a kid. </p>
<p>Green is a terrific example of the kind of athlete that should be drawn to soccer. He’s 5’7", which is not too small to be a terrific soccer player. As in Lionel Messi, who may be the best ever, is 5’7". There are some hockey players that size but you have to born into hockey culture and very few are. There are a few running backs in the NFL that size but they tend to be shaped like fireplugs. Many of the best soccer players are smaller including Xherdan Shaqiri of Switzerland, who is also 5’6". Neymar is listed at 5’9" and a whopping 145 lbs. These guys can shine in the faster paced world of European (and S. American) soccer.</p>
<p>We need more German Americans </p>
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<p>I hope you realize that professional soccer needs the NCAA like pygmies need the NBA. For a few sports, the pipeline is HS>>NCAA >> Pro league. On the men’s side, that is simply NOT the case. Playing NCAA soccer is a detour for the players we … aspire to find. </p>
<p>Fwiw, you might want to check a few statistics about the active participation in youth soccer in the US. This said, as tiny countries such as Uruguay, Holland, Belgium, and the former Yugoslavia nations show, the size of the pool has little to do with the development of athletes in specific sports. It is mostly based on knowledge of the game from people charged to train and coach the next generations. In large part, our YMCA culture and affinity for BWRK preclude the development of the game, as well as immensely stupid rules about the game “slots” in schools and select leagues. </p>
<p>Check the story of Dempsey to see where he acquired the skills that make him a unique soccer player. Street soccer with Hispanics and foreign coaches in Dallas. The closest we get to the way the Brazilians and others learn to play. It does not compare to being schlepped in the back of a soccermom-mobile from 5 to 630 between a band practice and a Suzuki class. We pay the price for all the choices available. And for trying to fit the game into an American mold. </p>
<p>I knew as soon as heard Brad Gilbert pick the US to win we were toast. </p>
<p>Nice run while it lasted. </p>
<p>Someone changed the Wikipedia entry for “US Secretary of Defense” to “Tim Howard” :)</p>
<p><a href=“Someone changed the Wikipedia entry for U.S. Secretary of Defense to ‘Tim Howard’ | For The Win”>http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/07/tim-howard-wikipedia-united-states-secretary-of-defense</a></p>
<p>The next four games are promising. The eight best teams won their groups and emerged despite the WC2014 being a wide-open affair. In a way, the FIFA is quite lucky as the best way to erase their plethora of corruption scandals is to offer the greatest show on earth. None of the problems shown during the Confederation Cup appeared – or at least got coverage. </p>
<p>The spectacle shown did also opaque the recurring weakness of the refs that come from small countries and are way above their head at this stage. In fact, the refs in the Belgium vs USA were pretty awful with a number of invented calls. The Algerian ref, perhaps heeding to Juergen’s advice, had it for fellow North African Fellaini as he saw pushes and shoves were none existed on most corner kicks. </p>
<p>The FIFA should really abandon the practice of looking for the best ref on a country by country basis, but sticking to the refs that have shown the ability to call the biggest games. </p>
<p>Well I for one am glad we can all stop pretending we care about soccer for four more years. Four the last four years the only place I’ve seen soccer discussed or watched (other than kids games) is in local delis and variety stores where the employees are Hispanic. Then, suddenly, everyone’s a fan. So silly.</p>