:‘( :’(
You just had to remind me, didn’t you…
I’ll just be the guy to say it, that game was disappointing to say the least. :-[
Didn’t catch the US v Belgium game but from what I hear, Howard was amazing and broke the record for most saves in a World Cup match.
Yuki
Tim Howard for president!
At least we represented ourselves well for the last 15 minutes of the game. Still disappointing, though.
Well at least you guys can forget about soccer for another 4 years.
USA was going to lose sooner or later so its all good and Belgium just dominated all game. Tim Howard gave them a chance for so long and that bis miss could have won the game. Such a shame really
Do you not get enough attention at home?
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I’m just trying to cheer you guys up!
^^^
Howard!
One of the best posts I have seen. Nice job 
The USA needs to realize what was achieved here. For once, the conversation was a legitimate one about winning. Not about just “doing ok”; but winning. The Belgium game was a winnable game for the USA. That is REAL, measurable progress.
Players like Yedlin showed that the USA can grow players that can play with the best. After his performance yesterday, it is hard to imagine him in a Seattle Sounders uniform next season. I would imagine that his agent was busy today
The next time around, we will be contenders.
I think the best Tim Howard meme I’ve seen was one where he’s saving Ned Stark from Illyn Payne. The US will always be outside chances at the World Cup but by god, you guys are going to be a thorn in the backside of the heavy hitters.
Yuki
Yeah, we’ll get there. It just takes time. We’re still new compared to the other guys.
I think it’s a combination of being fairly new and having your sporting talent split over a large number of sports (pretty much every sport, really). Most of the nations that typically do well in the World Cup (especially the South American nations) have football as the national religion.
Yuki
Did you guys really doe better than last time? You were ranked 10th coming into South Africa and 13th into Brazil. Also, the US is a huge country, so it isn’t surprising you do well in most sports, even if national interest is low.
Yes we are a large country. But our best athletes play American Football, Basketball or Baseball - all of which have earnings potential that is orders of magnitude above that of American Soccer. That is why we struggle. Can you imagine Richard Sherman; or Lebron James playing Soccer for the USA?
Last time; we thought it was a miracle to make it out of the group. This time, we were disappointed that we lost the elimination match to an opponent that we had a realistic chance to beat. It is not the result, it is the manner of the result.
Next time the conversation will include the USA as potential contenders for the Cup. That is what I was saying. Optimistic? Sure. But it is realistic optimism these days.
But are those feelings justified? USA was expected to make it past group stages in 2010.
Different sports require different attributes, basketball, baseball, football, and soccer require different skills. The only position I can imagine Lebron in is keeper, and I have no idea who Sherman is.
You’ll always have people with natural athletic talents that can be applied to almost any sport (Gael Monfils from tennis, for example). Yes, the skills may be different but skills can be learned. Unfortunately, when the earning potential in the NFl, NBA and MLB are astronomical compared to football, especially within the US, those with natural gifts re more likely to hone these gifts in those sports.
I also entirely agree with YoyoGeezer about the how mattering as much as the outcome. Argentina have won every match but have looked far from convincing doing so. Germany, on the other hand, have had less stellar results but have looked better in achieving them.
Yuki
Never. Soccer is the only sport I enjoy. Go Real Salt Lake, Chelsea, and Everton!
And yes, we did better this year. Yes we’ve been in the quarter finals before, and yes, we might have been ranked higher at one point, but we beat Ghana (thorn in our side for forever), almost beat Portugal, and held off Germany like champs. I felt good about it. But apparently it’s your job to be the spoilsport in this thread, so whatever.
And Yuki hit it on the head – we have the talent pool, but kids don’t grow up wanting to be professional soccer players. But that is changing, slowly. =)
Bummer on the USA, but yes they did really good.
This has been a super great tournament, all the matches have been hard fought and great to watch!