World Cup: USA Still a Round-of-16 Team

7/1/2014

Big people. Ask Clint and DaMarcus.

A few weeks ago, I was in a Belgian pub, where everybody was six feet tall – including the women, some of whom brandished long toy spears. (The team is nicknamed the Red Devils, I was told.)

Big people. Big team.

In the World Cup Round of 16, it is not quite enough to be desperate and valiant and pretty darn good.

The Americans went up against the big people on Tuesday, unable to rely on set pieces and power as they do in the regional qualifying matches.

It was wearing to hold off the Belgians, who had skilled players from the good leagues in Europe. The U.S. could not win enough scrimmages to come up with a lot of corner kicks and free kicks. What the U.S. had was its best athlete, Tim Howard, making superb saves and keeping them in the match with probably the best match ever by an American keeper, until Belgium held on for a 2-1 victory in extra time.

Belgium had the horses -- Kevin De Bruyne who plays for VfL Wolfsburg in Germany and Romelu Lukaku, who plays with Howard at Everton of England – and they finally broke through and scored in the extra 30 minutes.

Here was the difference: Belgium could come in with Lukaku in extra time, after he did not start. The U.S. went with one man up front, Clint Dempsey, for a long time, and relied on others moving up, which is not the same as having a fast and powerful forward like Lukaku driving against weary defenders.

Ever since Jurgen Klinsmann picked his squad, I suggested the U.S. would miss Landon Donovan in a match where they needed a goal, late. This was the day. With Jozy Altidore not ready, Chris Wondolowski flubbed a chance to win in regulation time, which can happen. And Julian Green, the 19-year-old German, who essentially had Donovan’s spot on the roster, scored on his first World Cup touch, on a volley. So it’s hard to fault Klinsmann for using the kid.

The big picture is that the U.S. is still a work in progress in this sport which huge crowds keep discovering all over this nation.

The U.S. conducted itself well. Klinsmann is a good coach, and has four years more on his contract. The country can be proud. Nobody bit, nobody quit, nobody sulked. Admirable.

In my den -- no more Belgian pubs with giantesses wielding spears – the U.S. run was fun, and instructive, and exhausting. I loved Jermaine Jones and Dempsey and DaMarcus Beasley, and marveled at Michael Bradley’s work rate against Belgium. But it’s over now.

Julian Green is 19, and DeAndre Yedlin, the fresh legs at right back, is 20. And Tim Howard is 35, and keepers can go on a long time, and he should. It’s a new World Cup cycle in the States, starting now.

Where is the American De Bruyne? Where is the American Lukaku? Maybe watching the World Cup with friends and saying, “I can play that sport instead of basketball (or baseball, or football.)” That is still somewhere in the future.

7 Comments

Andy Tansey

7/1/2014 01:47:25 pm

George:

It was a wonderful game! Who can complain when the good guys at Everton and Spurs beat you? Seriously, both teams played positively and honestly and respected the game,. While I thought Klinsman was a bit too chummy at the loss to Germany, I was pleased to see the nice rapport with Wilmots today.

Howard was as you said and can hold his head as high as any player in this fine tournament. Bradley had a good game. That we (US) made some fine chances to squeeze in a winner (Wondolowski near 90) and a tying goal (Dempsey, et al.) was very positive. That Timmy had to set some sort of record to keep us in the match is an indication of the development of US soccer: we have tried to rely on decent but no better defense for the better part of two decades, and our attack has matured and improved over that time while the defense remains decent but no better.

However, Gonzalez and Yedlin are exciting reasons to be optimistic. Besler was good throughout, though at a key moment he was no match for Big Rom. Cameron was helpful today - I wondered whether he'd be in, with his knowledge of the EPL. How about DMB?!!? I think he had a fine tournament.

I am very happy with the USA, and I think this tournament has been a joy, even in its darkest side. I am trying to get my kids to call me the Dutch name for father, "Vader."

Brian Savin

7/1/2014 02:13:39 pm

Good new kids - exciting, but I agree that the team badly needed Donovan today to deliver on what was oh so close.....several times.

Thor A. Larsen

7/1/2014 02:27:18 pm

Although I only caught the last 20 minutes or so, I did catch all the scoring, and based on that limited viewing, it seemed that this game was one of the best US have played. When against the wall, they became stronger. The brilliant scoring by the very young Julian Green and the remarkable goal tending by Tim Howard were both very memorable. Yes, it seems that soccer is the new sport for the Ameican public and this fine team helped in establishing this interest. (We were in NYC today, and on every outdoor cafe, there was a TV with the afternoon game being played and the crowd watching. The interest and intensity of the watchers was very similar to the pubs in Ireland last week when they were watching some of the World Cup games.)

Charlie Accetta

7/1/2014 03:19:53 pm

GV - Good points about the team not quitting, having heart, always battling. Also a good point regarding the fact that depth means everything in a series of closely placed battles against the class of the world. Most of the players this team will be relying in the run-up to the next World Cup will not be home-grown. This much is being made abundantly clear. Klinsmann, at least, recognizes that we still do not have the infrastructure to develop a large pool of world-class players from seedlings. This is the rub. What do we do as a nation to compete at this level, as we do in hockey, or fencing, or chess? There are plenty of these arenas where the USA is not preeminent, but still extremely competitive. Soccer, on the other hand, remains an elusive bird for us.

Tom Schwarz link

7/2/2014 12:54:35 am

George, how many games have we watched over the years where the better team brings on a Super Star in the 80th minute, a guy better than anyone else on the lesser team to win the game? And the Belgians were dominating throughout the game already yesterday. We don't have ANYONE like Lukaku If Wondo would have tapped that ball end at the end of regulation, it really would an unfair result to the Belgians....not that it would have bothered me in the least. How about Belgium and Holland in the Final 8? Population about the same as Texas. Other than Timmy Howard, do we have a guy who could make either squad?

Michael Beer

7/2/2014 09:13:17 am

Tom - As George knows, I've been following the Belgian squad for 2+ years and while I was pulling for the USA, I agree it would have been unfair had Belgium lost. Also, I believe Belgium is the 2nd or 3rd youngest squad at the World Cup so watch out for them in Russia '18! Michael

Alan Rubin link

7/3/2014 08:16:38 am

This continues to be a truly amazing World Cup.

Although all group winners advanced to the quarter finals, most were within minutes and inches of not making it. Soccer is a game that fortunes can turn is a matter of minutes, even seconds.

Tim Howard’s record breaking performance was more remarkable than many people realize. Howard along with many other goalkeepers, particularly Mexico’s Ochoa, had made point blank reflex saves appear routine.

Keepers must be in position to block point blank shots and usually deflect them out of danger.

Howard needed to confront a significant number of breakaways. This requires a split second evaluation of the attacker’s distance from the goal, approaching angle and speed. In every instance, Howard played his arc perfectly and came out the correct distance.

Leg saves must be perfectly timed to solidly deflect the shot. If slightly off, the ball could spin over his leg and roll towards the goal.

Sixteen saves in itself is remarkable at that level of competition, but the number of saves that required Howard to come way off his line made his performance truly special.

Paul Kennedy’s article on Tim Howard on today’s SoccerAmericaDaily blog is an interesting read.

http://www.socceramerica.com/article/59198/tim-howard-the-support-has-been-immense.html?edition=12175

As a long-time veteran of the USMNT, Tim Howard’s comments have significance greater than any journalist or talking head. As for the just completed run by the USA, Howard said it was important for the team's young players.

“The talent pool is rich," he said. "This was a very young team and even if guys didn’t play serious minutes, they were a part of this experience and they’ll be so much better for it in the coming years whether that be Copa America, Gold Cup, Confederations Cup, World Cup qualifying and on to the next World Cup."

He said the play of DeAndre Yedlin put a big smile on his face.

"He comes into the game and faces Eden Hazard and he never looked back," said Howard, "and Eden Hazard is the best player in the Premier League, or was one of them last year, and he’s a threat to anyone and DeAndre got his head down and dared him to come at him. I think it’s very exciting for U.S. Soccer.”

Soccer in the United States is at a very good point and poised to improve. The number and quality of Youth Academies, particularly those run by the MLS teams. Coaching at every level is improving.

Inner city and minority programs are also expanding. It is just a matter of time before more of our countries’ talent pool joins the soccer mix.

It is a matter of time and patience, but the United States is on the path to becoming a world soccer elite.

Some recend articles

There are many opinions about the fortunes of the USMNT, much of it conflicting, but it has been established that the United States is now a soccer nation. Three recent articles are below.

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This Year’s Joyous, Thrilling Performance Shows the USA’s World Cup Future Is Bright
By Jeremy Stahl

The future is bright.
After the United States’ heartbreaking 2–1 extra time loss to Belgium, it’s hard not to think about what could have been. What if Chris Wondolowski had put home that absolute sitter at the end of injury time? What if Thibaut Courtois hadn’t made a catlike save of a Clint Dempsey shot on that clockwork set piece in the game’s final minutes? What if Congo had never been a Belgian colony and Romelu Lukakuhad followed his father’s international career path?
It’s silly to think about these “what ifs,” though, because the Belgian victory was so thoroughly deserved. The Belgians outshone the Americans in every possible aspect of the game except for goalkeeping. While it’s true that Tim Howard put in an all-time great performance—his 16 saves are the most recorded in a single World Cup game since they started counting in 1966—not even that was ever going to be enough. Howard made so many saves because the Belgians had dozens upon dozens of chances. To be exact, according to FIFA, they had 38 shots, 27 on target, and one that hit the woodwork. Oh, and 19 corners. The stats purveyor Opta, which measures differently than FIFA and counted 39 shots, says that only three teams since 1966 have had that many shots. ESPN’s stats gurus say that the Americans’ 70 clearances were also the most in 50 years, while Belgium’s 285 touches in the attacking third were more than any other team at this World Cup.
The Belgian shot chart looks like some sort of diabolical reversed map of what the European country faced at the start of World War I.
U.S. coach Jürgen Klinsmann spoke a bit at the end of the game about how “it could have gone either way,” and how luck was

World Cup: USA Still a Round-of-16 Team

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