Thread: World Cup 2014

Ha! I knew it! Congrats les Bleus!

Now waiting for die Mannschaft to do the same!

I hope we can keep this pace and pressure the whole match and not die in the 2nd half.

I think Belgam has their hands full. Still hoping we can keep the pressure and pace up through the 2nd half

Oops...good try by US but too little too late. Congrats to both teams; soccer/futbol is becoming a mainstream sport in the US. I'm looking forward to the future with the game here!

I'm sad to see the US go out, but they did far better than anyone expected them to do. Two cups in a row making it out of the Group Stage. Given the lack of depth we had in several positions, which was exposed due to *many* injuries, I'd say we put in the heart and grind that teams are used to see from the US in our 2014 Cup appearances. Now, we need to keep developing. Technique is right around the corner and knocking. And, I predict MLS will no longer be a resting place where careers go to die!

So many good matches and thoughtful comments here on SRP! I don't think it can be overstated how terrific this Cup 2014 has been.

kind regards

Of the two matches yesterday, the USA-Belgium was the most entertaining one.
Argentina going thru in the end was expected, as it was with Belgium.
IMHO Argentina is not performing at the level I was anticipating going in to these championships, but have managed to stay in it mainly because they have players that can pull that extra something out of the bag when needed.

The US team put up a valiant effort, but their material isn't quite up there when compared to the usual suspects at this stage in the tournament.
Both teams covered some serious mileage in this bout.

Belgium is a joy to watch out there on the pitch.
Some very fine football players for sure.
Howard kept USA in it for a long time, brilliant play by him.

Almost stole that one in extra time. That would have been something.
Belgium clearly controlled play, is the better team and deserved to win. This is the spot the US is stuck at. Getting to the knockout round is nothing new. It would be nice to see us progress further. That will not happen until the level of skill increases. Our players seem to fight the ball while class ballers from other countries use it like a yo-yo...it's an extension of them.

Despite the very good showing (which it was), there is no clear path to making the next step. We are a country of 300 million so the excuse that our best athletes play other sports is just that - an excuse. Heck we have states with larger populations than many of these power soccer nations. In fact the 9 county metropolitan area that I live in has a larger population than Uruguay and Costa Rica among others (and is very soccer friendly) yet no international soccer stars.

I'm afraid that the excitement built up around this World Cup is no different than previous times. We are in the midst of it, the games can easily be watched live because Brazil is only 1 hour ahead of the eastern time zone. That adds to the excitement. It is not even the deepest run into the tournament. We made it to the quarter finals in 2002. Yet here we are 3 Cups later saying the same thing again. "This is the start." I hope so but have my doubts. Our most talked about players are a 35 year old keeper, a 30 something midfielder miscast as a striker and a washed up player (who was never that great compared to other countries top or mid level players) who was left off the team.

That being said I think the team represented very well. They lived up to their full potential. And I love that we have not made flopping a part of our national soccer personality. They really couldn't have done any better imho. They made their country proud.

Overall this has been 1 of the 2 most exciting World Cups of my lifetime. It would be hard to top #1. That was 1994 when the tournament was held here in the States. 4 or 5 of the group stage matches were held here locally at Stanford. A few teams setup home bases in a few towns around the area. Brazil set up home base in Los Gatos (where I live now and 15 minutes from where I grew up and lived at the time). That was amazing! The Brazilians took over the town. I had never seen the town like that before they came nor since - main drags were closed down because parties from the bars were all spilled on the streets, the police were totally overwhelmed but there was no violence or crime just fun, beautiful Brazilian women dancing on tables and the general warm and genuniely friendly nature of the Brazilian people permeated the whole area. This town had no idea what hit it. It was awesome.

Belgium - US was imo the best game of the tournament so far.
Belgium demolished the US defense, but Howard was the man of the match. His performance was out of this world. Truly the man of the match. It was a riveting game. If Belgium can keep this up, they will beat Argentina too. If the Dutch then win against costa rica, we'll have a Netherlands - Belgium semi finals.

In case you don't know our countries: if this game will come to pass, don't expect to get enything done that day or the next if it involves Belgian or Dutch people. Both our countries will go completely insane.

Been waiting to do this for a while ->

Originally Posted by Bruno

Belgium - US was imo the best game of the tournament so far.
Belgium demolished the US defense, but Howard was the man of the match. His performance was out of this world. Truly the man of the match. It was a riveting game. If Belgium can keep this up, they will beat Argentina too. If the Dutch then win against costa rica, we'll have a Netherlands - Belgium semi finals.

In case you don't know our countries: if this game will come to pass, don't expect to get enything done that day or the next if it involves Belgian or Dutch people. Both our countries will go completely insane.

Dude!! That would be spectacular!