World Cup 2014: Belgium Eliminates U.S.A., 2-1

NYT ^ | 7/1/2014 | Jeff Z. Klein

[mojito]

The United States was eliminated from the World Cup, but it went out battling. Belgium beat the Americans, 2-1, in the Round of 16 at Salvador, with all the goals coming in extra time.

Tim Howard was heroic in keeping the game scoreless through 90 minutes, and he ended the evening credited officially with 15 saves. But in the third minute of extra time, Kevin De Bruyne finally broke the deadlock. He was set up by Romelu Lukaku, who had just come into the match.

Lukaku made it 2-0 at 105 minutes, seemingly putting the match out of reach.

But the 19-year-old Julian Green came on for the start of the second extra period and scored on his first touch, taking an inch-perfect pass from Michael Bradley and volleying it home to make it 2-1 in the 107th minute.

The Americans came close to tying a couple of times in the final minutes but couldn’t quite connect.

[Colonel_Flagg]

He did. He had the acronym on his shoes.

And no one refers to a WC as a toilet in the United Statesv that I know of. It’s. ..horrors. ..English. And you know what sport was invented THERE.

[dfwgator]

Let’s not call them anything, let’s just ignore them.

[RoosterRedux]

Heheh.

At least you got "accents grave" correct. So don't complain about folks who are fussy about being correct.

BTW, you should have watched the game. It was incredibly good.

I guess you hate sushi also.;-)

[catnipman]

“Meh...my paint is peeling. Think I’ll crack open a beer and watch it.”

And for REAL excitement, you could then paint everything after the old paint peels and watch the paint dry. If you get lucky, there might be a paint drip or two to watch. Beats watching soccer for sure, though.

[canuck_conservative]

Tim Howard was great, the rest of the team not so great. 3-4 misses that could have been goals.

Well said. The shots on goal were something like 38-7 for Belgium, and obviously you can't win on defense alone. Too bad, because if the American team had played the first 90 minutes with the intensity they did in the last 15, could have easily been a different outcome.

That said, Howard made 16 crucial goal-saving stops, the most since England in 1966.

[miss marmelstein]

My husband just said he played that in the schoolyard in the Bronx. We played stickball in summers with at least one fire hydrant as first base. We also played stoopball which is nothing like baseball. It’s basically handball using a city stoop instead of a cement wall.

[miss marmelstein]

No, I don’t hate sushi. But it’s deeply silly to spell football the way you just did.

[Mygirlsmom]

LOL

[mojito]

Some interesting perspectives on the game from English fans who watched and commented at The Telegraph.

The commenters have only praise for the US side, saying that they were “heroic” and played like “lions” even in defeat, that they played with great sportsmanship and that they gave their all for their country, unlike the disappointing English side.

Maybe it's hard for us to see the Americaness of soccer, but it seems quite clear to fans of other nations when they watch the US team play.

Scroll down for the comments here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10939708/Belgium-v-USA-Jurgen-Klinsmanns-team-bow-out-of-World-Cup-after-heroic-performance-in-extra-time.html

[GeronL]

KRYTEN:Yes, we can go to any time period in history.

RIMMER: Well for me it would be 19th Century Europe as one of Napoleon’s army Generals. The chance to stomp around killing Belgians! Marvellous!

[RoosterRedux]

It is either soccer or fútbol.

Deeply silly? Oh, lighten up.

Don't accuse me of being punctilious, Miss "Accents Grave."

[GeronL]

Sounds like something out of the tenements, did his parents sew clothes at home? /sarc

[miss marmelstein]

Sacre bleu! In England, it’s called football. In America it’s called soccer and I still say it stinks!

[miss marmelstein]

Who, what? We were one generation up from the tenements, yes, indeed.

[A'elian' nation]

I was cheering the Belgians on. Sincerely wanted them to win on humanitarian grounds.

By losing Team USA ‘have’ been spared ticker tape parades and a visit to the White House to shake OweBowMao’s hand.

Note that I used the peculiar British grammar of using plural verbs with singular objects. The Belgie team are now rejoicing with 250 brands of ‘bier’.

[NohSpinZone]

We do if you’re on the West Coast like I am. Of course, it’s on a Sunday.

[MIchaelTArchangel]

Thank God! The national insanity is now officially OVER!

[RoosterRedux]

I used to hate it, but when I began to notice that athleticism in it (these guy REALLY run hard, and their dexterity is phenomenal once you begin to understand it), I began to respect it.

I would think that soccer players are probably among the most fit athletes in the world.

Baseball and football players pale in comparison.

But then there is always curling. Now there's a sport for the most fit among us.

[ArmstedFragg]

Well, remember, they’re comparing them to Three Lions.

But seriously, this was the first year I’ve seen our side look like a real professional squad, not a group of college kids. We couldn’t put an attack together all day, but our defense wasn’t all that bad. I think it bodes well for our future in the international game.

[the scotsman]

What are those?.

‘Football’ is rugby transplanted, baseball was invented in England and based on a childs game, hockey and basketball are both the brainchilds of Canadians.

If you would rather watch dull sports which take 3-4 hrs to complete be my guest.