home."Posted on 07/03/2014 8:08:06 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
Members of the United States men's soccer team signed autographs for fans and posed for pictures at Los Angeles International Airport after returning from the World Cup early Thursday aboard a flight from Brazil.
The flight left Brazil for LAX late Wednesday night and touched down around 6 a.m. PT. Defender Omar Gonzalez, a member of Major League Soccer's LA Galaxy, was among the first to clear customs and greet a group of fans dressed in red, white and blue gathered inside the terminal.
"It was a long flight, but I'm happy to be back," Gonzalez said. "I think we gave it everything we had. We left everything on that field."
The team is returning home after a World Cup in which they escaped one of the most competitive groups to qualify for the knockout round. Despite 16 saves from goalkeeper Tim Howard, the U.S. fell short in extra-time Tuesday against a skilled Belgian side, 2-1, and was eliminated from the tournament.
Howard, who plays for top-flight English club Everton, called the loss "heartbreaking." His 16 saves in front of 51,227 people inside Arena Fonte Nova are the most in the World Cup since 1966.
"I think we did very well," Howard said after signing autographs at LAX. "We're proud of what we did.
"The fans were fantastic and it's good to be back home."
Howard will return to English club play in mid-August. Teammates with MLS clubs must get back to work immediately.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbclosangeles.com ...
/s
Seriously though...they did a fine job of representing the U.S.A.
And Tim Howard saved our bacon!
It was a nice run. We had our chances in the Belgium match, but frankly we did not deserve to win that one. Someone who did not watch presently will be by to tell the rest of us about how boring it was. :)
I wonder if they know he's an open Christian.
The loss lies at the feet of the coach. He came into the world cup with Altidore and Dempsey to generate offense. When Altidore gets injured he leaves Dempsey alone to generate the offense. Not until the final game, late in the match, does he put in another striker who had the opportunity to win the match in regulation but missed. Now if he had been starting in every game after Altidore got hurt, I bet he makes that shot.
Then he throws some young gun in and on his first touch puts the US back in the game in overtime. Why wasn't this kid put in against Germany? Because like so many Soccer coaches he played not to lose instead of playing to win.
The coach mismanaged Bradley as well. I've been critical of Bradley's play leading up to the round of 16. But he's a defensive midfielder and when asked to push up into the offensive role, he seemed very uncomfortable. Even the Belgium game in the first half he was "running around in no mans land" to quote the half time commentary. Then in the second half he fell back into a more defensive role and what happened? He started seeing opportunities that led to chances for goal. This was especially true in the overtime goal by Green. Bradley moved in from a defensive position to intercept the ball, a little aggressive dribbling, a chip and Green did the rest.
Monday morning quarterbacking yes. But what else is there to do with the US out of the match.
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