I do know the opposition. I also know what negative football is and that’s what we played.
I did not expect victory today. I did expect a better performance than I saw.
Of course, a Michael Bradley sighting at this World Cup would be very nice too. :)
But hey, they are in the last 16 in successive World Cups for the first time ever and that does mean something.
I wonder if the “Manaus Effect” hurt the US today, especially with Germany having an extra day.
I think the US knew as long as they kept it within a goal they’d be in good shape.
Had these two teams met for the first game instead of the last, who knows if it would have been different. In the first game, both teams have to try to get maximum goals. It’s a little different when you play last, when you know what you need to go through.
We played to advance. Our opposition was a superior team. If we had tried to open up the game and go on the attack, we would be vulnerable to deadly counterattacks. It may have been more appealing football, but the result would probably have resulted in our losing big to the Germans. How can you argue with the result? As in any tournament, the objective is to advance no matter how ugly the game.