I don't follow this sport well enough to have a well-rounded opinion of anything that happens in it but a lot of people including me got kind of roped into believing that this could be "our" year and that Team USA was actually good. They started out being a massive underdog even in their group stage and people were talking trash saying that the new system was designed so that USA could advance no matter what... the usual anti-USA stuff.
But then they went and finished top of their group and surpassed everyone's expectations. They looked like a top team. Maybe not top enough to actually win the entire World Cup but they had gained a bit of respect on the world's stage and when they went into the round of 16 vs Belgium they were Vegas favorites to win.
Then that game began and within 10 minutes you could tell that Team USA was completely out of their element. This tiny European nation with a population lower than a great many of our 50 states was clearly the better team.
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Although the fans were most likely not from there, we got Seattle, SEATTLE!, to behave like they were at least somewhat patriotic for the first time in a decade. It was pretty amazing although I seriously could have done without the jackasses in the stands that were beating on drums for the entire game.
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Between the lack of capability of maintaining possession, to the massive holes the defense left wide open, to the poor goal-keeping (jesus, did he save ANY of the shots?) to the downright amateurish looking play set-ups and more. Team USA looked like a different team than we had seen in all of the games previous to this one.
I stopped watching at one point because it was just frustrating to see "our boys" make the same mistakes over and over again.
When I was playing and when I was coaching we had a saying: "Pass with a purpose." What this meant was it was better to have the ball stripped away from your feet than to make a pass or cross to open space where you do not have a team mate even there but on at least half a dozen occasions I would see some USA breakaway to a corner then they would get there and wildly cross to the center of the field in a spastic fashion even though there wasn't even any USA guys anywhere near where the ball would land. This is just extremely poor play.
Then when USA would do the whole pass around the perimeter looking for a chance for someone to make a break for it, that "break" just didn't happen. Team USA looked demoralized and nobody really had the balls to so much as make a break for it. They didn't look like they even had a plan.
The one goal USA did get was actually a deflection off of a Belgian players head and had that not happened the keeper had eyes on the ball and was headed in the correct direction to save the shot had his own player not changed the trajectory. That goal was attributed to Tillman but if you watched the game and especially the replay, you know it was an OG.
Now to be realistic, nobody that knows anything about this sport really thought that USA had a snowball's chance in hell of actually winning the World Cup. We were aware of the fact that it would take a damn miracle for USA to get past Spain or Portugal but it sure as hell would have been nice to have had a chance to try.
I will give the boys kudos for doing well up until the Belgium game but honestly, they looked like they didn't belong there and like they were gifted a spot in the final 16 even though we all know damn well that they earned it. What changed between the previous games and the one vs Belgium? A lot apparently, because nothing was working and that tiny royal nation made the USA look stupid on the pitch in front of a sold out crowd that was almost entirely comprised of fair-weather fans for USA.
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keeper goes well out of position with the ball and then dicks around with it instead of clearing... what could go wrong?
Now I suppose the USA viewership is going to drop dramatically. There will be articles written about this. I didn't watch any of the USA games from start to finish and I probably wont watch any of the remaining matches from start to finish either.
It seems as though almost any time the USMT has an opportunity to turn things around as far as USA's involvement in this sport is concerned and the fans reaction to it, they always fumble.. and yes, I did intentionally use an American football term in the end there because Americans are going to understand the term.
I'm kind of angry at the team for sucking. They definitely looked like (and likely WERE) the worst team in the knockout stages.
The team over achieved to make it this far and there was never going to be a Hollywood ending. This world cup there were extra teams added to increase the numbers so there was more chances for weaker teams to make it through to the knockout stages. In the past the knockout was quarter final and not last 32 like this year.
So even though I never really paid super close attention to the World Cup I do recall USA making it just one time in my lifetime past the first KO stage. They looked hopeful this year to make it considerably further but that was all a pipe dream apparently. Belgium was a massive reality check.
I wonder why you didn't mentioned about the pardon the US soccer player got after Trump intervene because he got a red card.
well there are a couple of reasons that I didn't bring it up in regards to this loss but the main one is that it apprently didn't have a great deal of impact on the game as the USA got their asses handed to them regardless. A second reason is that I really try to avoid any politics of any kind in everything that I do.
I did write like 400 words about the call though and how I thought it was bullcrap and a misuse of VAR. There have been several other misuses of VAR that have been a bit suspect in this tournament as well though. Egypt game was particularly of note.
But that's the nature of the game. You can see other arguable calls on other games as well such as Colombia and Egypt invalidated goals and other more controversial calls about fouls and plays.
But the same thing happens in any other sports like Basketball and such. Many videos complain on the referring and the heat intensify during the playoffs.
it's all good. there are good points made by the people claiming favoritism but at the same time they don't seem to complain so much when the calls go their way. It is what it is. I wouldn't mind seeing some changes to how the game is officiated but they keep their own council on that and this is just fine by me.