What's sickening about Howard's performance is the United States had a golden opportunity right towards the end of stoppage time that would have sealed the game. This might have been Howard's last world cup and it would have been great to see him get that last win. I'm really too young to know otherwise, but I'm pretty sure he's the best goalie our country has ever had.
Possibly one of the greatest goaltending performances in Wold Cup history but it'll widely be ignored because they lost and he's American.
Id agree with the first part, but not so much the second. The one place that Americans get respect in soccer is at GK due to the success of keepers like Howard, Brad Friedel, Kasey Keller, and Brad Guzan. It came up during the game at work today why Americans have had so much success at high levels at that position. I suggested that it was likely due to basketball having similar fast twitch muscle necessity and jumping/reactions similar to those who excel at the position. Howard and Friedel were both fantastic basketball players before settling on soccer.
Your national soccer team is called the "All Whites"!?! I get that the rugby team is the All Blacks, but someone should have stopped and thought about how hilariously inappropriate it is to call a team the "All Whites". Team America had a great World Cup and really punched above their weight. Howard is a Jedi master. I think the main thing America needs to work on is improving their offensive finishing power. If the US can produce a striker that could reliably create threats they could really go to the next level. Australia has consistently punched above it's weight, because Tim Cahill creates goals all by himself.
Someone changed the Secretary of Defense's wikipedia profile to Tim Howard's. https://twitter.com/JoshParcell/status/484179419318087680/photo/1 edit: I couldn't get the pic to show up.
I don't think that's quite true. A few folk were surprised that I was wanting the US to win last night and that's part of the reason why I was: because they're an easy target to make fun of and they don't get the respect they deserve. Just as it seems from what I read that the general population in the US is starting to take football more seriously, fandom in the rest of the world is beginning to take the US more seriously as well. I've read quite a few articles in the UK media praising the US team and fans, including Howard's performance. Those who are anything more than casual fans know that the US stopped being a joke some time ago. That, and it's hard to hate a team managed by someone as likeable as Herr Klinsmann. As for the continually trotted out line that the US is "the only country in the world that doesn't care about football", well that's blatantly untrue. Throw China, India and Indonesia together and you have 40% of the world's population that combined wouldn't get close to a world cup, even with the ridiculously easy Asian qualifying section. India even have a lower Elo ranking than Gibraltar who have 0.002% of the population.
Hello, Canada. We overwhelmingly don't care for it, much like NASCAR. Our women's team is good and sure we TRY to qualify for the WC but much like basketball it doesn't work out for us. Much like the Aussies we like full contact, we're just not psychopaths like them. America has a real deal team. There never should have been a debate in the first place, give them four to eight years and they'll be hitting the semis. A team that has a backing country with actual money and proper facilities can do wonders with a sparked interest. Americans should be pleased with their team, they could have just as easily win that game, their D is one of the best in the world. And nobody dives less than USA so street cred and props are deserved.
Yeah, it came from the 1982 world cup qualifiers where our strip was white and people thought they were being clever by associating their name with the All Blacks. No one cared about the racial overtones in the 80s I guess, and now they're stuck with a stupid nickname. Every other NZ sporting team wears black, and I remember a few players from the 82 team saying in interviews that they preferred the black alternate strip anyway.
Insane free kick from Luiz against Columbia. Brazil look like they'll battle against the Germans though, with no Silva (suspended) or Neymar (injured). I think Belgium will knock off Argentina tonight.
I like the Dutch team and they have a smart coach, but Robben is a fuckhead, a bitch, and a complete ball hog. "Pass" is not in his vocabulary unless he's demanding it from a teammate. Tunnel vision, mouthy, selfish. He's so fucking annoying it's insane. If he actually tried passing, it would throw off Argentina completely. Should be two great semi-finals, though. Four powerhouse teams.
The story of Belgium this year, great team who can score a goal only when absolutely necessary. If they bothered to try scoring for the first 75 minutes instead of the last 15 they could've made it to the finals.
I agree. The team has the capability to play really attractive soccer and Robben is kind of amazing in the fact that he only can go to his left and deliver strikes with his left foot, but he is really petulant and annoying in his mannerisms. The clip they showed of him throwing a hissy fit when he was open on the flank and didn't get a pass was pretty much perfect. That being said, I watched the game at a bar and the table next to us was a dude in an Argentina jersey and his girlfriend who knew nothing about soccer and just parroted his opinions. EVERY FUCKING TIME Robben touched the ball, they would yell something about diving, were bringing it up to the server, saying the Dutch team is a bunch of cheaters, etc... I get that they wanted Costa Rica so it would be an easier match up for Argentina, but shut the fuck up, seriously, you sound like idiots. He also loudly made comments about being glad he supported a team that played the "right way", ignoring the fact that outside of Messi, Argentina dives as much as anyone and his beloved squad, despite being very offensively talented, made NO effort to score for a large majority of the game after going up 1-0 early. I took great joy in the speed that they closed their check after Krul dominated Los Ticos in the shootout. So much is luck in a shootout, but damn if Van Gaal didn't look like an absolute genius after that result.
Van Gaal has dominated the World Cup in terms of his decision making. Makes me very optimistic for the future as a United fan.
Good post really. The participation in youth football is declining as a result of the concussion problem. I know if/when I have kids they can play any sport but. As well, there's not an immediate economic incentive for these "handlers" to direct the kids towards soccer. However, there is immense money in the game. Europe will be happy to mine American athletic talent so long as is there. Football has a pretty serious crisis going on now, and in 10 years we will see if it starts to go the way of boxing. Soccer may very well be there to replace it. In fact, I think thats really pretty likely. Imagine if all these 4 star athletes start playing soccer instead of football, the American system will hugely benefit and so will the European game. Top American athletes playing soccer can only be a good thing for the game in terms of competition.
That's a massive culture shift though. Football holds a certain stigma, and I'm not sure the aura of the highschool footballer can be replaced by that. I could be way off the mark though, that's the views of an Australian looking in. I guess we're going through similar changes in our country. Our domestic competition isn't quite 10 years yet, but the growth has been crazy. I personally don't watch it, because the standard isn't quite there and I prefer the EPL and Australian Rugby, but crowds are starting to overtake. On top of that, we've had both Man United and Liverpool play preseason tours here, selling out 80K stadiums, and one domestic side will have David Villa and Lampard on loan. Previously we've had Dwight Yorke, Del Piero and Heskey
Fair enough. The game may becoming popular among a certain, hockey-esque demographic, we'll see if it takes hold in other settings. If it does, soccer traditionalists will be shitting themselves at the thought of elite American athletes participating in and dominating their game.
I received my first major concussion from soccer. If you play high-tier soccer, and you're in the wall for a free, direct kick: Don't jump in the way. Not worth it. Just thought I'd mindlessly add that in there. Carry on.
That was just smart coaching and math. Put in the tall, lanky guy who's good at penalties and loves to shit-talk. Like Wags said luck was involved and Van Gaal went all in, but it worked. That's how you win games. I'd like to see the Dutch win it. As long as Robben drops dead before it happens.