We May Have Lost to Belgium…
Posted on July 2nd, 2014 in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
…and yet, it feels a little like we won, doesn’t it?
What an amazing game that was yesterday—and what an incredible performance by goalkeeper Tim Howard. (Who has Tourette’s Syndrome—did you know that? I didn’t know that till yesterday.)
It is a shame that we’re eliminated because it was so much fun to see Americans really getting into the World Cup. (Let’s hope they remember that the Cup isn’t over just because the U.S. is out.)
But so much good for U.S. soccer came out of this Cup, you still have to consider it a very positive experience…. Who could watch yesterday’s game and still argue that soccer isn’t exciting?
I think too that, with the growing concern about concussions in football, a generation of parents is going to start steering their kids toward playing soccer rather than football. That obviously bodes well for the growth of the sport.
Now: Go Brasil!
4 Responses
7/2/2024 10:32 am
Go Costa Rica and Colombia! (what a final hat would be).
7/2/2024 11:18 am
I don’t know, Richard… to me the match was kind of shocking, how after all these decades of “building the game” in the United States we’re supposedly at the top level & there to stay… but there was no one American player, with the exception of Howard, whom you could possibly call top-class. We could have been watching a “plucky” or “brave” US time from the 1990s — but who ever calls the best 10-15 teams in the world “plucky” or “scrappy.” The US has a long way to go, but Klinsmann, if he can stand it and will stay, is the most likely person to take them there.
7/2/2024 1:51 pm
Alas, plenty of concussions in soccer, too. True, not as violent as US football, But then, no helmets. I know a soccer-playing 22-year-old who has had 8 concussions and is having memory-loss issues.
7/3/2024 12:42 pm
Weinberger, I would say Dempsey as well as Howard, and Altidore, if he weren’t hurt.
Agree with you though that we have a ways to go.
Anon 1, I would love to see Costa Rica in particular do well…