It's a damn shame that because this was a loss, Tim Howard's performance won't be remembered as widely or as fondly as other moments in recent US soccer history. That was amazing on his part.
The back four in front of him were great too. Beasley I think put in his best performance in a US shirt since 2002. The CB pairing was immense and played over their heads. I know a lot of people want to point to Besler getting shed by Lukaku to lead to the first Belgian goal, but how much pressure can you expect him and the others at the back to deal with before something breaks down?
I'm just going to go ahead and pat myself on the back for calling for Yedlin to play - though I'll readily admit it came more from knowing that Vertonghen is a shit LB and Hazard can't be bothered to track back more than knowing about Yedlin being a good player. Having taken a good look at him today though, I think he has a strong future on the right wing, as a midfielder more than as a fullback.
I read somebody I follow on Twitter say that the backline was shit the entire game. Anybody who thinks that is a moron. Wanna know who was shit? That midfield. They put that back four and Tim Howard under so much damn pressure. Couldn't keep the ball, could hardly pass backwards, let alone pick one out that would open up the opposition. Couldn't win the ball back when they lost it. With the exception of the second period of extra time today and about 60 minutes of the Portugal game, the midfield contributed nothing except the strong play of Jermaine Jones. I'll admit that I got caught up in those 60 minutes and made the mistake of thinking that's what the midfield was really capable of. In truth, it was more like a preview of what we saw at the end of today's game - a dead cat bounce against a team that had switched off because they had the lead.
I think today was the first time they truly missed Landon Donovan. I think when Wondo came in, that's the spot where they could have used him. I think Klinsmann reached a point in the game where he though they could use somebody who can poach a goal. In the context of who was on the bench, I think bringing on Wondo was the right decision and he was in a position to play his role on that chance that he missed in stoppage time. In retrospect, that decision to bring on Wondo wasn't messed up today, it was messed up a few weeks ago when he was included in the squad.
Overall, I'm proud of this team though.
@Thursby said they had the less talented team in every game they played... there are two ways to look at that. One way is to think of all of the deficiencies we had from a talent standpoint - the other way is to think of the incredible opposition this team faced. This was the toughest set of matches the US has faced in a modern World Cup - there were no Polands or Slovenias or Algerias in that fixture list. They did very well to go as far as they did in this tournament. There are reasons to be optimistic about the future. Some of our best outfield players today were the youngest ones. Those are the guys that will carry this program forward and they had good experiences to build on.
Most of all, I am optimistic about Klinsmann as the manager going forward. Other than the inclusion of Wondolowski, I think most of the major decisions he made were vindicated in this competition. Among those decisions, the times where he chose young, inexperienced players and had it work will serve the program well going forward. Every four years it seems that we are going into this competition with a bunch of old, experienced guys who are a step too slow and have been around the game long enough to be timid against better players. The teams they face are often coming in with young, hungry, fearless players. We saw a few of those for the US this time around, and their contributions will Klinsmann the political capital he needs to do more of the same. It should mean fewer Agooses, Bornsteins and Wondolowskis in the future, and more Yedlins, Brookses and Greens. Here's hoping, at least.
