World Cup 2014!

[MrPopo]

1 MINUTE OF EXTRA TIME! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Again, no reason why they can't just introduce a stopwatch to the game.

[Blu]

I knew when Extra Time happened, we were done for. Bradley finally stepped up and looked like he was involved with play for the first time all tournament. Case in point the ball he served up to Julian Green. Wondo could have put anything on the ball -- his chest, face, thigh instead of what he did on that open net, and we wouldn't have gone to Extra Time. We knew Belgian's roster was stacked, along with their exceptional bench. When you have Kevin Mirallas, Romelo Lukaku, and Chadli coming off the bench, you're pretty stacked. Lukaku took five minutes to exploit our exhausted defense and was involved on both goals.

I firmly believe it's always a team effort. There were a few moments where we faltered and missed chances that it's easy to criticize now. The great news is we easily had two career performances by DeMarcus Beasley and Tim Howard, and excellent glimpses of what's to come with Julian Green and John John Anthony Brooks. That was easily the most heart pounding match I've watched all tournament, which must mean something. I'm proud of you, U.S. Soccer! Klinsmann needs to continue being at the helm.

Howard, Beasley, and Julian Green were the heroes of the match.

[ZeroAX]

Howard was amazing. I really wanted it go to to penalties to see him kick ass.

[Sload Soap]

That Belgium USA game really made up for the wankfest that was Argentina vs Switzerland.

Honestly, if Belgium lost that game it would have been an absolute travesty. I've never seen so many chances created in a single game at this stage. Good stuff.

So we have all the group winners progressing and all were deserved winners. People are saying this is the best world cup since 86. I'm inclined to agree.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

It was fun to watch but I'm disappointed.

Also, in my limited time frame, this is the first time I have ever seen people in the USA so fired up about the World Cup. Went to the mall today and tons of people were just hanging out, having fun watching the game.

[Pulsar_t]

So what are everyone's favourite soccer games? My top 3 would be




Kind of lost interest after they started churning out those 3D Fifa games, though Actua Soccer was good fun at the time. I still believe that ice hockey is the best sport that made the transition to 3D in terms of control believability.

[Blu]

I love:

Nintendo World Cup --
FIFA Street 3 is a personal favorite.
Sega Soccer Slam / Super Mario Strikers is lots of fun!

[MrPopo]

This is the correct choice.

[jfrost]

Howard's performance was outstanding, but that just went to show how the US team didn't belong in there with Belgium. It was a great personal achievement, inasmuch as he was compensating for the rest of the team not pulling themselves together.

Nonetheless, it was a great effort. I was able to talk to many crazy American fans in my town before and after one of the US games (they played Germany in Recife) and they were always really cool (also mostly very crazy).

On the upside, imagine all the jokes comedians are going to come up saying Americans can now go back to not caring about soccer until 2018!

[Blu]

Howard's performance was outstanding, but that just went to show how the US team didn't belong in there with Belgium. It was a great personal achievement, inasmuch as he was compensating for the rest of the team not pulling themselves together.

Nonetheless, it was a great effort. I was able to talk to many crazy American fans in my town before and after one of the US games (they played Germany in Recife) and they were always really cool (also mostly very crazy).

I disagree. I think a statement like that diminishes the success of any up and coming team who hasn't seen measurable success in terms of championships. I think Belgium was a beatable team, but we couldn't capitalize on our chances and that's what cost us, especially when ours were less numerous than theirs. We weren't even expected to make it out of the group stages. I believe we looked a heck of a lot better tactically, had good shape in our formation, but we lack consistency in the midfield and backline. The transition to Klinsmann was a great one but one that will still need time.

I'm still not quite sure what you meant by we didn't belong to be there with Belgium--we made it to the round of 16 as all the other teams that finished first or second in their group.

If this wasn't your argument at all but rather just how you phrased it, then I digress. Simply put, I think we played Belgium because they won their group, we got second in ours. In the grand picture the only way we'll get better as a team is to play others that are better than us. I think the group we were cast into allow us to rid a few of those skeletons that were in our closet and give us a chance to provide some drama and excitement to the World Cup.