Garrick
Awesome, lid.
I BELIEVE THAT WE GOT THROUGH!
I BELIEVE THAT WE GOT THROUGH!
I BELIEVE THAT WE GOT THROUGH!
Yes indeed, America. We did it. We’re through the Group of Death. Against the odds. Against 9,000 miles of travel. Against the hottest of hot conditions. Against what just about every non-American footballing pundit predicted.
If you would allow me just for one moment, as the spiritual leader of the Yank Evertonian contingent here on GOT, to have a few words before we move on to our Round of 16 matchup. I’ve been cheerleading the Klinsmann revolution for some time now, and I want my moment in the sun before the Belgians demolish us.
SUCK IT, HATERS. SUCK IT, DOUBTERS. WE ARE THE UNITED STATES OF GODDAMN AMERICA. WE HAVE DECIDED THAT THIS WHOLE “ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL” THING YOU HAVE GOING ON HERE IS PRETTY COOL, AND WE’RE HERE TO CO-OPT THAT, TOO. USA! USA! USA!
Ahem. Sorry. Had to get that out of my system. Moving on.
So that was far from pretty. There were flashes of brilliance, mostly against Portugal, but otherwise it was an ugly way to grind out four points and a high enough differential to advance anyway. We’re pretty damn near the bottom on shots on goal so far this tournament, and not just among sides qualified for the knockout, I’m talking out of all 32 teams at the Cup. Yikes.
This is due to two things, one is the complete lack of a replacement target forward to Altidore, and the other is due to the fact that Bradley has been crap. But hey, he’s covered more distance than any other player in the World Cup so far, so that’s cool…. Who knows what the solution is to Bradley, clearly it’s not a question of fitness. He seems to be psyching himself out on the world stage. As for Jozy, he’s baaaaaaaack.
Don’t worry, everybody, LOLtidore just wanted to give the rest of the lot a head start on the Golden Boot race. It’s go time, now. At least, I hope, cuz we’re gonna need it. Because Belgians. They’ve got waffles, the headquarters of a massive beer/pisswater company, and some seriously ace footballers. Such as, ones that we Evertonians are quite familiar with, Mirallas, Lukaku, Fellaini, and some more playing for top European clubs, Hazard, Januzaj, I could go on. Thankfully for us, backline stalwarts Kompany and Vermaelen are both listed as doubtful, with Vanden Borre out for the rest of the Cup. Additionally, Defour is suspended for the Round of 16 fixture. It’s hard to know what to think, really. Let’s run through it:
1. On paper, Belgium are really, really good.
2. On paper, they dominated Group H, only letting in one goal
But…
3. In reality, all three of their wins were shaky, one goal victories.
4. In reality, Group H was full of crap teams that Belgium should have dominated. They didn’t.
I’m arguing here that Belgium haven’t gelled as a team. They’re just 11 players on the field, and unlike other sides that got exploited for this fault like England or Italy, they were dealt the easiest group in the tournament and weren’t really tested. And now, they’re potentially without their captain and vice-captain, and they’re going to have to dig deep into their roster to fill out the backline. There’s opportunity here, lads. We have very real possibility to catch talented Belgians flatfooted. Get the ball into the final third early and test their shaky backline. They may have thumped us in a friendly last year, but I'd argue that now we have a much better USMNT (that squad was not full strength) and a slightly worse Red Devils squad. The bookies may be favoring Belgium, but there have been plenty on this forum already that have picked the United States. And I tend to agree with them.
Your Yank lineup will likely remain unchanged. It was a pretty crap performance against Germany, but perhaps that’s understandable given the conditions, the short rest, and the quality of opposition. It’s hard to see Jozy playing the full 90 on his first match back from a hamstring injury, so I’m guessing he’ll be a second half sub. We’ve got some minor knocks, mainly Dempsey and Jones and their broken noses. Besler’s own hamstrings seem behind him after a great performance against Germany. After Omar’s stellar game against Die Mannschaft, it’d be hard to now go back and select Geoff Cameron over him. The big man took care of a lot of problems, and while still definitely green, he’s once again back on track to be the USMNT’s centerback of the future. Tim Howard, as always, in the nets. I feel like we haven’t talked enough about our own’s performance this tournament so far. He’s been ace. Sometimes let down by his backline, but a few brilliant double saves, recoveries, and other acrobatics. Thanks, Tim. Keep it up.
It’s an interesting position to be in, the United States in the Round of 16. On one hand, by the rankings we’ve lived up to our expectations and could go home satisfied with a loss today. But at the same time… Costa Rica are in the quarterfinals, and we’re the Kings of CONCACAF. We can’t let them have the better Cup, can we? There’s some order that needs restoring, and some Belgians that need blindsiding.
The Yanks… They have arrived. Deal with it, world. Deal with it.
SoCalEvertonWorldCup @SoCalEverton 
