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World Cup: USA vs. Belgium (SBI Live Match Commentary)

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By IVES GALARCEP

SALVADOR, Brazil — It just might wind up being the most important day in American soccer history.

The U.S. Men’s National Team takes on Belgium today in the World Cup Round of 16 (4pm, ESPN/Univision), and with a country gaining more and more interest by the day in what the U.S. does, the Americans have a chance to inspire a country and move a step closer to immortality with a victory today.

Standing in the way is a talent-laden Belgium side that is missing some key players on defense, but still boasts plenty of talent across the board, particularly in attack, where the likes of Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and Marouane Fellaini will be ones to watch.

SBI will be providing live commentary on today’s action so please feel free to follow along with the action here. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (SBI live commentary is after the jump):

Live Blog World Cup: USA vs. Belgium (SBI Live Match Commentary)

Comments

  1. You guys gotta listen to the MLS podcast over there. They make every excuse for the poor play of their guys from a fitness point of the US training.

    Btw Wondo really blew out there. I never wanna see him out there again. He blew that last shot.

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  2. In 2014 we gotta get better wingers. Better forward. Move Bradley back to DM. Bradley is a good player but his not an AM. He didn’t have a good 2010 WC either. So I think we overrate BRadley as this champions league midfielder. He’s not that but his still a very good MF but he needs to be at DM. We gotta move from Dempsey. Give him one more year maybe but he looked very averaged out there. We just need quicker and younger legs at the forwards and wings for that next step. We gotta land that Arsenal kid. Find a way to bring Fagundez on US. But I’m really happy where we’re at. We got better since 2010.

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  3. Thank you Beasley,Howatd, Jones and the rest of the team for a great run. Still missed Donovan, but that is now spilt milk. Beasley 4 world cups, thank you.

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    • Brad you do know Landon has to come off the bench for the Galaxy lately? His not in FORM!! Holy crap can we move on from Landon. You people act like he was Michael Jordan out there.

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  4. Bottom line is, we did not make any progress even with Klinsmann. Btw, you know what Costa Ricans are saying? Theirs was the Group of Death.

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    • That’s fine if they think that but Uruguay just weren’t the same as 2010 and it showed against Colombia.

      Haha how haven’t we made any progress?

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      • Paul that BS. Italy an older team too. Its a good group but every expert and I’m talking about non Americans are saying our group was the group of death. And if you don’t think we made any progress then you need to watch the 2010 team again. That team gave up an early goal in every game. We had quicker fullbacks. Good DM’s in Beckerman and Cameron. Jones had an amazing WC. Who had an amazing WC in 2010 from midfield? People forget how quiet Landon was for the most of all of those games. Besler better then any CB we had back in 2010. We didn’t have Yedlin or Johnson. That 2010 team was just not that good.

      • Without Suarez, Uruguay’s attack lacked bite! (A joke that I am sure has been made many times and will be made many times more, all in poor taste.)

  5. Still confused as to why asking “wingers ” Bedoya and zusi to tuck in to allow fullbacks to bomb on why not use Mix
    Zusi and Bedoya poor tonight

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  6. Theres been a couple of comments above about us waiting to attack until were down. I think thats way off base we were attacking albeit not well when we were caught for the goal. The problem to me is we seem to play with fear from the start of every game u can see it when we have the ball we hesitate and instead of making forward runs with the ball to draw defenders we often telegraph sideways passes or play into trouble just to get rid of it. This is why for the last ten years weve been a team more dangerous when were down a goal more often than not the fear has then been lifted being down a goal all of a sudden players like bradley and cameron were taking on their marks sucking defenders towards them or playing aggressive diagonal balls to the flanks. Still proud we didnt deserve the win but u cant look down at these guys for lack of effort or heart great job boys

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    • Yeah agree. I never felt we held back in this game. We were going for it the whole game. The problem with our final 3rd depends on guys like Dempsey, Bradley, Jones, Zusi and Bedoya. We gotta get better attackers then that group.

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  7. Lots of people asking why the US can’t play aggressive, attacking soccer until we go down a goal. Here’s the answer: because it’s not entirely up to us. Our opponent scores a goal and then lets up on the gas, giving us an opportunity to push forward more. It looks like we suddenly “decide” to actually play, but it’s more that our opponents let it happen.

    That’s the hurdle we have to overcome as a team: becoming good enough that we can break free before our opponent lets up.

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      • Tally “shots on goal” over time. Belgium dominated until they went up a goal. All other stats—e.g., possession—are close to meaningless in comparison.

      • KingGoogleyEye you make some good points but I never felt Belgium dominated this game. There final 3rd was more of a mess then ours. LOL until Lakaku came in and he made a big difference for them. I thought US played a really good game its just our final 3rd was not there at all. Wondo should have scored at the end of the game which would have taken Belgium out.

  8. Now we are starting to catch up to Mexico in most round of 16 exits from the World Cup. We got two in a row.

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  9. The only thing that Klinsmann did not lie about leading up and during this WC is that the USMNT was not going to win the WC in his life span. All lies and tactical misfeasance from Landon’s cut to Jozy being ready.

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      • We were supposed to progress by this WC with Juerguen Klinsmann. We got Belgium, better than us but a very beatable team, and he blew it. Klisnmann was supposed to take us to the next level and he failed.

      • We did progress. The team we sent last time barely tied England and Slovenia. The 2010 team drastically under performed.

      • And on the other hand (I’m talking Tim Howard here, who obviously has three hands), in 2010 we faced Algeria, Slovenia, and England.

        Any of the teams we faced this year would have won the group in 2010.

      • E(ngland)A(lgeria)S(lovenia)Y(anks).
        E-A-S-Y… That was a 2010 headline in the UK after the groups were drawn.
        I agree that we have progressed, but I had to chime in for my man Bob Bradley (who also led us to the first final of a major international tournament).
        Good call on Timmy’s third hand, lol.

  10. We played conservative. Our defense was slow. Green and Yedlin were terrific. We could have won it, but didn’t.

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  11. The USMNT played hard, but they never got into any type of rhythm during this WC due to Klismann’s dismal tactics and the so many injuries the over training brought them.

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      • I do agree Klinsman sold himself as being positive and in every game except the 30 second goal against Ghana we had to be behind in order to attack. I don’t understand why that is. I don’t understand why we can’t go forward and take chances and attack, except that its fundamentally fear, that WE don’t really believe we can win.

      • Would call the game positive? Would call the Germany game positive? The Ghana game? The only game where we were on the front foot was Portugal and that was because they scored in the first 5 minutes.

      • No I’m serious. We need to be able to “impose ourselves” on our opposition. We failed to do that. Belgium’s potential weakness was it defenders and we needed to find a way to get at them. We failed to do that.

    • Did Michael Bradley’s turnovers have anything to do with it? Probably not, right? Would you feel differently if Donovan was in the 23? Probably not, right?

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  12. Wow one minute, what a joke.

    I just don’t get why we make an effort to attack a huge priority all of a sudden when we’re down a goal or two.

    That should have been done since the start of the game.

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    • I don’t share your opinion. A wide-open game favors the more skilled side and we aren’t more skilled than most World Cup opponents.

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    • I don’t understand either. We need to attack earlier. All game. We should have just let them score in the first 5 minutes the way we did with Portugal, we would have played a lot better.

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  13. A painful 75′ minutes, followed by some good soccer. Amazing free-kick play, followed by a missed Dempsey shot. And somehow it’s all LD’s fault. Sigh… why do they wait so long to play. Except for Howard, of course.

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      • Very true. I would love to see Gonzo, Besler and Brooks as the rotation of CBs with Green, Yedlin, Johnson and Chandler marauding down the flanks. Altidore up top. Cameron and Bradley in front of the CBs. Who replaces Dempsey playing under Altidore?

      • Good call on ArJo or Mix. The future is bright for the USMNT. Can’t wait for next year’s Gold Cup ad the Copa America coming to the States.

    • I think you are missing the Supa Copa America 2016. THAT SHOULD MASSIVE! We need to solve the problem of a lack of a creative midfielder. We need 2 or 3 of them. I was not on the LD bandwagon, but I Wondo has got to feel like crap. He could have won it (I think LD – who he replaced – would have put it away) and Green put away a much more difficult shot. I would have brought LD & EJ instead of Wondo and Davis. However, the better team won.

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    • Next summer, we have the Gold Cup. Win and we qualify for the Confederations Cup. Plus, we can rub it in Mexico’s faces.

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      • I’m not sure anything can from this Wolrd Cup can be labeled a failure, much less “all-else”. Soccer in the USA is stepping on the accelerator and every cycle more nations are disappearing in our rear-view mirror.

  14. Apparently Wondo hasn’t seen Forest Gump where the simple rule of “keep your eye on the ball was taught”

    A nutless monkey could have knocked that in.

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  15. I’d like to see the U.S. keep it on the floor more because they’re too hired to hit accurate passes in the air. Everything is going long.

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