Many of you guys don't take into consideration that without Howard's superman performance, we would have been blow to bits, and an embarrassment on the world stage. Our defense was torn to shreds. The midfield was overrun yet again. The offense lacked. It's OK to think objectively.
Tim Howard is the USA goalkeeper. That's reality, not a hypothesis. He played out of his mind,yes. But, that is indeed what happened. 10-1 is a hypothesis about a situation that did not take place.
Agreed, so let us put it another way. In terms that actually happened. Tim Howard set the record for number of saves in a world cup game since the stat started getting recorded in 1966 because "Our defense was torn to shreds. The midfield was overrun yet again. The offense lacked. "
I think it would have been more along the lines of 4-0 in regulation. It was really more a story of him doing his job tonight time and time again. In reality though, only 3-4 of the Belgian shots were threatening. It kind of showed why they have scored so little this whole tournament. Very poor finishing by them. He was clearly MOTM. One could argue though that he shouldn't have committed before the Lukaku shot. It's something he tends to do. When it works everyone loves him and you think nobody could be better. When it doesn't he lets in a goal that most respected keepers would save.
Is it that Tim Howard saved the USA from losing 10-1, or Belgium not being able to finish their chances and therefore only winning by one goal? There is a difference between the two.
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/round=255951/match=300186497/statistics.html Belgium with 38 total shots, 27 on target. A staggering 16 saves and 9 blocks by defenders (not sure what happened to the other 2 shots) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/wo...cord-making-15-saves-USA-against-Belgium.html The daily mail lists it as 15 saves, but Fifa lists 16
indeed he had an amazing game. amd for the record books no less. and heres a curiosity of mine: does anyone know who he switched shirts with? in the MOTM pic, he had an inverted Belgium shirt on. im wondering from who.
10-0? Not a chance, when a team goes up by a goal or two they tend to relax a bit. Please see extra time. But Tim performance can't be understated even in defeat.
No. Howard was very busy but didn't have to make jaw-dropping saves. His was an excellent performance in the volume of saves needed to be made rather than in stopping unstoppable shots.
As great as Tim's performance was, it would not have been 10-1 without him. Guzan is a pretty good keeper in his own right, and frankly (not to downplay Howard's performance or anything) a lot of those saves came from Belgium shots that went right at him (or at least were very saveable). He had some great saves as well but the thread title is a little over exaggerating.
Not to downplay Howard's performance - it was great. Notice how Belgium was always shooting low. If a couple had been lifted - there would have been no extra time.
If Wondo had better control on one shot there would have been no extra time for Belgium to sccore in at all. That's how this game always works out.