I have to admit that after they missed so many chances, I didn't think it would be our night. Lukaku's substitution was just the jolt of energy we needed at the beginning of extra time. Props to KDB too, who kept on running and creating good opportunities all night long. Wolfsburg did a fine piece of business in getting him.
Howard made the most saves since records began ... tipping my hat ... a frustrating lack of efficiency on our part though ... didn't find a Howard-shaped save chart, but this one will do:
Nobody seemed to get that if you want to beat Howard, you have to chip the ball over him. Still happy we won though @Blondo will we be underachievers if we lose against Argentina? If not you're going to have to remove your signature
f'yea ... argies feel the need to spread this lie ...that "iconic" pic was taken in 1982 ... Argentina lost that game ... all of those players who look like they are there to stop Maradona being awesome, are actually just breaking out of being a wall, eyes following the ball ... Maradona attempts to cross the ball to a teammate but fails. Although it was before my time that 1986 SF just doesn't sit right with me.
I agree, would love me some Argentina on a plate, but from an objective point of view, I don't think we'll be known as underachievers.
The US response to the loss has been a bit odd, especially in the media. They are blaming JKs conservative tactics, but in spite of those, we had 39 shots. If they had indeed played more open, why would we not just have created even more opportunities?
Because they are distilling the results where Belgium went into a shell and the US had nothing to lose at that point. Had Klinsmann opened it we would have had 7-8 breakaways/odd man rushes and probably won 5/6 -1
We were actually first known as the black devils (because of our away kit), but that became the nickname of Belgiums rugby team and the football teams nickname changed into the red devils somewhere along the way (because of our home kit).
Michael Cox brings up a good point on his website zonal marking; why was Cameron there instead of Beckerman? Cameron is just not a defensive midfield and it kinda threw the American game off a bit. They have some very good young pieces for the next tournament (Yedlin, Johnson, Green, Brooks and possibly Zemalem), but still a little tactically naive and short of any kind of depth at a few positions (their attackers were non-existant for stretches of the game). Belgium defended pretty well bar the odd hiccup, but it's important to note that the goal is probably Hazard's fault. In extra time Wilmots switched De Bruyne to the left and Hazard to the centre, limiting Yedlin's effectiveness. This however meant there was absolutely no pressure on Bradley, so he could literally pick out any pass he wanted (as he did for Green's goal). A lot of people were angry with Wilmots for making a like for like sub in Chadli for Hazard, but I think he did it for sound reasons i.e. to limit Bradley's time on the ball. It's interesting to see some US commentators discount us on the fact that A) our qualifying group was weak (ignoring that going to Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Scotland and Wales and winning decisively in each place is still fairly impressive) and B) that fact that our 9/9 in the group stage was irrelevant given the quality of the opposition (true it was a weak group, but usually a mediocre team will slip up in one of those matches). We shouldn't make the same mistake with Argentina; they've played 4 defensive squads who've suffocated Messi at times (yet he's still managed to score and assist). This game will be completely different. No chance of a win if we keep missing chances like we did against the States.
The Argentina - Nigeria game was anything but defensive. It went from one side to the other. If that game proved anything it was that Argentina is beatable if you're efficient with your chances. Also our qualifying group was probably the hardest of UEFA as the other groups had 1 or 2 strong teams
Fair enough, but Argentina scored 3 in that game and it was probably Messi's best performance. Argentina may be beatable, but they're fairly heavy favourites, playing in South America with 30,000 Argentina fans. I'm not suggesting that Belgium should play ultra-defensively, but I think having a specific gameplan to stifle Messi would be useful (Defour for Fellaini may be an option and defending him with Witsel in a zone); I think Higuain can be dealt with reasonably well with by the centre backs. Then Di Maria becomes key; if he shows up this time, it could be very problematic. So far this World Cup he's been below average by his standards, but it only takes one moment of class.
Only two years after its formal birth, the team was nicknamed The Red Devils by journalist Pierre Walckiers after the achievement of three consecutive impressive victories in 1906: a 0–5 win versus France and 5–0 and 2–3 wins against the Netherlands. The nickname stems from the fact that from the beginning and up until recently, the team jersey's primary colours were most often all red.