Anyone? With Ghana in the round of 16, and Uruguay in the quarters, the semis were not far off, even a loss in the quarters would have been much better then this. With the talent this team had in Donovan Dempsey, and Bradley, even though a few areas may have been weak, we really should have been able to pull off a victory yesterday. Im just ranting because getting knocked out of the world cup is a hard time to cope with as a fan. Another four years until Brazil, and around a year until another competitive match again, im just sad, and thinking about if we defended just a bit better, or had a healthy Gooch who would have knocked Gyan off the ball unlike Boca, we could have made if further.
Man, i feel so horrible right now. I am afraid that it may take months to get over this feeling of emptiness and despair...
coulda woulda shouda. I feel your pain. I feel that the only thing we can look forward too is the potential changes. New Manager...new players in the rotation...more technical talent coming up...I definitely think US soccer needs fresh set of eyes outside of the good ole boys for us to truly experince success.
This has been already established the minute after the game, but anybody could see it coming. I dont have faith in this team, they are too inconsistent. Everybody says Donovan played great, I completely disagree with that. Our team was mediocre throughout.
Yeah if you are a long time fan of this team, you have to at least realize that they can have very bad games and aren't set up to dominate any team. We had a chance at this Ghana game, we were showing some of the fight in the 2nd half, then the sketchy defense, the main concern with this WC team, caught up to us for the final time...then the gas had ran out on any possible comeback.
yeah, not feeling too hot right now. It was fun sharing the cycle experience with you guys and everything else, just a shame it ended when it did. Oh well, forward to 2014.
Depressed? How can I be when 2 bottles of Port, three six-packs of Sam Adams, and a flask of whisky have been keeping me company for the last 36 hours? ...Oh, and pay no attention to my signature.
I was a mess yesterday. Burned through a 12 pack of beer after I got back from the bar.... I'm mostly better now, but there is going to be the lingering "what if" feeling for a long time. It all comes back to Robbie Findley. I thought we played better when he wasn't on the field. If he didn't play against Ghana, I would not have felt as bad after the game.
After the match I was pretty much just numb. Walked to work and was there for five hours and was pretty numb. Got back home and it started to truly sink in, and I got choked up a little bit. I haven't been following the USMNT as long as the rest of you (got interested in the game during the 06 WC, got into the sport permanently with Euro 08, and started following the Nats last February with the Mexico match in Columbus) so I won't pretend that this is a shattering of the world or a "there it goes again" feeling for me. I'm incredibly disappointed, considering that the quarters and beyond seemed like they were beckoning to us. Regardless, this tournament has gotten me hooked on this team. As I said, I've been following them closely for a year and a half now, but these four games have gotten to me. I'm really really excited for the Gold Cup (semis or the final in Chicago again please? ) and friendlies and the preparation for Brazil '14.
Yesterday was brutal. Just an empty feeling inside no matter what I did for the rest of the day. Today was a mixed bag. Watching the Uruguay-Ghana game will be hard to do without feeling down. We'll all pull through and before you know it we'll be talking about the Brazil friendly.
+1 What really gets me is the chance we had at achieving our best WC result ever, this was probably as easy a path we'll have to the semis, Uruguay and Ghana are good teams but we have it in us to beat them, just fell short I guess.
Yeah I was so depressed I couldn't bear to watch any MLS game this weekend for more than 15 mins. After being spoiled by the level of play in the World Cup, going back and watching MLS was like watching fishing. :-( At World Cup level, the off the ball movement was like 3 or 4 times better than MLS and some of the league games this weekend I couldn't stand watching 1 guy at most making a move to receive a pass. It was pathetic. One good thing out of this is that I hope USSF makes a drastic move for someone like Klinsmann to get us to the next level. I don't want to see another MLS level coach (Schmid, etc...) for 2014. Nowak would be the exception because he played at a high level.
I suppose I wasn't depressed at all about this. Looking at many of the other teams, we just aren't up to those standards yet. We went as far as our skill took us.
yeah still bummed out here. 4 years is such a long time and nothing is guaranteed. The Gold Cup can't come soon enough. Anyway, really looking forward to where the direction of the team goes the next several years and all speculation about player movement. Also, can take solace that Mexico and England are right here with us...
I honestly feel better about this world cup than WC 2002. In '02 I always got the feeling that it was a whole lotta luck and bunkering that got us as far as we did. Aside from the England game our negative football was pretty much non-existant and our tactics had a level of sophistication to them I hadn't seen in past US teams. A healthy Gooch, a Jermaine Jones, Charlie Davies and maybe some guys who decide to play for the US instead of Serbia and Italy and I think we make it a couple games further. I know many people don't want to believe it but we're still at the stage where making it out of group play is quite the accomplishment.
I thought I was over it after a draining day and was doing fine until halftime of the Mexico game. The highlights of Ghana's goals came on and I just felt that empty feeling in my stomach again. Thinking about the what if's, if Boco would have fouled him and got a 2nd yellow to prevent the goal and bunker down for pk's cause Howards damn good at em.
I don't think any of you should feel overly depressed. It was a respectable showing and thinking about a possible semifinal isn't the proper way to reflect on things. The "what if" scenarios also work the other way. Slovenia was eight minutes away of securing advancement and (essentially) eliminating the US after only two games. Algeria was two minutes away from taking the US down with them in the group stage. You got a fourth game, be glad. Now Slovenia fans on the other hand do need Prozac...
And then think of Costa Rica. Last November, they come to RFK needing a win and take the lead early in the game and eventually go up 2-0. Late in the match they simply have to clear a corner kick to book their trip to South Africa.......... Must have been gut wrenching.
It's not "depressing" -- at least, I hope not; it's a kid's game -- but frustrating. Deeply frustrating. Four years is such a long time. Such a long time. I remember the helpless feeling back after Ghana '06, trying to convince myself that 4 years would come quickly and we'd have a shot at something bigger and better. Well, 4 years did NOT come quickly, and while we had a shot at something bigger and better, we didn't break out the way I'd hoped (ie, dreamed). The World Cup is a cruel, cruel thing to invest large amounts of time and hope in. I look in total and complete awe at Germany. How in the world they continually reward their fans with deep, deep runs and satisfying play at big tournaments is truly something to tip your hat to. "Jealous" doesn't come close. Who will emerge in 2013 and 2014? Is there really the possibility for a break-out superstar to shoot us through qualifying and into the quarters (at least)? I doubt it. The best we can hope for is a few solid youngsters who emerge to make a positive impact, and that our main younger guys now get themselves into top-tier clubs and play early and often. Like it or not, our main edification until the Gold Cup will be the potential for our boys to do it on the club stage. Sad to say, but our main goal in 2014 will almost certainly be to make it out of the group ("and then anything can happen"™). I'm sick of that reality. But we've got to get used to it.