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| Howard put on one of the best goalkeeping performance |
The difference in quality is obvious....38 shots by Belgium at the final whistle, 27 on goal...but Tim Howard and Team US limits Belgium until the extra time. It was a brilliant game with one of the most outstanding and brilliant goalkeeping performance.
Throughout the game, Belgium has so many quality scoring opportunities. At times, it just felt like “surely they will score this time.” But Tim Howard was there to thwart them all, by his fingernails, toenails, arms, and rolling on the ground as required to be miraculous, as in miracle-like. Such was the fighting spirit. But the goal eventually came at the 32nd shot, when Howard was finally beaten to the far post by Kevin De Bruyne, in the 93rd minute. An exhausted U.S. side conceded another goal in the 105th minute, when Romelu Lukaku fired true. But here's the bigger story...that when US was down 2-0, Klinsmann made a substitution. He brought 19-year-old Julian Green into the game and in just two minutes, he scored. Perhaps it was the US's "Rocky" inspired never say die attitude but the US got back into the game with their already tired bodies. But they threw everything into it. At times, it felt like the US might just scored the equalizer goal. So, instead of a team that walked off the field hanging their heads, silently admitting that they were beaten by a far superior team, US could walked with heads high, knowing that they could actually beat Belgium...they just ran out of time this round.
I think the commentator summed it well for the game: For the U.S., it was death in extra time as it was four years ago in South Africa…but it could not have been a greater fight.”
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