Game # 56 - Belgium vs USA
Jul. 3rd, 2014 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catalyst2On paper, this was possibly the most imbalanced game of the second round and yet it was close all the way. Belgium benefited by an enormous margin on all attacking statistics (shots 38/27 to 14/9, corners 19-4) despite USA dominating possession 53% to 47%. What this boiled down to was that USA often held possession for a while but was curiously unable to do much in the last third whereas Belgium hurtled up the field time and again and fired away at goal (that 38/27 statistic may well be the highest of the tournament so far, certainly it is for this round). Once there though Belgium were facing Tim Howard who was yet another goalkeeper playing the game of his life, pulling off save after save (16 of them, in fact). Stunningly, this meant the the game finished 0-0 and it was on to extra time.
In the first half of extra time, USA's luck finally deserted them with Belgium scoring twice. USA finally started attacking, ironically in what was probably their best attacking football and they scored in the 107th minute. Now it was Belgium that looked vulnerable and USA kept up a relentless pressure on them until the end of the game. Sadly, this never evolved into a second goal and so it finished 2-1 to Belgium.
Belgium face Argentina in the last quarter final and USA go home after a relatively successful World Cup campaign for a team expected to perform well below their world ranking (14 before the start of the the tournament).
In the first half of extra time, USA's luck finally deserted them with Belgium scoring twice. USA finally started attacking, ironically in what was probably their best attacking football and they scored in the 107th minute. Now it was Belgium that looked vulnerable and USA kept up a relentless pressure on them until the end of the game. Sadly, this never evolved into a second goal and so it finished 2-1 to Belgium.
Belgium face Argentina in the last quarter final and USA go home after a relatively successful World Cup campaign for a team expected to perform well below their world ranking (14 before the start of the the tournament).
