Then we met with my fellow Silverbacks at The Morrison to watch US-Belgium. Fun gathering with some of my teammates, although the visual quality in the place wasn't great (few and far screens). The atmosphere was good but you can tell the US still has a ways to go in soccer. Twenty Argentines made more noise than 200 hundred Americans rooting. It's a long shot from where it used to be for sure, but with the kind of crowd there was at Morrison the place should have been ROCKING!!!. There was excitement and some cheering but given the occasion I missed some good, old-world romping and screaming at the screens. I think a lot has to do with the fact that many people that turn out don't know the game well. Perhaps it's more cultural, although I don't think that's the reason since fans can get really crazy watching pigskin football, for example. At any rate, it was a fun time, except for the US loss. They played very hard, with great team-oriented sacrifice but that's not enough at this level. Belgium massacred Tim Howard with shots (he totally earned a raise at Everton!) and the US just didn't have enough football in the midfield to sustain a credible attack throughout the game. The last moment goal was fantastic and they still had a chance to tie it, but like Spaniards say: tantas veces va el cántaro a la fuente que al final se rompe (so often goes the jug to the fountain that it ends up broken). That's what happened, and Klinsmann's boys didn't have time to fix it.
I still see a bright future for US soccer. Most of these guys will be back for the next WC and the talent pool keeps growing and getting better. TV, media and casual fans are catching on. Russia 2018 could be a whole different story.
