I don't know from anything

by Greg, seemingly ranch, Tuesday, July 07, 2026, 07:24 (20 days ago) @ PMan

But that all feels right. It felt like the moment was too big for them - as a team, not necessarily each individual - and that they continued to expect that things that worked against lesser teams would work here. Belgium, meanwhile, with both individual players and the team as whole having greater competitive games over time knew where to be and had experienced what the US was throwing at them.

For example, the number of times the US tried to let the ball go and think another guy would get it only to see it intercepted by Belgium felt (and again, I don't have stats or stuff) like more than the total number of times it happened in the previous four games. Same with some of the flick passes. And defensive sloppiness was immediately taken advantage of where in the average CONCACAF game it would go by with no adverse effects and in an MLS game it might wind up with a good result.

Klinsmann was not wrong in focusing on players staying in Europe and getting experience there. MLS and CONCACAF are just not good enough.

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The 2007 ND-UCLA game was a once in a lifetime experience, I hope