4 hours ago
10
Key events
75 min Or Lukaku will nearly turn the corner on Freeman, and replay shows Belgium should’ve had a corner.
75 min Free kick to Belgium deep in their own end. Courtois will take it, so the USA will gain possession.
73 min Sub, and I don’t understand it at all. Pepi is in for Adams. Why?
The commentators tell us Eddie Vedder chugged a beer on the big screen during the hydration break. The PA cranks up Alive.
Look, it’s better than Wonderwall.
Hydration mail …
Konrad Pahlke: “Slapstick has a great tradition in the US: Harold Lloyd, Laurel &
Hardy, Freese & Ream.”
Ouch. Ream actually made a solid effort under tough circumstances.
Marie Meyer: “‘Pochettino might need to do something about that.’ Everyone who remembers Poch’s Spurs knows he really doesn’t do in-game adjustments.”
Nathaniel Espino: “Look, I yield to no one in my hatred for what Trump and his voters have done to America. But how about the other 150-odd countries that let FIFA become the cesspit that it is? It’s not even our sport, and yet America (back when we had a Justice Department worthy of the name) made the biggest attempt in recent years to clean up FIFA. Where was everybody else? Sorry foreigners, this one’s on you.”
Justin Kavanagh: “In answer to Casiano Martinez’s question about Pochettino’s outfit, my theory is that whenever this USA run ends, he is going to try to blend into the nearest janitorial team in the stadium, or the first gang of garbage-picking prisoners on the highway, and then make a run for the southern border. The boxer Floyd Patterson used to bring a false mustache and glasses to each of his heavyweight championship fights for similar reasons.”
69 min Once again, Freeman is overlapping on the right. Belgium counterattack, and Tillman takes an obvious yellow card to stop it.
Do we really want to hydrate right now? Guess we should.
67 min Subs – Lukebakio leaves, and Doku is one. De Ketelaere won’t get his hat trick, as he departs in favor of Lukaku.
USA down two goals, and two outstanding players just came in for Belgium.
Paul Skilbeck: “England supporter here. As a neutral it’s a refreshing change to see two teams just playing the game in this bizarrely-referreed tournament, and leaving the cynicism out of it. I’ve come to expect nothing less from the USMNT.”
66 min Freeman gets his head to the corner kick, but it goes high into the air. Courtois watches it for several seconds before it lands out of play.
65 min Freeman has been overlapping like mad on the right, especially since Dest departed, and he wins a corner.
64 min Quick aside: Do you want to know why embellishment works? Because sometimes, something that looks like embellishment is a legitimate injury. Pulisic looked to me like he had exaggerated the contact on that fateful play with Tielemans, but now we see he was legitimately hurt.
62 min Belgium off to the races. Trossard shot is blocked as the USA retreat well. Corner kick.
It’s clear at this point that Belgium will be very content to counterattack the rest of the way. Pochettino might need to do something about that.
61 min Belgium go long again for De Ketelaere, who has two goals already and pressed Freese into that turnover. Ream coaxes some speed out of his 38-year-old legs and passes comfortably back to Freese.
60 min Pulisic is being treated on the bench. USA possess.
And in more bad news for the USA … Pulisic can’t continue. Enter Berhalter.
Goal! USA 1-3 Belgium (Vanaken 57)
Calamity. Freese has to come outside the box to deal with a longball. He hesitates on the clearance, and he who hesitates is lost. Vanaken pounces on a loose ball with the US keeper stranded outside the box. Ream drops back to try to save it himself, then cuts a desolate figure as the ball gets past.
56 min Pulisic is hurt again. He wasn’t fouled in the play with Tielemans, but he got the worst of it. He’s not moving well.
55 min Reyna tries a clever scoop over the defense to Balogun. Just a little too far forward, and Balogun can’t keep it in play.
Worth remembering – Balogun didn’t ask to be in this situation. He’s been playing well.
54 min This looked more interesting. We’ll want a replay of that. Possible foul.
USA maintain possession, and Adams sends an exquisite ball over everyone to the onrushing Freeman on the right, but the fullback can’t control it.
52 min Pulisic gets the ball just outside the box and thinks he’s been fouled. Let’s see the replay.
Nope – no foul. Tielemans got his foot to the ball, and Pulisic kicked it.
Someone please alert the crowd in Seattle. They seem unhappy.
51 min The crowd roar as the USA reset. It’s a bright start to the half.
But Belgium attack on the right, and Ream has to go out to face off with Lukebakio. Corner kick as the players crash into the dashers.
Please don’t be shocked, but Richards won the ball in the air off the corner.
50 min USA possess.
John Burrell: “Waterloo? Abba? Does that mean some team at the end of this is going to feel like they win when they lose?”
49 min Half-decent cross from Robinson. Balogun rises but can’t quite get a decent shot.
48 min Freeman draws a foul, USA string together a couple of passes, but the attack stalls in the penalty arc.
47 min Pulisic hounds Belgium into an errant touch. Throw-in.
Halftime sub: Reyna for … Dest? I didn’t think Dest was the problem.
More mail
Kári Tulinius: “Belgium have a clear plan of attack. Trossard and Lukebagio try to cross it towards De Ketelaere from fifteen-twenty yards. I have no idea how the US means to score from open play. They’re much less incisive than they’ve been so far at this tournament. I wonder if the sudden reintegration of Balogun did more to disrupt their preparations than it their opponents’.”
Casiano Martinez: “I’m sure it’s been discussed, but has anyone asked Pochettino directly why he’s wearing a janitor/prisoner outfit for every game so far?”
Peter Oh: “I’ve been to Belgium once, over forty years ago. I understand it really well. Really well. One of the few things I remember is the monument at Waterloo. As in, ‘he met his Waterloo’. Someone’s gonna meet their Waterloo today, right?”
Now I have ABBA stuck in my head.
Ceci n’est pas apropos du carton rouge
(Apologies for my terrible French.)
Kevin Chauncey: “In response to Tina Montenegro: ‘People now want to buy the pink and blue Belgian jersey to better root against the USA. I support them: that jersey is an homage to the painter Magritte and it has “Ceci n’est pas un maillot” on the back. Seems fitting for this World Cup.’
“Okay, wait, interesting point. Those paintings weren’t pipes, apples, whatever. They were representations, paintings. But ... those literally ARE jerseys. (I get that maybe Adidas is going for “it’s more than a jersey or whatever). Is it fitting for this World Cup because it’s taking place within a pervasive reality distortion field?”
Bosnia and Herzegovina hammered cross after cross at the USA in the round of 32. The US defense didn’t let any of them through.
Every Belgian cross looks like a potential goal in this game.
Halftime: USA 1-2 Belgium
The corner kick goes to an unchallenged Courtois, and that’s that.
What will Pochettino conjure at halftime? Of the USA’s opponents thus far, Belgium is certainly playing the most competent soccer, and the USA haven’t figured out how to respond.
45 min +6 USA passing around with a bit too much nonchalance. But Dest gets it, nutmegs a defender, races forward, passes to Balogun, and Balogun plays it off a defender for a corner kick.
45 min +4 Half-chance for the USA as Tillman threads a well-placed through ball to Balogun. Courtois has to come out to greet him and doesn’t take it cleanly – the great Belgian keeper looks less than his normal self here.
45 min +4 Belgium demonstrate how to overcome a review of whether it’s a corner kick or a goal kick. Just take the corner before anyone can react. The officials should’ve held that up but did not. Nothing comes from the corner, anyway.
45 min +3 USA on the break. Dest runs into a defender and looks for a call. None given.
45 min +1 Balogun had to reach a foot around a defender (cleanly) to get that shot, so it wasn’t the easiest. But if it had gone on frame, Courtois wouldn’t have been able to do much.
44 min Dest makes a good run, but his pass is behind Balogun. Somehow, Balogun manages to play it out off a Belgian defender, and it’ll be a deep throw-in for Tillman. The referee stops everyone to break things up.
The throw-in goes all the way through to the 6-yard box, Freeman flicks it downward with a header, and Balogun is there to shoot … high. The referee initially awards a corner kick, but VAR begs to differ.
Six minutes of stoppage time.
43 min De Kuyper’s free kick sails over a couple of US defenders to Lukebakio, whose header is wide.
41 min Courtois is again pressed to play the ball long, but this time, Belgium wind up with possession.
Richards, for some reason, drifts a good ways up the field and shoves Vanaken, giving Belgium a free kick.
40 min Over the top for Balogun, and he coaxes a throw-in out of the Belgian defense. Going more direct might not be a bad idea.
39 min Tielemans takes the corner, Raskin redirects it from an angle to the near post, but Freese is there.
38 min Dangerous cross, and Adams heads it clear for a Belgium corner.
37 min Giveaway from Tillman. USA pressing again, and Belgium are laboring to get out of their own half.
Before the goal, this from Christopher Faherty: “Ream with no Lukaku seems pointless. That outside CB stepping into midfield and helping with the rotation seems necessary today, and Ream can’t do anything like that. Pochettino should consider a switch there already.”
35 min Freeman is overlapping on the right, which I think is a mistake given the fact that Dest is already there.
Yellow to McKennie for a late tackle. Seems fair.
Goal! USA 1-2 Belgium (De Ketelaere 33)
The US defense are having a nightmare. Trossard gets the ball wide on the left, gets to the goal line, crosses, and De Ketelaere beats Ream in the air for another tap-in.
That’s the USA’s first shot. The xG count is now 1.35 to 0.09.
A cruel stat-keeper would rule that an own goal by Vanaken. It shouldn’t be scored that way because the initial shot was on frame.
Goal! USA 1-1 Belgium (Tillman 31)
The free kick is slammed into the wall but deflects to the right, and Courtois was already going the other way.
Will Tillman strike again?
