John Adams

That trap is a killer. Costa Rica is a tight team--not something many of the other squads can say, which is why the "on paper" all-star teams sometimes struggle. This group remains a total cluster. A German win would have made their last game vs. the US meaningless. That was best-case. Now Germany will be out for the win against the US and no offense to us, but that's bad news. We don't have the counter that Ghana has and can't out set-piece the Germans. A lot on the line tonight. One thing that's simple: Win and they are in.

Costa Rica is quality and the EU teams are not used to that. They've been a thorn for the US for the last few years, that's for sure. Definitely the better team won that match, as bad as it was from your POV.

Only baseball and the NFL are ahead of it (college football too but this was limited to pro sports). Golf get lots of people for major tournaments but I have no idea how you count all the crap tournaments and those have to draw down the numbers considerably. I don't know what FBS and IRL are, and NASCAR is not a "sport" I considered. It beats them all on attendance if you count it. We are talking popularity, not revenue. In person attendance is a big part of that. You'd be better to argue that the TV ratings for MLS blow in comparison to the NHL and NBA. But even those are rising.

Still shocking. The heart went out of them vs the Netherlands. Their passing was atrocious and Tiki Taka does not work if the passing is bad. That's not age as much as focus. Amazing run. Only Germany looks like it could sustain that level of success on the World Stage for an extended period right now.

Mmm trolly. Next time post your raw data in Chinese.

Holy wow. Not just losing but getting dominated. Chile killing it. Not counting them out but they are a half away from a ticket home and utter embarrassment. 7-1 through a game and a half. That's Australia/Egypt stuff.

Soccer's popularity growth is undebateable. How this tournament affects the overall popularity here is hard to measure. But USA-Ghana had higher ratings than many NFL games last year, including beating the average Jets and Giants game in the NYC market. So sure--will the NY Red Bulls outdraw the Jets or Giants in TV ratings? No way, no how. But the surge is impressive and won't stop any time soon. The average MLS attendance is already 3rd after only the NFL and MLB. Most MLS teams would outdraw the lowest MLB teams and the top MLS team outdraws all MLB teams except the Dodgers.

Please move this discussion to the Baseball Forum. It's been a year since someone posted over there: It needs some love.

I know you don't know soccer but Mexico barely made it into the world cup. They will be thrilled with this draw.

Gatorman is making you all look foolish.

That was a fun 0-0 game for sure.

Belgium dominating this half. Now 2-1 and Algeria has no answers. Nice goals. Cameron was working on his achilles too. A strange game on that front to be sure.

Sets up a must-win for Portugal and a near must-win for the US. Even if the last Germany game doesn't mean anything, they are better than the US by a lot.

That's not true in soccer-watching countries, just ESPN does the short form reports.

Nope.

Scene at the KC viewing party. Nice that their guy Zusi delivered the perfect corner. Wonder if he might start vs Portugal for Bedoya. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gdElpvc7mA#t=15

At least they got the easy team in the group out of the way!

US dominated after Ghana scored. Quite a high character moment in what was a must-win game for both sides. Pick orr Portugal and they are in. Injury to Jozy is brutal. And don't underestimate Beisler injury either. Worse for the US, Beaseley was a practice cone at left back. Not worried about Bardley's bad game. He will be OK. Maybe not Germany but Portugal will. The US has to beat Portugal because there's not much chance of beating Germany.

The amateur/college thing kills soccer here as well. Most soccer stars get weeded and identified much earlier than 18 in other countries. It's a hard game and we could not compete when we had kids playing completely low level soccer until they were 18. We need our 13-17 year olds getting top training if they want to compete on a big stage. Now (last few years) the clubs and US soccer are doing a better job identifying and elevating talent. That's the point where, if the US is to improve, it has to improve. Klinsman and these workmanlike teams will do OK for the next 8 years but after that, you'll see the first generation of kids who came up through the much-improved youth system. And it's only getting better. In the 80s, soccer was just popular in the US. But no one was giving any sort of good coaching. Maybe in the 2000s, you had good coaches but only at the college level, and they were coaching subpar talent. And today, you have some really high level coaches going to higher paying youth development jobs. That's going to be key to the USMNT. For a while...Arguably the best (Bradley) and one of the best (Dempsey) play in the US. That tide is changing.

Prediction: 1-1. But I expect the US to play hard as hell. Anyone watching Nigeria vs Iran? Anyone?

Come on man: Don't feed the troll. He's just being an idiot trying to get a rise. Maybe I've seen so many of his ilk over at PPP that I pick up on it faster Why would you take him seriously?

It's not a Superbowl for me but definitely the most exited I've been for a match since 2011 and the Women's WC (I am a girls travel coach and have a soccer-playing daughter who worships the women's team, so I spend a lot of time watching them).

They will be without two starters on an already-suspect defense.

This game is clearly over in all but the final score, but they are making Portugal look silly. BTW, thank you to Germany for getting Pepe ejected for the US game. Now work on a Ronaldo red card.

Tough game to open but a MUST WIN. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DGByZjKkSI&list=PLsAXIYtop5OvDas0t01AzUC5X6CWbsHeT