Coming off the back of a hard fought loss to the Germans, the USA face another European challenge in the form of Belgium, the tournaments dark horse, with the winner facing Argentina in the quarter final round. The US will still be without the service of striker Altidore and will hope top man, Captain America, Clint Dempsey, can rally the troops ,mleading the line again for another barn storming run as they hope to stay in the competition and show that CONCACAF is no push over. They will come up against a defence that is not only very adept at keeping clean sheets but also are very capable in attack, led by their captain Vincent Kompany. And seeing as they have only scored 4 times since the loss of Jozy Altidore, it does not bode well for the US that Belgium has allowed only four goals in 10 UEFA qualifying games and has given up one goal in Brazil thus far and that was from a penalty kick. Keeper Tim Howard will have to be on his best game to stop a Belgian attack that boasts the likes of Lukaku, Hazard, Fellani, Mirallas, De Bruyne to name a few. However, surprisingly they have not been able to score at will like the USMNT, only netting 4 times in their 3 (winning) group games. In the back for the Belgians, Courtois retains his spot and will look to keep his form going as Belgium has never lost in the 20 games in which he has been selected. However, the Stars and Stripes probably will not be showing them too much respect nor bowing, to what seems on paper to be a bigger team, as the Red Devils of Belgium have not seemed to find their way past 2nd gear thus far. Michael Bradley will have to impose himself in the middle of the park if he is going to help his team defeat a team that is seemingly built to not lose. If a place in the quarter finals wasnt motivation enough for both teams, the Belgian Prime Minister has bet President Obama and wagered a case of beer that Belgium will defeat the US. Whos going to be drunk tonight?
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 18:36:45 +0000
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