itsbeautifuloutside

Report

Belgium finally came out of their shell and showed exactly why they were the Dark Horse team of the tournament, but they were run very close by an enthusiastic, committed and well drilled USA team.

This match was as exciting for the neutral observer, as Belgium's other games had been eminently missable. Once again the Belgian's manager, Marc Wilmots, made excellent use of substitutes, who changed the course of the game.

Kevin de Bruyne scored the goal that finally broke through the American's resistance, in the second minute of extra time. Substitute Romelu Lukaku, who had been hugely disappointing to date, bundled in a second goal 11 minutes later to seemingly kill the game off.

The US though, would not go quietly. They stepped up their game and this led to a goal from substitute Julian Green, who volleyed a wonderful shot past Courtois in Belgium's goal. Further chances fell to the Americans, with Jones and Dempsey both missing opportunities to take the match to penalties but neither was able to take the chance to extend the USA's dream.

Jurgen Klinsmann's men were well organised, but the real hero on the night was Tim Howard with a truly outstanding goalkeeping performance. He made the record number of saves ever in a World Cup match. Some of those saves were truly breathtaking.

Belgium now play Argentina in Brasilia and after this showing you have to fancy their chances. Marc Wilmots has now got the undeniable individual talents of the Belgians working as a single unit. Together with the managers ability to make telling substitutions they are looking good to go all the way to Rio.

For the Americans, it might just be that the profile of 'soccer' in the USA has just been raised by several notches, with the team getting extensive coverage back home. Whether this translates into anything tangible remains to be seen.

The Belgian coach Marc Wilmots was quoted as saying: 'We had a lot of opportunities, and we dominated the game, and in the end it was well deserved even if it was scary with the US goal. Tim Howard had a fantastic match but we need to forget about this match and focus on Argentina.'

'There shouldn't be any more worries from the media about us not playing football.'

It was a great match to watch.

channonite