Tuesday, July 1, 2014

The free kick that nearly put the US in rare World Cup air

What could've been. So agonizing in sports are those moments you watch slip away, prime opportunities at what seemed so improbable.

The United States Men's National Team was an underdog coming into Tuesday's Round of 16 matchup with Belgium. They were up against it through much of the match's first 90 minutes, outshot but propped up by the otherworldly goaltending of Tim Howard. They were halfway buried when the extra-time deficit became 2-to-nil.

Then came the rush, a goal by sparkplug Julian Green to breathe some life into the situation and turn desolation into distant hope, opening the door for the moment that you can't stop thinking about after the game.

What could've been.

Twas' the 114th minute of this uphill battle when a brilliant scheme drew the U.S. achingly close to squaring the score.

A free kick facing the net square on from 35 feet out presented itself for the Yanks after a foul committed on Green. Jermaine Jones first tiptoed away from the ball, then Michael Bradley set off what appeared for those few seconds like dominoes being set down, tapping the ball to Chris Wondolowski, who slapped it to a streaking Clint Dempsey, who was denied from close in by Belgian keeper Thibaut Courtois.




So devilishly developed was that kick that it was a pity it did not hit the back of the net.

"It was a move that deserved a goal," brilliant ESPN commentator Ian Darke said of the set piece.

And it would have put the U.S. alongside only the 1982 West Germans in coming back from a two-goal deficit in extra time.

That U.S. missed opportunity was glaring from a biased American perspective. As was Wondo's shank in regulation stoppage time that would have sent the U.S. forward. Truly, the Belgian faithful had to be even more agitated sitting through 16 spectacular Howard saves and wondering why they even had to withstand 30 minutes more of jitters.

In this World Cup full of drama, knockout round extra time has become ritual, spoiling us as viewers. Five of the eight Round of 16 matchups required extra time. Two of those needed penalty kicks to determine a winner. Close is commonplace this month in Brazil.

America's journey in this World Cup will be one to remember despite a disappointing finish. Their foray through the Group of Death was ripe with dramatics, from John Brooks' game-winning header against Ghana when all hope for a win looked lost to the complete 180 of Portugal's draw-clinching dagger in the final seconds of play.

Watching Tuesday's U.S./Belgium match over again just a few hours later was sports masochism, but those 30 minutes of extra time really were something else.

And painful as it may be, four years is a long wait to soak in some more.

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