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| De Bruyne broke the scoreless tie with a goal. Photo Credit: Getty Images |
Two goals by Belgium in the second extra session were the difference maker in eliminating the USA 2-1 and ending their magical run in the World Cup on Tuesday.
By: Sunil Sunderraj
Kevin De Bruyne’s goal in the 93rd minute sealed the victory for Belgium. The goal was set up by the inability of the United States to clear the ball out of the box after a shot by Romelo Lakuku. De Bruyne was then able to maneuver around two USA defenders and was able to struck a right footed shot under the arm of Tim Howard in the far left corner of the net. breaking what felt like a scoreless draw that would never end.
Belgium was looking for some insurance after that first goal and got exactly that courtesy of Romelo Lakuku.Off a USA turnover in the 105th minute, Lakuku was able to burst into wide open field for the breakaway and fired strike into the left upper corner of the net. Tim Howard could do nothing about stopping that goal from going in.
For all the world it looked like the U.S. was out for the count as far as having any hope of coming back in this match, but Julian Green certainly thought differently once he came on as a substitution.
In the 107th minute of extra time, Green became the 3rd youngest player in World Cup history at 19 years old to score a goal as he cut the deficit in half when Michael Bradley lofted a pass into the box where Green volleyed home a shot into the right corner of the net giving the U.S life in this match. You could feel the momentum come onto the side of the Americans as they started to play with more energy and alertness.
The United States had a spectacular opportunity to equalize in the 114th minute off a set piece. A free kick by Michael Bradley who fed Chris Wondolowski and returned a nifty pass to Demsey left alone but his left footed low shot stonewalled by Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
This match in the first half was dominated by Belgium in every way possible. Not even a minute into the 1st half, Belgium had the first scoring chance as Divock Origi drove hard to the net but Howard made the diving grab to deny him.
Belgium would come with more pressure in the 25th minute as DeMarcus Beasley had to come up with a super defensive play, knocking the ball away near the goal line on a pass from Jan Vertonghen to Marouane Fellaini to keep the match at a scoreless tie.
The second half became the Tim Howard Show who set a single World Cup game record tallying 16 saves and single handedly kept the U.S. in this match.
In the 46th minute, Howard made a sensational tip of the ball above the crossbar off a header from Dries Mertens to deny Belgium and continue to live up to the challenge.
Nine minutes later Belgium came within inches of breaking the deadlock as Origi’s header from close range dinged off the crossbar. Tim Howard was a one man band for most of this match as he got little help from his teammates in terms of generating any goals for him to work with.
Howard kept the United States in the match with another magnificent save in the 78th minutes as he made a saving dive to his left off a laser shot from Eden Hazard.
In the remaining minute of regulations both teams had a excellent scoring chances. Vincent Kompany twirling left sided kick forced Howard to dive to his right swatting the ball away. Meanwhile, Wondolowski had a wide open net but put the ball well over the goal net.
Belgium meets Argentina in the quarterfinals on July 5th at Estadio Nacional in Brasilia. Argentina leads the series 3-0-1 and outscoring Belgium 10-4. 