Well, the US is through to the round of 16. In past world cups, this simply meant you made it out of your group. So, we’ve done this with some regularity. But this World Cup, it took winning a knockout game, and we haven’t done that in a decent amount of time, so it’s still a big deal. Also a big deal: our best player got a red card for (clearly) accidentally stepping on and turning someone’s ankle. Those are often reds in this day and age, apparently. If you watch the foul real-time, it’s nothing. It’s not reckless. It’s not out of control. They simply get tangled up, and the dude gets stepped on. But in slo-mo, it looks egregious. Lionel Messi just escaped such a red card. Our player did not. Sigh. It’s a huge damper on the win because it means he misses the next game, too—at least. FIFA could add games to the ban if they wished to. They might. They don’t like the US. There’s a bias there, no question. He’s our best player. It’s a big deal to not have him. I would not expect us to win against Belgium now.
Still…it was a huge win. And maybe we’ll play better than everyone expects. Belgium, apparently, is a very experienced team, but also an aging team. They almost lost today to Congo before storming back at the last minute. We shall see.
Writing was good. Pups are good. Work was busy, and then slow. It was a good day today. Tomorrow will be even better. Bear is coming home.