It may not have been the comfortable path they hoped for early in the day, but Thursday wound up being triumphant for the United States Men’s National Team as it advanced into the knockout round for the second straight World
It may not have been the comfortable path they hoped for early in the day, but Thursday wound up being triumphant for the United States Men’s National Team as it advanced into the knockout round for the second straight World Cup.
This was the complete opposite of the Landon Donovan miracle goal against Algeria in 2010. This was holding our collective breath and hoping to hear the referee’s whistle in two locations. It was hoping for Ghana’s demise and for not losing too badly to a clearly better German side. As good as it feels to be moving on, Thursday’s path felt prohibitively un-American. They had their chance to do it with no help and would have, if not for a great Christiano Ronaldo cross with literally seconds to play in the second match. Hoping to lose only barely and for Portugal to win only barely isn’t as euphoric.
But it’s now a moot point. The United States is into the final 16 of the world’s most prestigious soccer event. With Belgium the likely opponent, the USA enters as an underdog and having not played its best match in the final group stage. A healthy Jozy Altidore, a replenished Clint Dempsey and a reincarnated Michael Bradley would give the USA a puncher’s chance against Marouane Fellaini and Eden Hazard and the rest of the high-powered Belgian side that hasn’t shown its best soccer yet.
Getting out of the “group of death” is a great accomplishment for the USA, even though the last two results have felt less than ideal. If it can recapture the magic of the final minutes against Ghana and the proficiency of the second half against Portugal, we may just see the Americans reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002.
ZIETZ IN ACTION, COPE MOVES UP:
Sebastian Zietz is one of the world tour participants entered into this week’s Mr. Price Pro Ballito at KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The Kilauea surfer is the fifth seed at the men’s Prime event, headlined by local favorite Jordy Smith, Australians Kai Otton and Ace Buchan, American C.J. Hobgood and Brazilians Filipe Toledo and Miguel Pupo.
The men’s event will start with 96 competitors and whittle its way down to an elite group, all in search of the points and cash on offer. The competition gets underway Monday.
After her runner-up finish at the Los Cabos Open of Surf last week, Brianna Cope jumped all the way from 48th in the World Qualifying Series rankings to 14th in the world. That puts a large Kauai crew all in the mix for WQS qualification for the 2015 World Championship Tour. As of now, current world tour competitor Malia Manuel would be back thanks to her top-10 world tour ranking. Hanalei’s Nage Melamed is holding down the sixth spot in the WQS rankings, which bumps up to fourth since Laura Enever and Manuel would get in with their world tour standing.
Leila Hurst sits in 10th place for the year and just one place out of world tour qualification. Tatiana Weston-Webb is one spot behind her fellow North Shore charger, 11th in the WQS and two spots out of 2015 qualification. Cope is now just three places behind Tati after coming through the stacked field and into the final at Los Cabos, ultimately losing to Oahu’s Coco Ho, whose victorious result jumps her into 16th in the WQS rankings to go with her chance to re-qualify in the top 10 of the world tour standings. One of those finishes is likely to get the Hawaii prodigy with the famous last name back on the elite tour next year.
The men’s world tour gets back in the water on July 10 at the Jeffreys Bay Open, which should make the Top 22 picture a bit clearer as the kane move into the late stages of the 2014 season.
