Too Bad for USA in the World Cup, Out After 2-1 Loss to Belgium

For my part, I have to concede, with most other Americans, that I am not a great football (soccer) fan, except insofar as our national team is still in the World Cup.  I used to be more of a football fan, but it is a difficult practice, even in New England, territory a little more amenable to the sport.  In particular, I spent a good number of saturday nights and sundays driving out to Foxboro to catch the Revs, the New England Revolution, and, also, caught a good number of games for the Western Mass. Pioneers, at Lusitano Stadium down the valley in Ludlow, a proud community with lots of second and third generation Portuguese-Americans and a deep love of football.  On the other hand, my primary motive for going to Revs games was always to hang out with the old Rev Army, a fun-loving gang of Boston and Providence and other (Western Mass) skinheads (not the racist kind, just the diverse, noisy, drunken singing/chanting, football-loving kind), to drink a few beers out in the parking lot before marching out to the old Foxboro stadium (not the present Gillette stadium) and stand up and make all kinds of noise for the Revs in section 2, straight behind one of the nets.  In the time since then, from what I understand, some of the more "conventional" Revs fans stole a number of Rev Army chants and ran with them - too bad, but I have neither the time nor the money nor the wheels to make the Revs a serious pastime and to take back the reputation of the old Rev Army as a relic of my more rowdy past!  As for the Pioneers, my big enjoyment in going down to Ludlow, beside the low price of seating (and I was normally standing behind the goal anyway), was ordering up a bifana (a marinated pork cutlet sandwich) from the concession building.  My legacy as a football fan just does not run particularly deep into my consciousness!
           Having gone through the necessary admission that what transpired today isn't really going to bother me for very long, I was enjoying the limited success that the USA Team was experiencing in this World Cup.  If nothing else, we can at least point out the fact that this year, we made it deeper into the tournament than England, Spain, Italy, and Portugal, countries that rightly enjoy a much deeper connection to football than my country has historically entertained.  Against Belgium, I think our team played a great game, even if they were significantly lacking in possession of the ball, especially in the first half.  They really needed to make more chances for themselves on offense, although their defensive game, especially in the box, was fundamentally sound, and Tim Howard did a fantastic job as keeper (notwithstanding the fact that, in his interviews after the game, he looked a little like Frankenstein's monster with the veins protruding from the side of his forehead!).  They desperately needed to put more pressure on Courtois earlier.  Beyond this, I think that they got farther into the tournament then anyone expected that they would.  I was sure that they would beat Ghana in the opening group round, but I expected them to lose outright to both Portugal and Germany.  In sum, I am not as disappointed as I am proud of our team - they went above and beyond my expectations.