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Friday, June 27, 2014
U.S. Moves On With Assist From Portugal
World Cup 2014: Germany Defeats U.S., but Americans Advance
Recife Brazil — This time, there was no moment. No tingle in the spine, no shiver in the neck, no blood rush to the ears. There was no memory that will live on in hearts and minds and YouTube videos forever.
This time, there was only this: About 10 minutes before the end of the United States national team’s World Cup game against Germany on Thursday, a U.S. Soccer staff member sidled up to one of Coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s assistants and informed him that Portugal, playing simultaneously about 1,200 miles away in Brasília, had taken a one-goal lead against Ghana. The assistant, Andi Herzog, then turned to his left on the bench and tapped Klinsmann on the arm.
Klinsmann was busy yelling at some of his players. At first, he did not hear Herzog.
Klinsmann would surely agree. The Americans, picked by many to falter at the World Cup after being placed in a group with Ghana, Portugal and Germany, advanced to the Round of 16 despite losing, 1-0. The United States finished with a win, a tie and a loss in the group stage, securing second place in Group G. The Americans, who have reached the knockout rounds in consecutive World Cups for the first time, will face Belgium, the winner of Group H, on Tuesday in Salvador.
As it turned out, the United States did not need Cristiano Ronaldo’s late goal for Portugal to help it advance; a draw between Portugal and Ghana would have sent the Americans through, too. But a Ghana victory by 2-1 would have eliminated the United States, so word of the Ronaldo goal, while not nearly as captivating as Landon Donovan’s late score against Algeria in 2010, was nonetheless greeted with a sigh of relief.
Matt Besler, a defender, got the news when he noticed another assistant coach, Chris Woods, making hand signals to goalkeeper Tim Howard. Woods held up two fingers on one hand and one finger on the other. Besler looked over his shoulder at Howard, wondering whether that meant Ghana was leading by 2-1 (bad) or Portugal was leading by 2-1 (good). Howard shrugged. Finally, Woods cleared up the confusion: He gave a thumbs-up.
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Mesut Özil of Germany, center, and Omar Gonzalez of the United States both tried to head the ball Thursday in their World Cup match.CreditMatthias Schrader/Associated Press
“We knew that meant in our favor,” Besler said. “It was nice to see.”
Omar Gonzalez, another defender, got the update from Howard, but some players, such as the captain Clint Dempsey, chose to stay oblivious for the whole game. They knew the various permutations — if they tied Germany, they would advance regardless of what happened in Brasília — so they wanted to focus on handling the situation themselves.
Of course, that proved difficult. Part of the challenge stemmed from rain that had pounded Recife overnight and continued during the game, leaving many roads unpassable because of flooding. Some of the 200 people in the United States’ group of friends and relatives were unable to make it to the game because buses set to take them on the 13-mile journey from the city center to Arena Pernambuco could not reach the hotel.
The best soccer players in the world are converging in Brazil and The New York Times has you covered. We'll have a regular digest of news, highlights and context from Times reporters and editors.
The bus ride for the United States team took nearly an hour even with a police escort (it usually takes about 30 minutes), and the players said afterward that they were stunned by what they saw on the way: cars abandoned in the middle of the road with water rising over their wheel wells. On the sidewalks, many people, including many American fans, tried to wade through water that was hip-deep in spots in an attempt to make it to the game on foot.
Inspired, the players arrived at the stadium energized, but they were muted when they found the field soaked. FIFA officials forced the teams to warm up on the sidelines and behind the goals — to protect the surface — which made for a stunted opening to the match.
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“It was a bizarre day,” Besler said.
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Coach Jurgen Klinsmann and his team rode their luck, but got a result that allowed them to advance.CreditLaurence Griffiths/Getty Images
Not surprisingly, Germany, one of the tournament favorites, adjusted more quickly. There had been some speculation that Klinsmann, a German, might conspire with Germany Coach Joachim Löw, one of his close friends, to arrange a tie that would allow both teams to advance. That notion was put to rest early: Germany clearly came to attack.
At one point, Germany had completed 76 passes to the Americans’ seven, and the dominance led to several decent chances. Thomas Müller and Per Mertesacker were lurking on crosses, but the Americans were stout; they reached halftime with the game scoreless.
The second half began with more of the same, although the United States mustered a few decent counterattacks. The seemingly inevitable German goal came in the 55th minute when Howard, who was excellent and finished with five saves, made a diving stop on a header but could not keep the rebound away from Müller. He buried his shot into the side netting, and American fans — in the stands and elsewhere — frantically checked their phones.
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A FIFA official tested the field in a heavy rain before the World Cup match between the Americans and Germans in Recife.CreditPetr David Josek/Associated Press
They quickly saw that the news from Brasília was turning sour. Ghana and Portugal were level at 1-1, and one more Ghana goal would send the Americans home. Spectators began looking down at their devices as much as up at the field. Sunil Gulati, the president of U.S. Soccer, begged stadium workers to change the channel on the televisions near his seats to the game in Brasília. Finally, at about the 80-minute mark, the switch was made.
Not long after came Ronaldo’s goal and Herzog’s news and Woods’s thumbs-up, followed by the final whistle and some double-checking from the players to make sure that the Portugal score was official.
Then the players celebrated, hugging and jumping and crowding together for a smiling, sweaty team photo. There were no dramatics this time. There were no histrionics. There was, in Gonzalez’s words, just “a loss that felt like a win.”
None of it will be an Internet sensation like Donovan’s goal. But four years later, it was enough.
The best soccer players in the world are converging in Brazil and The New York Times has you covered. We'll have a regular digest of news, highlights and context from Times reporters and editors.
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