The setting I watched the match was a packed 10th & Willow (great service) in Hoboken, NJ and I had 3 Mules (Tito’s, Ginger Beer, Blueberries, and some mint greens that kept getting stuck in the straw, but no complaints, a great drink overall).
Right off the bat, the United States had the first real goal-scoring opportunity. The raucous crowd at the bar was almost treated with some early excitement before settling into their seats or knowing their lanes to the bartender. Give credit to Pulisic for even putting this on target. Most players on their first touch of the game coming off their off-foot would’ve sent this into the stands.
The bar went silent. The Dutch had a nice counter-attack working with Memphis Depay trailing off around the box. Nothing that Matt Turner could really do here, just a class finish.
This goal was the real killer. A little bit of sloppy defending right before the half, but again nothing really that Matt Turner could’ve done. Heading into halftime the USA was dominating possession and playing well but something to keep in mind is that the Dutch (and most of Europe) love playing this style of game. The best way to put this into American sports terms is that the Dutch were perfectly okay with playing great defense and allowing the US to have solid possessions but were content with picking the right opportunity to run a basketball-style fast break. We (USA) may have been FLY-ing around with the ball, but the Netherlands was playing spider, casting their webs and tactically knowing when to strike.
A glimmer of hope. The bar scene was enthused, to say the least. We got our “USA, USA, USA” chants that everybody was there for until…
Another one where the US defense was out of position and Matt Turner had no real chance to make a stop. It’s tough to kill the backline of the US defense being caught flat-footed, the Dutch are essentially trained assassins at making the most of their few goal-scoring opportunities for a reason. Fair play, another class finish.
In conclusion…
…while certainly not the result Americans were looking for I’m here to talk US off the proverbial ledge. This team of young relative no-names was able to captivate the nation enough to the point where every bar in Hoboken was packed at 10 AM on a rainy December Saturday. We walked all the way down to Mulligan’s (the main footy bar in Hoboken) at 9:15 AM and it was already at max capacity. Tried getting into the Ferryman and they had no place to sit. Walked back “uptown” to Finnegans and they were standing-room-only as well, before luckily snagging the last high-top at 10th&Willow.
The next step forward by the time the US hosts the World Cup in ‘26 is making these guys that just played in Qatar - stars, sort of like how Alex Morgan & Co are famous (that’s probably a run-on sentence but that is the 3 Mules writing). Almost every one of the players that were just taught a Dutch lesson, should be applauded for bringing the country together 4 times in 90 minutes on the pitch. We should be propagandizing the American youth into the idea that USA soccer is cool. It sounds ridiculous what I’m about to say but my generation grew up with the idea that the United States would never win a World Cup. Previous generations looked at soccer as an absolute joke, but maybe if in ‘26 we can get past the Round of 16, more and more of the American youth can start to think differently about the #1 sport in the world.
Put me on record for thinking we might not have a chance in hell to win the next World Cup and like any country, the US has some flaws. That said, the one thing every American can agree on is that our country loves sports (especially watching them at bars) and American moms aren’t as enthralled with the idea of their sons playing tackle football as much as they were in previous generations… so maybe, just maybe, my generation will see a USMNT World Cup winner someday.
@YouTheReader a lot of this instant reaction is probably just the drink talking but I just wanted to give you some optimism on a rainy Saturday. I’ll probably be back later this week before Week 14, ‘22 to comment on Jacob deGrom signing with the Texas Rangers, but I’m holding off until I see what the story is with #99 first.