CNN
(CNN) — It was mere belief against golden talent.
Faith didn’t prevail.
The U.S. soccer team lost its World Cup match Tuesday against Belgium, 2-1.
The defeat came in a do-or-die game and sent the Americans home, ending their see-saw quest for soccer’s international title.
Unable to fend off Belgium’s relentless offensive attacks, the Americans succumbed to a team so talented it is nicknamed the “golden generation.”
The U.S. defense, however, was indefatigable, largely because of the sensational saves by goalie Tim Howard.
In fact, the game was scoreless until extra time, when the Belgians scored two goals, followed by one for the Americans.
The U.S. team was considered an underdog, but not in the eyes of its fans, who began a new national chant to assert their confidence: “I believe that we will win.”
The U.S. audiences even broke records watching this year’s World Cup games on ESPN.
But the enthusiasm wasn’t enough to propel the Americans over Belgian aggressiveness.
The loss ended a run of rocky achievements for the U.S. team in the World Cup: the Americans beat Ghana, tied Portugal, lost to Germany, but still earned a place in Tuesday’s knock-out game against Belgium.
Thousands of U.S. fans skipped work or left early Tuesday and gathered in sports stadiums across the country — Chicago, Seattle and Arlington, Texas, for example — to view the game.
U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley described the loss as disappointing. He noted how the team fought to stay in the game after Belgium scored first and then again.
“We kept playing, we kept playing,” Bradley said on ESPN. “You get to this point, everybody is a good team.”
In the United States, untold thousands of soccer fanatics skipped work or sneaked away Tuesday to catch the World Cup game.
At one of the biggest U.S. venues to broadcast the game live from Brazil, Chicago’s Soldier Field, thousands of fans gathered to watch on the stadium’s big screen.
One group was asked who was playing hooky from work.
A dozen of them raised their hands.
“National Watch Soccer Day,” one fan said.
Understandably, he declined to give his name.
The lakefront stadium is better known as home to the other game of football — the NFL and its Chicago Bears — but on Tuesday, its gates were opened to the public. Thousands of fans sat in the stands or stood on the gridiron, which was covered with a protective matting.
The catch to free admission: Fans have to buy their own beer and food.
Hours before game time, however, U.S. soccer spokeswoman Sinhue Mendoza wasn’t sure whether Belgian beer would be served.
Other U.S. establishments weren’t as ambiguous.
Waffle House all but declared war on one Belgian export.
“We don’t believe in Belgium waffles,” the American waffle-making eatery said on Twitter.
On the East Coast, baseball’s minor league team, the Potomac Nationals, was banning Belgian beer at its game Tuesday night.
“As an ardent supporter of our country’s national men’s soccer team, the Potomac Nationals felt it was only right to sideline our Belgian beer taps the evening before Team USA clashes with Team Belgium in the knockout round of the World Cup. If we sold Belgium waffles at The Pfitz, they too would be placed on the (concession’s) inactive list,” Potomac Nationals food and beverage director Aaron Johnson said on Facebook.
The whimsical antipathy seemed to be gaining momentum, if social media’s #boycottbelgium is any indication.
Though Belgium is vastly smaller than the United States — a population of 11 million vs. 314 million — the European team owns the Americans: The U.S. all-time record is 1-4 against the so-called “Red Devils.”
The most recent meeting, on May 29, 2013, was a Belgian victory, 4-2, in Cleveland.
But to help the U.S. team in Brazil, one Chicago fan conjured up the indomitable spirit of U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt, who espoused a “speak softly and carry a big stick” attitude.
In fact, Mike D’Amico, a Chicago advertising firm creative director, is such a lookalike of the early 1900s president that he nicknamed himself “Teddy Goalsevelt.”
Jaunty and swashbuckling, D’Amico wore the iconic slouch hat, owlish wire-rim glasses and leather cavalry gloves that were Roosevelt’s trademark. Roosevelt commanded the flamboyant “Rough Riders” volunteer cavalry in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.
With such a name and guise, D’Amico believes he can will the U.S. team to win.
After all, he insists his name should be pronounced as “Teddy Goooooooalsevelt.”
“It’s to motivate these people back here to send their energy onto the pitch to help the U.S. soccer team to win the match,” D’Amico said, referring to how he’s leading fans who gathered to watch the game in one Brazilian establishment.
In New York, U.S. fans filled the Nevada Smiths sports bar, which champions the idea that “football is religion” — referring to soccer, that is.
“We believe that we will win,” said Ryan Ochs.
When told the U.S. slogan was starting to become clichéd, Ochs added: “We have Clint Dempsey and he’s going to score.” Dempsey is the U.S. team captain.
“We’re just going to play excellent defense throughout the match,” Ochs said.
Ochs conceded the Belgians are “more talented than us” and described the U.S. team as the underdogs.
“It’s the spirit of our nation, and it’s manifesting itself in our team,” Ochs said. “Top to bottom (the Belgian) team is more talented than us. But we definitely have more heart and can play together. If that holds true I think that’ll be the reason we win this game.”
Another tavern patron, John Paul Ovadia, remarked how soccer was once a marginalized sport in the United States, but not any more.
“I think every four years there’s more and more interest. And the further the U.S. goes, the more people are paying attention,” he said.
Lauren Redding agreed. “I like the very global component,” she said.
When the United States last played Belgium at the World Cup, it beat them 3-0, but that game was in 1930.
Whoever wins Tuesday’s rematch — 84 years later — advances to the quarter finals of the World Cup.
The-CNN-Wire
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