 | BookBub brings you free & bargain national bestselling eBooks in the genres of your choice! Sign up now & join 1.5 million happy readers. From our sponsors |
| CNN.com - Top Stories |
| CNN.com delivers up-to-the-minute news and information on the latest top stories, weather, entertainment, politics and more. |
U.S. fans hope to extend trip
7/1/2014 2:38:27 PM
The U.S. Men's success in Brazil is causing many American soccer fans to need to extend their trips to Brazil.
If your browser has Adobe Flash Player installed, click above to play. Otherwise, click below.
Will U.S. love affair last?
7/1/2014 1:15:57 PM
- Amy Bass, asks, when the World Cup moves on, will U.S. fans, too?
- Cup craze is more about Americans wanting in on the party, she says
- She says the Cup is suited to social media camaraderie, which has helped whip up interest
- After the World Cup, there's reason to think soccer interest will wane, Bass says
Editor's note: Amy Bass, a professor of history at the College of New Rochelle, has written widely on the cultural history of sports, including the book "Not the Triumph but the Struggle: The 1968 Olympics and the Making of the Black Athlete." She is a veteran of eight Olympics as the supervisor of NBC's Research Room, for which she won an Emmy in 2012. Follow her on Twitter @bassab1.
(CNN) -- For 40 years -- 40 years -- the United States did not care about the World Cup because the United States did not qualify for the World Cup. So America turned its nose up to soccer, disdaining it for generations. There are many reasons to think that America's disenchantment with the beautiful game is over -- obsessive interest in the first rounds of play is one of them.
But what happens when the World Cup packs up and moves on? Will Americans love soccer this much then -- or more precisely, will they if team USA is eliminated by Belgium?
It is easy to link World Cup mania to the popularity of youth soccer in the United States. A 2007 FIFA study concluded that some 25 million American children play soccer, giving the U.S. the largest youth base of any country competing in Brazil right now. But after all, kids playing on a Saturday morning likely doesn't explain the seeming suddenness of American interest in the World Cup.
And we didn't see this kind of interest back when the U.S. hosted the tournament back in 1994. We also didn't see it when the U.S. women won the whole thing in 1991 and 1999 (because, well, you know, women's sports and all). And we didn't see it when the U.S. men's national team reached the quarterfinals in 2002.
So where did all of this frenzy come from? Answer: Americans hate being left behind.
Americans prefer to lead, and until now, they have been the only ones missing this global party, one where the U.S. men have yet to build a winning reputation, something central to American identity. Indeed, some think the intense focus on Brazil has to do with this unfamiliar underdog status.
Soccer has "been a bit of a subculture for a while now," says Greg Lalas, a former Major League Soccer player and current editor-in-chief of MLS.com "One that is incredibly vibrant, inclusive, and frankly, really fun. ... Who doesn't want to be part of that?" It's a good point. Down side? "There'll be no worse thing for American soccer than if we ultimately win a World Cup," says sportswriter Jeff Pearlman. "When that happens, and when we're on equal footing with the elites, it all becomes dull."
For Lalas, though, the turning point has been that this World Cup "opened the eyes of many of the decision makers in the media that this culture exists." But it isn't just the gate-keepers. Social media has given the U.S. soccer nation subculture the space to crow from the rooftops their love of the game, and their enthusiasm has generated a contagion effect, building a collective excitement about soccer that's literally spilling into the streets.
Remember that social media turned one of the worst things television has ever produced — "Sharknado" — into a revolutionary experience because viewers could complain, mock, and cheer all together. It's done the same for the World Cup, giving it the sense of camaraderie that sports fans need to unify around a team.
Just think: Fans tweeted 15.9 million times during the first three U.S. matches. During the game against Germany, one of the most popular images throughout the Twittersphere was of companies who had brought in televisions and food so employees could watch.
But don't get too excited. This may have not legs.
That the United States appears to be catching World Cup fever doesn't tell us much about how soccer as a spectator sport will fare here, particularly in terms of the popularity of Major League Soccer or whether NBC's television audience for the Premier League will continue to grow.
Sure, the United States has had diehard soccer fans of all kinds for some time now, but they aren't always rooting for those wearing the red, white, and blue. Mexico, eliminated by the Netherlands on Sunday, has traditionally been the most popular team in the United States, selling almost twice as many tickets to its "friendly" matches as the U.S. men's national team, which is relatively new by comparison.
Many of the Americans in Brazil are there to support Latin American teams, representing communities like those who play at the Red Hook Ball Fields in Brooklyn, where league and pick-up games are accompanied by food trucks slinging the best pupusas, tamales, elote on a stick, arepa, and, of course, tacos.
And it is still hard for some Americans to embrace a game that doesn't necessarily end when it is supposed to, and a tournament with groupings and strategies that mean a loss of yours is turned into a win because the team you tied the other day just beat someone else.
Furthermore, many sports fans may not have space to add soccer into their seasonal cycle of baseball, football, and so on. Thus, the appeal of the World Cup is not necessarily the game it features, as much as the lure of the United States finally sitting at the big table, qualifying regularly, and even winning a match or two.
It is a situation somewhat akin to the Olympics, in which Americans become fascinated -- and sometimes fanatical --with curling and ice dancing and skeleton for the fortnight, but without question don't think about it again until the next one.
So perhaps unless team USA's Clint Dempsey and John Brooks get into the next season of "Dancing with the Stars," it might be four more years before America obsesses about them again.
Read CNNOpinion's new Flipboard magazine.
Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.
Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.
When isn't Facebook playing with you?
7/1/2014 12:06:47 PM
- David Weinberger: Many angry over Facebook's psychological experiment on users in 2012
- He says it was only a more intrusive version of what FB and other websites do all the time
- FB decides what we'll know about friends based on what profits FB, he says
- Weinberger: Facebook could use this control to better society, but the bottom line comes first
Editor's note: David Weinberger is a senior researcher at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society and author of "Too Big to Know" (Basic Books). The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author
(CNN) -- Many people are outraged about the just-revealed psychological experiment Facebook performed in 2012 on 690,000 unwitting people, altering the mix of positive and negative posts in their feeds. Playing with people's emotions without their consent is a problem. But it would be even worse if we think -- after Facebook posts one of its all-too-common apologies -- that Facebook is done manipulating its users.
No. The experiment was only a more intrusive version of what the company does every time we visit our Facebook page.
Facebook's experiment was a version of so-called "A/B" testing, one of the most widely used and effective techniques large websites use to "provide a better customer experience" -- that is, to sell us more stuff.
For example, for years Amazon has routinely experimented with seemingly insignificant changes to its pages, like showing half of its visitors a discount offer on the left side, and the same ad on the right to the other half. If Amazon finds a statistically significant uptick in clicks on the offer when it's on one side, from then on that's where they put the offers. Companies A/B test every parameter about a page, from font sizes to colors to the depth of the drop shadows.
But the Facebook experiment was not normal A/B testing. Usually a test alters some seemingly irrelevant factor. But Facebook's experiment changed the site's core service: showing us what's up with our friends. Worse, Facebook did so in a way likely to affect the emotional state of its users. And that's something to be concerned about.
But much of the outrage is driven by a false assumption: that there is a "real" mix of news about our friends.
There isn't. Facebook always uses algorithms to figure out what to show us and what to leave obscure. Facebook is in the business of providing us with a feed that filters the Colorado River rapids into a tinkling stream we can drink from.
The 2012 experiment is a window onto this larger concern: Facebook, an important and even dominant part of our social infrastructure, makes decisions about what we'll know about our friends based on what works for Facebook, Inc., and only secondarily based on what works for us as individuals and as a society.
This point is illustrated in Eli Pariser's excellent book (and terrific TED Talk) The Filter Bubble. Facebook filters our feeds to make us happier customers. But Facebook defines a happy customer as one that comes back often and clicks on a lot of links.
When it comes to politics, we can easily see the problem: Showing us news that excites our click finger is a formula for promoting shouting and political divisiveness. Too much of that is bad, but in both politics and social relationships more broadly, do we know what the "right mix" is?
Are we sure that filtering social news so that it includes more of the negative is bad? And positive filtering can paint a too-rosy picture of our social network, shielding us from the full force of life as it is actually lived. I don't know the answer, but it can't come from a commercial entity whose overriding aim is to keep us coming back so we can buy more from its advertisers.
There are many options to play with here. For example, we could be given more individual control over our own filters. Or a site could "nudge" us toward feeds that achieve socially desirable aims like making us more willing to explore and embrace differences.
But we're unlikely to see such options so long as we have given control over our the flow of our social information to commercial entities that have as their primary interest not the health of our society and culture, but their bottom line. Sometimes those interests may align, but not reliably or often enough.
So, I'm upset about Facebook's cavalier toying with our emotions, but I'm far more disturbed about what Facebook and other such sites do all the time.
Read CNNOpinion's new Flipboard magazine.
Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.
Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.
Childhood vaccines are safe. Seriously.
7/1/2014 11:57:57 AM
- Review of more than 20,000 scientific titles and 67 papers finds no evidence linking vaccines, autism
- Vaccines may be greatest public health achievement of the 20th century, doctors say
- Physicians should educate parents about the importance of vaccines
(CNN) -- Children should get vaccinated against preventable and potentially deadly diseases. Period.
That's what a project that screened more than 20,000 scientific titles and 67 papers on vaccine safety concludes this week. The review appears in the latest edition of the medical journal Pediatrics.
The evidence strongly suggests that side effects from vaccines are incredibly rare, the study authors said. They found no ties between vaccines and the rising number of children with autism, as a small but vocal group of anti-vaccine activists, including actors Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carey, have said.
Retracted autism study an 'elaborate fraud'
The review also found no link between vaccines and childhood leukemia, something that was suggested in earlier studies.
The researchers found that some vaccines did cause a few adverse effects but it was only for a tiny fraction of the population.
There was evidence that the meningococcal vaccine can lead to anaphylaxis -- a severe, whole-body allergic reaction -- in children allergic to ingredients in the vaccine. Other studies found the MMR vaccine was linked to seizures.
"Vaccines, like any other medication, aren't 100% risk free," said Dr. Ari Brown an Austin, Texas-based pediatrician and author of the popular book "Baby 411," who was not involved with the study.
"You have a sore arm, redness at the injection site. Those are the things we see commonly. Fortunately the serious adverse effects is extremely rare."
Brown said parents ask her how safe vaccines are all the time. Some patients also ask if they should delay or stagger the vaccinations. She counsels against that practice. She said the younger the child, the more danger these diseases present.
"By delaying the vaccines you're putting your child at risk," Brown said.
Study: Don't delay measles vaccine
The positive effects of vaccines dramatically outweigh the bad, experts said.
An editorial accompanying the study calls vaccines "one of the most successful public health achievements of the 20th century."
Because of vaccines, many diseases that plagued children for centuries have all but been eliminated.
"There were good reasons that these diseases were targeted for vaccine development since they are so life-threatening," said Dr. Carrie Byington, vice-chair for research in the University of Utah's pediatrics department, and the new chair for the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on infectious diseases.
Millions of Americans live longer on average because of the protection vaccines provide. Life expectancy has gone up in the United States by more than 30 years. Infant mortality decreased from 100 deaths per 1000 to 7 between the 1900s and 2000.
A vaccine for smallpox led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to declare the disease eradicated in 1978. Prior to a vaccination for diphtheria, it was one of the most common causes of illness and death among children. Now it is rarely reported in the United States.
Yet research shows there is still doubt among some medical residents about the effectiveness of vaccinations.
"That is particularly concerning for me," Byington said. "Young residents may be in the same position as young parents who have trained at a time, or lived at a time, when these diseases were extremely rare, and they may not have ever seen how serious a vaccine-preventable infection can be."
An increasing number of parents over the years have opted out of getting their children vaccinated. And that may be having a negative impact on the community's health.
A study found that large clusters of children who had not been vaccinated were close to the large clusters of whooping cough cases in the 2010 California epidemic. While California typically has higher vaccination rates than the rest of the country, that state is dealing with yet another whooping cough epidemic.
This spring also saw an 18-year high number of measles cases in the United States. The largest outbreak was in Ohio where the virus spread quickly among the Amish, who are mostly unvaccinated. This outbreak was a real surprise to health officials who thought that the infectious disease was thought to have been eliminated from the United States in 2000.
The editorial accompanying this latest study suggests doctors, who parents typically trust to tell the truth about medical information, need to use this study to speak with confidence about the importance of vaccinating children.
"Looking at all these mounds of data -- there is still no data that show an association that shows vaccine and autism," said Brown. "I would love it to close this chapter and move on. I don't think it will. But the more research, the more we learns about autism, the more we can reassure parents that there are no links here."
Opinion: The promise of vaccines
Israel mourns teens and hits back at Hamas
7/1/2014 4:21:21 PM
- NEW: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Hamas is responsible, "will pay"
- NEW: Israel has arrested hundreds, demolished homes, closed institutions, he adds
- A little-known group supporting the "Islamic State" claims responsibility for teens' deaths
- The 3 teens are remembered as "gifted, pure, honest and decent" at their funeral
(CNN) -- Mourning three Israeli teenagers at their funeral Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised his nation will avenge their deaths at "the hands of evil men" and show its strength in the process.
"Throughout the history of our people, we have proved time and again -- in view of the horrors that we have experienced, the grief and sorrow -- the force of life that pulsates within us overcomes the forces of death," he said in Hebrew, according to a CNN translation.
The Israeli leader lamented the killings of the three "gifted, pure, honest and decent teens," bloodshed that he said shows "a broad moral gulf (that) separates us from our enemies."
"They sanctify death, we sanctify life," Netanyahu said, comparing the teens to those who killed them. "They sanctify cruelty, and we mercy and compassion. That is the secret of our strength."
A short time later -- after the burials of Eyal Yifrach, 19; Gilad Shaar, 16; and Naftali Frankel, a 16-year-old dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, by each other in Modiin -- the Prime Minister spoke again about the three before a security cabinet meeting, saying, "May God avenge their blood."
"Whoever was involved in the kidnapping and the murder will bear the consequences," Netanyahu said Tuesday evening. "We will neither rest nor slacken until we reach the last of them. And It does not matter where they will try to hide."
These actions are well underway. The Israeli leader noted that, already, hundreds of Hamas activists have been arrested, dozens of institutions in Gaza have closed and homes have been demolished.
This is along with stepped-up airstrikes in Gaza -- Palestinian land controlled by Hamas, a militant Islamic organization that denied it is behind the abductions.
The Israeli military said it launched 34 strikes targeting terror infrastructure targets since Sunday evening in response to 18 rockets from Gaza.
The Palestinian Cabinet on Tuesday claimed 12 Palestinians have been killed since the military operation to find the teens began June 13; it did not identify them by name, nor detail how or when they died.
CNN reported earlier, citing Palestinian medical sources, that at least one man died from a heart attack during a raid on his West Bank home last month; at least five were killed in clashes with the Israeli military; and two men accused by the Israeli military of being involved in recent rocket attacks were killed in an airstrike last week in Gaza.
Addressing "all of those who are ... happy at our sadness," Israeli President Shimon Peres warned at Tuesday's funeral, "Terror is a boomerang."
"I know that we will eventually get our hands on the murderers," Peres said, "and they will be punished."
Israeli leader: 'Hamas will pay'
The bodies of Yifrach, Shaar and Frankel were found Monday, nearly three weeks after their abduction while hitchhiking home from school in the West Bank.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah party and is based in the West Bank, has condemned the abductions, even as the Palestinian Cabinet has criticized what it calls "Israel's illegal measures" in response.
Yet Mark Negev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, suggested Monday that Abbas' Palestinian Authority bears some responsibility for what happened because "the terrorists came from areas under Palestinian Authority control and returned to territories under Palestinian Authority control."
Still, while Abbas and the Palestinian Authority are clearly feeling the pressure, it's nothing compared to that facing Hamas Just listen to Netanyahu on Tuesday evening: "Hamas is responsible. Hamas will pay, and Hamas will continue to pay."
The Israel Defense Forces named two men -- Marwan Kawasme and Omar Abu Aysha -- as the "Hamas terrorists who kidnapped" the boys. Their West Bank homes were destroyed overnight.
Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported Tuesday that a little-known group called Ansar as-Dawla al-Islamiya (Supporters of the Islamic State) had claimed responsibility for the killings and threatened to "slaughter" the Palestinian Authority. CNN could not independently verify the claim.
Hamas has made no such claim. Still, as it bears the brunt of the retaliation, the group warned that if Netanyahu "brings a war on Gaza, the gates of hell will open to him."
Obama: Israel, Palestinian Authority should work together
The teens' kidnappings and killings -- as well as the Israeli response -- have spurred strong reactions well outside the Middle East, including among U.S. politicians, New York's mayor and the Vatican.
The advocacy group Human Rights Watch, for instance, said the killings "would amount to a war crime if committed by an armed group" even as it urged Israel to avoid "collective punishment."
British Prime Minister David Cameron has called the teens' deaths "an appalling and inexcusable act of terror."
U.S. President Barack Obama similarly condemned what he called a "senseless act of terror against innocent youth." He reiterated "our full support to Israel and the Palestinian Authority to find the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice."
"And I encourage Israel and the Palestinian Authority to continue working together in that effort," Obama said. "I also urge all parties to refrain from steps that could further destabilize the situation."
READ: Who were the teens killed?
Opinion: Slain teens call for justice, not escalation
CNN's Ben Wedeman, Dana Ford, Hala Gorani, Jake Tapper, Samira Said, Jason Hanna, Talia Kayali, Talal Abu Rahma and Michael Schwartz contributed to this report.
Israeli PM on 'the moral gulf'
7/1/2014 4:13:45 PM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the funeral for the three teens found dead in a West Bank field.
If your browser has Adobe Flash Player installed, click above to play. Otherwise, click below.
Who were the three Israeli teens?
7/1/2014 1:55:39 PM
- Naftali Frankel's cousin says #BringBackOurBoys effort helped change the world
- Frankel's uncle works to involve Palestinians in high-tech businesses
- Gilad Shaar was full of love and spoiled his sisters, his family says
- Eyal Yifrach recently sang in a performance posted on YouTube
(CNN) -- They were teenagers on their way home from school.
One liked basketball and was a gifted musician who played a mean guitar as well as the flute. Another liked to bake cakes for his five younger sisters. The third would bring jars of cookies to study hall for his classmates.
Naftali Frankel, Eyal Yifrach and Gilad Shaar, Israeli Jewish teens, were buried Tuesday after a memorial ceremony watched nationwide. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the three were "gifted, pure, honest and decent" and were "cut down by the hands of evil men."
Their deaths galvanized the country and sparked new Israeli military action, exacerbating the conflict.
The teens' bodies were found Monday, more than two weeks after the three were abducted on their way home from school in the West Bank.
Naftali Frankel, a dual U.S.-Israel citizen
Frankel, the 16-year-old musician and basketball fan, was also a U.S. citizen who had family in Brooklyn and in upstate New York, his aunt Ittael Frankel told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
"Rest in peace, my child," said his grieving mother, Racheli Frankel, according to ynetnews.com. "We will learn to sing without you. We will always hear your voice in our hearts."
Frankel was the second-oldest of seven children. He was a gifted student and "a responsible and poised young boy," the Israeli Embassy in Britain said in a profile of him after he was abducted.
His uncle was working to help bring more Palestinians into Israeli high-tech businesses, Forbes reported. The article by Richard Behar carried the headline: "Good vs Evil: Israeli Intel Exec Pioneers Hi-Tech With Palestinians. His Nephew, A U.S. Citizen, Is Abducted By Terrorists." It reported on Yishai Frankel, the 44-year-old general manager of design and development at Intel's headquarters in Jerusalem, who was spearheading integration efforts for the company.
"There's no doubt that people who kidnap young kids are destructive and they hurt the Palestinian cause as equally as it's hurting the Israeli cause. It doesn't help anyone," the uncle was quoted as saying. "So, am I surprised? No, I'm saddened. But that's reality. Does that mean I feel bad things about the good people I work with, among the Palestinians? No. These are good people. It's no secret that every society has bad people."
Victim's cousin: Support helped deepen ties
His American cousin Manny Halberstam described him as someone "always full of joy and full of positivity" who "made his parents' lives a lot easier by being such a good older brother."
"There's this perception that spending time in Israel, spending time in the West Bank, could be pretty dangerous. The truth is, when you're there in the West Bank, up until a few weeks ago, when you're there, you really feel pretty safe. You don't feel like you're in danger at all. And I think, unfortunately, in response to this incident ... that sense of safety is going to change," Halberstam said.
In an interview with Brooke Baldwin on "CNN Newsroom," Halberstam had a message for all the people "with a strong moral conscience" who have been protesting the abduction of the boys, as well as the abductions of more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria. Supporters for the Israeli teens used the hashtag #BringBackOurBoys, following the lead of #BringBackOurGirls.
"By no means was the time and energy that we invested in these campaigns a waste, because through our efforts, we strengthened our sense of community and we deepened our ties with each other. And I think, in that sense, we've moved the world to the type of world in which these types of incidents occur less frequently."
Gilad Shaar, oldest of six
Gilad Shaar, also 16, was "gifted" and "always smiling," his grandfather Ezra Sha'ar told Israel's Channel 2, according to israelnationalnews.com.
"He was a boy who loved to learn, to do everything for the community and for society." He "loved his country" and took a lot of trips across Israel, the grandfather said.
He spoiled his five younger sisters, Shaar's American aunt, Leehy Shaar, wrote in an open letter on June 23 in the Los Angeles-based Jewish Journal. "He loves to bake cakes," she added. "And they are truly delicious."
She told CNN's Jake Tapper on Monday that she was still in shock. "I'm holding his picture, and I see his smile," she said. "He's so young and innocent. ... It's just too sad to even imagine."
"I've lost my only son. How can I sum up your life, your acts, in a few sentences?" Gilad Shaar's grieving father asked Monday at a memorial service, according to the Jerusalem Post.
His former counselor said that as a child, Shaar threw a birthday party for his school's goldfish, journalist Ben Hartman of the Jerusalem Post reported on Twitter.
Eyal Yifrach, beloved brother figure who sang on YouTube
At 19, Eyal Yifrach was the oldest of the victims and "a big personality," according to his friend and roommate. "Eyal is the type of person everybody would want as a brother," Micky Zivan told The Times of Israel.
Zivan said his pal would leave a jar of cookies near the study hall with a sign that read "Please take."
"We're crying, but these are tears of strength and love," said Uri Yifrach, Eyal's father, according to ynetnews.com. To the killers, he said, "You are wrongdoers, the nation of Israel promises that your day will come. We will not break. We are humanitarians, we have love and it will triumph. ... We're here, and you can't change that. We're a strong nation."
A few months ago, Eyal Yifrach sang at his cousin's wedding in a performance posted on YouTube, the Jewish Press reported.
"We miss him. It's hard not to see him around, his smile," Zivan said.
Slain teens call for justice, not escalation
Israeli PM at teens' funeral: 'Broad moral gulf' between us, enemy
Messi shines to break Swiss
7/1/2014 5:55:53 PM
- Angel Di Maria strikes deep in extra time as Argentina defeat Switzerland 1-0
- The Real Madrid star scores from Lionel Messi's cute through ball
- Argentina were far from their best but continue to march on in Brazil
- They will meet the United States or Brazil in the quarterfinal
How are you celebrating the World Cup? Join the global conversation on CNN Facebook Pulse
(CNN) -- This World Cup is no protector of reputations.
Nor is it anything other than steadfast in its refusal to reveal any clear favorite to hoist the 20th incarnation of football's prime feast.
Argentina certainly counts as one of a pool of nations capable of capturing glory, but its performances so far have shown a worrying brittleness.
Still, it just keeps on winning and can now look forward to a last eight clash with either the United States or Belgium.
The latest side to come close to toppling La Albiceleste was Switzerland, but just like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran and Nigeria before them, one moment of magic was all that separated the two in Tuesday's penultimate last-16 clash.
With the contest a matter of seconds away from penalties, the decisive blow was conjured between two men who operate at opposite ends of Spain's fiercest rivalry.
Lionel Messi, of Barcelona, drove deep into Swiss territory and swept the ball wide for Real Madrid's Angel Di Maria, who stroked confidently into the corner.
Yet there was still more agony for Switzerland to endure.
With even its goalkeeper playing as a striker, a point-blank header from Blerim Dzemaili crashed against the post before squirming wide in the 122nd minute.
Argentina's fevered reaction upon the final whistle underscored a palpable sense of relief that its bandwagon continues to edge closer to a first triumph since 1986.
"I was nervous towards the end because we couldn't score and any mistake could have knocked us out," Argentina captain Messi told a press conference.
"The minutes were passing by and we didn't want the match to go to penalties. We were suffering, but we had a special play, I passed to Angel and now we can celebrate."
With Switzerland keen to limit any slice of space for Argentina's array of attacking talent to operate in, the opening stages of the game in Sao Paulo were predictably tight.
There was a glimpse of goal for Messi a little under the quarter hour mark but his stabbed cross-shot was pocketed by Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.
Once the contest had settled into a pattern, Argentina's failure to engage an powerful offensive arsenal afforded Switzerland a growing confidence which reflected in its play.
The game's first gilt-edged opening arrived on 28 minutes, and it was one carved out by two players who operate in Germany's Bundesliga.
Bayern Munich star Xherdan Shaqiri found midfielder Granit Xhaka, who plays for Borussia Mönchengladbach, with a pullback but his low, powerful drive was repelled by Sergio Romero.
Paris Saint-Germain star Ezequiel Lavezzi tested Benaglio from striker Gonzalo Higuain's knockdown as Argentina looked to reassert its dominance.
Shaqiri was again the provider when a sharp counter attack released Josip Drmic in on goal.
With Romero caught in two minds whether to hunt down the through ball, the Bayer Leverkusen striker looked to take advantage with a chip but got the execution horribly wrong.
Argentina's stopper continued to look uncertain after the interval as he spilled a Shaqiri free kick from range and had to scramble to prevent the ball from escaping his penalty area.
As the hour mark loomed Argentina rediscovered a glimmer of its attacking brio, with Switzerland forced to retreat further and further towards its own goal.
As red-shirted legs became heavy La Albiceleste pressed for the breakthrough and Benaglio was prompted into action when Marcos Rojo's attempted cross crept towards the net.
Higuain then rose highest to power a header towards goal but Benaglio was alert to acrobatically divert the Napoli striker's effort over the bar.
Perhaps inspired by the goal of the tournament so far -- James Rodriguez's explosive volley in Colombia's last-16 win over Uruguay -- Messi attempted his own, firing narrowly over the bar.
It looked as though Messi's moment had arrived on 78 minutes as he picked up the ball on the edge of the box and jinked onto his wand of a left foot.
Slightly nervous #switzerland pic.twitter.com/G7xh7s6G6q
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) July 1, 2014 But just as the thousands of Argentina fans inside the stadium prepared to hail their saviour once more, Benaglio flung out his right hand to make a superb save and ensure the game remained goalless.
As Algeria had done the previous evening, Switzerland burrowed away with the prospect of an extra half an hour the prize at the end of a long, weary tunnel.
And despite a few nervous moments, when the right weight of pass or split second decision could have fashioned a late winner, the Swiss saw it through to the end of 90 minutes.
The extra half hour continued in the same vain, the Swiss content to soak up pressure in a congested final third and look for counter attacking opportunities.
Benaglio was called upon to save from a glancing header from Rodrigo Palacio while Messi was lucky to escape a booking after a tangle with Valon Behrami.
Di Maria, who enjoyed such a stellar end of season with European Champions League winners Real Madrid, cut a profligate figure through the game, but tested Benaglio with a stinging drive from range.
And his big moment would arrive, as so many of Argentina's have, via the boots of Messi.
The three-time FIFA Ballon d'Or winner drove towards a flagging Swiss defense before offloading to Di Maria, whose precise finish back across Benaglio found the far corner.
That sparked delirium among the hordes of traveling Argentina fans but its side's leaky rearguard almost offered up another twist in the game's dying stages.
With Benaglio installed as center forward, a succession of crosses flowed into Argentina's penalty area.
From one, midfielder Blerim Dzemaili found himself unmarked and five yards from goal when the ball arrived at his eye level.
But his header cannoned off the post with Romero stranded and struck him once more, only for the ball to trickle wide of the upright.
Shaqiri then won a free kick right on the edge of the penalty area as nerves at both ends shredded yet further, but once the wall had repelled his effort the final whistle sounded.
Coach Alejandro Sabella stuck to the classic football adage of taking one game at a time. "Our dream is only to work for the next match and try to move onto the semifinals," he said.
"We do not look beyond that. To do so would be a mistake as we have already seen good teams like Spain, Uruguay, Italy and England have gone out."
Argentina limps on, but winning ugly won't matter a jot to its players or fans should a first World Cup in 24 years result from it.
Read: How America won the World Cup
Hong Kong's bond with Mother China
7/2/2014 1:51:55 AM
- Hong Kong is culturally and politically distinct from other Chinese cities
- Douglas Young: I believe the majority of Hong Kong people recognizes that Hong Kong cannot exist as an independent country
- Young: Hong Kong's role in world culture is vital
Editor's note: Douglas Young is the co-founder and creative head of Hong Kong-based lifestyle brand, G.O.D. (Goods of Desire). Young's work is deeply rooted in Hong Kong and through his work, he hopes to inspire future generations of designers to seek inspiration from his native city. Young will appear in the next On China episode on Hong Kong identity, to air at the end of July. For all viewing times and more information about the show click here. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- During my travels to some western countries, there have been occasions when people have asked me where I come from. When some hear that I'm from Hong Kong, they would often say: "So, you are Japanese!"
This has happened so often that I find it more convenient to simply tell them I'm Chinese, rather than explain how Hong Kong's sits in relation to mainland China.
Hong Kong does not enjoy the global familiarity enjoyed by places like New York, Paris or London. The residents of these cities can just say they are from those cities to anyone in the world and there would be little questions asked about their nationality.
Does the fact that the American doesn't mention he is from the United States make him less American? Of course not.
One only has to walk down the streets of Manhattan and count the number of American flags to realize that New Yorkers are patriotic Americans.
'Mother China'
In Hong Kong, whenever the Chinese flag and the Hong Kong flag are flown side by side, the Chinese flag is always placed a little higher. This rightly symbolizes the fact that Hong Kong is a city within the mother country of China.
But this should not deny a Hong Kong person the right to explain the difference between their city and other Chinese cities. Those that like to stoke dissent often accuse such behavior as unpatriotic.
It is a fact that Hong Kong is culturally and politically distinct from other Chinese cities. We are under a different political and legal system. We have a unique history of British colonialism. Our tradition of openness and internationalism has provided us with a unique set of circumstances. All in all, the Hong Kong identity is distinctive but one that China recognizes.
It is this difference that has endowed Hong Kong with an important role to play within China in the same way that Shanghai and Beijing have their respective reasons to be.
I believe the majority of Hong Kong people recognizes that Hong Kong cannot exist as an independent country. This is not just because of mere realism and practicality. It is fundamentally because we can readily identify with the traditions we share with our motherland and feel a substantial sense of pride in our ancient history.
Unique identity
Whether or not we place Hong Kong before or after China depends on certain undeniable cultural anomalies. At the end of the day, the bond we have with our fellow countrymen in the mainland is stronger than our differences.
If we can overcome this seeming contradiction and concentrate on celebrating our unique identity, we can fashion Hong Kong to be a place of global relevance and at the same time help China rise as a global player.
Hong Kong is Asia's most culturally diverse city. We enjoy an international level of living standards. Our rule of law and freedom are things we cherish. We are geographically well placed to be Asia's cultural hub. It should be the place where all the world's important cultural events should be staged. In tandem with China's political and economic rise during our lifetime, Hong Kong's role in world culture is vital.
It is important to recognize that it is the soft power of a country that is most appealing the world over. It is the tonic that helps to alleviate tensions that arises from issues such as territorial disputes and tourists behaving badly overseas. Countries that can handle their military, economic and cultural strengths with dexterity are those that are able to punch well above their weight.
I believe the current generation of Chinese leaders are intelligent enough to recognize this fact. Under appropriate circumstances, Hong Kong people should be able to wear all our different hats with confidence and pride.
As Asians, we should even be able to embrace our affinity with fellow Asians. Including the Japanese!
Don't judge dad who left son in car
7/2/2014 1:52:53 AM
- Justin Harris has been charged with murder and child cruelty after son died in hot car
- Mark O'Mara: We need to look at any prior behavior that shows complete disregard for son
- O'Mara: If there's none, we look at negligence; "forgetting child" needs to be analyzed
- He says it's wrong to judge a negligent act by consequences, no matter how bad
Editor's note: Mark O'Mara is a CNN legal analyst and a criminal defense attorney. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- A debate is raging over the tragic case of Justin Harris, who left his 22-month-old boy, Cooper, in a car all day. Cooper perished, and now his father has been charged with murder and child cruelty. Some people call this a tragedy, and some call it a crime. Who is right?
Harris will appear in court Thursday to face a probable cause hearing in which the prosecution will try to convince a judge that it was indeed a crime. The defense will likely try to show that Harris' act was simple negligence. Either way, the focus will be on why Cooper was left in the car -- and although this seems counterintuitive -- for the purposes of the criminal proceedings, the tragic death will not be material for determining guilt.
To make the case that Harris committed premeditated first-degree murder by intentionally leaving his child in a car to die, the justice system will need to look at his prior history, both criminal and psychological, and consider any other acts that show a complete disregard -- or worse -- for the child. We should see some previous behavior consistent with his ability to act as one of the worst that we identify in our society: people capable of killing their own children. This behavior could include anger at the child or the child's mother, pending divorce litigation, frustration at an illness the child suffers, financial distress or other stressful situations.
The defense and the prosecution and law enforcement have to examine these considerations quickly. If they decide that Harris is not the worst among us -- if he is not someone guilty of filicide -- then the alternative is one of negligence. In this case, the cause of "just forgetting his child in a car" needs to be analyzed.
We as humans often want to reassess our decisions based upon the outcome. Deciding to stay late at work and then being involved in a major accident on the way home puts focus on whether or not you should have stayed late. Splurging for dessert after dinner and getting hit by a car while crossing the street suggests the dessert was significant. The reality is when that decision is made, it is almost always inconsequential.
Nobody would have considered it significant if Harris had walked 10 paces away from his car toward his work and then remembered Cooper. The fact that a simply negligent mistake had devastating consequences does not, logically or rationally, make the act grossly negligent or criminal in and of itself.
CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin bravely confessed in an opinion piece that she once left her child in the car, something she realized in horror a few moments later. Her baby was fine. It was simple negligence.
If Harris' mistake was one of simple negligence, that he truly just forgot to drop Cooper off at day care, then the question is: Should we make a simply negligent act that has significant consequences a criminal act because of those consequences?
That is an extraordinarily dangerous precedent to set. Thousands of cars get in accidents every day, most caused by simple negligence. Some are fender benders, some cause significant property damage, some cause simple injuries, some cause significant injuries and some end up with people dying. Our law is well settled in that context -- it is the negligent act that we focus on and not primarily the result.
One concept that we use in all of our jurisprudence is the reasonable man theory. That is, most people are presumed to act in a reasonable way, with the term reasonable determined by our societal norms. We judge each other in many circumstances based upon whether or not we've acted reasonably.
The reasonable man concept appears in other aspects of criminal law. In self-defense cases, we seek to find if a person had reasonable fear of great bodily harm or death. In civil cases, such as in personal injury law, the difference between simple negligence and gross negligence has huge implications on a plaintiff's chances to be awarded damages -- no matter how severely he or she suffered.
To change a well-settled principle of law -- that we are to be judged on whether we acted reasonably or negligently independently from the consequences -- would be a dangerous alteration in the way we interact, not only in the court system, but as a society.
Harris probably acted with simple negligence. If he did, he will deal with having been the cause of his son's death for the rest of his life, but he should not be held criminally liable.
There is one other possibility to consider. If Harris showed a reckless disregard for the consequences of his actions or a blatant indifference to his legal duties, then he may be guilty of gross negligence. If it is determined that Harris acted in a grossly negligent way, then he should be held criminally responsible.
If the facts came forward that he left his son in the car because he was drunk, or because he wanted to go out and party, then a criminal negligence standard would be easy to reach. If I drive my car in a school zone five miles over the speed limit, and run over and kill a child, I am probably only acting in a simply negligent way. If I do so at 70 mph, I would be acting grossly negligently, and should be held criminally liable.
We've all been quick to judge Harris, and we're going to have to wait for all the facts to come out before we can make an informed opinion. In this case, making an informed opinion means making a reasoned assessment regarding whether Harris acted on purpose, or whether it was negligence. We just have to be careful not to allow the tragic consequences of the act to influence how we judge the act itself.
Read CNNOpinion's new Flipboard magazine.
Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.
Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.
Street battles after boy's body found in Jerusalem
7/2/2014 7:31:58 AM
- NEW: Netanyahu calls for speedy probe to find out "who is behind this despicable murder"
- Police are looking into whether the body is that of a missing Palestinian
- Palestinian residents clash with Israeli forces in an area of Jerusalem
- Funerals were held Tuesday for 3 Israeli teenagers found dead in the West Bank
Jerusalem (CNN) -- The discovery of a boy's body in Jerusalem early Wednesday triggered clashes between Israelis and Palestinians, further inflaming tensions that spiked this week with the discovery of the bodies of three Israeli teens.
Israeli police say they are looking into whether the death in Jerusalem was a retaliation killing for the West Bank teens.
The body was discovered an hour after police were notified that a Palestinian teenager had been forced into a car in the Beit Hanina neighborhood of Jerusalem.
"We are concentrating on two things," Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said, "whether the two incidents are related, and we're looking into whether this is a crime or nationalistic."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a speedy investigation to find "who is behind this despicable murder and the background to this act," according to a statement from his office.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu calls on all sides not to take the law into their own hands. Israel is a country of law and everyone is ordered to act according to the law."
Palestinian Aqsa TV was less cautious, reporting that Mohammad Abu Khedair, a 17-year-old boy from Jerusalem, was kidnapped and killed by settlers in Jerusalem.
As news of the boy's death spread, clashes broke out between Palestinian residents and Israeli security forces in Shuafat, a Jerusalem neighborhood, witnesses said.
Residents threw stones at Israeli security forces. The Israelis responded with occasional volleys of stun grenades or tear gas.
"This is a horrible and barbaric act which I strongly condemn," Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said of the death. "This is not our way and I am fully confident that our security forces will bring the perpetrators to justice. I call on everyone to exercise restraint."
Tensions in the region have been at a fever pitch since Monday, when the bodies of the Israeli teens were found in a field in the West Bank. The three were abducted on their way home from school more than two weeks earlier.
On Tuesday, after the teens' funerals, several large groups of men marched around Jerusalem, chanting "Death to Arabs."
Avenging the deaths
The deaths of the three Israeli teenagers -- Eyal Yifrach, 19; Gilad Shaar, 16; and Naftali Frankel, a 16-year-old dual U.S.-Israeli citizen -- have become a symbol of Israel's fight against terrorists.
The government blames Hamas, a militant Palestinian Islamic organization, for the killings. Hamas praised the abductions but denied it was responsible for what happened.
The group warned that if Netanyahu "brings a war on Gaza, the gates of hell will open to him."
At the teens' funerals, Netanyahu said the country will avenge their deaths at "the hands of evil men."
"A broad moral gulf separates us from our enemies," he said. "They sanctify death, we sanctify life. They sanctify cruelty, and we mercy and compassion. That is the secret of our strength."
Later, Netanyahu said hundreds of Hamas activists had been arrested, dozens of institutions in Gaza had closed, and homes had been demolished.
On Monday night, Israel stepped up airstrikes on what it called terrorist infrastructure in Gaza in response to rockets fired into Israel. On Tuesday night, no airstrikes were reported.
Palestinians killed
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah party and is based in the West Bank, has condemned the abductions, even as the Palestinian Cabinet has criticized what it calls "Israel's illegal measures" in response.
The Palestinian Cabinet on Tuesday said 12 Palestinians had been killed since the military operation to find the teens began on June 13; it did not identify them by name, nor detail how or when they died.
CNN reported earlier, citing Palestinian medical sources, that at least one man died from a heart attack during a raid on his West Bank home last month; at least five were killed in clashes with the Israeli military; and two men accused by the Israeli military of being involved in recent rocket attacks were killed in an airstrike last week in Gaza.
'I've been abducted'
On Tuesday, a chilling audio recording related to the Israeli teenagers' disappearance surfaced.
Israeli media outlets say it's an emergency call to police by one of the young men, Shaar, when he realized he'd been kidnapped on June 12.
"I've been abducted," he says in Hebrew on the static-filled recording.
The police officer on the other end of the line doesn't appear to immediately catch the words. He repeatedly says, "Hello?"
Another voice shouts, in Hebrew but with a possible Arabic accent, "Put your head down. Hands down!"
There is more shouting and what sounds like one of the teenagers crying out, "Ay! Ow!"
Another police officer then joins the call, asking, "Hello? Hello, Hello? Answer! Answer the phone, please. Where are you right now? Hello?"
Israeli authorities say they didn't leak the recording to the media and are declining to comment further.
International condemnation
The Israeli teens' kidnappings and killings -- as well as the Israeli response -- have spurred strong reactions well outside the Middle East, including among U.S. politicians, New York's mayor and the Vatican.
The advocacy group Human Rights Watch, for instance, said the killings "would amount to a war crime if committed by an armed group" even as it urged Israel to avoid "collective punishment."
British Prime Minister David Cameron has called the deaths "an appalling and inexcusable act of terror."
U.S. President Barack Obama similarly condemned what he called a "senseless act of terror against innocent youth." He reiterated "our full support to Israel and the Palestinian Authority to find the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice."
"And I encourage Israel and the Palestinian Authority to continue working together in that effort," Obama said. "I also urge all parties to refrain from steps that could further destabilize the situation."
CNN's Kareem Khadder reported from Jerusalem, and Jethro Mullen wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Atika Shubert, Ben Wedeman, Michael Schwartz and Ali Younes contributed to this report.
Israel's reaction 'must be restrained'
7/2/2014 4:17:04 AM
- Deaths of three teens a terrible tragedy for Israelis and people everywhere
- Alan Elsner: Punish the killers but not families, others in a general offensive
- Expanding settlements, harming families has never worked as a deterrence, he says
- Elsner: How Israel reacts will be decisive turning point for both Israelis and Palestinians
Editor's note: Alan Elsner is vice president of communications for J Street, a nonprofit group advocating peace between Israel and the Palestinians based on a two-state solution. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- This is a moment of terrible tragedy for Israelis and people of goodwill everywhere following the discovery of the bodies of three teenagers who were abducted and killed while hitchhiking in the West Bank.
It is also a moment of high danger.
When an entire nation -- and the entirety of the Jewish people -- is stunned and in deep mourning, it might be understandable that some among us would call for retribution. Understandable -- but not necessarily wise. What we need is justice and to avoid a downward spiral of violence, not retribution.
In the Jewish world, we are all hurting right now, all angry. It is as if we have all suffered a death in our own family. Those of us who are parents are imagining how we would feel if the victims had been our children. The funerals of the three teens were unbearably sad. As Finance Minister Yair Lapid said at the funeral procession of Gilad Shaar, "Let us remember that today we are burying a child. We are burying a child, who could have also been ours, and therefore he is also ours. We are not burying a settler or a soldier in the inevitable battle for this land."
At a time like this, it is more important than ever to remember our heritage and our values. "Justice, justice, shall you pursue," declares the Book of Deuteronomy 16:20.
Justice means finding those responsible and punishing them to the full extent of the law. It also means tracking down anyone who enabled them by planning this operation or by hiding the perpetrators or helping them escape. If they acted on orders from the highest levels of Hamas, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, they too should be held accountable.
But justice also means not punishing those who were not responsible. Measures that simply make more miserable the lives of the 1.7 million people who live in Gaza and whose lives are already very tenuous should be avoided. Likewise for the 2.2 million people who live in the West Bank.
Israel's government doubtless feels a need to provide a tough response, partly to re-establish a deterrence against such heinous acts, partly to satisfy the demands of its own grieving people. It should resist the temptation to act just for the sake of acting or from entering into a violent escalation with Hamas. Israel is justified in responding to rocket attacks from Gaza but should avoid any offensive that would put millions of civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian, in the firing line.
The Israeli army's demolition of the family homes of two named suspects without any due process is an unwelcome return to a policy that Israel abandoned in 2005. As a deterrence, it has never succeeded in the past. It is simply a way of punishing people who happen to be related to suspected terrorists.
Worst of all would be to react as Israel has responded so many times in the past by announcing a massive new expansion of settlements. Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon has already suggested building a new settlement in memory of the teenagers. Not only would this lose Israel the world's sympathy, it would also weaken the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been a welcome voice for reason and moderation and whose security forces have maintained cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces throughout the crisis.
Additionally, it would drive another stake into the heart of the two-state solution -- which remains the only sane and just way of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Until that conflict is ended through negotiations, tragically we will see more horrific acts of violence and more martyrs on both sides.
We are seeing some of the consequences of the collapse of Secretary of State John Kerry's peace initiative in April. The absence of any movement toward peace has created a vacuum in which extremism can flourish. That's why it is so important for the United States not to walk away, but to remain engaged with both parties.
This could be a decisive turning point for both Israelis and Palestinians. If Israel undertakes targeted measures designed to punish those responsible for this terrible crime, the world will be with it, and the crisis will be surmounted. If it turns its understandable anger into a general offensive, we could be in for a sustained period of violence claiming the lives of more innocent people on both sides.
Lapid, the finance minister, expressed the right policy: "We will find those responsible and we will punish them. The real revenge is our ability to bridge the gaps within us."
Israeli PM at teens' funeral: 'Broad moral gulf' between us, enemy
The Israeli teens killed: Promising lives, grieving families
Read CNNOpinion's new Flipboard magazine.
Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.
Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.
Israeli military hits Hamas targets
7/1/2014 2:56:36 AM
Israeli military strikes Hamas targets after three missing teens were found dead. Ben Wedeman has the latest.
If your browser has Adobe Flash Player installed, click above to play. Otherwise, click below.
Will USA loss end love affair?
7/1/2014 7:21:11 PM
- Amy Bass asks, as the World Cup moves on, will U.S. fans, too?
- Cup craze is more about Americans wanting in on the party, she says
- She says the Cup is suited to social media camaraderie, which has helped whip up interest
- After the U.S. loss, soccer interest will probably wane, Bass says
Editor's note: Amy Bass, a professor of history at the College of New Rochelle, has written widely on the cultural history of sports, including the book "Not the Triumph but the Struggle: The 1968 Olympics and the Making of the Black Athlete." She is a veteran of eight Olympics as the supervisor of NBC's Research Room, for which she won an Emmy in 2012. Follow her on Twitter @bassab1.
(CNN) -- For 40 years -- 40 years -- the United States did not care about the World Cup because the United States did not qualify for the World Cup. So America turned its nose up to soccer, disdaining it for generations. There are many reasons to think that America's disenchantment with the beautiful game is over -- obsessive interest in the first rounds of play is one of them.
But what happens as the World Cup packs up and moves on? Will broken-hearted Americans still love soccer now that team USA was eliminated by Belgium?
It is easy to link World Cup mania to the popularity of youth soccer in the United States. A 2007 FIFA study concluded that some 25 million American children play soccer, giving the U.S. the largest youth base of any country competing in Brazil right now. But after all, kids playing on a Saturday morning likely doesn't explain the seeming suddenness of American interest in the World Cup.
And we didn't see this kind of interest back when the U.S. hosted the tournament back in 1994. We also didn't see it when the U.S. women won the whole thing in 1991 and 1999 (because, well, you know, women's sports and all). And we didn't see it when the U.S. men's national team reached the quarterfinals in 2002.
So where did all of this frenzy come from? Answer: Americans hate being left behind.
Americans prefer to lead, and until now, they have been the only ones missing this global party, one where the U.S. men have yet to build a winning reputation, something central to American identity. Indeed, some think the intense focus on Brazil has to do with this unfamiliar underdog status.
Soccer has "been a bit of a subculture for a while now," says Greg Lalas, a former Major League Soccer player and current editor-in-chief of MLS.com "One that is incredibly vibrant, inclusive, and frankly, really fun. ... Who doesn't want to be part of that?" It's a good point. Down side? "There'll be no worse thing for American soccer than if we ultimately win a World Cup," says sportswriter Jeff Pearlman. "When that happens, and when we're on equal footing with the elites, it all becomes dull."
For Lalas, though, the turning point has been that this World Cup "opened the eyes of many of the decision makers in the media that this culture exists." But it isn't just the gate-keepers. Social media has given the U.S. soccer nation subculture the space to crow from the rooftops their love of the game, and their enthusiasm has generated a contagion effect, building a collective excitement about soccer that's literally spilling into the streets.
Remember that social media turned one of the worst things television has ever produced — "Sharknado" — into a revolutionary experience because viewers could complain, mock, and cheer all together. It's done the same for the World Cup, giving it the sense of camaraderie that sports fans need to unify around a team.
Just think: Fans tweeted 15.9 million times during the first three U.S. matches. During the game against Germany, one of the most popular images throughout the Twittersphere was of companies who had brought in televisions and food so employees could watch.
But don't get too excited. This may have not legs.
That the United States caught World Cup fever doesn't tell us much about how soccer as a spectator sport will fare here, particularly in terms of the popularity of Major League Soccer or whether NBC's television audience for the Premier League will continue to grow.
Sure, the United States has had diehard soccer fans of all kinds for some time now, but they aren't always rooting for those wearing the red, white, and blue. Mexico, eliminated by the Netherlands on Sunday, has traditionally been the most popular team in the United States, selling almost twice as many tickets to its "friendly" matches as the U.S. men's national team, which is relatively new by comparison.
Many of the Americans in Brazil are there to support Latin American teams, representing communities like those who play at the Red Hook Ball Fields in Brooklyn, where league and pick-up games are accompanied by food trucks slinging the best pupusas, tamales, elote on a stick, arepa, and, of course, tacos.
And it is still hard for some Americans to embrace a game that doesn't necessarily end when it is supposed to, and a tournament with groupings and strategies that mean a loss of yours is turned into a win because the team you tied the other day just beat someone else.
Furthermore, many sports fans may not have space to add soccer into their seasonal cycle of baseball, football, and so on. Thus, the appeal of the World Cup is not necessarily the game it features, as much as the lure of the United States finally sitting at the big table, qualifying regularly, and even winning a match or two.
It is a situation somewhat akin to the Olympics, in which Americans become fascinated -- and sometimes fanatical --with curling and ice dancing and skeleton for the fortnight, but without question don't think about it again until the next one.
So perhaps unless team USA's Clint Dempsey and John Brooks get into the next season of "Dancing with the Stars," it might be four more years before America obsesses about them again.
Read CNNOpinion's new Flipboard magazine.
Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.
Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.
Man of the moment: Tim Howard
7/1/2014 9:26:06 PM
- Tim Howard tops the World Cup record charts with 16 saves
- The 35-year-old U.S. goalkeeper says he was just doing his job
- Howard made the move to England when he was young, considered a top-flight 'keeper there
- He has Tourette syndrome but doesn't consider it a hindrance in his life
(CNN) -- Rarely is the man of the match a goalkeeper whose team loses 2-1. But Tuesday was a special and spectacular night of heart-stopping shot-stopping.
Belgium must have been feeling that surely a goal would come, but how in the world are we going to get something past Tim Howard?
The American goalkeeper had saves of every kind. He flashed a leg out several times to knock shots away. He dived to his right or his left to snare hard-hit balls. He reflexively punched close-in shots away. He tipped the ball over the crossbar on a couple of occasions.
The 35-year-old, who plays at Everton in the English Premier League, kept the score from being 4-1 or worse with 16 saves, many of those stops during extraordinarily tense moments in the U.S. penalty area.
That's the most saves in any World Cup game since they began keeping such records in 1966.
"It's my job. That's what I signed up to do," he told ESPN. "It's heartbreaking. I don't think we could have given any more."
His club coach has said there is no better goalkeeper in the Premier League.
"His belief and understanding of the game and his desire to achieve more is contagious," Roberto Martinez told FIFA.com.
National team coach Jurgen Klinsmann said in May that Howard is one of the top five goalies in the world. And he had foretelling words of greatness for reporters.
"I think there is something special waiting for Tim (in the World Cup), that he hopefully makes that his special moment."
When Howard began his pro career as a 22-year-old goalkeeper for the New York/New Jersey MetroStars of MLS, he was known for being a great athlete who could make great saves. Some reports have even said he could have played basketball in college,
But the 6-foot-3 Howard wasn't particularly good at other things, like distributing the ball after he made a nice stop. It's something he is much, much better at today.
In 2001 he was MLS goalkeeper of the year and Manchester United, one of the most successful European clubs in history, worked out a transfer deal for him.
It was then that many learned that Howard has Tourette syndrome, when some in the British press made fun of him.
Many know it only as the "swearing disease," but only about 10% of people with Tourette syndrome swear.
"You know, we don't all curse," Howard told Yahoo Sports two weeks ago. "I do on the field, unfortunately, to get my point across, but it's not because of my condition."
People with Tourette syndrome have involuntary tics, which can be either verbal or physical. Physical tics may include jumping or twitching. People with the syndrome describe a tic like a sneeze, impossible to hold in without extreme discomfort.
Howard has said that as a child in New Brunswick, New Jersey, he was teased by other sixth-graders about his Tourette syndrome. His mother, Esther Howard, told the New York Daily News that her son used to walk deliberately through the house, being sure to touch pieces of furniture in the same order.
Howard told German media outlet Der Spiegel that he used to arrange his toys in a certain way. And he would bring home pockets full of rocks.
"He was just superactive, so I figured that's just the way he is," his mom told the Daily News.
Before the 2010 World Cup he told CNN that dealing with the disorder is just another part of his life.
"It's something that I live with every day. For me now in my life, it's like breathing for me. If I woke up and didn't have Tourette syndrome, it would feel weird -- not better or worse, just different. So I'm very happy and comfortable with it," he said.
Howard has said that his play has never been affected by Tourette syndrome and that when it gets crazy in front of the goal he focuses so hard that the tics go away.
Howard, who spent four years with Manchester United before transferring to Everton, has become something of a cult hero, sporting a thick black beard in direct contrast to his shaven head.
He first grew the beard during the last EPL season and has changed his mind once or twice about its merits.
"It was my strength. I loved it and then I cut it. I just cut it because I was tired of it," he said. "But I just decided to grow it back. There's never a rhyme or reason when I decide to grow it, it just happened."
This may not be Howard's final World Cup. Plenty of goalies have played in their late 30s and early 40s.
But backup Brad Guzan, who plays at Aston Villa in England, is five years younger.
Howard has yet to say whether he wants to be in the net when the team tries to qualify for Russia, host of the 2018 World Cup.
Why 'lines in sand must not shift'
7/1/2014 1:04:40 PM
- Iraq's borders were mapped out by the British and French colonial powers during WWI
- Faisal Al Yafai writes that the borders -- though contentious and flawed -- have broadly held
- Plans for an Arab caliphate or dividing Iraq into statelets are not realistic, he says
- Seeking to change them now is a recipe for a generation of war, Al Yafai writes
Editor's note: Faisal Al Yafai is chief columnist for The National newspaper, and an award-winning essayist and journalist. His book about liberalism and feminism in the Arab and Islamic worlds is forthcoming from IB Tauris London. Follow him on Twitter @FaisalAlYafai. The views expressed in this commentary are solely his. This is the second of four opinion articles giving readers a snapshot of major issues in the Middle East. Follow the discussion this Ramadan on Connect the World with Becky Anderson as it travels from Abu Dhabi to Cairo, Beirut, Istanbul and Sharjah. Weekdays 4:00pm London time 7:00 pm Abu Dhabi time.
(CNN) -- Ever since the 2003 invasion of Iraq exposed deep-rooted religious and ethnic divisions, analysts have suggested giving up on the colonial-era borders of modern Iraq and dividing the country.
Jihadists have felt the opposite, that the region should be united into a new caliphate -- indeed that is precisely what the militant group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) declared this week. Both are wrong.
The lines drawn by the British and French colonial powers in 1916 became, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the borders of new Arab states. Over the years, these lines splitting the Levant into Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq have been enormously contentious, to the extent that it is often argued the region might be better without them. Either removing these lines altogether and returning to the world of the early 20th century, or drawing them smaller and tighter still.
Certainly the idea of closer union among the Arab countries has been tried, in various forms, over the decades since the close of the Second World War. But what should work in theory hasn't worked in practice -- the most ambitious attempt, the United Arab Republic, practically destroyed liberal, secular politics for a generation.
Conversely, the lines in the sand of Sykes-Picot, which should not have worked in practice, have held, broadly, for decades. That doesn't mean they are perfect. But at a time of immense upheaval in the Middle East, they may be better than the alternative.
The end of the caliphate necessitated a new search for political organization in the region. But if the joining together of all the Arab lands in a new caliphate is not a realistic answer to the real political questions of the Middle East, nor is the oft-proposed division of Iraq into smaller statelets.
Dividing Iraq
Ever since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the division of Iraq into three parts -- roughly, a Kurdish north, a Sunni middle and a Shia south -- has been proposed earnestly, often by people with barely any knowledge of the region, its peoples and societies.
Faisal Al Yafai
The casualness with which the suggestion of such an immense change is made mirrors the callous approach taken by the colonial surveyors who first drew these borders, seeking to change the lives of nations with the stroke of a pen.
As recently as 2006, the U.S. vice-president Joseph Biden argued that Iraq should be partitioned, and even the German foreign minister, two weeks ago, in a tone that suggests he was simply exasperated with the complexity of the situation, said it might be difficult to prevent Iraq splitting apart.
Such a project, however, faces immense technical as well as human challenges, which are rarely addressed. Any division of Iraq has to take into account people, politics and economics.
In the most often suggested scenario, the northern Kurdish region would take the oil-fields around Kirkuk in the north, the Shia state would take the capital Baghdad and the main port in the southern city of Basra, leaving a Sunni rump state in the west, denuded of resources with which to survive. Moreover, the new smaller Shia state in the south would come under Iran's influence, extending Tehran's reach into a state that would now border Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The idea that this division would solve anything is a dangerous fantasy.
As things stand today, an attempt to divide Iraq would not occur calmly but would be a furious scramble for the country's resources, as well as a rush by Iraq's neighbors for influence over the three new states in their midst. It would not solve the problem. Rather it would entrench the failures of politicians, writing failed policies across the lines of a map.
Mass migration
Moreover, drawing new borders along religious lines would mean a mass movement of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people. An estimated one million Iraqis are already on the move within Iraq, internally displaced from their homes. Any attempt to divide Iraq into different countries would mean many more.
To ask or force so many to move, even from, say, Baghdad to Basra, would mean uprooting them from jobs, friends and families. It would need a strategy to ensure that there are sufficient jobs waiting, that there are schools for the children to attend, that there are apartments and houses for people to live in. Mass migration cannot be accomplished safely by speeches alone.
Even with the most extensive planning, the results would likely be chaotic. As Feisal Istrabadi, former deputy Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, pointed out two weeks ago: "If Iraq falls apart, it will not fall apart into three neat pieces. What you're much more likely to see is a Somalia in Iraq."
Iraqis are simply too mixed together. Even today, more than a decade after the invasion of Iraq, the same mistakes of understanding are made.
One is to imagine a neat division of Sunnis, Shia and Kurds, mixing up ethnic and religious categories. The Kurds, after all, are mainly Sunni Muslims and both Sunni and Shia Muslims and Christians are Arabs. Add to that mix the other minorities of Iraq, the Yezidis, the Armenians, the Circassians. In a divided Iraq, where would they go? If the answer is that they could stay as minorities in the areas they currently live, why couldn't that formulation equally apply to Sunnis in Shia areas and Shia in Sunni areas?
Another is to imagine that such neat distinctions continue in real life. In fact, until the Iraq war unleashed political forces that fanned the flames of sectarianism, the idea of division along sect or religion was broadly unknown in Iraq. Baghdad, like most of the big cities, was religiously mixed.
'Iraqis must make decision'
It wasn't a utopia -- it was, after all, ruled by Saddam's iron fist -- but to imagine that life, for decades, was merely a bubbling cauldron of resentment waiting to explode is to do a great disservice to Iraqi society, defining it solely by its divisions, as if the lines of religion or ethnicity could never be surmounted. In fact, they were, both individually -- Sunnis and Shias married each other, as did Christians and Muslims -- and city-wide. Divisions in Iraq were, as in most countries of the world, more about economics than race or religion.
None of that means that partitioning Iraq should not be considered. But it has to come with the understanding that it is Iraqis themselves who must make the decision and that rearranging what were lines in the sand is a serious business, because the new borders will have to be drawn across the bodies of real people.
It is always easier to speak of division than to speak of good policy. But that is what is needed now. The colonial-era divisions were a mess. But seeking to change them now, at this moment, is a recipe for a generation of war. For better or worse, the Middle East is stuck with the lines drawn by Sykes-Picot.
Read: Why Middle East's borders will never be the same again
Read: ISIS establishes 'caliphate'
Read: Understanding Iraq's crisis through maps
'May God avenge their blood': Israeli PM vows retribution
7/1/2014 9:46:42 PM
- NEW: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Hamas is responsible, "will pay"
- NEW: Israel has arrested hundreds, demolished homes, closed institutions, he adds
- A little-known group supporting the "Islamic State" claims responsibility for teens' deaths
- The 3 teens are remembered as "gifted, pure, honest and decent" at their funeral
(CNN) -- Mourning three Israeli teenagers at their funeral Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised his nation will avenge their deaths at "the hands of evil men" and show its strength in the process.
"Throughout the history of our people, we have proved time and again -- in view of the horrors that we have experienced, the grief and sorrow -- the force of life that pulsates within us overcomes the forces of death," he said in Hebrew, according to a CNN translation.
The Israeli leader lamented the killings of the three "gifted, pure, honest and decent teens," bloodshed that he said shows "a broad moral gulf (that) separates us from our enemies."
"They sanctify death, we sanctify life," Netanyahu said, comparing the teens to those who killed them. "They sanctify cruelty, and we mercy and compassion. That is the secret of our strength."
A short time later -- after the burials of Eyal Yifrach, 19; Gilad Shaar, 16; and Naftali Frankel, a 16-year-old dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, by each other in Modiin -- the Prime Minister spoke again about the three before a security cabinet meeting, saying, "May God avenge their blood."
"Whoever was involved in the kidnapping and the murder will bear the consequences," Netanyahu said Tuesday evening. "We will neither rest nor slacken until we reach the last of them. And It does not matter where they will try to hide."
These actions are well underway. The Israeli leader noted that, already, hundreds of Hamas activists have been arrested, dozens of institutions in Gaza have closed and homes have been demolished.
This is along with stepped-up airstrikes in Gaza -- Palestinian land controlled by Hamas, a militant Islamic organization that denied it is behind the abductions.
The Israeli military said it launched 34 strikes targeting terror infrastructure targets since Sunday evening in response to 18 rockets from Gaza.
The Palestinian Cabinet on Tuesday claimed 12 Palestinians have been killed since the military operation to find the teens began June 13; it did not identify them by name, nor detail how or when they died.
CNN reported earlier, citing Palestinian medical sources, that at least one man died from a heart attack during a raid on his West Bank home last month; at least five were killed in clashes with the Israeli military; and two men accused by the Israeli military of being involved in recent rocket attacks were killed in an airstrike last week in Gaza.
Addressing "all of those who are ... happy at our sadness," Israeli President Shimon Peres warned at Tuesday's funeral, "Terror is a boomerang."
"I know that we will eventually get our hands on the murderers," Peres said, "and they will be punished."
Israeli leader: 'Hamas will pay'
The bodies of Yifrach, Shaar and Frankel were found Monday, nearly three weeks after their abduction while hitchhiking home from school in the West Bank.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah party and is based in the West Bank, has condemned the abductions, even as the Palestinian Cabinet has criticized what it calls "Israel's illegal measures" in response.
Yet Mark Negev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, suggested Monday that Abbas' Palestinian Authority bears some responsibility for what happened because "the terrorists came from areas under Palestinian Authority control and returned to territories under Palestinian Authority control."
Still, while Abbas and the Palestinian Authority are clearly feeling the pressure, it's nothing compared to that facing Hamas Just listen to Netanyahu on Tuesday evening: "Hamas is responsible. Hamas will pay, and Hamas will continue to pay."
The Israel Defense Forces named two men -- Marwan Kawasme and Omar Abu Aysha -- as the "Hamas terrorists who kidnapped" the boys. Their West Bank homes were destroyed overnight.
Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported Tuesday that a little-known group called Ansar as-Dawla al-Islamiya (Supporters of the Islamic State) had claimed responsibility for the killings and threatened to "slaughter" the Palestinian Authority. CNN could not independently verify the claim.
Hamas has made no such claim. Still, as it bears the brunt of the retaliation, the group warned that if Netanyahu "brings a war on Gaza, the gates of hell will open to him."
Obama: Israel, Palestinian Authority should work together
The teens' kidnappings and killings -- as well as the Israeli response -- have spurred strong reactions well outside the Middle East, including among U.S. politicians, New York's mayor and the Vatican.
The advocacy group Human Rights Watch, for instance, said the killings "would amount to a war crime if committed by an armed group" even as it urged Israel to avoid "collective punishment."
British Prime Minister David Cameron has called the teens' deaths "an appalling and inexcusable act of terror."
U.S. President Barack Obama similarly condemned what he called a "senseless act of terror against innocent youth." He reiterated "our full support to Israel and the Palestinian Authority to find the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice."
"And I encourage Israel and the Palestinian Authority to continue working together in that effort," Obama said. "I also urge all parties to refrain from steps that could further destabilize the situation."
READ: Who were the teens killed?
Opinion: Slain teens call for justice, not escalation
CNN's Ben Wedeman, Dana Ford, Hala Gorani, Jake Tapper, Samira Said, Jason Hanna, Talia Kayali, Talal Abu Rahma and Michael Schwartz contributed to this report.
Time 'for justice, not retribution'
7/1/2014 6:49:24 PM
- Deaths of three teens a terrible tragedy for Israelis and people everywhere
- Alan Elsner: Punish the killers but not families, others in a general offensive
- Expanding settlements, harming families has never worked as a deterrence, he says
- Elsner: How Israel reacts will be decisive turning point for both Israelis and Palestinians
Editor's note: Alan Elsner is vice president of communications for J Street, a nonprofit group advocating peace between Israel and the Palestinians based on a two-state solution. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- This is a moment of terrible tragedy for Israelis and people of goodwill everywhere following the discovery of the bodies of three teenagers who were abducted and killed while hitchhiking in the West Bank.
It is also a moment of high danger.
When an entire nation -- and the entirety of the Jewish people -- is stunned and in deep mourning, it might be understandable that some among us would call for retribution. Understandable -- but not necessarily wise. What we need is justice and to avoid a downward spiral of violence, not retribution.
In the Jewish world, we are all hurting right now, all angry. It is as if we have all suffered a death in our own family. Those of us who are parents are imagining how we would feel if the victims had been our children. The funerals of the three teens were unbearably sad. As Finance Minister Yair Lapid said at the funeral procession of Gilad Shaar, "Let us remember that today we are burying a child. We are burying a child, who could have also been ours, and therefore he is also ours. We are not burying a settler or a soldier in the inevitable battle for this land."
At a time like this, it is more important than ever to remember our heritage and our values. "Justice, justice, shall you pursue," declares the Book of Deuteronomy 16:20.
Justice means finding those responsible and punishing them to the full extent of the law. It also means tracking down anyone who enabled them by planning this operation or by hiding the perpetrators or helping them escape. If they acted on orders from the highest levels of Hamas, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, they too should be held accountable.
But justice also means not punishing those who were not responsible. Measures that simply make more miserable the lives of the 1.7 million people who live in Gaza and whose lives are already very tenuous should be avoided. Likewise for the 2.2 million people who live in the West Bank.
Israel's government doubtless feels a need to provide a tough response, partly to re-establish a deterrence against such heinous acts, partly to satisfy the demands of its own grieving people. It should resist the temptation to act just for the sake of acting or from entering into a violent escalation with Hamas. Israel is justified in responding to rocket attacks from Gaza but should avoid any offensive that would put millions of civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian, in the firing line.
The Israeli army's demolition of the family homes of two named suspects without any due process is an unwelcome return to a policy that Israel abandoned in 2005. As a deterrence, it has never succeeded in the past. It is simply a way of punishing people who happen to be related to suspected terrorists.
Worst of all would be to react as Israel has responded so many times in the past by announcing a massive new expansion of settlements. Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon has already suggested building a new settlement in memory of the teenagers. Not only would this lose Israel the world's sympathy, it would also weaken the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been a welcome voice for reason and moderation and whose security forces have maintained cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces throughout the crisis.
Additionally, it would drive another stake into the heart of the two-state solution -- which remains the only sane and just way of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Until that conflict is ended through negotiations, tragically we will see more horrific acts of violence and more martyrs on both sides.
We are seeing some of the consequences of the collapse of Secretary of State John Kerry's peace initiative in April. The absence of any movement toward peace has created a vacuum in which extremism can flourish. That's why it is so important for the United States not to walk away, but to remain engaged with both parties.
This could be a decisive turning point for both Israelis and Palestinians. If Israel undertakes targeted measures designed to punish those responsible for this terrible crime, the world will be with it, and the crisis will be surmounted. If it turns its understandable anger into a general offensive, we could be in for a sustained period of violence claiming the lives of more innocent people on both sides.
Lapid, the finance minister, expressed the right policy: "We will find those responsible and we will punish them. The real revenge is our ability to bridge the gaps within us."
Israeli PM at teens' funeral: 'Broad moral gulf' between us, enemy
The Israeli teens killed: Promising lives, grieving families
Read CNNOpinion's new Flipboard magazine.
Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.
Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.
Belgium dominates to beat USA
7/1/2014 10:40:07 PM
- Belgium finally ends United States' World Cup dream with a 2-1 victory in Salvador
- Extra time goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku seal the win
- Julian Green pulls a goal back for USA with 15 minutes left to offer hope
- Belgium will now face Argentina in the quarterfinals on Saturday
How are you celebrating the World Cup? Join the global conversation on CNN Facebook Pulse
(CNN) -- No guts no glory, or so the saying goes.
But perhaps the vanquished United States soccer team can rest in the knowledge that if the World Cup was decided on guts, it would surely be lifting the trophy in Brazil.
For 120 minutes of Tuesday's ultimately unsuccessful last-16 clash with Belgium, each one of Jurgen Klinsmann's men left everything on the field in Salvador.
From the second the Americans went 2-0 down in extra time thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, the rearguard action started.
Substitute Julian Green's goal offered the nation a lifeline and energized its fatigued players with a quarter of an hour to play.
And you could almost hear the sigh of despair from New York to Nevada as late chances for Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey were agonizingly spurned.
The final whistle signaled tumult at either end of the emotional spectrum as Belgium advanced to a quarterfinal with Argentina on Saturday and the U.S. departed.
Beaten, yes, but not bowed.
"It's hard for us to end up on the losing side after 120 minutes of giving absolutely everything," Klinsmann told reporters.
"But this game had everything, it was a thriller. We had chances to equalize, but congratulations to Belgium.
Read: Messi stars in Argentina win
USA vs Belgium with @tomhanks @ColinHanks @eahanks #USMNT GO!!!! pic.twitter.com/qmOVr16jMt
— Rita Wilson (@RitaWilson) July 1, 2014 "I'm proud of the players not just for what they've done tonight, but what they've done throughout the tournament. They've made the country proud."
With every passing minute of its participation in the World Cup, the United States had drawn soccer a little closer to its heart.
And though its harrowing exit will cut deep, if ever there was a football match to ignite one nation's passion for the beautiful game this was it.
Buoyed by progress from a tricky group, if the U.S. thought Belgium might represent a simpler prospect than Germany it took less than a minute to dispel that notion.
The Red Devils poured forward like the Red Arrows in the game's fledgling stages as a pass from Kevin De Bruyne, of German outfit VfL Wolfsburg, sent teenager Divock Origi scampering through on goal.
His effort was powerfully struck but just like a succession of German players had found in their final group game, Tim Howard was in parsimonious mood, and blocked with his legs.
Save for a clutch of enterprising moments in three successful group games, Belgium had failed to live up to its pre-tournament tag of dark horse.
But though the Europeans bristled with intent during the opening exchanges, the United States would not be cowed and created its first openings after 20 minutes.
Dempsey narrowly failed to connect with a corner before a marauding run from Michael Bradley, son of former USMNT coach Bob, presented the Seattle Sounders star with a clear sight of goal.
But just as Howard had in the opening minute, Belgium's goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was equal to the task. Respite proved brief though, as Belgium resumed its front-foot role.
Jan Vertonghen was twice involved as the Red Devils spurned a pair of chances in quick succession.
First the defender, who plies his trade for Tottenham in the English Premier League, pinched the ball in midfield and fed De Bruyne but he dragged a shot wide.
Then Vertonghen profited down the left channel but hesitated momentarily before pulling the ball across the face of goal, allowing DaMarcus Beasley to clear from inside his own six-yard box.
The pattern continued after the interval, the USA adopting a more open style than in its previous encounter but at the same time struggling to counter the pace and dynamism offered by Belgium.
Origi again gave notice of his menace by glancing a header from a Toby Alderweireld cross onto the crossbar with Howard reduced to the role of spectator.
Despite being pinned inside its own half for long spells, the United States remained a threat on the counter attack, and from one such downfield break Graham Zusi was inches away from connecting with a volley.
Dempsey also tested Courtois with two attempts from range but in the main, the red wave continued.
Kevin Mirallas was the next man to try and pierce USA's rearguard as he sauntered into the area -- defenders in white petrified of upending him -- before the ball ran loose to Origi.
Yet again, Howard earned his stripes and made the block.
The goalkeeper, a long standing servant of English club Everton, had USA fans in raptures again moments later as he diverted another goalbound effort from club colleague Mirallas after he had sprung the offside trap.
Origi stung Howard's palms with a rifled shot from outside the box before Hazard rippled the side-netting as the pressure intensified with the end of normal time in sight.
A measure of the attacking swarm Belgium had adopted came with the sight of captain Vincent Kompany picking the ball up in his own area and charging upfield to prompt Howard into another save, as his flick lurched for the bottom corner.
Soldier Field is rockin' for the #USAvBEL viewing party. #OneNationOneTeam pic.twitter.com/KC4QtCy3FR
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) July 1, 2014 Deep in stoppage time, the moment the United States had been waiting for arrived.
A knockdown inside the area found substitute Chris Wondolowski eight yards out with only the goalkeeper to beat. A nation held its breath and then howled as he launched the ball over the crossbar.
An incorrect offside flag from the linesman spared his blushes, as the crowd in Salvador roared their approval at the conclusion of 90 minutes.
For those recently converted to the joy of soccer it surely proved how thrilling a scoreless draw can be, but the deadlock was broken a matter of minutes into the added 30-minute period.
De Bruyne played the role of destroyer, dancing away from three white shirts inside the area before angling a shot beyond the seemingly unimpeachable Howard.
When substitute Romelu Lukaku added a second 12 minutes later it appeared as if the game was up. But if anything, the Chelsea striker's goal only served to inspire Klinsmann's troops.
Chasing a lifeline, their game plan went out of the window, an all-out approach paying dividends when teenager Green -- a controversial pre-tournament selection in place of U.S. legend Landon Donovan -- volleyed home superbly to halve the deficit.
From that point on, all hell broke loose.
The Americans were nearly level within seconds of Green's strike as Jones hooked a shot that dropped tortuously wide of the far post.
Then Lukaku squandered a chance to seal the tie once and for all, as Howard made his 14th save of the night -- the most in any World Cup match since 1966.
The final act of a game that will live long in the memory saw a neatly worked free kick send captain Dempsey in on goal but when it mattered most, Courtois stood tall to make the block and repel the last effort the USA could muster.
You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at feedmyinbox.com
If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions
No comments:
Post a Comment