Kelly Gray: Finally Over the US Loss

Now that I am finally coming out of the depression that was induced by the US losing to Ghana, I thought it was about time that I got back to the issue at hand.

But before I do, I thought I would share a few thoughts on the US team’s World Cup experience. The first word that comes to mind is: Fail.

I know that the US had some success, but if you look at this World Cup in the grand scheme, it was a failure. This was a year US Soccer had a reasonable chance of getting to the semi-finals and they fell short.

Ok, enough about that. On to bigger and better things.

The quarterfinals have been very interesting. Uruguay was a bit of a surprise, as was Paraguay and Ghana, but all of the teams showed that they deserved to be there.

Surprisingly, the team that looked like they didn’t belong were Argentina. Germany absolutely handed it to them this morning and made their claim as the best team in the World Cup. Right now, it would be hard to argue that anyone is better than Germany.

The Netherlands are undefeated after a 2-1 victory over World Cup favorites Brazil and have to be considered a favorites to get past Uruguay and to each the final.

Now let’s talk players.

I would argue that the two greatest players in the World Cup so far have been Bastian Schweinsteiger of Germany and Wesley Sneijder of Netherlands. Both players have led their teams through each game with glimpses of flair and athleticism.

I have also been very impressed with David Villa, Andres Iniesta, Diego Forlan and Miroslav Klose. All of those players have made significant contributions with either goals or leadership on the field.

It should be interesting to see what happens when the World Cup is over. I wonder if any of these players will be making big money moves?

Stay tuned for more of my opinions and as always be sure to follow me on Twitter at @kelg22 and check my personal blog TheTotalFootballer. You can also email me at thetotalfootballer@gmail.com.

USA!!!!