Match date: 1 July 2014

There were some questions coming into the match about the fitness of Vincent Kompany, but in the end, the captain was fit to play. Marc Wilmots opted to keep Romelu Lukaku on the bench in favour of Divock Origi, with Dries Mertens also getting into the side ahead of other options. Belgium continued in a 4-3-3.

For the United States, Klinsmann dropped Kyle Beckerman to the bench in favour of Geoff Cameron as the holding midfielder, certainly a change made to counter the presence of Fellaini. Klinsmann’s side looked much more like a 4-3-3 than they did against Germany, but still struggled to keep the ball, making them look more like a 4-2-3-1 for much of the match with Jones sitting closer to Cameron for large portions of the match.

Belgium’s 4-3-3 v United States’ 4-2-3-1

While Belgium’s 4-3-3 was able to focus on the attacking abilities of the front three, all three of whom were capable of running at the United States defense, the United States’ front three were more hard working than flair. Hazard and Mertens were able to offer Belgium good pace and trickery in the wide areas, while Origi was able to drop in and receive the ball with his back to goal, either bringing someone else into play afterwards or being able to turn and dribble, either way all three looked dangerous, at differing degrees, when they had the ball at their feet.

One of the biggest influences on the match was the huge amount of space that the United States midfield conceded. The successful matches for the United States came when they kept the midfield relatively tight, aided by Kyle Beckerman in the holding position at the base of the midfield three or midfield diamond. Rather than playing Beckerman, however, Klinsmann picked Geoff Cameron, who had started at centre back for the opening matches. Cameron looked uncomfortable and out of sorts in a midfield position. At times he would push to forward and allow Belgium to play behind him far too often. He was able to tackle well when he was near enough to the ball, but Belgium were able to play around him on counter attacks with good pace and directness.

The best example of his inability was his foul on Dries Mertens 18 minutes into the match. Mertens was looking to get away, but was taken down by Cameron, who was drawn out of his holding position to make a poorly-timed tackle. Throughout the match, he was consistently undone by Kevin De Bruyne, who was Belgium’s number 10, playing just behind Origi and, later, Lukaku. De Bruyne was able to find so much space between the lines, whether on the counterattack or when they had sustained possession, because of Cameron’s indiscipline.

The rest of the United States midfield struggled to get into the match as well compared to most of the Belgian midfield. While Kevin De Bruyne created ten chances, Michael Bradley, arguably the United States’ most creative player, created just two chances.

Yedlin For Johnson

The United States were forced into making a change in the 32nd minute, bringing on DeAndre Yedlin for Fabian Johnson. This wasn’t the United States’ first soft tissue injury of the tournament, which was a poor sign of their conditioning. Regardless, Yedlin made a significant impact on the match for the United States. Johnson had had a good tournament, despite his being responsible for Ghana’s equaliser due to his poor positioning. Overall, however, he was able to get forward very well. During the opening stages of this match, however, his influence going forward was very subdued and was limited to receiving just two passes in the attacking third. A lot of this was done to Belgium having large amounts of the ball and thus Hazard pushing Johnson back.

However, when Yedlin came on, he was immediately able to give the United States a vertical outlet on the right side as he got up the field with a good amount of confidence and ability. It was refreshing to see an attacking threat and a player taking advantage of Hazard’s advanced positioning and unwillingness to do much defensive work. During his time on the pitch, Yedlin was easily one of the United States’ best players going forward. At times, his defensive positioning let him down, but his youthful energy and athleticism generally made up for it.

Belgium Changes

Belgium should have won this game by a much large margin. It was only the ability of Tim Howard, who had his best year of club football at Everton during the previous season, that kept the United States in the match for as long as they were. Wilmots was generally cautious in his changes. He took off Dries Mertens and replaced him with Kevin Mirallas; a like for like change with Mirallas offering more pace and slightly more defensive work. The Everton winger gave Belgium a different look as he picked up the ball and consistently looked to dribble at the United States defense and was relatively successful in doing so compared to Mertens.

The second change was bringing on Lukaku for Origi at the beginning of extra time. Origi had a very good match as he held the ball up well and brought others into play fairly well. He ran at the Belgium defense at times, but he never looked like providing a breakthrough. Lukaku, another example of the incredible depth that Belgium have, was brought on to introduce more pace and strength and a finishing touch. He was instrumental in both of Belgium’s goals in extra time, setting up De Bruyne for the first and later scoring with a good first time effort past his former teammate.

Conclusion

As mentioned above, Belgium really should have won by a much greater margin than they did. They dominated the match, creating a huge number of chances and having almost three times as many shots as the United States had. Tim Howard was able to keep the game close for the United States and Julian Green’s goal seemed to lift the United States and make them push for another goal, but it was too little too late.

The United States will go home and after some reflection, should be proud that of their ability to get through a group that consisted of Germany, Portugal, and Ghana. Klinsmann will continue as the manager and will certainly be looking to get players like Julian Green involved more in the next few years.