Country

Country Joe, take me home to the place I belong.

What's up, Joe Lowry?

What's up, everybody?

We are coming to you live after the U.S. defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0.

What a game, Joe. We're going to break it all down. We're going to talk about individual performances, key moments, red cards that felt overly punitive. But right now, I'm just enjoying the vibes, my friend. How say you? It's a nice place to be, Taylor. It really is a nice place to be. The U.S. winning their first World Cup knockout round game on the men's side since 2002. Newsflash, that's kind of a long time ago, and even though it doesn't really feel like it is all that long ago, there's a lot to like about what the U.S. showed in this game. Some really difficult moments, too. And of course, I'm referring to Florin Baligan's red card that you just referenced there, Taylor. That is a huge blow, a huge blow for the U.S. against Belgium coming up on Monday in the round of 16. But still, quite nice for U.S. fans to see that the U.S. are through to the round of 16. Not a guarantee, and the U.S. got the job done. And I thought got the job done largely quite well today. I thought they did as well. I thought I did in the introduction, but Joe's completely flummoxed face as I started singing, I think. No, at first made me wonder if I was muted. I'm not going to lie. What that was is I had the stream open in another tab on YouTube to make sure things were working, and I heard you singing here, and then I heard you singing there on like a three-second delay and was immediately freaked out that I'd done something wrong. We don't have producer Neil. We certainly don't have producer Graham who often does a lot of this stuff. So that's, you know, we're learning the ropes. Just like this US team in the World Cup knockouts, not a lot of experience there, but we got the job done. Your singing Taylor was lovely. We got the job done indeed. And I do want to start with the vibes at the end of that game. Like, and some of this is, is very personal because, like,

uh,

that,

uh, We got the job done indeed. And I do want to start with the vibes at the end of that game. Like, and some of this is very personal because, like, that Country Roads by John Denver has become one of, like, my five-year-old daughter's favorite songs. She asks for whenever we're in the car. And it is slightly inspired by the World Cup. But to, like, have her own, like, we had a big projection screen outside. to have her on my lap singing that at the end and then watching all the players sing it, but watching specifically Maricio Pochitino sing every single word at full volume, like really belting it out. Like Joe, there was a moment, I said out loud to no one, like, oh, he's going to stay. Like, like he seems to be loving it. And maybe he't maybe it's just the right vibes there might be some

over enthusiasm here but to see the way the players responded to see the way the players reacted at

the end it was the win but i think it was like persevering through the adversity of that red card

and knowing how many u.s teams of the past would have gone ultra defensive and just tried to hold on for dear life.

And that's what I thought we were in store for as Bosnia and Herzegovina started to get more

opportunities right after the red card. And then it felt like the U.S. with the hydration break,

the cursed hydration break that maybe was a positive here, like got their legs under them a little bit,

adjusted the tactics, and then came right back out and went right back at their opponents and got a free kick and got another goal. And now the vibes are strong with McKinney dancing in front of all the, all the San Francisco faithful. It was a very, very lovely evening with some very good vibes. I mean, there are so many moments in this game that I think I'll remember, right?

And now, really, I think there are three major moments at this World Cup so far from the U.S. and the run is not over, which is good news for this team. But three that I will remember, I think, forever. The first is just how dominant the U.S. were in that game against Paraguay, like historically dominant. like dominant in the way that you would expect an elite team that's going to win the World Cup

would be dominant.

I don't think the U.S. are going to win the World Cup, to be clear.

But they were dominant to that degree in the World Cup opener, which I don't think anybody really saw coming. That's one. The second is the singing of Take Me Home Country Roads after the Australia victory in Seattle, one of the great soccer cities in the United States, truly. a great place to be. It was electric listening to that. And then the third moment is the Malik Tillman Free Kit goal in this game. I mean, that is going to go down as one of the all-time goals. And I'd imagine one of the all-time World Cup moments at the very least for the U.S. men's national team. The U.S. were not totally up against it. Like, it didn't seem to me that Bosnia really were ever all that threatening in this game, which is a credit to the U.S. and also just a reality of the level of Bosnia-Herzegovina when you have a round of 32, these are the kinds of things that happen. But still, to have the insurance from Malik Tillman quite helpful for the U.S. men's national team, You don't want the game to be a one-go-game when you're down a man in this situation where Bosnia and Herzegovina feel some sort of life. And Malik Tillman made sure that they didn't get to feel life for long. I don't think I will forever, ever forget that moment. Which aspect of it will you remember, do you think? Is it the strike itself? Is it the significance of the moment? Is it the significance of it will you remember do you think is it the strike itself is it the significance of the moment is it the significance of it being malik tilman because i do think that is a big part of it for me yeah i mean i guess it's all those things i suppose it's you know sometimes you watch a free kick and usually i think about this when messy takes them and you think oh like how amazing be if he scored? You know, you're sort of imagining it happening beforehand.

That doesn't happen to me on all free kicks because most of the time they're not going to find the back in the net and I don't waste my time. But in this moment, I was thinking, wow, this would be something if Malik Tillman scored from this angle, not an easy angle, got to go up and over the wall to the goalkeeper's right, gets the job done.

Like I sort of saw it ahead of time

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