U.S. team doesn't deserve such criticism

The comments made by Brian DeValk on June 28 sound like your typical soccer hater. If you don't like soccer, no need to tell the rest of the world - we don't care what you like and don't like. It's obvious you have never played, let alone coach. Let me address one point at a time.

Flopping. Go on YouTube and search for LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Shaq, etc. flopping. Or, just do an Internet search for NBA flopping. You'll see what flopping is about, especially since basketball is not as much of a contact sport as soccer. Watch soccer replays after a player is on the ground "flopping." Do you know what it feels like to have someone step on top of your foot with cleats? How about having someone scrape their shoes, with cleats, down the side of your leg?

Lackluster effort? In the end, Germany had ball possession for 67 percent of the match. Why USA wasn't trying to score? See the previous sentence, possession. It's hard to score when you don't have the ball.

Glorifying a loss? Absurd. How about celebrating the move to the next round? Germany was ranked No. 2 in the world, not in America, but the world, the USA is ranked No. 14. I would say the USA did a tremendous job of holding the Germans to one goal. Portugal, being ranked No. 4, conceded 4 goals to Germany.

All in all, the first round for the U.S. team was tremendous. Do us all a favor, don't watch World Cup soccer. We'd rather not hear from you again with your comments.

Ralph Mansfield

Wheeling