The US Team are gearing up to what they believe is a "war" against a much stronger competitor, Belgium. US declared that they will work on their attacking skills in order to stand a chance against the unbeaten Belgium.
Belgium went through the knockout rounds without any loss. They faced Algeria, Russia and South Korea in which the have won all of the matches. But although they did managed to win all games, people still expected a lot from the star studded team. People believe that their performance was underwhelming and commentators think that they could have done better.
USA is coming to the knockout stages as an underdog. Many were surprised at the team's performance during the preliminaries as they were able to beat 2010's quarter finalist, Ghana as well as with Portugal in which Cristiano Ronaldo played at.
They are now advancing to the top 16 with Germany and with it comes the fact that they will be facing stronger teams under that category and one of them is Belgium.
According to Belgium coach Marc Wilmots "physically they are very strong. We are preparing for a war."
On the other hand, US coach Jurgen Klinsmann believes that his team has the potential to go all out to the finals saying "We are going to take it to them." He added "We believe we have enough confidence now going into this game to beat them. We know we have to go to our extremes to make this happen."
But the US Team has been gaining fans much to their surprise. Beside their local fans in the US, the team has also been working their way up into becoming fan favorites including the host country, Brazil.
According to Brazilian Businessman Mario Ribiero, "Brazil is falling in love with the U.S." He continued "It is seen as something new and exciting and surprising. We love the team because it is an underdog. And we love the fans."
Chilean fan, Miller, who's heart was also captured by the optimistic US team "We like Americans because you are happy."
US midfielder Alejandro Bedoya appreciates the new support saying "It is awesome. The more support the better. It will help us get motivated. It is great."
