Hundreds of fans drenched in beer and sweat filled Tellus 360 in downtown Lancaster with one mission: watch Team USA dominate. One fan said “I’m feeling real red white and blue today man, real red white and blue.” Another said “I’ve never felt so American in my life.” The intensity level and the heat were both high as the Americans battled their Belgian counterparts. Many were just happy Team USA made it this far. “Soccer’s not really our thing you know, it’s more of a European thing so it’s exciting we made it this far” said Team USA fan Jess Martin.
Things were going great in the first half, but then the unthinkable happened: Belgium scored, and then they scored again. “It’s complete heartache I’m not going to lie. It hurts” said Team USA fan Andrea Zapata. Shortly thereafter USA bounced back with a vengeance when they scored a goal and the fans went wild with hope in their hearts. However sadly that hope dwindled as did the clock. It would remain 2-1 Belgium till the end, spelling defeat for Team USA.
“It’s disappointing to go out like this, we expected them to go a little further but they exceeded our expectations from the get go, four years from now we’ll be back, we’ll be ready” said Team USA fan Kaitlin Scicchitnao. It’s that enthusiasm that the fans in Lancaster will cling to until it’s America’s turn to shine once again. “This is just a taste of what the US has coming up. This is just the beginning, we’re coming strong in four years” said Team USA fan Josh Deffibaugh.