Obama calls Howard and Dempsey to congratulate US team
The US national football team's Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey got a call from none other than the US President, congratulating them on their World Cup performance
“Man, I just wanted to call and say you guys did us proud!” President Barack Obama says in the call which was posted on the White House YouTube channel.
“You guys did great….you guys captured the hearts and imaginations of the whole country.”
Millions of Americans have tuned into this World Cup, with the USA-Portugal group match drawing 18.22 million viewers on ESPN, according to the New York Post.
Team USA were beaten 2-1 in extra-time by Belgium in the round of 16, despite the valiant efforts of US captain Howard and striker Dempsey.
Howard was deemed the new Captain America after his World Cup record of 16 saves in that match, with fans hailing his incredible performance, with visuals like this:
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel also called Howard "to thank him for defending the United States of America at the World Cup."
Twitter said US-Belgium ranked as the fourth-most tweeted World Cup match, with 9.1 million tweets.
Source: Whitehouse YouTube, Twitter, New York Post
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