Tim howards legs to the rescue. U. S. Goalkeeper tim howard joins us live from brazil after his heroic performance in that grueling match against belgium. Well talk about his future and the future of team usa today, wednesday, july 2nd, 2014. From nbc news, this is today. With matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today on a wednesday morning. 7 00 out on the west coast. Savannahs off today. Als off today. Natalie is down in brazil. Peter, tamron and dylan are here. Wow, what a game. It was amazing. What an effort our team put up. America has a new secretary of defense. 16 saves, record for a world cup game at least since 1966. They played out over the course of 120 minutes or so. Here they are in about 25 seconds. Just take a look. Tim howard and it just went on and on and on. It was an incredible performance. Hes being singled out. It was an historic performance. Were going to be talking to tim howard about that in just a little while. But first, tensions exploding in Southern California where protesters blocked the arrival of buses that were carrying undocumented immigrants. Nbcs Miguel Almaguer is live with the latest on that. Miguel, good morning to you. Reporter good morning. This is where the undocumented immigrants ended up, 75 miles from their original destination. Buses of children and their parents turned around from a community who would not let them in. They first arrived in san diego by plane from overcrowded facilities in texas, 140 undocumented immigrants, many just babies and toddlers with their mothers boarding buses for a city in california. There they were greeted by angry protesters. Furious, the families from Central America would be processed and released from a Holding Facility here. Theyre not born here. They need to go back to mexico. Reporter confrontations with immigration advocates turned heated. With roads blocked, police stood by as three busloads of young families were turned away because of fears for their safety. Thousands of people are being allowed into our country illegally. And were coming out here to voice our objection against that. Its heartbreaking to see this happening coming from the land of opportunity. Reporter the buses returned to san diego. The families instead brought to this border facility to be screened for criminal history and Health Problems. Those who have made this trip say this is the easy part. For many, the lifeordeath journey across the desert is worth the risk, desperate to escape violence and poverty in el salvador, sylvia made the trip with her children. We know the risk, she says, but in my country, my kids are in great danger because of crime and poverty. Immigration advocates say that is a similar story shared by so many of those undocumented immigrants. I. C. E. Says because the 140 undocumented immigrants who arrived at this location were in danger during their transportation, they will not comment on their exact location now or what will happen to them next. Matt . Miguel, thank you very much. Like so many issues in this country, this is so heavily impacted by politics. Doesnt matter which side of the aisle youre on, its tough to see those images of moms and little kids put in that position. We want to know what you think about this. Share your comments using refugeeriders. Lets turn now to that dramatic end to team usas world cup run, the americans knocked out by belgium 21 in a nailbiting extra time heartbreaker. But dont blame the goalkeeper, tim howard. Well talk to him about his historic performance in a moment. But first, natalie was at the match. Shes in sao paulo brazil for us this morning. Natalie . Reporter good morning to you, tamron. Team usa came into this world cup as the underdogs, many doubted they could get this far. But they are doubting no more. This team played their hearts out. They played as if they had something to prove and they sure did. Americans knew they were in for a battle. The belgian team, nicknamed the red devils, was undefeated in this world cup. And the pressure was on from the start. Belgium blasted shot after shot. Tim howards legs to the rescue. Reporter but u. S. Goalie tim howard had the game of his life making save after save. 16 total. A new world cup record. Wondolowski reporter the americans fired some shots of their own. But the game was scoreless at the end of regulation. Belgium wasted little time scoring in extra time. Score reporter and followed it with a second. But team usa got new hope off the foot of 19yearold julian green. Green would you believe it reporter they came close again. But couldnt tie it up. The final whistle ending americas world cup dreams. I think the whole country and all the fans that came down to brazil, they can be proud of their team. Reporter we were with some of those fans ahead of the game. Usa reporter and joined them in their traditional march to the game. Going uphill to the game. No matter the outcome, the atmosphere was incredible. It was the same back home with massive watch parties at Soldier Field in chicago, outside city hall in boston, as well as in kansas city, seattle, and in living rooms and bars across the country. I believe that we will win i believe that we will win reporter president obama fired up the crowd at the white house watch party. And after the game he tweeted, very proud of u. S. Soccer. Well win it all sooner than the world thinks. Despite the dejected faces in the crowd in orlando, theres a lot of hope for the future. America played their heart out. Hopefully next world cup theyre going to be there. Reporter and im a little hoarse this morning. Im sure the rest of the country is hoarse this morning. We were chanting for team usa but also one name i was screaming out loud at the arena last night, timmy howard timmy howard we all were. Natalie, we all were. He was the man of the match, no question. Natalie, thank you. Tim, good morning. And congratulations on an amazing performance. Thank you very much. Good morning. Just talk to me about the mood in the locker room after this game. You said the team fell short of its dreams. How much disappointment was there . I said last night we were heartbroken and we were. 31 teams go home heartbroken. And our dream ended just a little bit too soon. It felt like we played well yesterday. I dont think the guys could have given any more after 120 minutes. We gave everything we had. And to be honest, were proud of that. We were right in the game with a very, very hard, tough belgian side. You know, theyre going to theyve been the dark horse of this tournament. So we were always going to run into a tough game. I thought we gave as good as we got. Its a team sport, tim. You win as a team, you lose as a team, but your performance is being singled out. 16 saves, the most in a world cup game since 1966. Was it the best game youve ever played . No, because we lost. But individually, yeah, i had to make a few saves. Probably more than i would have liked to. But as ive mentioned before, thats what i signed up to do but stick my face in front of balls and try to keep them out. It just didnt work out quite according to plan yesterday. The good news is you made 16 amazing acrobatic saves. The bad news is you had to make 16 amazing saves. It begs the question, can this team Going Forward compete with the elite teams of the world . Or are there some pieces to this puzzle still missing . I mean, we can. The answer to the question is we can compete. Theres always pieces to the puzzle missing until you get it exactly right. But again, i think we had a good share of possession. In the game, they outshot us, of course. But we had two chances at the end of the game. We could be talking about a different scenario. It is very fine margins at this level. Of course youre always trying to get it right. And everybody always asks, was this the world cup . Was this the run . Was that the game that will completely change the attitude in this country towards soccer . Will people here embrace the game the way people in other countries have for decades . Whats your thought on that . I think so. You know, the numbers are staggering. Not only television numbers which are obvious, but in the parks and the bars and everywhere in between. It was incredible to see. We were motivated by that and inspired by all that. We saw all the videos and the highlights of our fans. It was special to be part of that. They felt like they were part of it here and we felt like we were part of it back home. Tim, as i say goodbye, i just want to say that Vincent Kompany tweeted immediately after the game, tim howard respect. The ultimate compliment. Congratulations on a great world cup. Thank you very much. What do you think, madison avenue calling tim howard in howard we trust. Superstar, no question about it. Good stuff. It could be a very wet fourth of july up and down the east coast. Tropical storm arthur is strengthening and already a hurricane watch has been issued for parts of North Carolina. Dylan is keeping an eye on all that activity. This storm is over the very warm waters of the gulf street. Water temperature around 80 to 85 degrees fueling the storm. Theres not a lot breaking it down. It is expected to become a weak category 1 hurricane as we go into the next 24 to 48 hours. We have Tropical Storm watches and hurricane watches especially across the outer banks of North Carolina. We are looking for it to race out over to midatlantic. We could see some of the effects in this region. Look at the pink winds, they indicate where we have the 60mileperhour winds. Those inch closer and closer to the coast of North Carolina as we go into early friday. And we could see the 50 to 60mileperhour gusts in areas like nantucket. We certainly have to keep a close eye on this as it strengthens into the first hurricane of the hurricane season. Thank you. Peter alexander is here with a story out of philadelphia that was wild. Yeah, this is a frightening scene that took place in philadelphia on tuesday after a propane tank inside a food truck exploded into a fireball. It severely burned one woman and injured at least 11 other people. The shocking explosion of a food truck in philadelphia. Flames shooting about 200 feet in the air shaking nearby homes and businesses and injured about a dozen people. Two critically. So i turn around and this truck just start instantly smoking. Instantly smoking. You heard screams. Like deafening, hurt, pain type screams. Reporter police say a propane tank on the left side of this food truck ignited and flew about 50 feet into a nearby backyard. A girl was walking by from the nail salon and her back was sprayed with debris. She was screaming all the way up the street im on fire, i want my mom. Reporter Officials Say the injured were taken to area hospitals. One of the released victims was la toya paige who suffered burns to the left side of her body. I turned around and i saw the fire. Like the fire was coming towards me. Some other news as well, ton are searching for a woman who ran down two men in a gas station parking lot. This incident was caught by a surveillance camera. Take a look at it. It all started when the woman was backing up near the pumps. One of the men said he joked, dont kill me. They say she responded by saying shed use a gun not a car. A minute or so later, the woman hit the gas and plowed both of the men over. And then took off. Both are expected to be okay. Police hope that this video is going to help lead them to the suspect. A truck carrying 100,000 worth of lobster crashes into a rail bridge scattering them all over the roadway. It happened in westwood, massachusetts. Take a look. You can see the truck approach the bridge and slam into it. Turns out, the bridge was 37 feet tall. The truck was 13 feet tall. The overpass was 10 1 2 feet high. All the lobsters were scooped up. They had to be tossed out. The driver was charged with failure to obey signs and negligent driving. We needed a truck with melted butter behind that. Perfect, right . Why did they have to be tossed out . Isnt there a three second rule . Come on. Thanks, peter. Got your forecast . Were watching arthur but also keeping an eye on stronger storms in the northeast expected today. You can see in red from western new england right down into North Carolina. Biggest threat again will be for the damaging wind gusts and also some hail. Cloudtoground lightning, keep an eye out for that. If you hear the rumbles inside, go inside. You might want to pop inside. Looks cooler today through the midwest. Thats a look at the weather across the country. Your local forecast coming up in 30 second. Lets do this. More saving. More doing. Thats the power of the home depot. Right now this whirlpool washer dryer just 349. 00 each. 7 16. Good wednesday morning to you. Im meteorologist Christina Loren. Happy to be the bearer of good news in the weather department. Clouds have returned. Natural a. C. Back on. As a result, day tile high, comfortable, 82 south bay. 777 along the peninsula. 70 along the east shore. 63 in San Francisco. With a foggy breeze for most of the day. What were peck exing for independence in moments. And thats your latest forecast. And thats your latest forecast. One of the biggest stars in tennis is making headlines this morning. Williams forced to pul out of her wimbledon doubles match after a bizarre and frightening scene. Craig melvin is here with more. Craig, good morning to you. Good morning. It was hard to watch yesterday. The wimbledon crowd was confused and concerned watching Serena Williams visibly struggle and stumble on the court this morning. The reason behind her performance and the dramatic exit. They were the faults heard around the world. A disoriented Serena Williams struggling to serve, catch, even bounce the ball during a doubles match with sister venus. This to me doesnt look like a tank. She is not well. Reporter the williams sisters were gunning for their sixth doubles title, but it was clear from the beginning that something was very wrong. Serena visibly shaky during warmups was allowed to play, but only after a lengthy consultation with doctors. But as soon as she stepped on the court she shouldnt be out there. She should not be out there. Reporter she still showed no signs of improvement. Despite encouragement from the crowd, the 17time grand slam champion was too ill to continue. Unfortunately, miss williams has to retire. Reporter the sisters withdrew from the match. Serena wiping away tears of frustration. A tweet from the wimbledon account later revealed she was suffering from a viral illness. An illness that may help explain her rough singles round. Despite entering the tournament ranked number one, she was knocked out during the third round saturday. In a statement williams says i am heartbroken i am not able to continue in the tournament. I really wanted to compete, but this bug just got the best of me. I look forward to returning to wimbledon next year. No word yet this morning on exact cause of that illness, but we are all wishing serena a speedy recovery. I dont know if you saw the match yesterday, but some of her serves were talking close to a foot short of the net. They bounced at the line. Not being able to catch or hold the ball. It was scary to watch it. One of the judges said to her yesterday if you cant see the ball, you shouldnt be out here. Right. We wish her well. Look whos over here. Carson daly. Good morning, everybody. Anybody try to follow tim howard on twitter . No. Good luck. He blocked you. Usa lost. We all know that. But the hero thats the best joke ive heard today. Come on down. Good morning, everybody. Nice to see you. What a game. Everybody talks of tim howard this morning. Talking to him this morning, the most saves. Tom hanks had the whole family watching. He said tim howard remains a god. That is from hanks. Espn put out this picture of mt. Howard. Keep it going. Look at all the stuff online. Internet going crazy. Not sure those gloves are regulation there. Wikipedia the page was changed. You can follow the things tim howard could save. Youll see more fun stuff like blockbuster video. This man could save. What a gutsy performance. Well have more on this in the next half hour. Back to you. Thanks very much. Carsons here all week trying to be funny. Coming up, the final witnesses. The murder trial of olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius nearing an end. Plus does facebook have the right to tell you what photos you can and cannot post . This morning texas cheerleader and big game hunter under fire for the images on her page. But first this is today on nbc. Coming up, a new twist in the case of the boy found in his own basement. What hes revealing to police. And cameron diaz says some surprising [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. She can print amazing things, right from her computer. [ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. My mom works at ge. My mom works at ge. Carmax is the best with a quick written offer, right on the spot. Perfect for jeannine, who prefers not to have her time wasted. And time thank you. Your usual. 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