So you watched the U.S. sadly lose in the sweet 16 of the World Cup this summer, but don’t want to wait four more years before seeing the team compete again?
Good news. There are a lot of exciting tournaments (and even a few high-profile exhibitions) to tide you over until Brazil ’14.
I won’t deny that it was an exciting run. A top 16 finish is respectable. And I love our “never say die,” attitude.
But the U.S.’s anticlimactic loss to Ghana (thanks again to sloppy central defenders conceding early goals) means only one thing: the team failed to realize their potential. Aka they underachieved. At the very least they’re were capable of making the quarterfinals (if not the semis). And my stomach turns thinking of how they just squandered the most favorable bracket ever at a World Cup.
So to help me cope, I’m naming everything that annoyed me about the United States’ premature exit from the 2010 World Cup. Here goes (in no particular order): Continue reading…
“It’s not a failure if we don’t win Saturday,” Landon Donovan told reporters yesterday, referring to the team’s upcoming match against Ghana. “But there’s such a massive opportunity to do something so much more special. I really want to emphasize that to everybody, and make sure we understand that.”
Landon, let’s have a little heart to heart, you and I. You’re awesome. You’re the greatest American soccer player ever. Everybody loves you. But you’re wrong.
Losing to Ghana is failure. A top 16 finish at the World Cup, although respectable, is failure. Especially having finished in the top eight previously, not to mention third place 80 years ago.
Maybe you’re just being modest, like before. But don’t be. You beat Ghana on Saturday, and you’ll be a Uruguay or South Korea away from the semi-finals of the freakin’ World Cup.
Put differently, if you can’t get through the most winnable section of the bracket (as this is), you fail. Simple as that.
Win or lose, however, we’ll be cheering for you. You can do it!
Press Release — The day after the historic and dramatic 1-0 victory against Algeria that sent the USA to the Round of 16 at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, United States President Barack Obama called the team and addressed the players and staff via speakerphone.
The call came after dinner tonight to the meal room at the team hotel. U.S. head coach Bob Bradley first thanked the President for taking the time to address the team.
The President then congratulated the players on the amazing team spirit they showed during the unbeaten run through the first round of the World Cup and told them that while he was meeting with General Petraeus in the Oval Office, he could hear the rest of the West Wing erupt when Landon Donovan scored the game-winner. Continue reading…
Here’s what FIFA.com said about the U.S. winning their World Cup group:
“A team with more comebacks than Rocky Balboa, the Americans were worthy Group C winners if only for the sheer guts that characterised their campaign. Going behind inside four minutes against England began a habit of giving themselves a mountain to climb, then dragging themselves to the peak. Having fought back to draw with the English and then eroded Slovenia’s 2-0 half-time advantage, it all came down to the final game for Bob Bradley’s side. There, a script worthy of Hollywood unfolded as Donovan, the team’s talisman, struck at the death to take the Americans from third to first – and into the knockout stage.
“This was the moment that defined the group, and it will take something remarkable – perhaps a last-minute goal in the Final itself – to match it for sheer drama. It was after 91 minutes of frustration, and with their dream seemingly slipping inexorably away, that Donovan started and then finished a breakaway goal that is sure to live on in US football folklore.”
You wanna know why the U.S. finished first in group play of the World Cup today? Unlike most teams losing a game in the final minutes of play, the U.S. simply refuses to give up.
To whit, the United States scored nine times in the 86th minute or beyond in World Cup qualifying. That’s more than double any other team during the same period.
And they did again today, scoring in the 92nd minute of play, just two minutes shy of the final whistle. Keep it up, boys!
USA beat Algeria 1-0 with less than three minutes to play to make the sweet 16 of the World Cup today. With something like 8-9 American shots on goal, and several dangerous counterattacks by the Algerians, it was one of the most exciting U.S. soccer games I’ve ever seen.
Here’s proof of the victory and advancement celebration, care of Getty and AP photos: Continue reading…
Here are a few post-mortum stories of interest:
