By Seth Herrold
Every four years when the World Cup rolls around we all hear the stories: this is the best U.S. team in years. Well at least for the past two World Cups that has been the headline going in.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Four years ago it was Landon Donavan, Freddie Adu and company and they were earmarked for one of the best runs for the U.S. in a long time. They didn’t make bracket play, eliminated in the group stage. So you will have to excuse me, but when the hype started building again prior to this World Cup, I was somewhat skeptical. For one, Adu wasn’t even on this year’s team and when you’re a soccer fan only once every four years, like the majority of Americans, you need those big names on the team to get you to buy into them.
The World Cup has been crammed down our throats for the past couple of months now. ESPN the Magazine put out a preview issue which, I kid you not, was as thick as the three prior issues put together. Everywhere you turn you get a steady diet of what if this team ties this team and who advances if this team ties this team. I don’t mind following the World Cup because, like every other sports fan, I want to see my country do well in all sports. Plus, with the World Cup being in South Africa, the matches are played in the mornings in our time zone, so it doesn’t interfere with me watching the Royals and the College World Series, numbers one and two on my radar this time of year. So I put the U.S. flag on my Twitter profile picture and I went along for the ride, skeptical as I was.
Wednesday, I was sitting at the office with the World Cup on, watching the U.S. like usual. They appeared headed for a third group play tie, something I hate about the World Cup and soccer in general. A tie would give the U.S. an 0-0-3 group record and that would not advance them into the bracket. It was almost what I was expecting when Donavan, the only name on the team that everybody knew going into the World Cup, came through. Out of nowhere, almost, he swooped in for a goal in the first minute of stoppage of time… Yeah I don’t understand the whole stoppage of time thing either, but hey, a goal is a goal and after that one was disallowed in the Yanks’ previous match on a bogus call, I will take anything.
It’s funny how one instance can change a person’s out look, how one event can completely turn the tables. Donavan’s goal turned me from a skeptical U.S. fan without a positive outlook on this World Cup into someone who believes this team can make some noise. It turned the U.S. into a team that was finished into the group winners. The U.S. had a nice little run in 2002 and now I, like most fans following Donavan’s heroics, believe this team, too, could make a run in the bracket.
The U.S. obviously doesn’t have a bright World Cup tradition with a third-place finish in 1950 being their best showing ever, but then again this isn’t a soccer country like Brazil or Italy. Just getting into the round of 16 is a means for celebration. But really, why stop there? We won our group, which means we face a group runner-up in the round of 16. That should be a game the Yanks can win and, if you get into the quarterfinals, anything can happen.
The U.S. has had the best football, baseball, basketball and even hockey teams at one point or another. I’m not saying they will have the best soccer team this year or maybe any year, but the opportunity is there for the taking.