It seems since the United States exploits in the 2002 World Cup, that we(American soccer fans) have been saying, yeah this team is the team to do it again! I won't dwell on the 2002 Cup, despite a Torsten Frings handball leaving a sour taste in a country's mouth. We had "the team to do it" in 2006, but failed to reach the knockout stage, and failed to win a game. Our stars like Landon Donovan and Demarcus Beasley more than disappointed in the 2006 World Cup, and gave me much doubt for the 2010 competition.
During qualifying and his stint at Everton, Landon Donovan really began to win me over. I was always one of his biggest skeptics, but really saw a player with a lot of pressure, finally start to shed some nerves and live up to his potential over the past year or so. He, a lot of times, has carried the Yanks on his back and led us to victory. Though he was non-existent in the second half of today's game against Algeria, he was really there when it counted.
It was hard to fault him for any wrong doing in the game, because it wasn't like he was taking bad touches in the second half or being selfish, he just wasn't on the ball one bit. Dempsey, Altidore and Feilhaber loaded up the hopes and dreams of a country in need of a win and kept pounding the Algerian defense, possession after possession. Despite another disallowed goal, their persistence along with great positioning in the closing moments by Landon Donovan, helped push them through to the next round and produced quite an eruption from a country on the edge.
It's hard to use absolutes like no one, everyone, only, etc, but it's also hard to think that anyone had the United States winning the group against one of their biggest rivals, England. They defied the odds, and probably made some people a few thousand dollars richer in Las Vegas.
Soccer might not be a sport that Americans really get up for during club seasons, but it is amazing to see how patriotic we can really be when it comes to big competitions like the World Cup and even the Confederation's Cup last year.
Now the United States faces the same team that pushed them out of the 2006 World Cup, Ghana. It seems as if the analysts are broken records as of late. The last two games, all I heard was "The United States is better than Slovenia/Algeria, but will they be able to win? I don't know. It depends on what team shows up." Well the best 90 minutes this team has played, was split between games. The second half of the Slovenia game, paired with the first half of the Algeria game was an outstanding performance for the Yanks, but they'll need that collective effort in the same game if they hope to advance against a very organized and talented Ghanaian team.
It's good to see them advance, and to be able to watch the games at a reasonable hour as opposed to Korea/Japan 2002, when the games were on in the very early morning. But this team isn't done yet, and they shouldn't feel satisfied yet. There's a fine line between fulfillment and accomplishment. Though they've accomplished something for the first time in eight years, I wouldn't bank on them feeling fulfilled in the least.
The USA and Ghana kick off at 2:30 EST on Saturday.
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