A lot of hefty predictions are going around about what this goal means for US soccer. Some are predicting a new era of soccer dominance by the US. Some are predicting soccer to flourish throughout the United States. Some are predicting a huge following now, unlike one we've seen before. All I know is that the entire country was on pins and needles biting their fingernails as time was about to expire... then exploded in cheering and screaming and hugging and high-fiving random people! Doesn't that say enough?
There is no doubt that this win, in this fashion, with referees trying to kick us out, with the entire FIFA brackets and groupings set up the way they are so that certain countries easily win and advance, that no one wanted us to win. We should easily have had two wins, but thanks to referees bias and us not making plays and shots, we only came away with one win. The manner that we won was astounding. The last second of the last game, facing complete elimination and humiliation. If 30 more seconds would have elapsed, we would be totally out and rethinking and reevaluating everything. But that one glorious goal put us atop of our division, something we haven't been able to do in over 80 years. That is an awesome feeling!
I've been watching the US Soccer team and the World Cup since 1994, when it was in the United States. That's about 15 years ago. We have come a long way since then.
Does this advancement to the Sweet Sixteen mean anything? No. We've done it before. We made it to the Sweet Sixteen previously in 2002. We were playing Germany, our awesome goalie (Keller) held them scoreless. They never scored! But the refs counted a goal for them. Keller stopped a ball against the goalpost, which shouldn't count as a goal, but it got counted. We ended up losing. German went on to win (if I remember correctly). We could have won that world cup.
This year our path in the final bracket is much easier. We play Ghana, then either Koreo or Uraguay to make it to the final 4. In the final four, we may play Brazil from our side of the bracket. A team we had been beating 2-0 in the final game of the Confederates Cup... and could have won. But they came back and won 3-2 on questionable refereeing (a common theme in soccer).
This year we can easily get to the final 4 or final 2. Mark my word! Go out and buy your USA soccer jerseys now! And if we win, the rest of the world will have to call this game "soccer", not "football". (Hahaha, just kidding)
We finally have a system in place in the United States that supports young soccer athletes and let's them grow. Major League Soccer is a great avenue for young soccer athletes to take when they want to develop and play after college. We didn't have that previously. All good atheletes in America would end up doing football or basketball because of the more lucrative leagues and contracts. Now we have a professional soccer league, with soccer-only stadiums. We have a place for them to get better and develop. Soccer moms can still watch their lil guys play.
Previously, they would have had to go to Europe to play soccer and likely fizzle out. You have to learn the language, relocate half way across the world, learn to eat and live in a new place, be homesick, and probably not do well. That was the fate of many US soccer players in the past. What parent in their right mind would say, "Sure, go to Europe and play soccer." They would rather them stay here, finish college, and get a "real" job.
With MLS, we now have many players being paid about $100,000-500,000 to play in the United States. Plus we have an influx of older European players bringing their style and strategy to the US game as they play out their last few years of their careers in a semi-retired state because they aren't good enough for Europe any more. You have a mix of young and new, and old and experienced. A great combination of youth and star power for our league.
According to the authors of Soccernomics, in order to be successful at soccer, you need a large country with a large population base, a large gross national product, a lot of fans with disposable income, big cities, a lot of dedicated parents, minor and major leagues to develop talent, and a system which supports and encourages sports. That is the United States. We have soccer moms, we have money, we have free time, we have income, we are dedicated, we are hard working, and now we have the MLS on top of the college game. We have all the ingredients now. And it won't be long before we are always a top 10 team and always make it to the second round. He predicts that US Soccer has finally arrived, and we should expect to always advance to the second round of the World Cup from now on. And that the US will be one of the new Kings of Soccer. Great!
The one issue I have had with soccer historically, is that referees can control the outcomes too much. They have so much control and can easily sway a game or change the outcome with one call. One late penalty with just 30 seconds to go in the goalie's box, and you are done. That has happened in the past, we've all seen it. Even if you toss out the referee craziness that hurt the US this year, in years past we have seen a lot of referee bias and a lot of teams kept in the tournament or out of the tournament by the strange calls.
Another major issue with soccer is the "faking" injury problem. As Americans, this really turned us off. We hate people pretending to be hurt to try and gain an advantage. It was so irritating to watch grown men, fall and grab their ankle or face, scream in agony, get the penalty to go their way, and suddenly get up and be totally fine and play the rest of the game. We are used to real football. Where a guy may have a broken bone in his foot or a torn muscle and still play. We can't stand crybabies and we hate drama queens. FIFA has finally tried cleaning this up by issuing a penalty (yellow flag/card whatever it's called) to a player that goes to the ground too hard in an exagerrated fashion. Finally! So if you fall on purpose trying to draw a flag, you will be penalized. Phew! They have cleaned it up a ton. This year's games aren't as painful to watch. Very few people actually are diving or falling on purpose. It is a much cleaner, more professional look to the game.
All in all, it's always good to see our team doing well in any international event, be it the Olympics or the World Cup. Where else can you dress up like Uncle Sam, the Statue of Liberty, and Abraham Lincoln and scream and cheer U-S-A incessantly? Can you imagine a basketball game where we are playing Algeria and people are dressed up like Uncle Sam or the Statue of Liberty and chanting U-S-A? Unimaginable.
Go USA! Win the World Cup! Bring it home!
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