The Yanks Are Coming!

After nearly six months of speculating, trash talking, wagering, and pontificating, tommorrow afternoon we will finally get to witness what may very well be the most important battle between the British and the Colonists since Bunker Hill. We all know that the first time a shot was heard “round the world” it was fired by an American in Massachusetts, let’s hope that the second time a single shot stuns the Brits it comes off the foot of an American in South Africa.  

For the record, I’m not calling for a Yankee win. I don’t think we’re at that level yet. I do, however, predict a tie. And that’s all it will take for the world to sit up and take notice that the US National Team is no longer the big meathead who can’t play soccer because he’s too busy throwing a pigskin.

Total (sporting) domination. It’s how we roll.

Ok, so the USA men didn’t win the FIFA Confederations Cup and shock the world today. But I think its safe to say they did shock the world by not getting blown out by Brazil. Everyone who knows anything about soccer predicted the Boys to get beat by at least three, some were even saying four, goals. And everyone agreed we’d be lucky to score one.

But score one we did. About ten minutes into the game, actually. A cross to Clint (finally proving why he’s my favorite American player ever) Dempsey found its way into the net and the soccer world sat up and took notice, the Americans had scored first. All who were watching knew, at that instant, that there would be no rout.

Now, I’m not much of a Landon Donovan fan (I kinda hate him a little bit), but the guy played a great game. He controlled the ball like never before, he was actually a leader on the field, and his goal was a thing of beauty. Oh, yeah, his goal. He scored the second goal for the US. The one that put the yanks ahead 2-nil at halftime. Yeah, two to zero at halftime.

Hello world, we’re the Americans, and we came to play.

And play they did. Like champions. I know, I know, the Brazilians came back and scored three to win the game and the trophy, but at this point that’s just a detail. We stood up to wave after wave of Brazilian attack. The South American champs took 24 total shots, 11 on goal, and that doesn’t include all of the attacks that were snuffed out by our stellar back line. But we didn’t just survive the attacks, we gave them our own. We took the game to their half and made them endure our attacks. We fought and scratched and played hard on both ends of the field for a full 90 minutes. Our forwards played great, our midfielders held it down, the back four was like a wall, and Tim Howard proved why he is a world-class keeper and the backbone of our National Team. Face it: Timmy is a beast.

We didn’t lose this game because we gave up, it wasn’t due to dumb mistakes, it wasn’t because of poor execution – no, we got beat because the Brazilians are a better team. And for US Soccer, that is a victory. We’ve finally reached the place as a soccer playing country where we can compete respectfully on the world stage and play with the best of the best. We matched them step for step, never getting out run, never getting caught out of position and never being caught looking lost. The first Brazilian goal was a great goal, no question. The second was luck – the ball bouncing around in front of the goal and getting past the keeper – and that happens to anyone. The third, the toughest to swallow, was on a corner that went over Dempsey and was headed in. None of those were embarassing, none were due to defensive breakdowns, and not once did we give them a gift (Timmy actually took a point away from them by acting like the ball had never crossed the line, when clearly it had – great acting on his part and it worked). So, hold your head high, Clint. We got beat, fair and square and that is something to be proud of.

Yes, it sucks to lose, it sucks to give away a two goal halftime lead, grasping defeat from the jaws of victory. I think we can all agree – it would have felt much better to win this game. But we have to go away with positives, and there is one glaring positive here: The United States has just embarrassed Spain and went blow-for-blow with Brazil on a soccer field. Both are things that many thought would never happen. Certainly not this soon, and not with as much force. I think its safe to say: the soccer world won’t look past the United States anymore.

[IMGs via Daylife]

Match reports here, here, here, and here.
And the Worldwide Leader has video:

So yeah, this match was kind of a big deal for us. Everyone, including your mom, had the Yanks written off for dead. I mean come on, Spain is #1 in the world, the European champion, on a 15 game winning streak and gone almost three years without a loss. It would be a good ol’ fashioned thumping. Even the guy writing the running commentary on ESPN’s Gamecast opened the match saying “Hello, And welcome to Spain’s thrashing of the US. Lineup’s coming shortly…”

And then, after 90 minutes of amazing American soccer, we won.

[Photo: SI.com]

[Photo: Daylife]

[Photo: Reuters]

(ps – I still think Bob Bradley needs to go. But I’ll get into that another time)

Is this really the best team US Soccer can assemble right now?

It’s embarrassing, actually. The US National Team looks more like a JV team right now, and the fact that Bob Bradley refuses to call up any newer, younger talent isn’t helping anything. I know that the Confederations Cup is just a warm up for the world cup and doesn’t really mean much to anyone, but it is played on the world stage and is watched by everyone. And I realize that the other three teams in our group are Italy (2006 World Cup champ), Egypt (2008 Africa Cup champ), and Brazil (Brazil) meaning that things were going to be tough for us from the start, but come on. Can we not lose two games by a total of five goals? Can we score one goal not from the penalty spot? Can we have a striker not named Landon Donovan? Please? All Bradley has to do is just try a few new guys on the team. MLS is chock full of players that would love the chance, not to mention all of the Americans who are playing around the world. I mean, yes, we’re not a powerhouse, and we might never be, but come on, can we at least try? Can we give it an effort? We can put a man on the moon, Abut we can’t field a competitive soccer team for one measly little eight-team tournament? I don’t think I’m the only one who finds that hard to believe. And I place all of the blame squarely on the shoulders of Bob Bradley.

(Here’s what needs to happen for the US to save some face in this tournament: We need to beat Egypt by at least 3 on Sunday AND Italy needs to be Brazil by at least 4. In other words: A miracle)

[IMG via Daylife]

“SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Alvaro Saborio scored 79 seconds in, the second-fastest goal against the United States in a World Cup qualifier, and Costa Rica coasted to a 3-1 victory Wednesday night.”

That’s really all that needs to be said. Oh, and this: Landon Donovan has no place on the US National Team, especially as a starter. If you’re wondering why, there are about 6 teams in Germany that will give you plenty of reasons. Or you can ask the faithful fans of the LA Galaxy. And, if you’re still not convinced try this: watch a game that Landycakes is “playing” in and observe how many times he does something dumb. Or slow. Or wrong. Quite often he’ll string all three of those things together in the form of a decision (I can do that too, but I’ve never been touted as the “best active American soccer player”). Basically, the guy is crap. There are enough talented, young American strikers around now to replace him. Its been fun, Mr. Donovan, but you’re done.

[Imgs via The AP & Who Are Ya Designs]