It couldn’t have ended like this, right?
For all the euphoria and celebration that surrounded the U.S. soccer team’s improbable extra-time win over Slovenia that propelled the team out of group stage and into the Round of 16, Saturday’s loss to Ghana brought an equal force of emptiness.
For all the jubilation, the celebrations in bars across the country that came after Landon Donovon scored on a rebound and kept the U.S. alive (I suggest visiting YouTube to see some of those), did it really all end so quickly? Do we really have to wait four more years for more?
The Americans’ run in South Africa excited the country about a sport that, for the most part, flies under the radar of our country’s athletic landscape.
But this scrappy bunch sporting the Stars and Stripes caught our attention again. We woke up earlier – in the middle of the summer, no less – to follow along, to root on a team that many of us knew little about a month ago. We draped flags over our shoulders as we filed into our favorite watering holes and celebrated a team that made soccer fun.
It wasn’t pretty much of the time. Like many of the teams we root for (especially those who cheer on franchises in Arizona), there were times they made us pull our hair out. It took less than four minutes for the Americans to trail in the World Cup after England’s Steven Gerrard put a shot past goalie Tim Howard in the opener, making us wonder if the U.S. was fit to be here.
The Red, White and Blue bounced back to earn a draw with our neighbors from across the pond – Have you sent a thank you card to England goalie Robert Green, yet? – but they quickly jumped into a 0-2 hole against Slovenia in the first half.
But this team fought back. Despite creating agony among their fellow countrymen back home by quickly falling behind in three of four games in the World Cup, the Americans found ways, however unconventional, to even the score.
They had to battle more than the world’s top teams on the pitch. They had to battle referees, too. I am in the camp that officials often take too much criticism for the outcomes of games, but it was clear that the Americans had the winning goal against Slovenia – what should have been their third of the second half – on a phantom call that still hasn’t been explained.
In a tightly contested match against Algeria, the U.S. had another goal disallowed, though replays showed Clint Dempsey was clearly onside. Undeterred, the team battled to the end, long enough for Donavon, long the face of soccer in our country, to drill one in the back of the net and create celebratory chaos back home.
But the magic, as it will for 31 other teams in the world’s most watched tournament, ran out. Americans will quickly move on. It is the nature of a sports landscape with more to watch than we can keep up with and a 24/7 news cycle that give us more than we can digest.
It will be four more years before we unite like this again, cheering for our team as it plays the world’s game. After the excitement this year’s team gave us, there is only one thing to say: Let the countdown begin.
