(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
The Confederations Cup is often dubbed, "The Dress Rehearsal for the World Cup."
This year's Confederations Cup was filled with highs and lows from the US Soccer Team. From their awful start to their miraculous wins, Team USA gave us some incredible moments in South Africa.
This team did something that many other US teams before them failed to do—they made soccer relevant in America.
For decades, the beautiful game has struggled to gain popularity stateside. This soccer fanatic will tell you that it will never be mentioned in the same breath as baseball, football, and basketball here in America.
What I'll also tell you is that soccer doesn't need that. It doesn't need to be a money-making machine in America like the three aforementioned sports, because soccer has something that these sports sincerely lack, the capability to unite.
When Team USA took the field against Brazil, New Yorkers and Bostonians became extinct.
Packers fans and Bears fans vanished.
Democrats and Republicans stopped bickering.
We all transformed. We simply became, Americans.
Nobody was yelling about steroids in baseball, nobody was wondering if Brett Favre was coming back, and for 90 minutes nobody cared about anything but the 11 men representing the stars and stripes.
When Clint Dempsey deflected Jonathan Spector's brilliant ball past Julio Cesar, we all jumped up in the air together and yelled, "YESSS!!!"
When Landon Donovan cut back and scored one of the better goals of his career, every American was starting to believe this team could pull off another huge upset.
It was if the United States had fallen in love with the world's game.
Unfortunately, this fairy tale story had run out of magic.
Brazil came back and defeated the US, 3-2. The loss stung, and it didn't only sting in the Bronx, or in LA, it stung in Omaha.
It stung in Charleston.
It stung in Oahu.
From coast to coast, sea to shining sea, America was hurting, but not for long. After the loss, we all realized that, while the loss stung, there was much more good to take from it than bad. This team showed that it could hang with the big boys.
And we were all proud.
A year from now, when the USA is taking part in the biggest sporting event in the world, soccer will again grab headlines. Jozy Altidore, Carlos Bocanegra, and Brian Ching will become household names. We will stop worrying about steroids, the salary cap, and Brett Favre, and start worrying about how Tim Howard will stop Robin van Persie.
We will wonder why Bob Bradley started Frankie Hejduk over Jonathan Bornstein. A year from now, the US National Team will do something that presidents, senators, and congressmen can't do, unite us all.
We will watch, we will root, we will cry, and we will do all of this together, as Americans.
2 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete