It was finally the United States' time to truly enter the world of soccer. Their road to the World Cup semifinal was easier than anyone else's, having to play Ghana and Uruguay, if they kept winning. There was no Argentina, no Spain, no Portugal, no Brazil until they reached the semifinal. And it seemed like everyone in this country knew it. More than 15 million Americans tuned in to ABC last Saturday afternoon for the US-Ghana game, and an additional 4 million watched the game on the Spanish speaking channel Univision. The only other soccer game to have more American viewers was the 1999 Women's World Cup Final between the U.S. and China, with 18 million people watching. It was no secret to anyone, the US-Ghana game could not only be a big moment, but the start of something big.
But then after the US lost 2-1 we remembered ... oh right, we're the United States, what are we doing playing soccer?
That's at least what the United States' play made us feel like. It was poor to say the least. After such a high against the Algerians, the US came out against Ghana with a new starting line-up. One of those new starters was Ricardo Clark, whose turnover early on, was what led to Ghana's first goal. Clark was taken out just 31 minutes into the game - much earlier than is usual for a substitute - having already picked up a yellow card and played a very poor game. His substitute? Maurice Edu, the man that started the Algeria game and the man whom Clark replaced. Another new starter was Robbie Findley, playing in place of Herculez Gomez. Findley missed a great scoring chance in the first half and was replaced by Benny Fielhaber at halftime. The mistakes used up two of the three subs early on, especially important in a game that saw 30 minutes of extra time (overtime). The new roster was an example of overcoaching from Bob Bradley, who had been a good coach, getting the US further than many thought they would go. Bradley had made changes for the Algeria game, and instead of just leaving a perfectly good thing the same, he felt that he could get creative again with a new starting lineup. But by overthinking the situation, he helped contribute to the United States' demise.
After such a great game against Algeria, the US came out and played like they had in the first half of their first two World Cup games. They were lousy, slow, lazy, basically any negative adjective you can think of, that's probably what described the United States' first half play. It almost looked like they just didn't want to be there. They were getting beat to every single ball and getting killed in terms of possession numbers.
The United States was down 1-0 going into the half, but it was hard to say Americans were worried, or as worried as they should have been. For many Americans, this World Cup was the only soccer they had watched in at least a decade, and therefore they were used to seeing the US come back, expected it almost, as a result of the United States' play during this Cup. The US had come back against England, had done it from down two against Slovenia, and had just eked out a win against Algeria. Why couldn't they do the same against Ghana?
Then came the penalty kick. After Clint Dempsey was taken down in the box 62 minutes into the game, Landon Donovan was given a penalty kick which went off the post and in, tying the game at one. It looked like the US was going to do it again. Now, they were the ones getting to every ball first and keeping possession.
But the US couldn't get another goal before the second half was over, and extra time was like a whole new game, a whole new first half, which for the US, meant trouble. Another breakdown led to another early Ghanaian goal, and this time the US just didn't have enough left in the tank to make a comeback.
So let's go back to the theme that we've been looking at this entire World Cup: What does this mean for soccer's future in the US? Well, the outlook isn't grim, but it certainly doesn't look to good either. Soccer will still only be the fifth favorite sport in this country, behind the "Big Four" by a mile, but it's possible that more people will start stopping by for a couple of games at their local MLS stadium in the future. Premier League soccer may even grow in popularity in the United States.
The most important outcome of this World Cup streak however is probably the growth of the game's popularity among youngsters. Millions of kids around the country already play soccer at a young age, but few of them actually stick with the game. Now, with the United States' relative success in the World Cup, a good number of parents will be keeping their kids on the soccer pitch as opposed to say the baseball diamond, and kids themselves will be playing more and more pickup soccer games, cutting into the usual pickup basketball games. More of the top young American athletes are going to decide that their skills are best fit for soccer as opposed to football. The growth of the sport may be slow, but that doesn't mean it's not coming.
The United States' performance was certainly solid during the Cup, anything past the group play stage was just icing on the cake, but it doesn't mean that the loss wasn't extremely disappointing. After such an inspiring victory over Algeria to keep the United States' Cup chances alive, it was tough to see the team come out and play so poorly. It's still tough to think that it will be another four years until the US has even another shot at the Cup. The important thing to realize however, is that this World Cup was a big step in the shrinking gap between the popularity of soccer and the popularity of the United States' four major sports.
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