World Cup 2010 Review: United States of America

Current Rank: 13
Expectations going in: Medium
Finished: Round of 16

For the first time in its World Cup history, the United States entered the tournament with a group that it could reasonably expect to advance from, with matches against England, Slovenia, and Algeria.

Many fans remembered the U.S.'s fantastic appearance at the 2009 Confederations Cup, also in South Africa, when the Americans surprised the number one ranked Spanish 2-0 and lead 2-0 against Brazil before succumbing in the final. It was hoped that this kind of performance could be repeated a year later at the World Cup.

The United States surprised the world in 2009. Could they do it again in 2010?

Most of the pre-tournament hype focused on the opening game against an England squad full of superstars and expected to go far. The expectations among many American fans was that the U.S. would lose the first game against England, but then go on to defeat Slovenia and Algeria to qualify for the Round of 16, and then who knows what could happen?

It seems, however, that this group was one in which predictions weren't really terribly accurate.

In the first game against England, the U.S. had trouble focusing early on and gave up an easy goal to England with under 10 minutes played. The Americans fought back, however, and managed to squeak one by the beleaguered Robert Green to even the score. It could have even ended in a USA victory, had Jozy Altidore not had his shot parried on to the crossbar in the second half.

With a better-than-expected point against England, the U.S. could now look towards their next game against Slovenia, who had not looked very impressive in laboring to a 1-0 win on another goalkeeping error over Algeria.

The Americans again started slow, this time being much more severely punished, as Slovenia ripped open the United States defense for a 2-0 halftime lead. It seemed then that the U.S.'s dreams at the World Cup had been destroyed in only 45 minutes, as England were due to play Algeria later in the day, and it was widely expected for the English to prevail quite easily.

The United States showed its comeback spirit, though, and Landon Donovan smashed home a goal early in the second half to spark the revival. The U.S. slowly gained more and more momentum, finally equalizing late in the game through Michael Bradley.

Michael Bradley

The match was now 2-2, but it wasn't quite over yet. There was still time for Maurice Edu to convert a Landon Donovan free kick to give the United States an improbable but highly-deserved 3-2 victory in the dying moments....except Malian referee Koman Coulibaly blew his whistle for a phantom foul, drawing vehement protests from the American players. Upon further review, the call was even more ludicrous, given that there were no players offsides, and several American players were actually being pulled down by Slovenian defenders - which should have been a penalty, in any case.

American players were outraged

American fans took this as yet another case of a FIFA conspiracy to rob the United States of legitimate goals (another example is the non-call on a handball in a quarterfinal match against Germany in 2002), and after offering no explanation as to what made him decide to blow his whistle, no one was satisfied.

So with a 2-2 draw, and not a 3-2 win, the U.S. went into its final match still in control of its destiny - win or go home. England's embarrassing 0-0 draw against Algeria meant any team in the group still had the ability to either advance or be eliminated. The U.S. knew they had to defeat Algeria and they'd go through.

The game was for almost the entire match going one-way, with the U.S. constantly attacking, trying to find that opening goal. Algeria hit the crossbar when they really should have scored, and the U.S. scored a legitimate goal that was wrongly called back for being offside (again).

In the 92nd minute, Tim Howard collected a rare ball brought forward by Algeria, distributed it halfway down the field to Landon Donovan, who brought it forward and crossed for Clint Dempsey. Dempsey's shot was saved, but Donovan got the rebound, and the celebrations began. Across the United States. delirious fans joyously reacted and partied like it was August 14, 1945:







More videos can be found here.

Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey

Thanks to Donovan's goal, the United States advanced to the round of 16, finishing first in their group ahead of England. Next up would be Africa's only remaining side: Ghana. Ghana was the side that had defeated the United States in the third group match of 2006, eliminating the Americans and allowing Ghana the chance to play Brazil in the round of 16. Of course, the only way the Ghanaians could do so was through an incredibly dubious penalty call immediately following a U.S. goal on the stroke of halftime (yet another example of American fans' bitterness towards FIFA). The stage was set for revenge.

However, coach Bob Bradley erred in his starting eleven and Ricardo Clark gave up the ball in the opening few minutes of the game which directly lead to Ghana's opening goal. He was soon thereafter replaced. After once more giving up a goal in the opening minutes of the game, (3rd time out of 4 matches), the United States fought back once more, equalizing on a Landon Donovan penalty midway through the second half. The teams could not be separated, and the match went to extra-time. Ghana was again allowed a defensive breakthrough and scored early in the extra period, putting the Americans on the backfoot yet again. This time, however, there would be no reply. The U.S. just could not muster yet another comeback, and they fell 2-1 in extra time to Ghana.

Going out in extra time in the round of 16 is a respectable result, and clearly soccer in the United States has come a long way since the dark days of the late 80's and early 90's, when the country first started regularly qualifying for the cup. In addition to the vast outpouring of support and passion for the national team across the country, television ratings were extremely high: 14 million Americans watched England vs the U.S., and more than that watched the game against Ghana. If counting Univision's Spanish-language coverage, more than 20 million people watched games involving the United States, which is much more than either the Stanley Cup or the NBA Finals enjoyed.

Hopefully these statistics, as well as the United States' performance, can put to an end the constant deliberating about whether or not soccer has "made it" in America. What's clear is that the sport already has "made it", and it's been there for a long time. It just took this World Cup to reveal that part of American soccer culture to the rest of the skeptics, and hopefully this can equate to future growth for the sport.

While the future looks bright for U.S., with more and more players coming through the youth ranks and turning professional earlier and earlier, what is worrying for the United States Soccer Federation is that, for the second tournament in a row, a U.S. forward failed to score a goal. Also, the core backline of the defense is aging, and something must be done to repair the early-game mentality to eliminate those deficits that occurred so often. There is also a question of what to do about Bob Bradley: Has he taken the team as far as he can take them? Should the USSF bring in a foreign coach, or someone with inside knowledge of the American soccer landscape? Should he stay on?

The U.S. team watches a replay of Landon Donovan's goal against Algeria after the Americans won, 1-0

For now, these questions can go unanswered, while the afterglow of 2010 fades away. Even though the U.S. was eliminated a bit earlier than many would have liked, they can hold their heads up high, and soccer fans will always have Donovan's goal to look back on and smile.