Team USA Saves Best for Last
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I admit it. I had my first, honest to goodness, moment of pure soccer elation when Landon Donovan scored the winning goal for Team USA in extra time. It was legit. I was jumping and screaming and hugging. It was as joyous as it was unexpected.
I set myself to a task – to watch every game of World Cup action – to see if I could embrace, or at least understand what all the vuvuzela honking was about. I learned that soccer is a slow burn. I was skeptical. I was bored. I was restless. But the more I watched, the more I didn’t mind watching. It was okay, I thought. Not great, but okay.
And then a weird thing happened. I started to look forward to matches. I was reading about different teams and watching the highlights to learn what I could from the commentary. I emailed a soccer expert buddy of mine to have her explain the ever slippery soccer off-sides rule. (So much more convoluted that off-sides in hockey, let me just say.)
Last night, I was twitchy in anticipation of the game this morning. Who the hell was I? I didn’t know. I didn’t even care. It was fun. I gave into it.
Yeah, yeah. I know. New to the sport. Bandwagon jumper. Neophyte. All of those dubious honorifics probably apply to me. I’ll own that. And yet … when Donovan netted the winner, it was genuinely euphoric, ecstatic and, yes, karmic payback, you FIFA officiating beeyotches.
It’s not just us annoying Yanks who have been complaining about the officiating. It is everywhere. Try doing a google search of “world cup officiating controversies” and you get about 30 pages of hits in as many languages. Handballs have been missed, egregious fouls have been missed, seemingly good goals have been waved off without explanation, and non-existent fouls have garnered cards of both the red and yellow variety.
Team Brazil is without their best player – Kaka – because of a phantom foul when Kader Keita of the Ivory Coast kinda brushed up against Kaka and then went down like Amy Winehouse after a long night full of jagerbombs. This phantom infraction earned Kaka a second yellow card for the match and thus, he is DQ’ed from playing against Portugal on Saturday.
To pour salt on the myriad officiating wounds, the refs themselves are shrouded in secrecy, protected from the media, and insulated from the real world. In short, they operate a lot like the Roman Catholic Church, or the International Olympic Committee, for that matter, with zero transparency and just as much accountability. The only group more getting worse press than the officials is Team France and you don’t need to be a lifelong fan of the English Premiere League to know that something is rotten in South Africa — the officiating.
But let’s not linger over what is wrong, but rather what is right. What is right is the American Cardiac Kids for the 21st century. Up against the wall because of the debatable draw versus Slovenia, and certainly well aware that England was hanging on to a 1-0 lead over Slovenia, the U.S. knew that a draw versus Algeria would not be enough to propel them past the round of group play. A win was essential. (Advancing on a draw would have been so less than satisfying anyway.)
They dug in and mounted scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity, but it seemed the goal, the one elusive goal, just would not come. Donovan was very quiet for much of the game. Herculez Gomzez missed the goal. Jozy Altidore missed the goal. Edson Buddle missed the goal. Clint Dempsey missed the goal. Michael Bradley hit a beauty, but right into the belly of the Algerian keeper, M’Bolhi. Hell, it seemed like the entire team missed the goal at one point or another.
But they kept coming. And coming. Tim Howard and Carlos Bocanegra held down the fort, making every necessary defensive play and save to keep the hope alive. These guys love to score late. In 18 qualifying games, they scored 10 goals in the last 10 minutes of regulation play and in their game against Slovenia, Bradley netted the tying goal in the 82nd minute.
It was fitting that it wasn’t until the extra time that their relentless pursuit paid off. Howard made a garden variety save, looked up the pitch, spied Donovan and winged the ball up to him. Donovan, the face of American soccer, streaked down field, fed the ball to Altidore, and then moved across the goal to be in position to blast in the rebound of Dempsey’s shot for the game winner.
Is this time — the 91st minute of play in the final game of group play — the exact moment when the USA crashed the rest of the world’s party?
Time will tell, but this is a team hitting every soft spot that we as a nation have. Americans love come backs. We love underdogs. While as a nation, we are rarely underdogs, but if ever we are, it’s on the soccer pitch.
An underdog team staging improbable victory against all odds in the waning moments — how much more American can you get?
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jody diPerna, Jody diPerna. Jody diPerna said: Is it bad to jump on the soccer bandwagon? Do I care? No. http://trueslant.com/jodydiperna/2010/06/23/team-usa-saves-best-for-last/ [...]
[...] you watch the match highlights so that you'll know how many agonizing near-misses the US …Team USA Saves Best for LastTrue/SlantMichael Kim's US sport column: Soccer in the US gets on the front pages …Daily [...]
Finally a damn good soccer post on True/Slant! Thank you! I was getting tired of all the knee jerk anti-soccer stuff, so thanks for hanging in there and there’s more than enough room on the bandwagon for everyone!
Easy for you to say, tsean. Now I have another sport to pay attention to. Something’s got to give, man.
In response to another comment. See in context »I feel your pain. I’m a baseball guy and they play every damn day. If the WC games weren’t in the morning I might have a real dilemma…
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] True/SlantTeam USA Saves Best for LastTrue/SlantI was reading about different teams and watching the highlights to learn what I could from the commentary. I emailed a soccer expert buddy of mine to have … [...]
Glad you decided to join us! This is the part where it gets really good.
Oh, Michele, you say that now, but when Altidore and the boys lose, will you buy me a beer (or eight) in which to drown my sorrows? Because now I give a shit. Dammit!
In response to another comment. See in context »The best thing about World Cup is even when your team is eliminated, it’s still fun to watch. So I’ll buy you a beer and we’ll pick another team to cheer on should our boys go home.
In response to another comment. See in context »I know that flopping is rampant, but it seems to me that the Italians and the Brazilians are the worst offenders, albeit different. The Brazilians seem to dive and then roll, whereas the Italians dive, clutch at one or both ankles and grimace in pain. They are better actors than the 1,000 or so Chinese Kim Jong Il sent to root for the North Korean team. So while my natural inclination would be to root for the Italians (as I come from a proud Italian-American family), I don’t think I can.
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] Team USA Saves Best for Last – Jody DiPerna – Fan Overboard – True … [...]
Welcome to the club!!! Don’t feel bad about the neophyte label. All us Americans are!
I cut my teeth on the 1994 World Cup when Brazil came to my home town (Detroit) and partied in the streets for three days before their match with Switzerland. As I watched the samba dancing, the laughing, and frankly, the scantily clad brazilian ladies, I began to suspect there might be “something” to this game…
Now I’m an American military man stationed in Stuttgart Germany. I made friends with a German couple who have season tickets to VfB Stuttgart, the German club side that boasts players from the Germany, Serbia, and Mexico national teams.
Last night I made my way home from the local pub wearing my old Frankie Hejduk #2 USA shirt after watching the nail biting US and Germany victories, and recieved high fives and a free beer from German passers by. The Germans are 100% supportive of the US team, (everyone in the pub for all three games was cheering for the US) and react with suprise and joy when they learn I’m an American who is a big enough fan of the team to own jerseys and know some history…..Brazil was my introduction, but the USA and Germany are the national teams I support.
If you can talk soccer, (I’m an American, I refuse to call it football, much to the amusement of my German friends) you have something in common with people from all around the world. My wife is often shocked that total strangers, be they German, Belgian, English, French, Korean, Japanese, Saudi, Russian, or Ghanaian are ready to talk football and make friends with a USA fan when I’m wearing my USA jersey in public overseas. It’s a lot of fun!
Jody, You make one point that can be universally applied to all sports watching. Some sports are like scotch (acquired tastes).
A business news talking head (Joe Kernen on that stupid Squawk Box show) had a epiphany when he commented on the watch-ability of the Stanley Cup Play Offs due to the improved production and big screen high definition TVs. Hell, the coverage and instructional commentary was so good, I looked forward to and followed friggin’ curling at the recent Winter Olympics. Same can be said for World Cup soccer. Add DVR replay and the watching is even more fun. In the end though, it is the acquired realization that Soccer (along with other traditionally non-American sports) is the real deal. All Americans have the opportunity to get out of the box and enjoy other sports. In my childhood, this notion was embraced in a great weekly TV program called: ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Loved your post!
Leon, I loved Wide World of Sports when I was little (I was a sports junkie even as a toddler) and while I doubt I’ll be watching any of the pro soccer leagues, I’ve really enjoyed getting into the World Cup this year.
Also, of the big five sports here (I’m including golf with football, hockey, baseball and basketball), I think hockey benefited the most from HDTV and big screens. It’s just so much easier to see the friggin puck.
But, my friend, I still don’t like scotch.
In response to another comment. See in context »Kaka is the leader elegant of football world . Middle-class origins, pure and fresh and lively, this game is doomed to kaka and the other Brazilian players. Although he rejected the invitation of Manchester when he was in AC milan , he still left the team in which he won the 2007 uefa champions league and 2007 FIFA world player to real Madrid. In the team which real stars gathered, kaka still try his best to prove himself. But in Brazil, kaka is still irreplaceable core.
http://www.2008jersey.comkaka
http://www.2009allstar.com
[...] Team USA Saves Best for Last – Jody DiPerna – Fan Overboard – True … [...]
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[...] USA! USA! USA! Yeah, they bowed out in the first game of the elimination round, but Landon Donovan’s rebound goal in extra time is the kind of sports moment that those who were watching will always, always remember. I’ll [...]