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The 2010 World Cup is now in the books for the United States. What will the history books write about it? Disallowed goals? The England Equalizer? Winning the group? The performance of Landon Donovan on the world stage? I think the legacy of this World Cup will be the emergence of “soccer” as a major sport in the United States. That’s right I think the game has finally turned the corner and will move into the top three here in America. I could not believe the people that were interested here in the States during the World Cup. Old, young, middle aged people were tuning in like never before to take in the international spectacle that is the World Cup. Offices would change the channel from CNN to ESPN to take in the games. Here in the middle of the day US televisions were tuned in at the highest rate ever to the beautiful game, numbers never seen before.

What next now for the game here in the US? Well a push for the World Cup in 2018 or 2022 is the logical progression. World Cup 94 remains the best attended and run World Cup in history and the next one here in the US will be bigger and better. But will FIFA bite? Will the remorse of horrible referees disallowing legitimate goals help our chances? Of course not, but money talks for FIFA and if we can get them to make an objective decision based on revenue and profits than we should be leading the pack for hosting the biggest sporting event in the world.

Even more important than hosting the tournament in the future is the growth of the domestic league: Major League Soccer. With an ESPN contract and steady expansion into solid soccer markets it continues to grow responsibly. Reportedly attendance has been up over 15% since the World Cup. The standard of play is considered at the Coca Cola Championship level which I think is great, and should put it in the top 15 leagues in the world. With the Youth Soccer boom showing no signs of slowing down you can’t help but consider soccer to be on the verge of a boom here in the US. Long may it continue.

Another thing I would like to talk about is how much the national team has progressed. No one can say we had the most talented bunch at this World Cup but I will go out on a limb and say we were one of the 16 best teams at the tournament. If we could just finish we would probably still be playing. The amount of chances we wasted bordered on criminal and you had to feel for Landon Donovan seeing all of his great service being wasted. The main culprit was Jozy Altidore, but that being said I do not want to batter the lad too much. He did a lot of things well at the tournament, first and foremost relying on his strength and size to become a real handful for most defenders. Add his pace and we could see the development of a new type of target man in the game whou could revolutionize the 4-5-1. Crucial this young player makes the right move before next season and gets into an English team with a coach who can mentor and develop him. I vote for Tony Pulis’ Stoke City. A guy can only hope!

Well the Slovenia game has come and gone. Myself along with the rest of the USA ran the whole gamut of emotions during that contest. As per our Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) we fell behind a goal early, wasted numerous scoring chances, and then paid for our anemia in front of goal by getting caught out on the break. At the half down 2-0 many of the pundits and oatcakers believed our World Cup to be over – done and dusted. However, as per our SOP , we mounted a furious comeback, tied the game on two beautiful goals; one by the talismanic Landon Donovan and the equalizer by the coach’s son Michael Bradley. I was over the moon at this point to just be staring at an unlikely point from this contest when a tropical storm cut off the TV. Of course this was between the 84th and 87th minutes so I missed the highway robbery that occured. Luckily for me it has been replayed a million times since .. Needless to say that goes down as the worst call in the history of US soccer. (Had the referee been trained by Alan Wiley?) But no more time to cry over spilled milk. The scoreless draw between England and Algeria was just what the doctor ordered to give us a chance of moving on.

As for the next game, we win and we are in! Algeria will be tough, but they also have to play for a win if they hope to advance. If we can get the first goal I like our chances. We do not deserve to advance if we cannot win a game in the group. I’ll be pulling for an England win but they have a difficult tie against a well organized opponent. More to follow tomorrow …

Just a few quick lines before the USA’ HUGE World Cup game/match tomorrow against a well organized Slovenia. Sitting here on the Gulf Coast on Marco Island, FL waiting for the oil to come ashore in an empty beach resort it gets easy to put this game into perspective. Do or die for our World Cup hopes, but very insignificant compared to the pending environmental disaster. That being said most of the “soccer talk” at the resort is about England – Algeria! Seems like the only people in this hotel besides me are England fans! Oh the irony! At the end of the future nuclear armegeddon there will only be cockroaches and England fans left on the earth!

Not used to the USA being a favorite in a WC match and it makes me nervous. I predict 1-0 USA on a set piece where Landon Donavan’s 13th. beautiful set piece is finally put into the net by the wasteful Jozy Altidore. Tim Howard cements his place as the top goalie of the tournament and the USA is into the final 16. A guy can hope!

Hi,
I’m a glory hunting Yank Stoke fan living in Tampa, Florida. Only been a Potter’s fan for two years but you have to start sometime! I’ll be blogging about Team USA in WC 2010 (I got a feeling we are gonna have a good tournament) and the other love of my life, US 2nd Div debutantes FC Tampa Bay Rowdies.
I travel a lot to the Middle East with my job and manage to catch some games that I’ll talk about on here every once in a while. Hope you enjoy!
Sean