I’m finished crying about the US performance in South Africa. I overlooked the Algerian guy in Pretoria who walked off with my red, white and blue vuvuzela after our flag swap. But that was probably because we won. I even made nice with the Ghanaian fan after the loss in extra time. I was a bit heartbroken over the loss to Ghana, but not so much that I didn’t see positives shortly thereafter. So the challenge now is finding something to complain about. If only I were English.
Truth of the matter is, when it comes to our performance in South Africa, there’s really very little to cry about considering the pieces of the puzzle. Team selection? Who would you have added that would have made the difference? Managerial decisions? Nothing huge stands out. We topped our EASY group, created chances to go through to the quarter-final, and generally looked a very decent side. Lots of “real” soccer fans in South Africa have already stated as much. No one can say Landon never showed up. Clint did his thing. Michael Bradley was fantastic. Even Jonathan Bornstein hardly put a foot wrong, much to the chagrin of many supporters who were ready to tar and feather the ready-made scape goat.
We really don’t have a stable of world class players. But we knew that in advance. Our milk was already spoiled. So taking off my crazed fan hat and putting on my less crazed fan hat, it’s pretty clear that there’s little room for tears. The boys did a superb job in South Africa. So did the US fans. Were we the best? Nope. But we were much better than we were four years ago. Much.
I fear less that we’ll be heading backwards anytime soon. As I step back and look at the state of US soccer vs. the state of English soccer, we are on the right trajectory, and I wouldn’t trade places with our former colonizers at this point.
Heading into the World Cup, few, if any, would have said that the US men’s national team is as good as the English national team. It’s a strange day when I find myself agreeing with Alexi Lalas, but if we’re talking about team quality as opposed to individual talent, I’m in agreement. As a national team, we’re as good as England. That’s a reflection of two things: (1) We showed that we can raise our level of play on the big stage (AGAIN — remember the Confederations Cup); and (2) England is not as good as they think they are.
For that, we should hold on to our tears until there’s really something worth crying about. Ask your local Englishman; he’ll know what I’m talking about.
And on to the next match …
