Nutmeg Radio

The Yanks are coming; you could hear them coming for months. For most of the U.S. players’ lives, they would have told you that they couldn’t have chosen a more splendid life, but it’s times like this where climbing the ladder to the highest echelons of the game almost shatters the nerves.

The U.S. lined up against England in a traditional four-four-two, an unsurprising development to anyone familiar with U.S. Men’s National Team coach Bob Bradley.  But at that moment, none of us were particularly concerned with tactics.  We were just excited to finally get started with our World Cup adventure.

Next to me in the stands was an aspiring hooligan with a Seattle Sounders jersey that looked nothing like any Sounders jerseys I had ever seen.  After engaging in some preliminary banter, it was clear that he was a true Sounder at heart.   Whether the jersey was real or fake, Sigi would have been proud to have proper representation in South Africa.  We agreed to meet up after the match at a pub on Hillcrest Road.  But first, there was a match to watch.

The opening minutes could be characterized as your standard ‘getting to know each other’ period. But it was a dirty tackle in the 24th minute that busted the shackles off of what was a tame encounter up until that point. There are different types of fouls, but Ashley Cole’s two footed tackle on Michael Bradley was without question a cynical, unprofessional foul.  From that point, we could tell that fair play wasn’t going to have a role in this match.

The ensuing free kick was curled in from a left wing position, but as the ball floated into the box, it was calmly fisted away by David James. But James’ punch only went as far as Clint Dempsey at the top of the box who volleyed the ball like a rocket straight back towards England’s number 1, deflecting off of a defender at the last minute and then spectacularly off the post for a corner.

As Landon Donovan jogged over for the corner, several of the English defenders were screaming, “No short corners!”  John Terry frantically gestured to his midfielders to get a second man out towards the corner flag. Many of the English players now knew the U.S. number 10 shirt from his stint with Everton, as the Ginge well knows. Unfortunately, Donovan failed to get his corner over the first defender.

Moments later, Donovan scampered down the sideline, bypassing the oncoming Frank Lampard with the cleanest nutmeg. Radio silence fell upon the English supporters.  As Donovan approached the box, he bent a ball towards the far post.  The moment the ball left Donovan’s foot, it was clear that James had misjudged the ball, immediately bringing back memories of David Seamen against Brazil.

1-0 to the USA.

The remainder of the match was a blur.  As second half injury time came to a close, I glanced down at the sideline and noticed Wahl, Chang, Trecker, Seltzer and Ives, positioning themselves for the pitch invasion. I wondered why they weren’t up in the press box, but it turns out the moment got the best of their emotions … and judgment. They wanted to be a part of this historic win as well, and why not, du Nord, Futfanatico, and WV Hooligan were all down with the masses somehow escaping the reach of what I thought was supposed to be tight security. We thought of waiting for Gaetjens, but it was looking as if there wouldn’t be enough time.

After the final whistle blew, chaos erupted. We all rushed down towards the players who came over to celebrate.  The American supporters gathered in the first few rows were so tightly packed that even though a fellow supporter two feet away offered me a free beer, movement towards him was not an option.

After taking a moment to process, it was clear to most of us that the best eleven players on the pitch weren’t the ones that most people suspected prior to kickoff. A feeling of pride swept across Sam’s Army, the American Outlaws, some lively American Fooligans, and the other Yanks abroad. Sure, the goals came against the run of play and surely there will be talk tomorrow from disgruntled English journalists about how the offside flag should have gone up, or how referees today don’t understand the offside rules, or how the English were tired after a long season and how we won because we were more match fit. But none of these complaints will ever change the final score of this historic match for U.S. soccer. However, the question still remains, will this be the moment that resonates in american soccer news? I sure hope so.

Post-match reports revealed that Bradley would be ready for the next match, only suffering a slight bruise to the shin. Guardian Sport confirmed the news a few hours later.

If this game was a novel, it would be a must read, soccer theater at its finest.  If sport is a TV show, this would be The Final Frontier. I’m sure we’ll all be looking for the headlines tomorrow, looking for that one artist who captured the moment in his or her medium of choice.

This is who we are, influenced from the outside, but purely American at the core.

This is American Soccer.

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