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What the World Cup is all about

Luke O’Brien’s last U.S. dispatch from South Africa sums up the ecstasy and the agony of a very flawed team that nonetheless provided few dull moments: 

“There’s been so much palaver in recent days about the ascendant American squad, so much of it fueled by the feel-good hype that stems from several miraculous near-losses against sardine-size teams. Some of it is accurate. Much of it is wishful hyperbole. In the past two World Cups, the United States has won a single game. Barely. The victory came against a side that was happy just to make the tournament. This is not the track record of champions. (It’s the track record of England!) But that’s how crazy the World Cup is. One day Bob Bradley is dubbed the next coming of Brian Clough. One bad game later, he’s a chump. The reality is that the U.S. national team wasn’t as good as we wanted to believe it was. I am reminded of the simple, irrefutable words of the man sitting next to me at the Spain-Chile game: “The system is not important. The talent of the players is important.” My seatmate: Bora Milutinović, the first coach to take the Americans to the knockout round in the modern era.

“After the disappointment of last night’s loss wears off, we’ll be able to appreciate what the 2010 World Cup revealed about American soccer. The team played ferociously. At times, it played beautifully. By giving up so many early goals, it had to. The games were never boring. Often, they were inspirational. If Tim Howard had somehow headed home a tying goal in the waning minutes of the Ghana game—he came tantalizingly close—it would have instantly gone down as one of the best strikes in World Cup history. Failing a last-minute equalizer from a goalkeeper, Landon Donovan’s goal against Algeria will stand as one of the landmark strikes in the history of American soccer.”