It’s the wee hours
of the morning, June 23rd, 2010. I’m glued to my television set from
the beginning. The familiar sounds of vuvuzelas filled my living room, but I
can hear much more: the biting of fingernails, feet pacing back and forth on
the hardwood floor, my heart racing more and more as time passed. But I knew I
wasn’t the only one. 300 million others were hearing the exact same thing,
praying that eleven men over 10,000 miles away would conjure up a miracle.
The United States
Men’s Soccer Team needed a win against Algeria in their final match of Group C
to move onto the knockout round in the FIFA World Cup. Seemed easy enough. The
US rallied against Slovenia in the previous match before getting cheated out of
a win, and Algeria was considered to be an inferior opponent. However, as the
evening progressed in Pretoria, South Africa, it seemed luck was not on the
Yanks side, seeing disallowed goals, dubious fouls, and many shots off the
post.
Time was getting
shorter. I, well we, were locked in, with agony and angst at all time highs,
near physical pain. The sounds were growing louder. I was getting sick to my
stomach. But then, deep into extra time, the sounds stopped.
“Cross, and
Dempsey is denied again!!!!”….
It’s over. The
sport I love, the country I love, has fallen short yet again. It’s not like
anyone takes soccer seriously anyways. Why should I have expected anything more
than an early exit? We were defeated.
“AND DONOVAN HAS
SCORED!!!! OH CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??!?!? GOAL GOAL USA! CERTAINLY THROUGH!!!! OH
IT’S INCREDIBLE!!! YOU COULD NOT WRITE A SCRIPT LIKE THIS!!!!” – Ian Darke,
ESPN (video)
In the blink of an
eye, agony had turned to true euphoria. I could hear my country, reveling in
the angel-like heroics of the greatest American soccer player to ever grace the
earth. You really couldn’t write a script like that: one goal, changing an
entire country from soccer skeptics to believers.
The USA ended up
losing to Ghana in the round of 16, but that is beside the point. Since that
moment, the sport that I have tried to advocate for years finally had a place
in American culture. MLS attendance is up, the USA games are all televised, and
jersey sales are through the roof. Who said the United States couldn’t be a
soccer country?
More importantly
for me, it was a revelation. For so long, advocating the sport had been merely
recreational, figuring I would never have a serious audience anyways. But after
that day, I decided I wanted to major in journalism and become a soccer writer,
hoping one day to replicate that same euphoria I felt almost two years ago, and
spread the joy I get from the sport to the new American fans of the Beautiful
Game.
I still get chills
watching that footage. Any time I need motivation to get through journalism
related work (posting on my own blog or school work), I spend hours watching
footage, from that summer and beyond (This one gets me every time).
Goosebumps,
engaged.
I can’t say that I’m as true a soccer fan as you. However I did follow the US closely in the world cup, along with the Fussball Bund of my ancestral homeland (Germany). That game, along with the one in which we triumphed over England were two of the most exciting games of the entire cup. I ultimately felt the same disappointment, though as Germany was knocked out in the semi-finals.
ReplyDelete