The Various USA-centric Reactions to Donovan's Game-Winner

For those who haven't seen this, it's a pretty awesome compilation of reactions to the USA's game-winning (and Group-clinching, moving on-clinching, USA soccer-saving, etc.) goal by Landon Donovan in the 91st minute on Wednesday.

First, enjoy.



Okay, yes, some of it's a little cornpone and I'm not sure I needed to see the weird people in their basements who were evidently taking video of....themselves?  But nonetheless, I don't see how you can't get a bit of a chill seeing reactions like this all over the country (and, really, the world). And these were just the people who had footage of their reactions. This same thing happened in our TV lounge at work.

It doesn't matter if you're not a big soccer fan or you're one of these clowns who likes to purport that "nobody cares about soccer." That's ignorant and simply not true. Regardless, nationalism brings lots of people together.

Oh, and the best part? The video was compiled by Robby Donoho, a Purdue senior.

USA-Ghana, tomorrow at 2:30 Eastern.

USA Overcomes Opponents, Refs, To Win Group C

Let me be the first to say, suck it, rest of the world. We know you don't like us and we know you don't think we're a worthy soccer nation, but I speak of many of us who played soccer for a long time and who actually enjoy international soccer when I say, bite me.

The USA men's team is undefeated (and was almost out of the tourney despite being undefeated) and not only defeated Algeria on an extra time goal, but also overcame two incorrectly disallowed goals in three games. Several incorrect out-of-bounds calls (a late one today that would have resulted in a corner kick for the US), an incorrect handball call on Jozy today, etc., etc. I am not normally one of those people who points to referee calls because I think in sports it usually evens out.

That said, I do not think that about the World Cup this year. The US is widely disliked and, as I have said, thought of as a lesser soccer nation. And the referees displayed ridiculous contempt for the US by trying to screw them over and, in one case, refusing to explain a call that cost the United States a win. Incredible. And inexcusable. Well, again, suck it, and yes, call us arrogant, call us obnoxious, whatever. I don't care. None of us do.

The USA just won their group -- which contained England, among the snootiest d-bags out there -- and moves on.

And good for Landon Donovan. Guy has given a lot to USA soccer and has had his named cursed in many countries for not being up to their standards.

Something Else To Make You Mad At Soccer

Yes, this is going to make people who already don't like soccer like it even less. But it's actually possible that whether the U.S. advances on to the knockout round at the World Cup will depend on a coin flip.

The easiest thing to do is just win, baby, against Algeria and the United States moves along. Losing that game means they don't advance, which, they wouldn't deserve to. However, ties are where it gets complicated.

As pointed out on Deadspin on Friday, here's the deal...

If the US ties Algeria AND Slovenia and England tie, it comes down to tiebreakers. Slovenia would win the group with 5 points, and England and America would be tied with 3 points.

The first tiebreaker is goal differential. The US and England would have tied all three matches. No winner.

Second tiebreaker is goals scored. As of now, the US has scored 3, while England has scored 1. So this is in the United States' favor, but let's assume somehow they wind up tied in goals...

Third tiebreaker is points obtained in head-to-head matches. The US and England tied.

Fourth tiebreaker is goal differential in head-to-head matches. Once again, the US and England tied.

Fifth tiebreaker is goals scored head-to-head. This is getting silly... but since the US and England tied, then obviously their goals scored head-to-head are the same. Well done so far, FIFA.

If the US and England are still tied after all the aforementioned tiebreakers, FIFA flips a coin to decide who moves on.

Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Team USA Got Rooked

If you didn't see it, this photo -- while good -- still doesn't do it justice. The level of egregious screw-up is hard to define, but I'll try. The USA came back from an 0-2 hole (which, in soccer, is pretty damn impressive) and then pressed for the equalizer. On a free kick, the US set up for the attack and ultimately scored, despite at least two blatant fouls by Slovenia. In the photo above, you can see USA's Bradley being wrapped up in a bear hug -- he was then called offsides. Those aren't his arms -- those are the arms of the Slovenian behind him.

Despite horrendous cheating, the USA still managed to score. But since cheating wasn't enough, the official called the US offsides (players cannot be behind the opposing defense without the ball), which they clearly were not to the naked eye....and the replay easily confirmed that.

John Harkes, calling the game, said "That should have either been a USA goal or a foul on Slovenia." Neither happened, of course.

Alexei Lalas, back on the ESPN set, said "We don't want to dwell on it, but that was a disgrace."

I know the rest of the world wants to see the US lose -- especially at soccer. But this is ridiculous.

Hopefully the inspired comeback and motivated play will carry over to their final group game against Algeria, who they must beat.

[UPDATE: Just read that the official would not elaborate on what the call was, only to say that it was not offsides. Well, yeah, we all know it wasn't offsides, jackhole.]

It's Okay To Like Soccer for a Month

As Boilerdowd often points out, we're into the dog days of Purdue sports, as we fill the time between the end of basketball season and the start of football. As we often joke about here, this is when we watch Indy Car racing and baseball -- and then make fun of each others' interest in both.

But this summer there's another sporting event to watch that you may want to consider. World Cup soccer. Yes, yes, I know the arguments against it and, frankly, it's tired now. We've all heard there isn't enough scoring, etc., etc., and honestly, if you can't get into the World Cup, then that's fine. Be on your merry way -- I hope you find a shiny object to occupy your attention span.

For those willing to watch, though, this is a huge year in World Cup soccer. For one thing, there isn't a "sure thing" favorite to make a run at the title. Naturally, Brazil and Argentina will be strong -- they always are. Germany, Italy and Portugal are likely to advance some as well. And then there are the Americans.

The US soccer program was completely unrespected about 15 years ago. That's not scarcely respected -- that's not respected at all. Nobody thought US soccer was anything. Sure, part of that was global sneering at the United States trying to play the "world's game." But a lot of it, sadly, was justified. The US has never won the World Cup. Their best finish was third place -- 80 years ago. Yet, the US has the most kids playing soccer of any country in the world. Yes, a lot of that has to do with sheer population, but still -- how could we suck so badly?

After a good showing back in 1994, USA soccer fell to dead last at the 1998 World Cup. At that point, USA Soccer then began to develop a program they referred to as "Project 2010," named thus because they felt winning the World Cup in 2010 was a reasonable goal. The US began performing better in international competition and by the 2002 World Cup was a more serious player -- though not taken completely seriously worldwide. The USA managed to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament that year, proving that they were indeed moving in the direction of being a legit soccer nation.

However, in a sport where sustained excellence is elusive, the US failed to get out of pool play in 2006. Coaching changes were made, the roster was overhauled and the US shocked nearly everyone by reaching the finals of the 2009 Confederations Cup last summer, which was basically a dress rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup. The US had lost 3-1 and 3-0 in their first two games, and it looked like another disappointment was coming. Yet somehow they squeaked out of pool play and then advanced all the way to the finals against Brazil, beating #1 in the world Spain along the way. And as many of you may remember, they actually took a 2-0 lead into halftime of that finals game. I watched and was sure we would win -- imagine that, beating Brazil to win a world tournament. Alas, apparently the players began thinking this, too, (or maybe Joe Tiller gave one of his famous halftime speeches while Arnette cooked the players some pasta) as they gave up three second-half goals to lose 3-2. It was still the most impressive performance by a US soccer team maybe ever.

Which brings us to World Cup 2010. Never has more been expected out of the United States. They are in a group with England, Algeria and Slovenia, with the top two advancing after pool play. There is no excuse for the US to not advance.

Their first game, if you needed more of a patriotic kick in the pants, is against England next Saturday, 6/12. So even if you don't find yourself drawn to watching Major League Soccer -- and I don't blame you -- you may want to check out the World Cup. It's the best of the best. If you're a marginal baseball or basketball fan who doesn't like the regular season but does enjoy the playoffs, well, this is kind of the same concept. There is no higher level of soccer and no tournament where the players will ever have a greater desire to win.

Plus, US success pisses off many other countries and that's always fun.

(Adding the Nike soccer commercial everyone seems to think is awesome.)

Gooooal!

Boilerdowd can mock soccer and other sports his ADD doesn't allow him to focus on (and yet he watches auto racing and golf, two short-duration sports to be sure), but the fact is yesterday's victory by Team USA over Spain was huge. Or yoooge, if you're Donald Trump.

I'm not going to pretend I'm a "true" soccer fan, but I played the game from childhood through high school and I loved it. It was my primary sport. Watching it, I admit, is not the same. But none of you watch swimming regularly and yet when Team USA is going for a medley relay gold medal at the Olympics, foot traffic in Times Square would stop to watch it as though we all are the biggest swimming aficionados ever.

Basically, minimizing Team USA's win yesterday makes Boilerdowd less of an American. Or basically a communist. A dirty, dirty communist.

Okay, but seriously, the win was gigantic, as it gives the U.S. a few ounces of much-needed respect. We have more kids playing the game than any country in the world -- and yet our national teams can never seem to get anywhere. We invented baseball, basketball and American football... we hold our own in golf at events like the Ryder Cup, and our national hockey team has taken down the Russians and Canadians at times. So what's the deal with soccer?

It remains a mystery, but the fact is the U.S. men's team should be taken seriously now. Sure, they're not going to win the World Cup next year. But at least now there will be talk about how this was the squad that took down the mighty Spaniards, a national team that had not lost since the fall of 2006. That's almost three years, friends. And with one more win, they are actually the champions of something.

That's significant, whether you like soccer or not.

Sizable Entertainment

Not a lot of players/personalities in the NBA make me want to watch the game...but I like Shaq O'Neal. He's one of the best, most-dominant big men of all time...at least he was a few seasons ago. But, even when not on the top of his game, he's still great.

Well, he's now going to be teaming up with Bron Bron. If nothing else, it should be fun to watch. Both of these two are clowns; I mean that in a good way. Perhaps next season, I'll watch more than one NBA regular season game from start to finish...alright, maybe not, but highlights will be entertaining.

Futbol
Another sport I don't watch is soccer. But, a few of my friends do- and I'm told the US team beat the No. 1 team in the world, Spain. The loss breaks Spain's 35-game unbeaten streak...and it helps the US team look like it doesn't suck, which it did the last ten days-or-so, I'm told. Congrats, soccer fan.


**This post should have been made by our resident Clevelander (a real NBA fan, mind you), but I did it instead because Tim's feet are still recovering from surgery.