Before Wednesday’s World Cup match in Pretoria, South Africa,
events like this did not happen to U.S. soccer.
The embarrassingly early deficit, the disallowed goal against
Slovenia, the other disallowed goal against Algeria, the half-dozen
scoring attempts the Americans botched earlier Wednesday in a
must-win situation? Those were a matter of course for the team that
seldom steps up on the world’s biggest stage.
But Landon Donovan’s goal 45 seconds into stoppage time to beat
Algeria 1-0 was something else.
Before Wednesday’s World Cup match in Pretoria, South Africa, events like this did not happen to U.S. soccer.
The embarrassingly early deficit, the disallowed goal against Slovenia, the other disallowed goal against Algeria, the half-dozen scoring attempts the Americans botched earlier Wednesday in a must-win situation? Those were a matter of course for the team that seldom steps up on the world’s biggest stage.
But Landon Donovan’s goal 45 seconds into stoppage time to beat Algeria 1-0 was something else.
With his team roughly three and a half minutes away from elimination, and the U.S. braced to watch another inferior club send the Yanks home early, Donovan came through with the defining goal American soccer has long waited for.
Understandably, he could not keep himself together afterward.
“I’ve been though a lot in the last four years,” said Donovan, who shouldered most of the criticism after his team’s winless showing in the 2006 World Cup. “And I’m so glad it culminated this way. It makes me believe in good in the world, and, when you try to do things the right way, it’s good to see them get rewarded.”
Almost every international sport has a calling card in U.S. history, from Mike Eruzione and the Miracle on Ice, to Brandi Chastain and the 1999 Women’s World Cup final. Donovan, formerly of the San Jose Earthquakes, is the best player our nation has produced, and, should the Yanks play to form and reach the semifinals or better, his goal and that win belong in the same pantheon.
It was not nearly as earth-shattering of an event as Joe Gaetjens’ score in the 1-0 upset of England in the 1950 World Cup, but that U.S. squad bowed out a game after the Miracle on Grass. The Americans waited 40 years for their next World Cup appearance.
The United States’ 2-0 victory against top-ranked Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup was equally shocking, however less emphatic. Afterward, former U.S. player turned analyst Alexi Lalas said it best when he stated the biggest wins are reserved for the World Cup.
Algeria was not Spain, or England. The Yanks were an overwhelming pick to take Wednesday’s Group C tilt, but winning as the favorite has never been easy for the U.S. The Americans were eliminated by Ghana in pool play four years ago.
United States soccer has progressed since then. The U.S. won Group C by virtue of goal differential over England and will face Ghana in a delectable rematch at 11:30 a.m. Saturday to begin the final 16.
“This team embodies what the American spirit is about,” Donovan said. “We had a goal disallowed the other night. We had another good goal disallowed tonight. But we just keep going. And I think that’s what people admire so much about Americans, and I’m damn proud.”
Replays of his latest goal were shown well after the game ended in Loftus Versfeld Stadium, overshadowing coverage of the marathon tennis match between American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon.
Donovan, a plucky 5-foot-8 midfielder, scored on a rapid counterattack that began with a superbly placed throw by goalkeeper Tim Howard. Donovan raced through the final two-thirds then passed ahead to Jozy Altidore near the edge of the 18-yard box. Altidore crossed to Clint Dempsey for a one-touch shot — yet another that could not get by Algerian goalie Raïs M’Bolhi — but Donovan buried the rebound from just outside the goal box.
“That’s probably going to capture more people’s attention than if we won the game 3-0, and it was easy,” Howard said. “That emotion, that passion is what American sports fans thrive on.”
Hope was all but lost merely seconds before Donovan’s counterattack. The U.S. appeared headed for four more years brooding over another winless, albeit undefeated, World Cup.
Now, the team is riding an unprecedented wave of fan support into the knockout rounds.
Former president Bill Clinton spent nearly an hour congratulating the American’s after Wednesday’s win. Stateside, celebration broke out from local pubs to the New York Stock Exchange.
“One of the nicest things tonight was when we were coming to the stadium. The street was lined with U.S. supporters, waving flags, dressed up, chanting USA, knocking on the bus, and we don’t always have that,” said coach Bob Bradley, who has brilliantly managed his team this month. ” … I think that was a really special feeling tonight.”
It is one U.S. soccer has not experienced.
