If the U.S. Men's Soccer Team Wins in South Africa and No One in the U.S. Watches, Did They Really Win?

I sometimes ponder this question while watching Soccer. Why isn't Soccer popular in the United States? There's no doubt that the "beautiful game" is popular among kids as it is one of the most participated sports among young people, me included. I wondered this Sunday when the United States was playing Egypt in the last game of the 1st round of the Confederations Cup, which is a prelude to the World Cup in 2010. After losing 3-1 to #4 ranked Italy and an embarrassing 3-0 defeat to #5 ranked Brazil, the #14 ranked Americans needed to beat #40 ranked Egypt by 3-0 and Brazil needed to beat Italy by 3-0 for the U.S.A. to advance to the Semi-Final. Egypt may be ranked #40, but in this tournament, they upset Italy and almost tied Brazil if it wasn't for a errant handball that resulted in a Penalty Kick goal by Brazil in the last few minutes.

Anyway, with both games happening at the same time, I clicked from one ESPN channel to the other watching both games as quickly as I can not to miss anything. The United States finally played with passion and beat Egypt 3-0. Here were the highlights. Apologies for the commentary not being in English.



Even though the U.S. won, they needed Brazil to do the same thing. Due to tiebreaker rules, Egypt and Italy couldn't score a goal and the U.S. and Brazil must score at least 3 goals. Brazil did just that and here are their highlights. Again, not in English, but listening to the Brazilian announcers makes up for it.




This was a great moment and in any other country, this would spell tremendous national pride in the media and the people. What did I hear afterwards. A majority of the ESPN non-soccer commentators are still mocking the game. I have to hear these "experts" say that the game is boring, low-scoring, and have too many theatrical performing floppers. One commentator specifically, Jim Rome, has constantly been outspoken in ridiculing Soccer multiple times on his radio show and his show on ESPN. Right after the upset against Spain, he says, "Soccer rules. Congratulations to the United States for beating the #1 ranked team in the world," or something along those lines. To Jim Rome and any other person who now is a Soccer hooligan after trashing the sport any chance they got, get off the bandwagon before I kick you off the bandwagon. To people who aren't Soccer fans and are now starting to become interested because of the U.S. success, welcome aboard and enjoy.

I also hear people I know say to me that Soccer is "sissy-football" and the players aren't physically tough enough, unlike Football. I'm not saying that Football players aren't tough, they are. But in my defense, I've played both Football and Soccer when I was younger and the sport that gave me a torn achilles' tendon and severely bruised ribs wasn't Football. And a professional, depending on the situation, still needs to go the full 90 minutes (Two 45 minute continuous halves) if they're hurt. Both sports have their fair share of toughness and injuries that can occur, so Soccer is by far not "sissy-football."

To let everyone know, I was planning this before Wednesdays game against #1 ranked Spain. I knew the game would be tough, and although I was optimistic, I didn't think U.S.A. would be able to win. In a 1980 Olympic U.S.A. defeating U.S.S.R. in Men's Ice Hockey miracle, the United States do the impossible and upset the greatest team in the world. Here are the highlights. The videos are the same, but the Mexican announcing team just livens up the game so much more.





In case you missed the game, it is on at 11 pm et Wednesday night on ESPN2. I highly recommend watching it, it is a classic sports moment. And the constant buzzing you are hearing are not a swarm of bees, but fans blowing plastic horns the entire game for every game.

On Thursday, Brazil plays home team South Africa and the winner will play the United States in the final Sunday at 2:00 et on ESPN. I've been a Soccer fan for 15 years and have been a long supporter of the U.S. National Team. It's a dream that's been realized, the United States has a good Soccer team. Win or lose on Sunday, they are winners and hopefully it becomes a trend in later years and they are one of the worlds elite. As much as the 1980 U.S. Mens Hockey Team helped the United States get through some tough times and bring patriotism back, this Sunday's game and next years World Cup can be our generation's version of that Hockey team. It'll be the "Miracle on Grass" and after seeing that game against Spain, I believe in miracles. Do you?