I live in Coral Springs, Florida: Your average suburban city and, as many suburban cities are, there is nothing to do.
What does an 18-year-old and his friends do in a city with nothing to do? Play sports—and do it a lot.
It is the only escape we have to not go completely insane from boredom. Basketball is typically the sport to play. Everyone can do it, not many people are needed to play, and all you need is a basketball to head to the nearest park.
But. with the erratic Florida weather over the summer, it’s not easy to get a full game in. Baseball needs to be planned days in advance to get equipment and people to play. The same thing regarding football.
In a city where the weather influences the day eliminating nearly every sport to play and with the NBA, NFL, and even NHL season over, there isn’t much ESPN has to offer these lazy summer days.
When the Confederation Cup started, the hype was not all that high. USA’s past appearances in tournament play have proven nothing to the American people besides the fact that soccer will never be worth recognizing in this country along with football, basketball, and baseball. The last World Cup had USA going 0-2-1 with the lone point coming off of a tie with eventual champion Italy.
It appeared that nothing had changed this year either. In a pool with No. 5 ranked Brazil, No. 4 ranked Italy and 40th-ranked Egypt, USA at No. 14 appeared to be out of its league.
Outscored 6-1 in it’s first two games, the Americans faced incomprehensible odds of making it to the semifinals. They had a game with Egypt who put up a fight with both Italy and Brazil before finally losing. Not only did USA have to beat Egypt by three, they also had to hope Brazil beat Italy by three as well.
God must love American soccer.
All went according to plan. A 3-0 win for USA and a 3-0 win for Brazil. USA would move to face the No. 1 team in the soccer world: Spain.
USA is not the team to cause devastating upsets. It beat England 1-0 nearly 60 years ago and is regarded as the biggest upset in its history.
There was a mild interest in the game from the minimal soccer fans USA has to offer. I put the game on just because it was raining and there was not much else to do. I knew the circumstances the team was under and I was not expecting much. 90 minutes later, a country’s outlook on a sport changed completely.
The Americans had beaten the best at their own game 2-0. There was a new sport to start watching.
Just a few hours later, friends were rounded up from around the city and were playing a full fledged soccer game. I can guarantee that we were not the only bored, suburban kids who were inspired to try something new after watching USA’s performance.
The game today had viewers and lots of them. Every facebook status from nearly all of my 103 friends had something to do with the upcoming championship game between Brazil and the new national hero, the USA soccer team. The two teams had met up before with Brazil ending it before the first half ended with a 3-0 win.
A 2-0 lead going into the half had the country in a frenzy. Brazilians were stunned, seeing their team manhandled in the first 45 by a team who they were 13-1 against.
Soon enough though, the team wisened up and attacked nonstop leaving the Americans little offensive possessions and scoring opportunities. Brazil rallied and scored the next three goals to take the game and the championship.
Was it disappointing to see the USA lose? Yes
Should we be disappointed in the USA? Absolutely not.
The Americans have started a movement and it is leaving everyone excited for next year’s World Cup and the chance to make a statement among the soccer world. Before the tournament, the average American would not be able to name a soccer player on the team besides Landon Donovan and it would be a stretch for them to even know who that is. Now Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, and Carlos Bocanegra have now become household names.
A soccer game has already been planned for tomorrow with people wanting to join in every time they hear about it. Championship or no championship, the US soccer team has proven soccer enthusiasts around the world wrong.
The team has brought soccer to America for the first time and it looks like it will be here to stay.