U.S. soccer was falling into its usual pitfalls. The defense had allowed two goals to Slovenia in the first half, and the offense had limited opportunities to score. Our hopes of advancing to the next round began to look less and less likely.
Then 3 minutes into the second half, Landon Donovan single-handedly brings the U.S. back into the game by netting a goal right over the keeper. Then at the 82-minute mark, Michael Bradley, the coach's son, hit the ball in off the bounce, and the game was tied. The United States had completed a great comeback from 2 goals down and looked alive again in the standings.
But they were not done. Four minutes later, Maurice Edu nets a ball off the Donovan free kick and the U.S. takes the lead! That is, until referee Koman Coulibaly of Mali blows his whistle and the goal is waved off. Why? We still do not know, and we may never know. I've watched the replay a dozen times at least and I still don't see a call against the U.S. No one was offsides, and if there was any foul to be called, it should have been against Slovenia. So, the United States team got screwed, and only earns one point instead of three.
Now, should the United States had scored more goals in the game? Yes, they had plenty of opportunities before the 86th minute. Should they have allowed those two early goals? Of course not. The United States needs to stop allowing early goals and play better defense to help out Tim Howard. But still, there is no excuse for that disallowed goal, and I'm happy to see that FIFA will not allow that referee to be in anymore games.
So then the U.S. plays Algeria, needing a win or for Slovenia to win/draw against England. And in the first half we avoid the early goals that have plagued our team. And in the 21st minute Clint Dempsey hits the ball into the net off the rebound from Hercules Gomez shot...and the referee calls him offsides. The replays show that, once again, the refs had taken a clean goal away from us. Let the frustration begin.
And the rest of the game we had dozens of chances, but again and again we either missed wide or the Algerian goalie would make a save. I will hand it to that goalie. He did play a great game. He was the only Algerian though; the rest of the team was too busy punching and kicking our players while only receiving yellow cards. And England had taken a 1-0 lead on Slovenia, so we were in desperation mode to avoid elimination.
The game goes to stoppage time. I was sitting there thinking about how my blog was going to start off with the referees doing their best to keep us from moving on. I was thinking about writing in my disappointment with this great team not being able to advance. And I was thinking about the paragraph where I would mention how so many Americans would stop watching the World Cup now.
Algeria is pushing, making our chances look even more thin. Tim Howard makes the save and then launches the ball down the pitch. Alright, I think, we're making another push. Donovan passes to Altidore, who has a great chance, but his shot bounces off the goalie. It looks like another missed opportunity, and the people around me give off the unfortunate sigh of frustration. But then, Donovan reappears on the screen out of nowhere, and...GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLL!!! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! The best screenwriters and authors in the world could not have come up with a better ending. For the record, I waited about 10 seconds for a referee to blow his whistle and make some BS call that would rob us again. But it did not come, and finally the United States could cheer at the end of a match.
For those of you who are not total experts on the way the Group Stage works in the World Cup, let me explain to you how much Donovan's goal changed things. Had Donovan not scored, England would be the winner of the group with Slovenia advancing as the runner-up; the United States would have finished a disappointing third and Algeria rounding out the group. In one second in stoppage time, the U.S. jumped to first place, winning their group for the first time in 80 years. England had as many points, but because we had scored more goals in the round, we held the tiebreaker, so they still advance as Group C runner-up. Slovenia comes in third and is eliminated.
So now the U.S. will play the runner-up from Group D. At the moment that would be Germany, but as was shown today, anything can happen. As of right now, three groups have been decided.
Group A Picks: Uruguay, South Africa
Group A Winners: Uruguay, Mexico
Group B Picks: Argentina, South Korea
Group B Winners: Argentina, South Korea
Group C Picks: United States, England
Group C Winners: United States, England
Group D Picks: Germany, Ghana
Group D Winners:
Group E Picks: Netherlands, Cameroon
Group E Winners:
Group F Picks: Italy, Paraguay
Group F Winners:
Group G Picks: Portugal, Ivory Coast
Group G Winners:
Group H Picks: Spain, Chile
Group H Winners:
Extras
First off, congratulations to Graeme McDowell on being the first golfer from Northern Ireland to win the U.S. Open. But, let's face it, he didn't win this tournament so much as everyone else blew it. Dustin Johnson was -6 going into the last day; he was even par after 5 holes. Mickelson had plenty of great opportunities, including a 15 foot putt for eagle that he turned into a par. Tiger was all over the place with his shots. Ernie also had plenty of chances but in the end he blew it as well. The only player who really gave Graeme a run for his money was Frenchman Gregory Havret, but he just could not get back to even par after 18 holes, and McDowell had an easy 18th to win.
Congratulations to...excuse me, I almost vomited saying this...the Los Angeles Lakers for winning the NBA championship. Kobe gets his 5th ring, Phil gets his 11th. Ron Artest gets his first and gives us the strangest post-game interview ever when he thanked everyone including his psychiatrist. Phil Jackson's future for next year is in question. Right now it appears the deciding factor is his health, and as much as I cannot stand him, I hope he is well.
The NBA Draft is tomorrow night. John Wall is just about guaranteed to go to the Washington Wizards with the first pick. From there, who knows what could happen? I think it should be interesting to watch and see how things unfold. The NBA Draft is not as interesting to me as the NFL Draft, but because there's only five guys on the court at a time in basketball, these players can make more of an immediate impact. I'm also interested to see how badly my Houston Rockets can screw it up this year.
Again, thanks for taking the time to read. My next blog should cover the Group Stage results and a little preview of the upcoming matchups.
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