USA Wins Group C

Well, only one scenario could play out.  And for a long time it looked like it'd be the one where the USA was sent home, but Tim Howard sent a great pass out to Landon Donovan, then to Jozy Altidore, a shot off the Algerian keeper by Clint Dempsey, and a rebound right to Donovan who calmly kicked it to the back of the net.  After watching it hit the net, Donovan ran over to the  sideline and headfirst slid right in front of the corner flag and was mobbed by his teammates.

The game was a huge struggle, tons of missed chances, some possible referee missed calls, but none of that mattered in the end.  The offsides was huge, could have saved the USA a lot of headache.  The play where Dempsey got smacked in the face and walked away bleeding looked bad on the replay.  Watching live it didn't seem to bad, but the replay showed the Algerian player clearly smacking Dempsey in the face, that's no good and needs to be called.  I was worried for Dempsey when I saw that and afraid he wasn't going to make it back out for the rest of the game.  The style of play by the Algerians was also very frustrating in the 2nd half.  Did Algeria want to win or did they just not want the USA to win?  It was a funny storyline how Algeria was wronged in 1982, it was crazy watching the scoreboard of the 2 games, hoping someone would score.  A USA goal meant USA won the group, and a Slovenia goal (draw) meant USA advanced as the runner-up.

Everyone in America was preparing to fire off about Team USA, give up, complain, go back to baseball, talk about basketball, or even tennis.  The journalists were ready to blast the team for not scoring when they needed to, for missing their opportunities, etc.  All hope for American soccer seemed lost.  Everyone said USA had a great team and they should be expected to do well, but a disappointing knock-out in the group stage would have erased all that and all the advancements this team has made in the last 2 years would have been lost.

I went to see USA play Turkey in their last tune-up in America in Philadelphia and I loved it. The crowd was awesome, the team was awesome.  I thought they might just jog around, knowing the game didn't really matter, but they played hard and showed us fans they were ready to do something great.  I'm happy they pulled out the win and this tournament isn't over for this team.

I never had a strong opinion for or against Landon Donovan.  I figured I didn't know enough about soccer to give a strong opinion one way or the other.  But now, I don't care, Donovan is a great leader and he has come through in the crucial times for this team.  I screamed when he passed that ball off to Jozy, I thought he should take it in all the way, but he knew what he was doing, and the ball ended up back at his feet and he scored, allowing us all to celebrate.

Next up on Saturday at 2:30pm EST, is the runner-up of Group D.  Don't quit know USA, this team has only just started. They got off to a slow start, but they should have it figured out now.  Two full days of rest and then delight Americans again on an awesome Saturday afternoon.