Extremely proud to be an American today.
Wow....what can I say...wow.
Spain has been unbeaten for 3 years (since 2006), meaning they've been unbeaten for 35 games. They haven't been beaten by non-European team in 10 years (since 1999). They've been on a 15 game winning streak (a world record BTW).
Yet all that matters not, since today, all those numbers meant jackshit today when the forever underdog USA defeated Spain 2-0. This was huge. We were lucky to go past the first round in the first place, having lost horribly to Italy (3-1 Italy), and Brazil (3-0), we got lucky when we defeated Egypt (3-0 USA) and Brazil killed Italy (3-0). We were extremely lucky and happy to just have made it past the group stage to the semi-finals. I'm sure almost nobody in the world was expecting today's result, when we defeated #1 ranked Spain...we stood toe to toe with the best team and the best players in the world, and for that, I am extremely happy.
This is like everybody expecting the Lakers vs the Cavs this past NBA Finals, but the whole world was shocked when the Cavs crashed out to the Orlando Magic. That was huge, I'd call this more huge!
I did wish that enthusiasm for Soccer (or Football, or whatever) in the United States was more...high? I remember being in Europe last year when the Euro Cup was going on. When Turkey won their first game, the streets of GERMANY came alive. Let's not even get started when Germany won their opening game (I was also in Germany on that day). It was crazy...chaos.
Hell, even when El Salvador defeated Mexico in a World Cup Qualifier last month, the streets of Los Angeles went crazy. I doubt the streets of L.A. will go crazy over this victory for the United States, and that, to me, is a big shame.
Still...I'm extremely proud of the United States' team today...here's hoping for a good game against Brasil!
Spain has been unbeaten for 3 years (since 2006), meaning they've been unbeaten for 35 games. They haven't been beaten by non-European team in 10 years (since 1999). They've been on a 15 game winning streak (a world record BTW).
Yet all that matters not, since today, all those numbers meant jackshit today when the forever underdog USA defeated Spain 2-0. This was huge. We were lucky to go past the first round in the first place, having lost horribly to Italy (3-1 Italy), and Brazil (3-0), we got lucky when we defeated Egypt (3-0 USA) and Brazil killed Italy (3-0). We were extremely lucky and happy to just have made it past the group stage to the semi-finals. I'm sure almost nobody in the world was expecting today's result, when we defeated #1 ranked Spain...we stood toe to toe with the best team and the best players in the world, and for that, I am extremely happy.
This is like everybody expecting the Lakers vs the Cavs this past NBA Finals, but the whole world was shocked when the Cavs crashed out to the Orlando Magic. That was huge, I'd call this more huge!
I did wish that enthusiasm for Soccer (or Football, or whatever) in the United States was more...high? I remember being in Europe last year when the Euro Cup was going on. When Turkey won their first game, the streets of GERMANY came alive. Let's not even get started when Germany won their opening game (I was also in Germany on that day). It was crazy...chaos.
Hell, even when El Salvador defeated Mexico in a World Cup Qualifier last month, the streets of Los Angeles went crazy. I doubt the streets of L.A. will go crazy over this victory for the United States, and that, to me, is a big shame.
Still...I'm extremely proud of the United States' team today...here's hoping for a good game against Brasil!