USA Comes Up Short in World Cup

First and foremost, Congrats to Team USA in the 2010 World Cup. They managed to win their group which was no small feat since it included England, Algeria and Slovenia. The USA drew against England and Slovenia and had to fight to get the draw against Slovenia. They had to beat Algeria to advance to the final 16. In dramatic fashion, the USA pulled it off in added time on a Landon Donovan goal.

In the knock out round, the USA gave up the quick goal again. Ghana scored very early in the game on an inexcusable turnover to dig an early goal deficit. A Ghana foul on Clint Dempsey in the penalty area earned penalty kick. Donovan converted the kick to tie up the game 1-1. It went into extra time, where Ghana scored on defensive melt down to make it 2-1. This time the United States made no comeback. They fell short and a magical Cup show ended.

And I'm all right with it. They overcame adversity and probably earned a ton of respect from world wide. The United States competes hard and is no fluke. The run up to the Confederation Cup saw them defeat top ranked Spain and had Brazil fighting from behind. No small accomplishments in this game. Powers Italy and France went home earlier than the US. Both nations were finalists in the last Cup.

What does the future hold? Probably continued success. The USA are no longer the backwater push overs they were in the 1980s and even in the hosted 1994 games. The US has now advance out of the group stage three times in last five cups. The program needs to keep building and not lay stinkers like they did in 1998 and 2006. They need to develop a solid defensive back third. To many mistakes on the defense lead to many early goals. They also need to continue to develop players like Donovan and Dempsey. Both will be four years older in the next Cup and are not guarantees to make the squad next time. The next generation needs be groomed and set up for qualifications, Gold Cup and whatever competitions the future hold.

In the end, thanks Team USA to a good run as well as igniting the passions of the country.