Meet Your USA Team- Part I: Recent History and The Confederations Cup Run

Once seen as little more than a running joke in an international soccer circles, the United States Soccer team has not exactly had a long and glorious history.  With soccer relegated to essentially a niche sport in America, the national team struggled through failure after failure during most of the 20th century (check out this long but fantastic article about the American Soccer's decades of futility) and few at home even noticed.

Things began to change in 1989, when a stunning goal in the last qualifying game by Paul Caligiuri sent the Americans to their first World Cup in nearly a half century.  The Americans were outclassed that year in Italia 1990, but hosted an extremely successful World Cup in 1994, and acquitted themselves well on the field as well. 

 

Hosting the 1994 tournament was a huge step in the long term growth of soccer in America.  The tournament planted new seeds of popularity for soccer amongst Americans, and also made a huge profits economically.  Those two byproducts from the tournament led to the creation of MLS (Major League Soccer) in 1996, the American professional soccer league, which is growing in level of play, size and popularity today.  Despite America's reputation for disinterest in soccer, the 1994 World Cup remarkably still holds the record for total attendance, even though the tournament has now expanded to 32 teams. 

The 1998 tournament in France was a major embarrassment for the "Yanks".  They lost all three group stage matches, and crashed out in a tie for dead last.  The team even lost to Iran, a major political embarrassment back in the states. 

In Japan/Korea 2002, the Americans had their best World Cup of the modern era.  After stunning heavy favorite Portugal in the opening match of the group stage, they continued to play well and advanced from the group stage.  The first knockout round (sweet 16) set up a classic clash with perennial rivals Mexico.  The United states prevailed 2-0 in a brutally competitive match, advancing to the last eight of the tournament.

Then came a match up with eventual finalist Germany for a place in the semi finals.   It was an extremely close and exciting match.  While most agree that the US actually outplayed the Germans on the day, the unlucky Americans failed to take their chances and lost 1-0.

The pattern (unsuccessful world cup, successful, unsuccessful, successful) continued in 2006, and the Americans had another tough tournament.  Routed in the first game 3-0 by the Czech Republic, they bounced back and heroically held the eventual champion Italy to a 1-1 draw.  But they lost the final group stage game to Ghana however, and failed to advance to the knockout round. 

The United States has enjoyed a very successful cycle in the build up to 2010.  They qualified in first place from the CONCACAF (North and Central America) region, with one game to spare. 

The Confederations Cup

Just last summer, the Americans put together a string of performances that was easily their most impressive of this qualifying cycle.  The Confederations Cup tournament, held in South Africa last summer, was a build up of sorts for the real World Cup.  The best teams from each continent were invited.  The United States was in a group with world superpowers Brazil and Italy, as well as African champions Egypt. 

Nobody gave the Americans a chance to advance out of their group, they would be lucky to get even a draw in one of the three games, most experts felt.  Those experts were initially proven correct.  In the first game against Italy, the Americans took a surprise lead on a Landon Donovon penalty kick late in the first half.  But the Italians scored 3 goals in the second half, two of which were scored by New Jersey born Guissepe Rossi. 

In the second match, the Americans were dominated by Brazil, losing 3-0.  They had been outplayed badly in their first two matches, and looked to be on their way home.  Yet somehow, they still had a chance to advance to the knockout round, but they would need a miracle.  They needed to win, but also make up a -5 goal difference over Italy.  This meant not only would the Americans have to beat Egypt, handily, they would also need major help from Brazil, who was playing Italy. 

Coach Bob Bradley tinkered with his lineup a bit, starting the relatively inexperienced Charlie Davies at forward with Jozy Altidore.  The Americans played a perfect game.  Charlie Davies got an early goal, and was winning 1-0 at the half.  Meanwhile, the results were coming in from the other game.  Brazil was winning 3-0 at the half.  The Americans only needed two more goals to pull off their miracle victory.  Michael Bradley scored in the 63^rd minute, and Clint Dempsey clinched it with a diving header with 20 minutes left. 

It was an amazing day to be an American soccer fan.  But it was short lived.  They were to face Spain in the tournaments semi-final.  Spain was the reining champion of Europe,  were ranked #1 in the world, and was on a 35 match unbeaten streak.   

Once again, the Americans were given no chance.  And once again they answered the bell.  They stunned Spain (and the world) early on, when American star Jozy Altidore muscled by his defender, and put the ball past Spanish Keeper Iker Casillas.  The Americans were beating the best team in the world 1-0.  They played stout defense, doing whatever it took to stop the potent Spanish attack.  Finally, in the 74th minute, Clint Dempsey scored the second, all but sealing the win for the Americans.  It was one of the greatest wins in American soccer history. 

The Americans went on to face Brazil in the final, and looked as if they were going to shock the world again.  They led 2-0 at halftime on two world class goals, but couldn’t slow the Brazilians, and eventually fell 3-2.  They would have to settle for second place.  The American team was devastated- Clint Dempsey quietly wept as he received his second place medal.

But the tournament itself was a huge success.  The American players had proven to themselves, their fans, and the world that they could compete with any team on any given day.  They are not the most talented team in South Africa this summer, but when they play together, and play hard, they are capable of beating anyone. 

Check back tomorrow for Part II, an up close look at the American World Cup squad of twenty-three for South Africa.  You’ll recognize some of the names from today’s post.  I’ll give you a short bio, photos and key facts about each player.  I’ll show the United State’s probable starting lineup, and what each player’s role will be.  I’ll throw in even more videos, and highlight a few of our key players.