No Moral Victories

The band-wagon is nearly empty again in the United States with a 2-1 loss to Ghana in the knockout stage of the World Cup sending many so called soccer fans back into hiding. And while their resiliency, plus their success made this Team USA squad easy to root for, in the end they can only be described as disappointing. 20-years ago advancing to the round of 16 would have been an overwhelming success..now it's simply not good enough.

When ESPN analyst John Harkes stated we should be "proud" of Team USA during the final moments of the Ghana match, I nearly lost it. Proud of what? They essentially played one good half in what what was a winnable game. I found their performance far more agitating than those vuvuzela horns ever could be. For the third time in four games, they put themselves behind the eight ball by allowing an early goal. They were slow, sloppy and disorganized in the first 45-minutes, and the decision by head coach Bob Bradley to start Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findley proved to be a disaster.

Like John McClane in "Die Hard", the U.S. always seemed to be able to bounce back, which was part of their charm. However, you can't yell out "Yippee Ki Yay!" every time and expect the result to end in your favor. So after tying the game on a second half penalty kick by Landon Donovan, and thoroughly outclassing Ghana, the United States simply ran out of steam. In the process, they missed out on a tremendous opportunity here.

This was a chance to keep soccer in the mainstream for at least another week if not longer. Team USA actually had people paying attention to the sport, no small feat in this country. On top of that, the road to the semifinals was paved in gold with Ghana, and then Uruguay to deal with. I'm not saying those are easy teams to get past, but they are manageable games. They weren't taking on the likes of Brazil just yet. So excuse me if I'm not throwing bouquets, and giving the United States a pat on the back. Instead of front page news, their World Cup exit has for many, put soccer back into the storage closet. See most of you in another 4-years.