Men’s National Team Lose but Wins American’s Hearts
Is This the Loss They Need to Succeed in the World Cup?
June 28th, 2009 could be a turning point for the United States Men’s National Team. Over 3.1 million homes were tuned in to watch the Americans take on mighty Brazil in, if nothing else, an extremely entertaining 90 minutes of soccer. The game joined World Cup games against Germany (2002), Ghana (2006) and Colombia (1994) in the top four for all time viewership for a US match.
Despite the USMNT heartbreaking loss, the team has finally arrived onto the world scene and demands respect from even the toughest of opponents; just talk to the former world #1 Spain. In only 2 weeks time the US MNT has gone from a squad that was on the outside looking in, to a team that (if can stay fit) has a legitimate chance to not only qualify but compete on the finest of world stages: The World Cup.
In the past the U.S. might have chalked the loss up to a ‘moral victory.’ Let’s be honest here, soccer is not America’s best sport and being runner up to Brazil in a FIFA sanctioned event 10 years ago would have been a miracle. But this isn’t 10 years ago and the team has gotten exponentially better.
Players learn from losing and it’s safe to say now more than ever before that the US MNT want the real thing. Maybe in future training sessions they’ll push themselves harder, practice longer and strive to become an overall better soccer squad.
When the Confederations Cup began, how many analysts or American soccer fans would pick them to be in the final match? Nobody!
They might not be expected to win international tournaments in future (few teams ever are) but they will certainly be expected to progress to the later stages of any competitions they enter.
That is a significant shift in status.
The rest of the soccer (futbol) world might hate to admit it, but the U.S. is now a team to respect.
Watch out for the Yanks!
