Frenzied Action

Quite a day for the USA.  In Pretoria, the drama unfolded like a well-told Hollywood story:  The underdog American team, branded the tournament sweethearts for unfair officiating in the second match against Slovenia, needed to beat the solid Algeria team in order to advance out of group C.  The same went for the Algerians; no points, no advancing.  The world watched as England played out a steady hand (or foot?) against Slovenia, leading 1-0 early on.  The tension built.  If neither the US nor Algeria could score, both teams would be out of the World Cup.

The match was frustrating for both teams.  The US got lucky with a wild shot off the cross bar, and the Algerians were lucky with a very questionable off-sides call.  89 minutes into the match, the score stood at nil-nil.  In a final, desperate attack, Clint Dempsey shot hard, the ball deflected back in front of the net.  Landon Donovan came in with the heart-stopping rebound and drilled in the glorious goal.

Wow.  No wonder he was so happy.

Pure, unbridled joy

(credit: unknown, but obviously not me)

If Pete Docter wrote this in a script for the next Pixar film, studio executives would have laughed it out of the offices for being too trite.  Beeyootiful.

Plus, I would be awfully surprised if this doesn't increase State-side interest in soccer.  Michael Bradley (I almost typed Baldy) plays for Borussia Mönchengladbach in Germany.  Donovan plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy team, so we've got MLS representation.  Who knows, maybe our passion will equal that of the French, but hopefully a little less pouty.