<grammarly-btn>I probably experienced the World Cup a lot later than many of you guys. I started watching sports again at the end of high school when my Lakers were at the top of the world. They just got Pau Gasol and had been to the NBA Finals three straight times when they finally got revenge on the fuckin Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals. Seeing Kobe and the guys put everything out on the floor and come away with a win in that ugly game will probably go down as the greatest sports moment of my life. After that amazing moment in time, I was looking for some other sport to give me my fix after the NBA Finals ended, so I picked up the World Cup!
I should be a better soccer fan but I'm not. I tune in every four years to see the best on the planet go at it with the highest stakes imaginable, and it's fucking amazing. I'm really heartbroken that the US didn't make it this year...I don't know why they didn't but people who are educated in soccer told me there were a lot of things wrong with the program. Bad management will definitely get you there. In an interview with Dan Patrick, Landon Donovan blamed it on complacency all around, from top bottom. It's just a shame we didn't even QUALIFY into the event. Man....I'm still pissed
In 2010 the US team made it into the dance though. They were headed by Captain America aka Landon Donovan who also played for my hometown LA Galaxy. He had legit skills, and could have played in the superior European leagues his whole career but he opted to stay in the United States for most of it. The USMNT was selected to play in Group C of the 2010 Cup, alongside England, Slovenia, and Algeria.
Game 1 began and the States drew a 1-1 tie against the United Kingdom. Then Game 2 happened and we tied again against Slovenia! It started a lot of the inevitable American chatter on HOW COME THERE ARE SO MANY TIES??? WHAT'S WRONG WITH SOCCER??? I didn't get bent out of shape about it though. If the whole world outside of our country is so enamored with this game, maybe we should let things develop a little more before we jump to conclusions.
Heading into Game 3 a lot of people assumed the worst: that there would be another tie or a loss. Here was this chance to bring excitement to the beautiful game in our country and our boys were blowing it with all these draws. Algeria was the final opponent of the group. And guess what? It was tied the whole freakin' game! At 0-0! Jesus Christ, not again.
The 90th minute came around and the US team just couldn't get that ball into the net. Algeria couldn't either. They tried knocking a predictable header into our goal in the beginning of stoppage time but Tim Howard was there to dig his mitts into the ball. He gave it a bounce then chucked the ball far along the right, which made its way into midfield at the feet of a streaking Landon Donovan. He pitched it to Jozy Altidore, who crossed it over to Dempsey who got his shot SMOTHERED. They still had a man advantage though, and Landon Donovan sprinted up the middle with all the open space in the world. He had one last attempt on the goal - and with the Algerian goalie out of position writhing on the ground...he gave it a measured kick and laid it in!!!
In the span of one minute and fifteen seconds, the US made an epic charge down the length of the pitch in an all-or-nothing last-second effort to take the lead against Algeria and win the game AND THE GROUP! It was also the first time the States won their group since 1930, before World War II. It's too bad they got eliminated by Ghana in the round of 16, 2-1, but I'll always remember that last-minute goal by Donovan that brought so much excitement to people like me who wanted to fall in love with soccer. Now if only the men's team can come with some sort of similar magic four years from now...I hope so! Check out the video of this moment below
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