In the 26th minute in Sunday’s Confederations Cup final, the United States was on top of the world.
Landon Donovan had just extended the Americans’ lead to 2-0 over five-time World Cup champion Brazil with a truly world class goal. He quickly retrieved the ball from Ricardo Clark off Brazil’s faltered attack, passed a brilliant ball ahead to striker Charlie Davies, ran the course of the field, expertly handled the return pass, tip-toed the ball around the defender and hammered it into Brazil’s net, leaving keeper Julio Cesar looking helpless.
With Donovan’s goal it appeared the United States was on its way to upsetting its second world power in a row. However, in the second half the dream was crushed as Brazil showed its true character, scoring three unanswered goals to claim the Confederations Cup for the third time.
After a goal by Luis Fabiano in the opening minutes of the second half, you could feel the weight of Brazil begin to fully register on the backs of the Americans. The Green and Yellow then released an onslaught similar to the one the U.S. had survived in their historic win over FIFA #1-ranked Spain earlier in the week.
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The Americans’ defeat of the best soccer team in the world today (Spain) in Bloemfontein, South Africa, will go down as one of the greatest sports victories, internationally, in the history of our country.
The 2-0 victory in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup is being dubbed “The Miracle on Grass” in honor of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” hockey team win over the Soviet Union at the Winter Olympics.
Like 1980, the Americans were giant underdogs going up against a much more talented, experienced opponent, but with a fighting spirit and a refusal to quit, the U.S. was able to do what was thought to be impossible.
Sports pundits in this country aren’t forced to talk about soccer often, so when confronted with the world’s game they typically resort to negativity. When the team snuck its way into the semifinal, the American sports media cited a sketchy rule in the tournament that allowed them to advance in the first place.
It was a miracle in itself that they made it this far after losing their first two games of the tournament to Italy and Brazil. It took a gutty 3-0 win against the champions of Africa (Egypt), and help from the Brazilians defeating Italy by the same score sent the Americans through on goal deferential over the Italians (4-3).
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If Ryan Dempster’s having a little bit of an “off” year, there may be a perfectly good explanation the rest of us can relate to quite easily: his newborn daughter Riley has been hospitalized since the day she was born over two months ago.
Riley was born prematurely and has a syndrome that prevents her from swallowing. She basically lives in an incubator with a tracheotomy tube in her throat to provide food.
For a parent, not exactly a dream come true.
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Three games, three brawls.
Question: what’s been my interleague play experience?
There may be numerous objections to Allan H. Selig, but there are few that dispute interleague play and all its glory.
I should state that fighting is wrong and should not be condoned anywhere, let alone a public venue, but I can’t deny it was fun to watch. Take into account that the one’s I saw were in the upper deck, and it just adds to the majesty.
I won’t sit here and say all games are as charged as Cubs versus White Sox, because few games can live up to that, but what I am saying is there’s an energy in these games you just don’t see in a normal one. And yes, the Cubs-Sox games are more heated than Yanks-Sawx, because they see each other six times within an eight mile radius of each other. As opposed to the 3,400,945,434, 903 hours of coverage they get over their games.
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Interleague play is in full swing these days, and I know it’s cliché, but, “Can we all just get along?”
Having lived in the Chicago area for 33 of the past 34 years, I’ve witnessed the evolution of the Cubs-White Sox rivalry. Although interleague play has existed since the 1997 season, I still don’t understand this “rivalry.”
I understand the allegiance to one team, but I don’t understand a rivalry between teams that meet six times a season. The games are essentially meaningless. They account for less than 4% of the overall record.
I get rivalries such as Yankees-Red Sox, Cubs-Cardinals, Dodgers-Giants, etc. These teams go head-to-head 18 times. The games have three times the significance and create a legitimate feud between different cities.
The Cubs-White Sox rivalry causes a lot of chaos. The majority of the people attending engage in mild trash talk and light hearted banter, but there a few who take it too far every year.
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The name Giuseppe Rossi has been a sore topic of discussion for the past few years in the darkened watering holes and chat rooms U.S. soccer fans typically congregate.
When the New Jersey born soccer prodigy, Rossi, elected to play internationally for the country of his parent’s birth, Italy, fans in this country called him a traitor, a Benedict Arnold, and a slew of other names that would make your Mother’s skin crawl.
One online soccer website has even made a “Rossi Rule” which asks posters to refrain from making derogatory statements about Giuseppe and his family. Nevertheless, after the Azzuri’s 3-1 defeat of the U.S. this Monday in their opening game of the Confederations Cup in South Africa in which the Italian-American scored two magnificently taken goals, I’m sure those soccer forums are on fire again.
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