Almost Famous

“We don’t want respect, we want to win.” - Landon Donovan, after losing 3-2 to Brazil in the Confederations Cup final


It would be easy to agree within Landon, America’s superstar forward, and say that the US soccer team is to the point where respect doesn’t matter, only wins matter. In the case of the Confederations Cup final, which the United States lost 3-2 to Brazil yesterday, however, respect does indeed matter.

I’m not going to sit here and pretend that winning isn’t the ultimate goal every time Bob Bradley sends his men on the field.. It is. Just because the US team fell short of that goal, it doesn’t mean that it came away from the game with no goals met. Sports aren’t an all or nothing proposition.

Before the Yanks can beat the perennial soccer powers (England, Brazil, France, etc.), they have to be able to run up and down the field with them for ninety plus minutes. The runner-up finish in the Confederations Cup is particularly hard to take because for the first forty-five minutes, the US seemed to be clicking on all cylinders. Tim Howard was making save after save, Jay DeMerit and Oguchi Onyewu were in the right defensive spots, and Landon Donovan was slicing through the Brazilian defense with well-timed runs.

The United States took the lead on a Johnathan Spector cross to Clint Dempsey eerily similar the same assist to goal combination from the US win over Egypt days earlier. Circumstances got even better for the US when Charlie Davies and Landon Donovan showed the world their speed with a sweet give- and-go, resulting in a powerful strike from Donovan to give the Yanks a two goal lead headed into the break.

Everything changed with the Luis Fabiano goal less than a minute into the second half. The US went from on the attack to on its heels, from being the hunter to being the hunted, and ultimately from the winner to the loser. From there it was only a matter of time, Brazil smelled blood, tied the game, and then sealed it with Fabiano’s second goal with just over six minutes left.

This isn’t the team for mainstream sports fans and pundits to give up on US soccer.

If anything, Sunday’s loss should be the introduction of an inspiring, growing soccer program to the American public. I realize that soccer will never trump the big three (baseball, basketball, or football) in this country, but it may break into the top five with a solid performance in next year’s World Cup. Everyone loves an underdog, and the US soccer team is the preeminent soccer minnow in a pool of European and South American sharks.

Landon Donovan is right, it is about wins. They will come in time. For now, we need to realize that the American effort on Sunday is a reason to watch for what’s to come, not a reason to ignore US soccer until another mainstream media splash.