Thoughts on the USA vs. Algeria Game and the USA's Chances in the Knockout Rounds

The USA vs. Algeria match yesterday was probably the most intense soccer game this country has ever partaken in, and I can say I was there to witness it in person. Did I have faith through in through? In all honesty, I did not. I wasn’t sure if the goal we needed to progress was ever going to come. But I assure you, when it did, I cheered as loudly and as passionately as I ever have in my entire life. Never has a sporting event moved me to tears, but yesterday did. It was the best sporting event I will possibly ever go to, and this is somebody who has seen his hometown team play in, and win, the Super Bowl. I will never experience what I went through yesterday.

The day started much earlier than it should have: 5:30 AM. We were told to wake up at this time by the company that we got our tickets through, despite our pickup time being 7:20. It also ended at 5:30 AM the next day when we finally got back to our hotel, with our company putting us on the 2:40 AM flight from Pretoria. A long day that had me truly frustrated with the people who were playing a huge part in my getting to live my dream of seeing the World Cup live. Truly cannot complain though, they got us to Pretoria (capital of South Africa, and is an absolutely gorgeous town) and they gave us great seats: we were in the lower deck, about twenty five rows up, just behind the Algeria bench. We also were pretty close to former president Bill Clinton, and were able to get some fantastic pictures of him looking out over the field from his suite.

The lineup that Bob Bradley fielded had three changes from the one that played against Slovenia: with Herculez Gomez, Maurice Edu and Jonathon Bornstein starting in place of Robbie Findley, Jose Torres and Oguchi Onyewu. The inclusion of Bornstein was a terrifying prospect to me: he is, in my opinion, the least talented player on the USA roster. However, he is the only natural left back that we have, hence why he was included to replace Onyewu, who Bradley must feel has not been up to snuff in South Africa. I have to say that this defense appeared much better than the one that took the field against Slovenia, mostly because of how organized they were. Carlos Bocanegra was very good in central defense, being much more vocal than Onyewu was in the previous matches, meaning that Jay DeMerit could play with a little more confidence knowing where Bocanegra was. Steve Cherundolo was our MVP in the first half, with much of the offense flowing through him on the right flank. He also did a great job of neutralizing Nadir Belhadj, Algeria’s talented left winger. And Bornstein, as much as he terrifies me, played a decent game. He was conservative and consistent, and proved that he can have a role on this team as long as he attempts to play within his skill level and does not try to make surging runs down the left flank that he simply can’t make. The biggest thing for the American defense was that they gave the Algerians the early goal opportunity that the Americans always concede, but the Algerians were unable to take advantage of it, hitting the crossbar instead of finding the back of the net.

The midfield had a quieter game than they did against Slovenia and England. Despite this, I think Edu is the man to start the next match against Ghana; he appears to bring the best out of Michael Bradley, and that is crucial to the USA’s success. Landon Donovan had an inconsistent game, Clint Dempsey missed a sitter (and scored a goal that was incorrectly disallowed), and Bradley played his usual game of controlling the offense going forward and making the occasional surging run into the box. For me, Bradley has been our second most important player this tournament behind Tim Howard. I’m not trying to snub Landon, who without the USA would not be in the Round of 16, but Bradley has been fantastic this whole tournament. He kept the fantastic midfielders of England in check, then played an all around superb game against Slovenia that culminated with him scoring the all-important tying goal and contributed heavily to the USA keeping a shutout for the first time this tournament against Algeria. He’s done this all without any continuity in terms of who he has played with in the center midfield position. Four different players have played alongside him there (Edu, Torres, Ricardo Clark and Benny Feilhaber, who also played well against Algeria coming on as a substitute), and Bradley has done a great job of adjusting to each of their styles of play, continuing to be a productive player along the way. At his young age, he would be a perfect pickup for a big European club after this World Cup. If it actually happens I am not sure of, but has he earned that big money move? Yes

The forwards of this USA team are very tough to rate because the job of the forward is to score, something none of them have done yet. Despite this, the forwards have had a good tournament in my opinion, and had another consistent performance against Algeria. Herculez Gomez was a good substitute in the starter position for Robbie Findley (who was suspended through receiving two yellow cards in the previous games), but wasn’t quite active enough for my liking. He had one great chance, but had a bad angle, and the Algerian keeper parried it away. Jozy Altidore, despite missing a sitter from six yards away, had a very good game. He is the type of player who gets better as the game goes on because his unique combination of size and speed wears down defenders. Are you aware he’s drawn 6 yellow cards this tournament from defenders? That’s a sick number of cards, proving just how difficult Altidore can be. The next step for him is technique though. Too many times his bad first touch ended an American chance to score. He has plenty of time to get better though since he is only 20 years old, making him an exciting prospect for the future.

As the game went on, I began to get less and less confident about our chances. I’d seen this too many times in sports: one team dominates and creates chances to win the game, but are unable to take advantage of them. This appeared to be another one of those games, especially heading into stoppage time. That was until Landon Donovan scored the biggest goal of his career, picking up a loose ball in the box and tucking it home after a Clint Dempsey shot, from a Jozy Altidore pass, was deflected by the Algerian keeper. I didn’t have a great view of the goal as it was on the other side of the stadium, but when I saw the ball go into the net, I, along with the other Yanks in the stands, erupted into cheers of jubilation and relief. I hugged my dad, mom, sister, and any American near me. I even hugged a couple of random South Africans behind me who didn’t care who won the game. I then broke down and shed a few tears: I had dreamt of attending this World Cup for six years and my family had traveled a far way to get to South Africa; one second it was to watch our boys finish third and miss out on advancing, to seeing USA soccer history. That goal, and the win that came with it, took the USA to the top of their World Cup group, the first time we’ve achieved this (we also set a World Cup record for least amount of minutes leading a match by a group winner, with two minutes in the lead). With this in mind, as the final whistle blew, I stepped on a few empty seats in front of me, raised my USA scarf high above my head, and proudly chanted USA along with the rest of the crowd. It was a moment of pure elation, where everything seemed right in the world.

I can only thank the USA players for providing this fantastic personal moment, whose performance truly epitomized their strengths as a team: grit, determination and desire gave that team victory yesterday and advanced them, not skill. It’s something the 2006 edition of this team sorely lacked, but it’s a quality this team appears to be overflowing with. Every player hustled; every player wanted the team to succeed. Not every team has this, just ask the French and Italians (delighted both teams are out by the way) and this quality is our team’s greatest strength.

Looking ahead, the USA appears to have a manageable draw to make it to the semi finals. Their Round of 16 opponents is Ghana, with their potential quarterfinal adversaries being either Uruguay or South Korea. All three teams are beatable; the USA shouldn’t be intimidated by any of them. That said, the Ghana game is scaring me greatly. Ghana will most likely be the only African team left in the competition, and will be motivated to advance to the quarterfinals more than any other team in the field. They will also have the support of the rest of the world; everyone wants Africa to do well this year (myself included). There will be no neutrals in Rustenburg on Saturday; the stadium will be all Ghana, with a few Americans sprinkled in.

That said, I am encouraged by how Ghana has played so far in this tournament. They really have not been that great of a side, scoring only two goals, both from the penalty spot. The Ghanaians were lucky to take all three points from a woeful Serbian side (my bad on that one), tied a lackluster Australia team without their key player, and were dominated by Germany despite only losing 1-0. Ghana is also a team with a weak goalkeeper in Richard Kingson, so there could be chances galore in front of the net for our boys. Considering the USA’s other potential opponent was Germany, the Americans have to be satisfied. The Ghana game is anything but a freebee though, and they will have to bring their A-game to have a chance of winning. That said, if the Americans get past Ghana, making the semifinals is expected from my point of view; when you get that far in the tournament and you either have Uruguay waiting for you, who has yet to play any team of true skill (a Mexican team that was all but guaranteed of advancing doesn’t count) or South Korea who simply aren’t as good as your team, you must no longer hope but expect victory. That is the difference between good teams and great teams: taking the field with the expectation of victory. I anticipate Uruguay to be waiting in the quarterfinals. If we get past Ghana, the chances of the USA making its deepest run at a World Cup in the modern era will never be higher. The question is whether they will take this golden opportunity ahead of them. For their sake I hope they do, as they will truly never have a better draw to get to the semifinals than the one laid out in front of them now.