World Cup recap: Team USA survives
DAY ONE: Following tradition, the tournament kicked off with the host nation playing in the opening match. As expected, Brazil swept past Croatia by 3-1, thanks to two goals from teenage heart-throb Neymar and some incompetent Japanese officiating.
In an example of truth being stranger than fiction, Japan soccer fans have since flooded the Internet with apologies, pleading that Croatia not judge the Japanese by their referee.
DAY TWO: And the rest are off and running! Mexico beat Cameroon 1-0 in a driving rain storm after two perfectly good goals had been disallowed by more poor refereeing. Chile eased past the good-natured Aussies by 3-1, and in the big match of the day, reigning world champion Spain was demolished 5-1 by the blazing speed and skill of the Dutch.
DAY THREE: Colombia entered the tournament with confidence after villagers in the Andes painted their sheep in Colombian colors and trained them to play soccer against Brazilian sheep, which the Colombian sheep duly won. It obviously worked, as Colombia was an easy 3-0 winner against Greece, while Costa Rica upset favored Uruguay 3-1.
In the day’s other games, Ivory Coast was bolstered by supporters playing jungle drums and was a 2-1 winner over Japan. Heavyweights Italy and England slugged it out in hot and humid Amazon jungle weather until Italy’s 35-year-old Andrea Pirlo proved that experience and skill still beats youth and enthusiasm, and led the Italians to a 2-1 win.
DAY FOUR: France easily slipped past Honduras 3-0 after the Central American team was reduced to 10 men, thanks to a rush of blood to the head by defender Winston Palacios, resulting in his ejection. Switzerland and Ecuador traded attacks for the entire game until Switzerland broke away in the dying seconds to score the 2-1 winner.
Soccer giant Argentina faced first-time World Cup finalist Boznai-Herzogevina, everyone’s favorite after the devastation visited on their tiny nation by last month’s torrential rain storms. The minnows were more than holding their own until four-time world player of the year Lionel Messi set off on a scintillating run to score in a 2-1 victory.
DAY FIVE: It probably had to happen some time. Nigeria and Iran both played as if afraid of losing, and after 90 turgid minutes, neither one did with the game ending in a 0-0 tie, allowing spectators to wake up and gratefully go home.
The other two games involved nations in Team USA’s group.
Germany faced Portugal and world player of the year Christiano Ronaldo and simply demolished them. Thanks in part to Portuguese defender Pepe who head-butted a German player and was promptly sent to take an early shower. Germany took advantage and ran out easy 4-0 winners.
By massive coincidence, Team USA’s opening match was against Ghana, which had eliminated the U.S. from the two previous World Cups.
This time the U.S. raced out to a 1-0 lead as striker Clint Dempsey scored a superb goal in just 34 seconds, making it the sixth fastest goal in World Cup history. From that moment, the U.S. rode their luck and everyone else’s luck too, and survived a Ghanian bombardment until the 82nd minute when they tied the game.
Team USA pushed forward on wobbling legs in the dying minutes for John Brooks to score and take the game by 2-1.
The win puts the U.S. in strong position to progress out of the round robin.
The next game for Team USA is against Portugal on June 22, where a win will guarantee the next round.
A news item from the World Cup — there are more American soccer fans in Brazil, including NBA star Kobe Bryant, than from any other country.
Pundits are already suggesting that the sport has finally embedded itself into our national psyche and that the future for soccer in America is sky high.
Certainly, TV shots of the crowds watching Team USA’s match against Ghana at open-air screens from New York to California testified to a huge surge in popularity.
— Colin Sellwood will write a World Cup column throughout the tourney. Email comments to cwsellwood@gmail.com