Joe Gaetjens place in US Soccer history was secured on 29th June 1950. The goal secured a shock win over England, then the self-proclaimed kings of soccer. On Sunday 11th July 2010, just over sixty years to the day since Gaetjens famous striker, is it possible that another US soccer player could write his name into the history books by scoring the goal that puts the USA on top of the soccer world?
Qualification is never guaranteed but the squad currently head the group table going into the last round of matches. A 3-1 reverse in San Jose put a dent in the US’ hopes but the 4-0 thrashing handed out to their last opponents by their next opponents in August gave Bob Bradley’s boys renewed belief that securing their place for South Africa 2010 is in their own hands.
A number of teams have already been confirmed for the live World Cup finals to be hosted in South Africa and include some familiar faces and some more surprising. Five-times winners Brazil who have never missed qualifying for a tournament have been joined by Paraguay from the South American qualification pot. Argentina a previous winner of the World Cup is yet to fire on all cylinders under Diego Maradonna and qualification is far from secure. The World Cup has never been won by a country outside of South America and Europe with the latter bound to produce contenders for next years title. So far, they include1966 winners England, reigning European Champions Spain, and the Netherlands who are former European Champions and widely considered to be the best side never to have won the World Cup.
2002 joint hosts Japan and South Korea have both qualified as have Australia. North Korea make a surprise appearance after a 44 year absence from the tournament. Ghana are the first African representatives to successfully come through qualifying, although South Africa are already there as hosts.
The US MNT currently lie 11th on FIFA’s ranking list, lower than 3 of the above teams and with another 2-3 almost certain to join them in South Africa as a minimum. Yet form going into a World Cup is in no way a guide to the identity of the hands who will ultimately lift the trophy.
The US competed in the first two tournaments in the 1930’s and then again in Brazil in 1950. However, without a successful professional domestic league, coupled with soccer being somewhat of a minority sport overshadowed by the giants of the NFL, NBA and NHL, participation in what the majority of the world considers the biggest sporting event next to the Olympic Games has been far from the central consciousness of the general population. It was all change in 1990 when the national side qualified for the tournament after being granted host status for the 1994 tournament on the condition the MLS was established. Three subsequent qualifications for the tournaments in France, Korea/Japan and Germany in 2006 have raised international expectations of US performance. USA went as far as the 1/4 finals back in France ‘98 where they lose 1-0 to Germany amidst controversy.
The current crop of players to wear the Stars and Stripes have regular competition at home and abroad. While record breaker Landon Donavan now plies his trade alongside England international and former Manchester United and Real Madrid megastar David Beckham at LA Galaxy, many of his international team-mates are sampling what the wider world can offer.
Amongst the higher profile stars are DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Clint Dempsey and Eddie Johnson (both Fulham FC, England), Carlos Bocanegra (Stade Rennais, France), Michael Bradley (Borussia Monchengladbach, Germany), Oguchi Onyewu (Milan, Italy) and former Manchester United goalkeeper Tim Howard who currently plays between the uprights for Everton FC also on the English Premier League. However, the list of US internationals on the rosters of foreign clubs continues to grow with representatives of the national squad also in Portugal, Denmark, Norway and Mexico to name but a further four.
With the tournament itself scheduled to take place during the South African winter, the players from North American but with European experience should find the climate to their liking. Other than anomalies in the ‘94 USA tournament and 2002 the trend in recent years seems to be for countries from the host continent to win the World Cup finals. Brazil have always been he exception to the rule with wins in ’94 and ’02 but the hosting of the FIFA World Cup in Africa for the first time produces an interesting question – who will acclimatise best and enjoy the most success?
The women’s equivalent of the US national team have experienced success in the Olympics and World Cup tournaments in recent history. As the MLS increases the popularity of the game known to the rest of the globe as ‘football’, the ability of the men to step up to the plate and produce their own piece of history will only grow as more and more players register opening up soccer as a game to those athletes who would previously have been lost to track and field, basketball, baseball, hockey, football….the list goes on.
England’s national game for over a century has produced a single set of World Champions. Brazil’s poor but huge population has seen five separate triumphs. The combination of available population, facilities, ability to attract the best in the world to both play and train is present in very few nations – the US is one of those. And if it all comes to fruition one day, a new world order may just have started in soccer terms.
