Alti-who?...

Suffices to say the last couple of days I have been bathing in
the US Mens National Team's (USMNT) recent excellence. For those who were not at my house with me during the game versus Egypt and/or Spain, you can rest assured I screamed for an unhealthy amount of time during and after both victories. Since then I have been ebullient, but also a little shocked and confused about what to think of the USMNT.

First, I think credit is due to Scott for highlighting Charlie Davies as the future of the team. I have been following him for quite a while via Yanks-Abroad.com but have been skeptical to put too much faith in his abilities. I would hear and see his name often on the website, and see that he was doing excellently for his club team Hammarby, but if Afonso Alves taught us anything it is that a striker can excel in a bad league and not have another gear to go to in international games. Luckily Davies did not flop like Alves and Davies looked lively, intelligent, and hungry for goals and assists in both games. I couldn't be more thrilled that Bob Bradley gave him a chance to prove himself.

Second, as I was thinking about what to say in this post I scoured the internet for articles on the US team. To be honest I don't/ didn't know what to make of our victories. Yes, I am extremely pleased the the United States team beat two excellent international teams. Yes, I think the United States team has an entirely different look and feel to it than it has in previous years. But the central question still remains: "did the US victory spark interest in the minds of Americans that could care less about soccer before the game?" I would say no, it didn't. The USMNT's win made the headlines on ESPN.com and remained there for about three hours, but one can only infer that it was put there because ESPN broadcasted the game and would like people to take interest in soccer because they own the rights to the World Cup. Below the headline there was a poll that tried to address the crux of the headline above -- essentially "do you care?" When I last checked about 65% of people said "yes." However, I think the poll missed the mark because changing one's perception of the national team and actually sparking interest in the minds of those who were apathetic before the game are two entirely different beasts. I doubt many people went on Wikipedia after reading the headlines to see who "Jozy Altidore" is.

In response to the poll, I would say that I have renewed faith in the USMNT's ability to beat the best teams in the world (a feeling that was lost after the 2002 World Cup), so yes the game changed my perception of the team. Yet I really doubt that fans of American sports (Baseball, Basketball, and Football) will go and watch the final of the Confederations Cup now that they know the USMNT is in it. And on a more personal note, the central question remains "do I care if they care?" More and more I find myself accepting American's disinterest in the sport seeing no reason to impose my love of the sport on their lives. So why does the media obsess over the fact that most American's don't care about the sport? I suppose it is just one of the many characteristics of America that alienates it from the rest of world and therefore gets more attention than it should.

Do you have any "fair weather" friends that now claim to support the USMNT after their excellent win against Spain? Do any of your friends want to get into soccer now that the USMNT has gained a grain of respectability?