cklablog

Of all the ways you can end up at 3-2, going up 2-0 and taking that lead into the halftime break has to be the most painful.

Landon Donovan has been my man of the tournament — for me, he’s been the only player to play well in all of our matches, even the horrible opening two. After the game, asked that same old question about progress and the growth of the game in the United States blah blah blah (officially over that entire topic, thanks), Landon said that he felt we were at a level where it wasn’t enough to compete, we want to win. Well said.

Clint Dempsey had tears in his eyes as he accepted the second-place medal, a mark of pride in my opinion. He clearly wanted it badly, played accordingly, and had a legendary victory in his grasp before watching Brazil reassert itself and prove that the much-ballyhooed talent-gap was no media fiction.

When it mattered, they had much more than we did on both sides of the ball (save for in goal), and nobody who watches this sport could really be surprised by the result. But for it to come after such a hope-filled first half was torture. We’d rode our luck against Spain, but the same by-the-skin-of-our-teeth defending wasn’t going to keep Brazil out of the net.

When Luis Fabiano’s first goal went in, the belief fizzed out of me with a trickle. For that goal to come so early in the half, and leave them essentially 45 minutes to get the second? Gutted.

Rocket Love

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 7:12 am and is filed under Football (Soccer). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.