2010 us world cup rivalry

World Cup parties, glorious sunshine … and a goalkeeper's nightmare


It was a spill altogether more welcome to the USA than that which has dominated headlines of late and left the England goalkeeper wishing the South African bushveld would swallow him up.

Thousands of England fans who had converged on a remote mining town in South Africa trooped away disappointed last night after Robert Green's error earned the USA a 1-1 draw.

The din of vuvuzela horns, combined with the England supporters' brass band, made for an unusual atmosphere and drowned out the traditional football chants in the open bowl of the Royal Bafokeng Stadium. It was well into the second half before the first chants of "In-ger-land" and "God Save the Queen" could be heard drifting into the chilly night sky during what was a disjointed England performance.

In response, American fans chanted "USA, USA" and, more inventively, "We don't need a Queen". Vice-President Joe Biden had been into the American dressing room an hour before kick-off to wish the team good luck and Barack Obama had relayed a message to the team.

It appeared to have done them little


The stakes of this game were so wildly high. It had been hyped up for months, since people realized the World Cup draw had set up the tournament's two best teams to meet way too early in the quarterfinal. There was a chance at the World Cup on the line, obviously. But also, the US team’s equal pay suit was built on the back of its soccer record, and for its case to hold up, it really could
not
lose in the quarterfinal. And there was that Twitter thing with Trump.


If you weren’t following the USWNT, here’s the thing you might not realize about this game: A lot of people didn’t expect the US to win it. The team had won the 2015 World Cup, sure, but it had spent a lot of the next four years in a pretty bad funk. (I’d like to state for the record that I blame coach Jill Ellis.) It hadn’t beaten France in its last three meetups; months earlier, it had lost to France 3–1.

Then there was Rapinoe. There was a time where a lot of people thought she was basically done with the USWNT. After an ACL tear at age 30 and a bad 2016 Olympics, a lot of people were
happy
to write Rapinoe out — partly because she had knelt during the national anthem in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. And y


The US and the 2010 World Cup




Our series on the US at the World Cup continues with a look at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.


Following its poor showing at the 2006 World Cup, the US was clearly in need of new leadership, and three weeks after it’s exit from the tournament, the US Soccer Federation announced that head coach Bruce Arena’s contract would not be renewed. When negotiations to hire Jurgen Klinsmann as the new head coach could not be completed, Bob Bradley was named as interim head coach in December of 2006. In May of 2007, the interim tag was removed only weeks before the start of the 2007 Gold Cup tournament. There, Bradley coached the US to the final on June 24 in front of 60,000 spectators at Chicago’s Soldier Field where a 2-1 win over Mexico capped a six game run in which the US outscored its opponents 13 goals to three.

Four days later, the US played its opening group game at the 2007 Copa America in Venezuela, its first appearance in the tournament since 1995. With little time to rest, and using a squad largely comprised of young MLS players, the US was grouped with, Argentina, Colombia, and Paraguay in Group C. It was a disappointi

World Cup 2010: One-sided rivalry remains football's grand illusion


One of the many splendours of modern technology is that it is able to transmit round-robin witticisms to those who might otherwise find themselves short of an
aperçu
at the most opportune of moments. Consider the embarrassment averted this morning at Port Elizabeth airport, when the BlackBerry of an England supporter beeped obligingly into life. The screen was consulted.

"This is great," he bellowed to assembled travellers, sweetly extending the bounty to those who were not in his touring party – and indeed those not fortunate enough to have won first prize in the lottery of life and been born an Englishman. "This World Cup is exactly like the second world war," he guffawed. "The French surrender early, the US turn up late, and we're left to deal with the bloody Germans."

It brought the house down. Unfortunately, he wasn't buried in the rubble.



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