The USA’s World Cup involvement did not quite stretch as far as the fourth of July but their monumental last-stand against Belgium drew many admirers.
Goalkeeper Tim Howard, formerly of Manchester United and now at Everton, made a World Cup record 16 saves in one of the most thrilling, end-to-end games ever seen.
Howard’s teammates also showed levels of commitment and tenacity which put many other international sides to shame.
Teams with better individual players, such as England, Italy, Portugal and Spain, crashed out in the group stages after putting in inadequate performances.
What is the USA national team doing right, and what can jaded European teams like our very own sorry England learn from them?
Well, it helps that the game is growing in the country, in terms of those playing and also those watching the national team on TV.
The Belgium game was viewed by an estimated 22million Americans, despite being played in the middle of a working day.
The team’s manager, former Germany international Jurgen Klinsmann, also deserves a lot of credit.
Klinsmann took on the role in 2011 and his no-nonsense approach included dropping star names Carlos Bocanegra and Landon Donovan.
For Klinsmann, the team is everything, and the younger the players the better.
He gave chances to youngsters John Brooks and Julian Green, both of whom scored at the tournament, as well as DeAndre Yedlin, who shone on the right against Belgium.
The US is slowly coming to realise that they can in fact compete with the traditional football powers, and this means pushing on from their customary ‘plucky underdog’ approach.
Ultimately Klinsmann’s side did not comprehend that they had the ability to stand eye-to-eye with Belgium until they were 2-0 and decided to go for it.
Yet in each of their games at this World Cup, they showed enough to suggest that they can become a team to be feared at future tournaments.
How that contrasts with England, whose squad included a number of exciting talents but failed to deliver performances anything close to those of the Americans.
That contrast has not been lost on many in the English media:
If we all put £1 in a pot do you reckon we could persuade Dr Klinsmann to help with our national sport 1 day a week?
— Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) July 2, 2014
When England lost 1-0 to the US in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, newspapers back in the UK presumed the scoreline had in fact been 10-1.
The US were rank outsiders then, but we could soon find that it is England on the outside looking in, if the teams’ current trajectories are to be continued.
Main image courtesy of Associated Press via YouTube, with thanks.
