I was able to attend the World Cup qualifying game this week between the U.S. and CRC (Costa 
Rica, not the Christian Reformed Church). In spite of the 40 degree temps and light rain, it was an incredible game to see. The U.S. dominated the game, but was down by 2 at half. They came from behind, and playing with only 10 men tied the game with 20 seconds to go in stoppage time. The tie clinched first place for the U.S. in the CONCACAF group, and prevented Costa Rica from qualifying.
For the record, Jozy Altidore, all of 19 years old, is an amazing player to watch in person. Almost always double and triple teamed, he rarely lost the ball and was fascinating to watch.
Anyone have a couple extra tickets to South Africa next summer? Just wondering …
In anticipation of today’s NFL game between the Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins, my 
brother said, “If [the Lions] win only 1 game this season, I hope this is it.” Being Lions fans living in the D.C. area, we rarely have cause to celebrate. But today’s victory is certainly one of those moments, ending a 19 game losing streak dating back to 2007. They couldn’t have chosen a better team to use to end the streak.
As fun as it was watching the Lions look like they actually belong in the NFL, it will be just as fun watching this town try to figure out what happened. They take their Redskins football just a tad bit seriously.
The U.S. Men’s Soccer team had an amazing run in the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa. The U.S. team was less than impressive in its games leading up to the tournament, and stunk up the place in its first two games of the Cup. Against all odds, they won the last game of Group play and advanced to the semi-finals (thanks to goal differentials).
In their semi-final match, U.S. beat Spain, the number 1 team in the world. Spain had a 35 game unbeaten streak heading into the match, but the U.S. won with a stunning 2 – 0 shutout, easily marking it as one of the biggest U.S. victories of all time. Unfortunately, in its first-ever FIFA tournament final match, the U.S. gave up a 2 – 0 lead, losing to Brazil 3 – 2.
While they came up short, I was proud of the turn-around they made, and it gave me a bit of hope for next year’s World Cup. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Tim Howard in goal. He was easily my favorite of the tournament.
While it was heartening to see the U.S. do well on the world stage, I’m anxious for the day when those types of results are expected. Donovan’s quote after the game summarized my sentiments well: “We are in the position where we don’t want respect, we want to win.”