USA-Algeria: And Now, A Whole Lot Of Americans Are Soccer Fans

Last Friday, with the United States having battled back from a near-fatal 2-0 deficit against Slovenia, Maurice Edu pounded home a volley off a Landon Donovan free kick, capping our most remarkable comeback in World Cup history. Except... It was disallowed.

Remember? All the U.S. players were onside, the only fouls on the play came from the Slovenian side, and yet, there was Koman Coulibaly, sprinting into the picture blowing his whistle. And somehow, for some ungodly reason, his whistle went against the Americans.

One of those rare, cruel moments that sports gives us, and we all have to sit there and take it. It’d be tough to swallow with any sport, but particularly with soccer, the cruelty had broader implications. With what felt like the entire country watching, the Americans nearly pulled off a comeback for the ages, but instead, found themselves on the wrong end of a vague, incomprehensible whistle that could only come from ... (shaking head) ... soccer.

Joe Posnanski nailed this sentiment just hours after it happened:

...It will baffle a lot of people who wanted something to remember. And it will give a lot of people who didn’t like soccer in the first place a chance to say: “What the heck was that?”

By the same token, he wrote, a win that day “would have given a lot of people all across the country a moment to remember … and a story to tell when people asked, ‘So, when did you become a soccer fan?’” Completely true.

But good lord, if enduring Friday’s hollow draw is what gave us today’s moment in the 91st minute, then it was all worth it. A million times over. A trillion times over. Exhilarating, and then breathtaking. We screamed at the top of our lungs, and then caught our breath, because we couldn’t believe what just happened.

The Americans should have had a goal in their match against Slovenia, and they should have a goal in the 18th minute of today’s match. But it was so much sweeter this way. Even if the refs and the U.S. team had conspired to lull us into a collective state of fatalistic dread that felt like one, long, 90-minute torture session. The 91st minute rewarded us.

“We embody what Americans are about,” said Donovan afterward. “We believe, man.”

On the brink of elimination, with American sports fans all across the country watching, we got a moment that we’ll remember forever. As a sports fan, that’s the holy grail—when something happens, and you know right then, for the rest of your life, you’ll remember where you were for that moment. And isn’t that true of the Landon Donovan’s goal at 90:46?

The U.S. gave us one of those moments today. And now, instead of “What the heck was that?” we can say, in between catching our breath, “That was... Everything we could ever want from sports.”

And of all things, soccer is what gave it to us.

...And just like that, it’s a good bet that a whole lot of Americans just became soccer fans.