What’s different about this moment for U.S. soccer

When the U.S. soccer team reached the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup, I experienced first-hand some good cheer from a most unlikely source: The dean of a generally sour British press corps.

The same bitter lot whose reigning “sportswriter of the year” later dubbed the final match between Brazil and Germany as The Boys from Ipanema vs. the 22nd Waffen SS Panzer Division. Or something like that. And this was penned in one of the “quality” broadsheet papers, not a tabloid.

I met World Soccer magazine columnist and veteran soccer journalist Brian Glanville at the media center in Seoul the day after the Americans’ scintillating second-round win over Mexico. Groggy from a lack of sleep on a midnight train from Jeonju (they should write a song about that!), I was unprepared to shake hands with someone I had read for a number of years and regarded as a world-class curmudgeon. In a good way.

So when Glanville said to me upon our introduction, “It’s fantastic, the States doing that,” I did a double take. He wasn’t being facetious in the least. It was genuine admiration for what a soccer minnow had accomplished on the biggest stage of the sport, with literally the whole world watching. The way the Americans played in losing to Germany in the quarterfinals was even more impressive. Without Oliver Kahn in the nets, that imaginary arm coming out of Gregg Berhalter’s forehead and Torsten Frings’ impression of the Venus de Milo, Rudi Völler’s boys might have been busted down to regular Wehrmacht.

Up until that moment, the Yanks had generated more headlines for the heavy security detail that followed the team everywhere just a few months removed from Sept. 11. And for the team’s visit to the DMZ. It was refreshing to write about what the U.S. was doing on the field, and not the larger context of Americans in the world in the newly-coined Age of Terror.

That run for the U.S. in Korea was eventually regarded as a fluke, given the disastrous World Cup cycle that ended in three-and-out ignominy in Germany.

But looking back on that time now, in the wake of the shocking U.S. upset of Spain in the Confederations Cup semifinals, I’m not so sure. Perhaps what has worked against the Americans’ efforts to develop on a consistent basis is timing and alternating levels of expectations.

In recent years, the U.S. seems to have played better with the pressure off. In 1994, the Americans did respectably well under the duress of being hosts, getting to the second round before falling to Brazil. In 1998, with aspirations of matching that performance, they fell flat, finishing dead last among the 32 teams in France. When Bruce Arena took his team to Korea, we weren’t expecting much, again, but a win over Portugal and a draw with the co-hosts South Korea had the U.S. on the verge of advancing. That it lost the only game it was expected to win, the group finale against Poland, was telling.

Going into Germany, the American public had been told that budding young stars like Landon Donovan and experienced hands like Kasey Keller in goal comprised the best U.S. team ever put together. Aside from that bizarre draw against eventual champion Italy, there wasn’t much to back that up.

Now we have a U.S. team that a little more than a week ago was being savaged by the tiny American soccer press contingent. There were plenty of calls for the head of coach Bob Bradley. The style of play and player development that is unique to the States was once again called into question. Also facing the heat were players like Donovan, who at times has shrunk in big games, and Atlanta’s own Ricardo Clark, whose red card in the opening loss to Italy set the tone for what appeared to be another miserable FIFA tournament. After the 3-0 drubbing by Brazil, American soccer bloggers howled in humiliation. Surely this coach can’t go on, and this team must be broken up.

That same coach, and those same players, were pitted in the finals against the new Boys from Ipanema again. After stunning the five-time World Cup winners by taking an early 2-0 lead, the U.S. could not withstand the barrage and fell 3-2. It was still the best finish ever for the Americans in an official FIFA event.

The most impressive aspect of the U.S. win over Spain was that it was so comprehensive, from first to final whistle, from one end of the field to another. There was no fluke here, no fortuitous own goal or late penalty kick to sink the Spanish Armada. It was the Americans taking out the talented Xavi Hernandez, in my mind the best midfielder in the world right now, from his playmaking role. It was stranding the prolific David Villa and Fernando Torres as a result. It was bagging two goals past the fabulous Iker Casillas, who hadn’t conceded even one.

It was a dominant performance, even as Spain peppered Tim Howard’s goal. Donovan has been an absolute lion out there. The central defense has been superb. Jozy Altidore is showing just a glimpse of his marvelous potential. Yet they haven’t gone into convulsions about it, which is a healthy sign. Clark’s perspective strikes a nice balance.

This showing also comes less than a year before the World Cup in South Africa, which means there will be greater attention placed on the U.S. than ever before. There’s still work done to get there, and how the Americans play in the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup ought to be scrutinized just as intensely as the Confederations Cup.

So should their massive qualifier at Mexico on Aug 12. Right after Mexico had defeated Venezuela in a Wednesday friendly at the Georgia Dome, Mexico coach Javier Aguirre was asked about the U.S.-Spain match earlier that day. He and his El Tricolor were watching intently as their continental nemesis scored one of the biggest upsets of recent international soccer history. Mexico is fighting like hell to finish in the top three of CONCACAF qualifying and avoid a playoff against a South American team. They understand very clearly how the stakes have been heightened by what happened in Bloemfontein.

More importantly, the Americans are making the rest of soccer world take notice as World Cup qualifying hits its climax all over the planet. This is what’s different about the place the U.S. finds itself in. The Yanks won’t be able to vanish into a post-World Cup lull for a year or three, until the next World Cup reveals them. They’ve revealed all of themselves in South Africa, the good and the ugly, at one of the most critical stages a team can draw back the curtain.

There are permanently raised expectations now for U.S. soccer, and that’s a very good thing.