Does This Change Anything?

In other news today...

The United States men's soccer team defeated Spain 2-0 to advance to the Final of the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa.

Who cares?

Soccer, for those of you who haven't noticed, isn't that popular in the United States. It's criticized for being too slow, too boring, and devoid of scoring. I, myself, tend to like it. Actually, I'm obsessed, as the title of this blog may imply. So, pardon me if I get a little excited when recapping what I see to be the importance of this match.

The FIFA Confederations Cup happens every four years, and is seen as the "run-up" to the World Cup--arguably the largest sporting event in the world. It's hosted by the country who will be hosting the World Cup in a year's time, and while it's merely for bragging rights it's an opportunity for the host country to test out its new stadiums and for top countries to see how they stack up against the rest of the world.

In comparison to the rest of the world, the U.S. 'aint that good. In 2002 we surprised the world by advancing to the final 16 of the World Cup in Korea, but failed to make it to the knock-out stages in 2006.

Not only is our general apathy noted by the rest of the world, but out lack of development shows. However, since we have to compete against the likes of Ecuador, Bolivia, and Venezuela in order to qualify for the World Cup we make ourselves look a little bit better than we normally would be in competition with other parts of the globe.

That was all in the past.

Following poor showings in the opening two matches of the tournament, the U.S. owned Egypt, beating them 3-0 and only advancing due to Brazil's dominance of Spain by the same score.

Today, the U.S. defeated Spain, the reigning European Champion, and a team that had won its last 35 competitive matches. They boast some of the top names in the sport--Fernando Torres, David Villa, Iker Casillas, and Carols Puyol--and frankly, they were expected to steam roll a United States team which was seen as undersized and underskilled.

Analysts will tell you that Spain did not play their best, which gave the U.S. a decent chance. They're right. But give the U.S. some credit, they played very well, looking confident and well coached.

They will now face the winner of Brazil-South Africa on Sunday. A game that they might have a shot of winning, whichever the opponent.

The question for me is, does this change anything for this country? Media outlets across the world are calling this win historic. A team that is not highly regarded in the world took down the #1 team on the planet, by a decent score. Now, pundits may give the U.S. a shot of not only qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, but an adequate shot of going far into the tournament. U.S. stars liek Oguchi Onyewu, Landon Donavon, and Jozy Altidore may get a second look from the world's major clubs like Machester United, Real Madrid, or my beloved Rangers. And this win, although meaningless in the grand sweep of things, may start to get the U.S. the respect it deserves.

Yet, I predict that this story will not do much to advance the popularity of the sport in this country.

Those who pay attention, like me, will be astonished at the result, and may start to look closer at their own national team. Sportscenter will have the story covered well tonight, and it might even make the front page of the sports section of tomorrow's New York Times. But things will go on as usual, there will be no giant tsunami of soccer sweeping the nation. This win might get the team more viewers in the future, but it will take something far greater to change how this country percieves the beautiful game.

Like the Franklin drawn cartoon of old, the U.S. program has adopted the old motto, Don't Tread on Me. Maybe this win will allow soccer to not get trampled under the feet of the "big four" but other than that soccer nuts like yours truly will have to go abroad to get the latest headlines, watch the Primere League on the satellite dish and keep praying that the rest of the country changes their mind.