I sat there on my couch anxiously hoping against hope that somehow the US could pull another goal back and force a much more talented, much more aggressive Belgium team into a penalty shootout (which would have been a first time experience for the USA at a World Cup). The goal that would have evened the score didn't come and the US joined the long line of mourners, over 200 nations across the world, who all dreamed of winning the World Cup, international soccer (Err, football's) biggest prize and who would eventually fail to meet that goal. There's no shame in losing to a superior opponent or falling in the round of 16, but the loss did sting a bit. Tim Howard was heroic, the defense stubborn, the team as a whole bursting with fighting spirit, all good consolation in my mind. The fact was that at the end of the day the team was just not good enough, just not lucky enough to get it done. I remember watching the World Cup in 2002 when the US shocked the world and defied logic by making the quarterfinals (losing to eventual runner up Germany). Landon Donovan, Brian McBride, Jeff Agoos, Demarcus Beasley, Brad Friedel...even after three subsequent World Cups, those name still ring in my mind and bring a smile to my face. Sadly though, much of the country didn't seem all that interested, even with the quarterfinals appearance.
Fast forward a few years and it's hard to not see the growth. I saw the crowds in Kansas City, Chicago, bars and parks crowded with fans in red white and blue on Twitter and Instagram. I saw the irrational hope, the scathing criticism and the thanks of so many fans. Slowly but surely, we're growing as a "Footballing nation". Some of us had the outright audacity to believe that we could WIN the World Cup with the talent on hand. I even allowed myself to dream a little of making a push towards the semifinals. The fact is though that we're not ready. As fans, we have to be patient. I'm proud to say that as a fan patience is one virtue I have in abundance and I have American football to thank for it. From the days I'm old enough to remember my dad screaming at a television until 2009, I watched and endured the teasing promise and sometimes utter futility that was the New Orleans Saints. The early 1990s brought us hope of a rise to the ultimate glory, a Super Bowl win, but was eventually washed away with mediocrity and a return to the downright dreadfulness that was the team's hallmark for the three decades prior. 2000 saw another bit of hope spring up with our first ever playoff win...but we had to wait a little more. Then, in 2006, after Hurricane Katrina and all the devastation with it, we saw hope again with another rise led by Drew Brees. But we had to wait a little longer for the dream to come true. In 2009, bounties and lack of defense and all, it finally happened when they beat Indianapolis to win Super Bowl XLIV. Same story for me as an LSU football fan. By the time I was giving college football more of an interest, LSU was a sleeping giant. A faded powerhouse who had fallen on hard times in the 1990s after a glorious run that crested with a National Championship in 1958. As a young, hopeful fan, I joined older fans in the long wait for LSU as a whole. We saw a glimmer of the grit and guts when unfancied LSU beat #1 Florida in a stunning upset in 1997 in our own Tiger Stadium. I'll never forget being a child sitting there, seeing the halftime score and staying up late that Saturday night to see the huge win. I hoped that we would be great again right there, that it was the beginning of a new era of LSU football. But I had to wait a little longer. I had to suffer a little more in 1998, 1999 and 2000 when we inexplicably lost at home to Alabama-Birmingham. Then a Southeastern Conference title in 2001. In 2003...after holding off a brave Oklahoma rally...I was listening on the radio when I finally heard words that LSU fans were desperate for so long to hear again....
"THREE....TWO....ONE....ZERO!!!! TIGERS ARE THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! LSU BEATS OKLAHOMA 21-14!"
Nobody cares we had to share that one. In 2007 we got another one to keep all to ourselves.
The point of all this babbling is that to remind fans of the US team, old and new, in and out of America, that sometimes suffering is essential part of the process. The problems that plague US football (err...soccer?) will not be fixed overnight. We're not going to find a world-class striker by just waving a magic wand and pretending Lebron James is Christiano Ronaldo. Nor are we going to find midfielders and the quality depth that we have all at once. These things take time and a lot of building towards and can lead to some pretty frustrating and angst-ridden results. One thing I will say is this: as a fan who's lived his life hoping for the dream to come true and finally seeing it, TWICE, I say let's stick to it. We shouldn't dismiss a sport because we're not the best at it (hell, look at baseball, we invented it and still can't win a tournament of our own imagination), but we should embrace it for what it is, a chance to live an impossible dream.
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."- Thomas Paine
Keep supporting the cause, fellow fans. Go Go USA. (And Well Done, Belgium.)
by 
Subject: Carlos's Thoughts on the World Cup 
... cheap LSU plug.