We Won 1-1!

The big game came and went in the blink of an eye and left me with a lack of reaction. A draw wasn't something I was expecting, although I guess I should have been hoping for that at a minimum like many other Americans back home. In my opinion, a draw isn't good enough, not at the World Cup, but it is better than a loss. An emphatic newspaper headline in the states read: "America Wins: 1-1" and I guess I can understand what they are trying to say, even if it doesn't make sense at all.

In the overall scheme of the game, the Americans were sloppy. The passing was erratic and there seemed to be a sense of nervousness that usually accompanies the American team into a big game. In most big competitions, the first match for the USA is always sloppy and ugly and usually ends with humiliation. So for us to end with a 1-1 draw against a strong English side, it feels like we won something. But what exactly did we win? Confidence.

For the USA, confidence within the team is hard to come by and a lack of leaders makes it even more difficult to get this to believe in itself. Landon Donovan expressed strong belief in himself as a leader and in the team. He even went so far to say that he was ready to step into a leadership position for the team. Carlos Bocanegra was given the captain's armband for his leadership capabilities and yet when Steven Gerrard opened the scoring just under five minutes, neither men stepped up all that well. The USA seemed destined to follow in its own self destructive footsteps of every other major tournament and fall apart. But a leader did emerge and the team recouped and kept their heads in the game and continued to play at a high level and this is how we won. We are not a country of football prowess so it takes us more time to elevate ourselves to the world stage. For the first time, we didn't back off, we didn't tuck our tails between our legs and home, and we were able to fight back following our new found leader, Tim Howard.

For many English people watching the game, beating the yanks is something that should happen without a problem and yet the Americans gave the Three Lions all they could handle. Wayne Rooney was effectively taken out of the match. He had a few touches here and there but was quiet overall thanks to the defensive duo of Oguchi Onyewu and Jay DeMerit, both of whom had question marks coming into the Cup. Donovan played decent but not up to the expectations or level of last year's Confederations Cup. The USA constantly tried to threaten through the middle of the field and occasionally was able to use their speed to simply outrun a slow English defense. Jozy Altidore looked good on a few plays, especially when we outran Jamie Carragher and took a shot that deflected off the post and out of reach. Clint Dempsey had a mediocre performance highlighted, by the biggest stroke of luck to strike the US team in years, when his twenty five yard strike bobbled through Green's hands and into the net. English fans will be complaining for years about that goal and will be reluctant to accept that it still counts and the that's that. The man of the match was Tim Howard. Granted, it always helps when the opposing teams shots come directly at you but he managed to hang on and play through a rib injury from Heskey's tackle. All in all, for a first game in a major competition, the USA played a decent game and most importantly, showed they have the mental tenacity to be here.

Looking to the future, I hope that Bob Bradley can figure out a way to use the fast pace of the American team to out class our next two opponents. We definitely showed that we have speed but we don't exactly know what to do with it. The defense has to learn to not give up such quick goals because the momentum change can be insurmountable when a great team scores quickly. To reiterate my point, this American team managed to keep it together, work together, and fight back. This is the biggest step for us and we must continue to move forward, win the next two games, and show we belong amongst the top teams of the world.

-El Guiri