With folks back home tuned in to World Cup like never before, US blows its big chance

Loss shows US not ready for soccer’s big time yet

RUSTENBURG, South Africa — With a cushy road into the semifinals theirs for the taking, the Americans showed they’re still, at best, a second-tier team.

U.S. coach Bob Bradley and his players can bluster all they want about the progress they’ve made and how they can play with anybody at the World Cup. When they had a chance to move into soccer’s elite, against a Ghana team they should have handled easily, the Americans came out looking flat and uninspired.

Ghana, they seemed to say, no big deal. Well guess what? It was, and it is. You want soccer to be a major player in the U.S. sporting landscape, like the NBA, the NFL and Major League Baseball? Then you can’t sleepwalk through your star turns.

But that’s what they did Saturday night, and by doing so, gave a slap to every fan who turned on the TV and hoped for a win, if not a last-minute miracle.

“A stinging, tough defeat,” Bradley said. “We knew Ghana was a good team and we didn’t get the job done.”

Not even close. After the Americans spent the last several days reveling in their newfound celebrity and talking tough about seizing this next opportunity, Ghana needed all of five minutes to score its first goal. That’s so quick, it’s a good bet some fans back home hadn’t even had a chance to sit down with their chips and dip.

The United States did tie it on Donovan’s second-half penalty kick and seemed to have momentum going into extra time. But sure enough, another early goal, another exit too soon. Ghana 2, U.S. 1.

“You’ve put yourself in that spot one too many times,” Bradley said. “We hurt ourselves with giving up the early goal again.”

You think? The U.S. team may as well trademark the term “falling behind early” they do it so often. It happened against England. It happened against Slovenia. It happened in World Cup qualifying.

Time and again the Americans said they wouldn’t let it happen again, and time and again they did. It finally caught up with them, and now they have to answer to fans who put their faith in them believing that, this time, it really was different.

“We were a mess,” said Nikki VanKoevering, who watched the game in Chicago. “I feel like soccer in America has the possibility to become more popular — and I think it has. But if we had gone further in the World Cup, the popularity would have been amazing.”

Yes, the Americans reached the round of 16 — further than defending champion Italy and 2006 runner-up France got. But this was their tournament to make a mark. Never before had the folks back home been so interested, so invested in the World Cup and a U.S. team. Celebrity fans are the ultimate form of street cred, and check out the All-Star lineup in the VIP seats at Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Saturday night: Former President Bill Clinton. Mick Jagger. Kobe Bryant — in a U.S. jersey, no less.

This wasn’t misplaced optimism, either. One look at the draw showed a spot in the semifinals was well within reach. Ghana and Uruguay, which beat South Korea earlier Saturday to reach the quarters, are both ranked lower than the United States. Ghana doesn’t even have its best player — Chelsea’s Michael Essien was sidelined with a knee injury.

Yet the Americans played as if they were still in the group stage, as if there would be another chance on another day. The only one who played with passion and intent was Donovan. Again. Even Bradley’s roster moves were questionable. The roster card is the only sign Robbie Findley was actually at the game. Bradley put Ricardo Clark back in the starting lineup, and he responded by turning over the ball to set up that first Ghana goal.

“We’re a little bit frustrated because we were right there,” captain Carlos Bocanegra said. “It’s frustrating and sad because we’re going home.”

Sorry, but you’ve got no one to blame but yourselves. The state of the American game is better now than it’s ever been, and the best U.S. players — Donovan, Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard — are in their primes. The team isn’t the equal yet of a Brazil or an Argentina, but it is better than what we saw on this day.

Better than it showed in the group stage, too. The end results may have been thrilling, but the United States should be beyond relying on good old American pluck and grit to get by.

“All I got to say is, they better be ready. Four years from now, we’re coming back,” fan Trevor Williamson said.

That’s the thing, there’s no guarantee of that. Soccer gets its turn in the spotlight once every four years. By the time the World Cup kicks off in Brazil in 2014, Donovan will be 32, Dempsey 31, and Bocanegra and Howard both 35. They all could still be playing, but there’s no telling if they’ll have lost a step or three.

The United States does have some talented young players — Jozy Altidore, Stuart Holden, Benny Feilhaber, to name a few — but there’s no way to predict how they’ll develop.

No, this was the time for the Americans to grab hold of their opportunity and do something special. And they blew it.