USA TODAY Column: …To be sure, Tim Howard was spectacular. People who say they don’t care about soccer cared passionately about this. In a country driven by winning, Americans by the millions realized that there can be both joy and dignity in missing the quarterfinals.
But let’s not over-interpret it – although I’m afraid some of us already have. If you haven’t heard the talk, it goes something like this: The 2014 World Cup will take soccer to an entirely new level in this country. People will want to follow these players on TV, if not in person. U.S. kids will want to play the game even more. And, if you don’t love soccer now, there must be something wrong with you.
Whenever there’s a big international sports event involving a U.S. team, the nation invariably rallies behind it. It has happened in ice hockey at various Olympic Games, most memorably with the Miracle on Ice in 1980, and as recently as 4 1/2 months ago in Sochi. It has happened in women’s soccer several times, especially with the historic 1999 Women’s World Cup. It happened in Olympic gymnastics in 1984, and again in the women’s team event in 1996. And on and on it goes… (more)
