World Cup - Thoughts on the Americans' Performance

Well the commentary on the United States's performance at the World Cup has ranged from utter disappointment to sheer ecstasy. When I talk to Europeans or South Americans they always say something like "well done" or "you must be pleased with their performance" and when I talk to other Americans (who actually follow the sport) they tend to say something like, "it's pretty disappointing" or "we should have done better." I agree... with both.

Before the World Cup, I said that the US should hope to get out of the group, and that that was a realistic expectation. Anything further should be seen as a bonus. Well that's just what happened. And if we look at our play throughout the tournament, it can't be said to have merited much more than an octavo-final appearance. We played badly against England and escaped with a draw. We beat Slovenia despite playing a horrible first half, except that the referee got confused and it wound up being a draw. And despite being stifled by a defensive Algeria side for 90+ minutes, we managed to scrape out a late goal. I agree that our play in those three games merited an appearance in the knock-out stages, but it didn't merit much more than that.

So then where does the disappointment come from? It comes primarily from two unfortunate elements of the seeding system for the World Cup groups and the understanding that because of that the US will most likely never again have such an easy path to the late stages of the world's biggest sporting event. Given the way the seeding for World Cups works, the US has virtually no chance of ever being the top team in its group. A combination of playing in CONCACAF, where the teams are weak, and the fact that a team has to do well in the World Cup to become one of the seeded teams means there is likely to be very little turnover in terms of who the seeded teams are. The only chance the US have of being seeded is if they host the tournament, but by then the seeding system will most likely have changed so that the host nation is excluded from being seeded. After all, from now on, the host nation will have to go through qualifying.

The other bad bit about the seeding is that the US is always selected from a pot that includes North America and Asia - the two weakest footballing continents (although they both fared better than Africa at this World Cup). This means that the US and Mexico are always drawn in a group with one of the top 8 teams plus one European team and one team from Africa or South America. Four years ago we got Italy, Ghana, and the Czech Republic (then ranked 2nd in the world). The year before that we were lucky to be drawn with the hosts but we still had to play Portugal and Poland. Imagine if that group had included Brazil or Argentina instead of South Korea! The US could never play a team like North Korea or Honduras (the two weakest teams at this Tournament) in the first round. It also means we would have to pull an massive upset in the first round (as we did this time because of the 2nd tiebreaker), or have a massive upset happen in the opposing group, to avoid a seeded team in the 2nd round.

What makes this year disappointing is that not only did we pull a massive upset in the first round this year, but there was an upset in the group containing our would-be quarterfinal opponents that saw France go out and Uruguay win the group. It meant that after the group stage, we were the highest-ranked team in our corner of the bracket. If it weren't for an England goalkeeping error and the inability of the Slovenian back-line to hold a two goal lead, the US would never have made the second round. We need help from the draw to get through to the second round. The only times we have done so in the modern era have been with incredibly easy groups (1994 when we were seeded as hosts, 2002 when we were with the hosts, and 2010 when we got the weakest teams from both the European and African/South American pots).

So it is a success that we got out of the group stage, but given the particular situation of this World Cup, we can be disappointed that we didn't make it into the later rounds. Now for my top performers for the US at the World Cup.

6 of the Best:

6. Jozy Altidore - He may not have scored but he did everything else. He hit the post against England after making Carragher look like a buffoon. His hold up play was excellent throughout, and the combination of pace and power presented real problems to opposing defenses. He assisted the second goal against Slovenia and won the foul that lead to the third (disallowed) goal. He was also instrumental in the winner against Algeria, playing the ball into the box that eventually popped out to Donovan.

5. Johnathan Bornstein - Started games three and four and was excellent. He is much maligned among Sam's Army (the name of the US MNT supporters' group), but he was super-solid defensively and even managed to put in a few good crosses. He was particularly good in the game against Ghana.

4. Maurice Edu - Only Bob Bradley knows why he didn't start against Ghana. If he had perhaps the US would have played Uruguay in the quarterfinals. He looked to be every creative midfielder's worst nightmare, always popping up in the right places to win the ball. Of course, he did score that infamous non-goal as well. The US looked 10x more comfortable when he was on the field, and he freed up Michael Bradley to get forward (see the equalizer against Slovenia).

3. Tim Howard - If it weren't for him, the US would have been down several goals against England, and we wouldn't have kept a clean sheet against Algeria. He may not have hit top form, but he showed how great he is by doing fantastically well while being far from his best.

2. Landon Donovan - He's the main man in attack and he showed he's capable of supplying the attacking impetus for the entire team. While Dempsey went missing for long spells at this tournament, Donovan was always looking for the ball, making good passes and surging runs. Three goals to boot, and you have a captain's performance at the World Cup finals. He must certainly captain the team in four years' time.

1. Michael Bradley - According to the more understandable Capello Index (the Castrol Rankings are just ridiculous), Bradley was the 12th best player in the group stage of the World Cup. I fully agree. He was everywhere. He not only covered an enormous amount of distance, but he won balls, made great passes, disrupted opponents' attacks, and when he played without Edu at his side, was the only calming presence in the middle of the park. He's got at least two more World Cup's in him, and at only 22, hopefully a long career in Europe as well. If Pops takes the job at Fulham, he could well make the move, and I would expect him to be a huge hit in the Premier League, as he has been in both the Eredivisie and the Bundisliga up 'til now.

5 World Cup Flops:

5. Oguchi Onyewu - He was at his imperious best against England, but after a dismal display against Slovenia, he was rightly benched. Against the better teams that play an aerial attack, he's great. Against anything else, he's out of his depth.

4. DaMarcus Beasley - A whopping 13 minutes through four games plus extra time show just how far he's fallen in the pecking order. One of the huge hits from eight years ago, he knows looks a fragile technically incompetent winger. No wonder he's managed to fall out of favor even in the Scottish Premier League.

3. Francisco Torres - The 45 minutes he saw on the pitch were 44 more than he deserved. He was absolutely horrid throughout and looked a far cry from the speedy, creative, bright player he was throughout World Cup Qualifying. We'll hope it was the nerves and that his national team career can get back on track. If he can get it back together he'll be good in the future, but he was a disaster at this World Cup.

2. Robbie Findley - My cries of dismay as he was announced as part of the starting lineup for the Ghana game turned out to be well-founded as he spurned the best chance of the first half. Appropriately substituted at half-time, it was one more half than his play had merited. He showed his utter lack of anything but pace throughout the entire tournament and it's a wonder what Bradley ever saw in him. He may be better than Ching, but that doesn't mean he actually should have ever been on the field.

1. Ricardo Clark - It's difficult to have a much worse World Cup than Ricardo Clark. He was responsible for the England goal after 5 minutes, and responsible for the Ghana goal after that same amount of time. He also managed to get himself booked. He lacked control, passing, positioning, and game intelligence - in other words, pretty much everything. I suppose Felipe Melo is about the only person who has a case for having had a worse World Cup, but even he had an assist and played four decent games.

For a More Normative World: In Defense of Intellectualism

Frequently economic crisis breeds hatred, and this current economic downturn has exhibited that tendency to frightening proportions. Particularly worrisome has been the islamophobic sentiment being expressed be even center-right political parties in the US and Europe. The recent debates on both sides of the Atlantic about banning the burqa have illustrated that this troubling tendency has reached new levels. Fortunately, the media has not been standing idly by and letting conservatives brand all Muslims as fanatical ideologues. Martha Nussbaum has written two articles for the new philosophy blog on the New York Times website (The Stone) detailing the faulty logic behind the arguments presented in favor of burqa bans. (Here are links to part 1: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/veiled-threats/ and part 2: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/beyond-the-veil-a-response/)

But as you may have guessed from the title of this post, I'm not writing about burqa bans or islamophobia today - at least not directly. Rather I wanted to build off of one paragraph in the second Nussbaum article. Here's Nussbaum's point: "I am not saying that all religious activities ought to be respected. Equal respect, in my view, is rightly directed at the person, and the core of human dignity in the person, which I hope Amy will agree all these people still have. Respecting their equal human dignity and equal human rights means giving them space to carry out their conscientious observances, even if we think that those are silly or even disgusting. Their human dignity gives them the right to be wrong, we might say." (Amy is a commenter on Nussbaum's article.) Her point here highlights a key problem with contemporary American society: our belief that acceptance must be non-normative.

Nussbaum is responding to critical comments about her first article arguing that defending the veil is a pardoning oppressive religious practices. This is a logical misnomer that is ubiquitous in our constant self-esteem-boosting society. People make the mistake of seeing cultural relativism and cultural realism as a two-sided question. If I believe that people should be able to engage in whatever religious practices they desire (with the typical qualifications such as that they in no way harm other people) then I am saying that all religious practices are equal. And the reverse, that if I practice one set of religious practices, I am condemning all others as foolish superstition. The first of these is obviously ludicrous. Certainly, we do not believe all religious practices to be equal. We do not sometimes pray to Allah and other times pray to a Christian God or a Jewish God. We do not partake in African tribal rituals and Amerindian tribal rituals intermittently. The reality of the situation is that the latter of the two beliefs I presented is much closer to the truth. We all believe our particular religious to be much closer to the Truth than those of others, and this is natural. If we didn't think our own practices were the most sensible, we'd change them. Our actions indicate a normative judgment on our part. The problem is that an explicit verbal statement of said normative non-verbal action is now taboo in our society.

Unfortunately, this plague of anti-normativism has reached such depths as to be readily apparent in the mind of 8 year-olds. My wonderful cousin, when I tell her "ewwww, you like broccoli" responds, "Alex, that's just your opinion!" She's right, it is just my opinion. That's not necessarily the issue. The real issue is the significance of it being "just my opinion." Since it's just my opinion it can be treated dismissively. This is not a castigation of my cousin. She's wonderful. And I was similar at that age. Rather, it's an indicator of how far society has moved towards full acceptance of passive totally non-normative interaction.

The real issue with this mode of thinking is that it represents an extremism of egalitarian attitudes towards ideas. You have an idea. He has an idea. We all have ideas. Some of these ideas are totally aesthetic, such as the aforementioned gastronomic example, but others are very much based on evidence of one variety or another. It may come as a surprise to those of you long removed from academic circles, but a strong egalitarian non-normative streak is impeding the thoughtful expression of ideas so essential to educative environments of all varieties. I remember quite frequently in high school students who complain about teachers and insist that a teacher had "given" them a bad grade because she didn't agree with them. While this still happens occasionally at college, it is limited to a smaller group of students.

The rational explication of any opinion (expressed in opposition to the opinion of someone else) is greeted (outside of the most cordial of relationships) as a personal affront. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that I believe that joining the military is morally wrong because it is an institution that takes people's lives. (This is totally hypothetical.) It might be appropriate for me to discuss it among my close friends, but the expression of such an opinion in a public setting would be seen as potentially offensive to military personnel and their families. But why?

This is where I return to Nussbaum's beautifully articulated point about respecting the human dignity of others. In no way does my argument that joining the military is morally wrong attack the human dignity of soldiers. I am not saying that they are inferior human beings. We are all human, and insofar as we are human, we are all equal. (Here one could make an animal rights argument if desired. I'm not attempting to make a statement one way or another about animal rights.) But society views normative statements that are critical of someone present as a personal attack when alternatively, they should viewed as windows to debating the relative merits of the various ideas. And isn't this supposed to be the environment of a college campus after all - one in which the free expression of ideas can take place unimpeded? That it has invaded college campuses reveals just how far this non-normative streak in American culture has come. It's time we took our own normative stand against non-normative extremist egalitarianism.

World Cup Villains

10. The French National Team and Government. Half the team wouldn't pass to Gourcuff and Govou in practice. Domenech changed the captain three weeks before the tournament. Anelka launched an expletive-ridden tirade at Domenech at a sensitive moment. The FFF removed Anelka without consulting Domenech. The players went on strike. Assistant coaches quit. France went home with one point. Henry has been called to meet with President Sarkozy. What a joke!

9. Kim Jong-Il. He hired Chinese fans to go to the World Cup and pretend to cheer at set points via instructions from the group leader. Truly pathetic.

8. Robert Green. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Was it the worst goalkeeping blunder in World Cup history? Quite possibly.

7. Felipe Melo. Appropriately jeered as he got off the plane in Brazil after their second-half implosion against the Netherlands, Melo has to go down as the primary protagonist of Brazil's self-destruction. He scored the own goal (albeit with some suspect goalkeeping from Julio Cesar) that gave the Netherlands a lifeline and then proceeded to get himself sent off for a stamp on Arjen Robben after Sneijder had put the Dutch ahead. Down a goal and with a man less, Brazil never looked much like getting back in the match.

6. Jorge Larrionda. Already famous in America for his pathetic display during the USA-Italy match four years ago in which he showed three red cards inside of 50 minutes, the English will now have his name forever etched in their indelible record of World Cup disasters. The red card for Pablo Mastroeni's (he's American) tackle four years ago was considered a make-up call for an "error" (which had been the right call) committed earlier in the half. The inexplicable decision not to award Frank Lampard's goal off the underside of the crossbar can be considered nothing but a make-up call for England's goal against Germany 44 years earlier in the World Cup final. Pathetic, truly pathetic

5. Roberto Rossetti. As if the Italian's ignominious departure at the group stage was insufficient to demonstrate the country's importance to international football, Roberto Rosetti (who's actually not to blame, it's his linesman's fault, but I can't find his name anywhere) and his crew decided they had to win Italy some headlines some way, so they decided to allow arguably the most offside goal of all time.

4. Koman Coulibaly. Responsible for the worst refereeing blunder of the tournament when he mysteriously disallowed an 88th minute goal which would have sealed a dramatic comeback win for the United States against Slovenia, his has to go down as one of the worst blunders in World Cup history.

2/3. Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong. After I spent 15 minutes debating which was actually the worse of the two, I decided to just put them together. De Jong's obliteration of Xabi Alonso's rib cage via some martial arts technique previously unwitnessed on a football field has to go down as one of the worst challenges in World Cup history. That he got away with it makes him that much more villainous. Mark van Bommel, on the other hand, may be the tournament's most consistent villain. Fouling every chance he got, including a vast number of cringe-inducing challenges (see the 1st half tackle on Andres Iniesta), complaining constantly to the referee, diving, and pretending to have great sportsmanship the whole time solidified his place in the top three.

1. Luis Suarez. It can't be helped. For those of you who say that he was doing what any player would in his situation, you're right, up until the point he starts celebrating the missed PK hysterically and gives a press conference affirming that his is the "real hand of God." If he hadn't been a prick throughout the tournament, maybe he could have gotten away with the most outlandish move since Maradona's "original (now) hand of God," but his constant remonstrations with the referee and persistent diving ensured he would be number one on this list.

0. The most important villain of all has to be FIFA/Sepp Blatter. With a communication department that is strikingly reminiscent of some Orwellian "Department of Information" and a knowledge of public opinion that approaches the incompetence of Sarah Palin, there can be no debating the tournament's primary villain. Everything was lovey-dovey in the glazed-over eyes of FIFA. It was as if someone had pumped nitrous-oxide into their luxury box before the first game and forgotten to turn it off. The officiating was brilliant (NOT, see previous entries on the list), the tournament showcased the great skill of the world's best players (The best players tanked and the skill on display was really rather minimal compared to some World Cup's in the past), and the tournament was a success for South Africa (which may be true up until now, but what they're going to do with the stadia in the future while they're paying off massive public debt remains to be seen). Blatter is nothing short of a humbling-bumbling idiot, who's pig-headed unwillingness to keep the sport modern betrays his fundamental conservatism. It's high time football got itself a competent leader, and hopefully this World Cup goes some way to demonstrating Blatter's mindset has reached the point of being an anachronism.

World Cup Goals - Top 10 and Team of the Tournament

10. Landon Donovan vs. Algeria. Few times in the history of the World Cup has a country had the chance to celebrate passage to the next round at such a belated stage. Not only did he both set up and finish the goal, but its importance is undeniable. I'll stay out of the debate about what it means to American soccer and leave it to everyone else to make a fools of themselves, but I think it has to go down as the greatest goal ever scored (with all due respect to Joe Gaetjens). I fully admit to being biased, but you're reading MY blog after all.

9. Fabio Quagliarella vs. Slovakia. His chipped shot from 25 meters took everyone by surprise including Slovakian goalkeeper Mucha, not that there would have been anything he could have done about it anyway. When the ball's placed that perfectly, "you don't stop those."

8. Keisuke Honda vs. Denmark. Honda was so great that although entering the tournament as Japan's "star player" most people weren't even talking about him. Now that the tournament's over, a whole host of top clubs around Europe are looking to sign him up. His free kick showed his technical ability, but with an equally impressive work rate, he looks a good pickup for whomever gets him.

7. Mesut Özil vs. Ghana. Technically perfect from a difficult position, Özil's strike showed why he was one of the silkiest players at the the tournament. With the deftness of touch that reminds one of Berbatov, a eye for the pass almost as good as that of Xavi, and technical finishing of a quality Rooney could only dream of at this World Cup, Özil showed why he deserved to make the team of the tournament. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough space to include him.

6. Carlos Tevez vs. Mexico. What can you say, the ever-working Man City forward showed why he is one of the Premier League's most feared attackers with a thunderous strike from close to 25 meters. Straight into the top left corner.

5. Maicon vs. North Korea. Maicon pulled out his best impression of former Brazilian full-back Roberto Carlos, albeit from closer in and with the other foot with this surprise strike to put Brazil ahead against North Korea. A great strike from a classy player - everything you want to see in the World Cup's list of top goals.

4. David Villa vs. Hondruas. Granted, Honduras didn't field the best defense at the World Cup, but they only conceded three times, and one of them was to a wonder goal from the newly acquired Barcelona man. After he burned half the Honduran defense, he proceeded to score while losing traction with his plant foot and sliding to the ground. Great goal from the tournament's best forward.

3. Iniesta vs. Netherlands. Okay, so it's not a beautiful goal. It wasn't perfectly passed or perfectly finished, but the little man from Albacete, as soft-spoken as he is short, scored the most important goal in the history of a nation, thereby creating one of the most memorable moments of World Cup history. My hair stands on end just thinking about it. A more euphoric moment Spain has perhaps never had, thanks to the diminutive and humble Barcelona midfielder.

2. Siphiwe Tshabalala vs. Mexico. What a way to open the World Cup. It was an edgy affair this game that had all the looks of a nil-nil snooze-fest until Tshabalala, brilliantly played through by I don't remember whom launched a rocket into the top left corner. Breathtaking. And everyone outside of Mexico was celebrating.

1. Gio vs. Uruguay. This was a truly impossible shot. Appropriate that the last goal Van Bronckhorst will ever score is the goal thousands of players hope to score once in their lifetimes. From an impossible angle and an exceptional distance, he left the goalkeeper absolutely no chance as the ball sailed into that same top left corner. Stunning. Absolutely stunning.

Team of the Tournament:

GK. Saint Iker Casillas. After the Chile match I was calling for Pepe Reina. After the Paraguay match I decided it might be okay to go with Casillas. After the Germany match I was thinking Casillas was okay. And after the final, I think Casillas is probably the best goalkeeper in the world. TWICE, he beat Robben (dirty Dutchman #3) when he was clean through on goal. The penalty save against Paraguay and the stop of Kroos's sitter rank among a host of the best saves of the tournament. On the bench, I'd take Nigerian keeper Vincent Enyeama. His performance against Argentina was the best of any goalkeeper in any match at this World Cup. If I were taking a full 23 man roster, the third goalkeeper would have to be Robert Gr... okay that was a bad joke. How about Kiwi 'keeper Mark Paston. He turned in three excellent displays.

RB. Maicon. He consistently looked like the best player for Brazil. The goal against North Korea was fantastic, but his leadership and solid play both defensively and offensively throughout helped to carry a Brazil side that struggled to make a big impression. On the bench are Phillip Lahm and Sergio Ramos.

CB. John Mensah. Big, strong, steady, imperious, he was excellent for Ghana. Calmed a young team from the back.

CB. Carles Puyol. What can you say? His goal took Spain to the semifinals, and a team that doesn't give up a single goal in the knock-out rounds can only lose on penalties. Puyol is one of two players on Spain's team who know how to play the hard way (the other is Busquets), and Spain needed all of his steeliness to win the tournament. On the bench, I'll take Diego Lugano, Arne Friedrich, and Antolin Alcaraz.

LB. Fabio Coentrao. His marauding runs up the left flank were about the only thing that made Portugal look good offensively. He displayed more attacking talent than a certain Cristiano Ronaldo at the World Cup, and it didn't hurt that Portugal only gave up one goal the whole tournament. I don't know if there's another left back who stood out. Bornstein was excellent for the US, but he only played two games. Capdevila was solid for Spain, but he was probably the worst member of their starting 11. Boateng was good for Germany, but he didn't play all the time. Maybe Fucile for Uruguay. He seems a decent choice as a backup.

Holding Midfielder: Bastian Schweinsteiger. Playing against Spain in the midfield is difficult. When the rest of your midfield goes missing it's nearly impossible, but Schweini did a fantastic job against the world's best team. He was also the creative impetus against Argentina and Uruguay when Özil would go missing for long spells. Sergi Busquets and Michael Bradley make my bench.

CMs: XavIniesta. They are inseparable and are the most lethal combination in all of footballdom. It used to be that you talked about strike partners; they've turned it into midfield duos. The creativity of the two is unmatched, and their combination for the Villa goal against Portugal and the Puyol goal against Germany, in addition to Iniesta's tournament-winning extra-time volley against Holland means that both have to make my list. Sneijder and Boateng (the Ghanain one) make my bench here.

RAM: Thomas Müller. It's pretty difficult not to include the tournament's golden boot winner in the team, and that's the case here as well. While his five goals alone weren't enough to win it, his three assists put him over the top. Who knows what Germany might have been able to do against Spain if he hadn't have been suspended. I doubt they would have done much more, but it does lead to speculation. From having never having been capped eight weeks ago to being the tournament's golden boot winner, his rise has been nothing short of meteoric. Robben's on the bench with Landon Donovan, although I would have preferred to have left Robben off.

LAM: Robinho. I'm sure it won't be a popular choice, but Robinho was the only "flair" player to do anything for Brazil at this tournament. His goal against Holland was excellently taken but his assist for Elano to score what would be the winner against North Korea was even more impressive. With Kaka having lost anything resembling form, it was down to Robinho to provide the attacking impetus, and he did so with great aplomb. Gervinho and Andre Ayew make the bench.

Forward: Diego Forlan. He carried Uruguay to the semifinals with the help of Luis Suarez's handball. He was voted best player of the tournament even a non-admirer like me has to admit he was excellent. I don't like him, but he'll start on my all-tournament team. David Villa is relegated to the bench where he'll join Luis Fabiano, Miroslav Klose, and Samuel Eto'o, who did everything he could while being played out of position.

Anyway, I still have a bit more to write about the World Cup before I get into transfers and the forthcoming season so stay tuned.

World Cup Players - Highs and Lows

To relaunch my blog with a more refined focus (I'll be talking mostly about football from now on, but do expect the occasional foray into a different field), I've decided to bookend my not-so-great predictions to the World Cup (although I did have Spain winning the whole thing) with a reaction to a few individual players.

Brazil Lowlight: Watching Lucio roll around on the turf faking an injury... against North Korea. It's one thing to do it in a Champions League Final; it's another altogether to do it against the World Cup's worst team. Nothing short of "truly pathetic" could adequately characterize this action.

Brazil Highlight: Maicon's opener against North Korea. I can't help but admit feeling bad for the North Koreans. They had played admirably over the first two-thirds of the game and to let a goal in at that stage must have been heartbreaking. But they can certainly take solace in the fact that the goal was spectacular. It will be one of a handful of goals I remember for the tournament.

Dutch Lowlight: Arjen Robben. Get ball. Run up right flank. Cut inside. Shoot. Complain to ref. Complain to linesman. Complain to ref some more. Get ball. Run up right flank. Fall down. Roll around in agony on turf. Wave imaginary card. Complain to ref. Complain to linesman. Shoot free kick ten meters high. Wait for ball. Throw hands up in air in disgust when Van Persie shoots instead of passing the ball. Throw hands up in air in disgust when Sneijder shoots instead of passing the ball. Throw hands up in air in disgust when Kuyt loses the ball because he his touch has the sensitivity of a donkey. Fall down for no reason. Scream at referee. Repeat.

Dutch Highlight: Gio's goal. Goal of the tournament is an understatement. It was the goal of a lifetime. And to have scored it as the opener in a semifinal World Cup match makes it all the more special. Your career might not have ended with you lifting the trophy, but perhaps you can be content with goal of the tournament.

English Lowlight: Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, Barry, Terry, Carragher, Upson. I don't think this requires analysis.

English Highlight: 5 minutes into the world cup, a Ricardo Clark gift of a goal. Well played by Heskey, but the fact that their World Cup highlight came 5 minutes in should tell you something.

American Lowlight: The aforementioned Ricardo Clark. What was going through Bob Bradley's mind when he started Clark ahead of Edu against Ghana nobody will ever know. But it cost us another goal. Of the four we gave up, two can be directly blamed on Clark, and he didn't even play 90 minutes. He's clearly not ready to play at this level yet, and that showed for many of the fringe players. While the big name players played well for the most part (Clint Dempsey excluded), the fringe players didn't look so hot (Gomez, Findley, Clark, Feilhaber, and Torres).

American Highlight: Need I mention Landon Donovan's goal? Clearly that's the best moment in the history of American football. The celebrations triggered around the country in the middle of a work day were truly amazing. But I'd like to focus on one of the unsung heroes of the US at this World Cup: Jonathan Bornstein. Already a hero in Honduras for scoring the goal (against Costa Rica) that put them through, Bornstein should have become a hero in the US as well this summer. He started games three and four for the US, and was steady as a rock in all of them. Reluctant to get forward at first, by the end of the tournament he was delivering more quality balls into the box than anyone except Landon Donovan. The number of times he provided cover or won the ball in the Ghana game alone was truly impressive. Michael Bradley was the player of the tournament, Donovan scored the best goal, but the unsung hero should be Bornstein. Edu deserves an honorable mention here.

German lowlight: Being drawn against Spain in the semifinals. Everyone knows this should have been the final. Germany were clearly the second best team in the tournament, and they can consider themselves victims of the draw that they didn't reach the final. A class act throughout, even in defeat, this is a team impossible not to respect.

German highlight: Among the various classy players, Schweinsteiger is a head above the rest for me. When the rest of the German midfield went missing against Spain, Schweinsteiger was left to cope 1 vs. 4 (and later 5) against the best midfield in the world and he didn't do badly. He was the creative impetus in the Argentina team and a defensive rock against Germany's other opponents. I think one would be hard-pressed to pick someone else as their player of the tournament, although Müller, Lahm, and Özil all played exceptionally.

Ghana lowlight: Asamoah Gyan, how can you not score that?

Ghana highlight: Asamoah Gyan, how can you score that (x2)?

Uruguay lowlight: Luis Suarez's reaction to the missed PK and post-match comments. I think most people want to take his "real hand of God" and shove it up his ass. The insensitivity of the comment is truly astounding. If he had said "It's really unfortunate for Ghana, but it was just an instinctual reaction on my part. My condolences to their team," maybe people would have forgiven him. Now he's made himself the villain of the tournament (until De Jong and Van Bommel went about mauling the Spanish)

Uruguay highlight: Okay, fine, I'll admit it. Diego Forlán had a great tournament. I don't like the guy at all, but he carried his team, and he deserves much of the credit for their great performance.

Japan lowlight: Participating in "lamest knockout match in the history of the World Cup."

Japan highlight: Keisuke Honda, clearly. Endo was also excellent.

Paraguay lowlight: See Japan lowlight

Paraguay highlight: Alcaraz - solid in the back and scored the opener against Italy. It helps that his name sounds evil. I can just hear parents saying "If you don't eat your peas, I'll send you to Alcaraz!"

South Africa lowlight: Victims of poor refereeing. There's no way Khune should ever have been sent off. 1) There was an offsides on the play and 2) The player was moving away from goal anyway. England, France, and South Korea all benefited from refereeing as hosts. Unfortunately, South Africa were not so lucky.

South Africa highlight: Siphiwe Tshabalala. You'll hear more about his goal when I talk about my top moments of the tournament, but his goal for South Africa against Mexico was symbolic on so many levels on top of the beauty of the goal itself.

Sometime soon I'll offer my best moments of the tournament - stay tuned!