PRETORIA, South Africa — PRETORIA, South Africa — When the bus carrying the U.S. team turned the corner into Loftus Versfeld Stadium, the driver suddenly had to pump the brakes. There were people in the road, hundreds of them.
Fans waving flags. Fans with flags draped over the shoulders. Fans with flags painted on their faces. Fans wearing jerseys. Fans wearing funky felt Uncle Sam hats. Fans dancing. Fans singing. Fans chanting. Fans blowing on vuvuzelas. Fans banging on the side of the bus.
U.S. fans.
The symbolism wasn’t lost on Coach Bob Bradley and his players as they gazed out the tinted windows. They had arrived, in more ways than one.
Soccer has been eternally searching for its seminal moment in the United States, and it may have arrived Wednesday in the dying minutes of a game against Algeria played on a chilly afternoon on the opposite side of the planet. The U.S. men have reached the second round of the World Cup before, but this might be the first time they reached the second round when anybody noticed back home.
When anybody cared.
U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati was asked afterward if the 1-0 decision against Algeria, forged by a dramatic injury-time goal from talismanic midfielder Landon Donovan, qualified as the biggest win in American soccer history.
“Let me think: Yes,” Gulati said. “We’ve had other wins that were very important, but the difference with today is that America was tuned in. I don’t like to use the term ‘tipping point,’ but this would have been a great opportunity lost.”
Added Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber: “We don’t get many moments like this. I think it’s a sign that people are starting to pay attention. We always talk about the water level rising with soccer. Well, today the water rose.”
It was one of those days when nothing would go right, and then everything did in a sudden, glorious whoosh of fortune. In one swing of Donovan’s right foot, the Yanks went from World Cup elimination to winning the game to winning their first-round group to receiving an unimaginably navigable route to the semifinals.
They’ll play Ghana — 1-0 losers to Germany on Wednesday — in the round of 16 on Saturday in Rustenburg, the same “lucky” stadium where they tied England in their opening match here and where they beat Egypt 3-0 in the 2009 Confederations Cup. Win that, and they get Uruguay or South Korea, two teams also below the Americans in the FIFA world rankings. Win that, and they’re in the semifinals for the first time in the modern era.
The Americans technically finished tied with England — a 1-0 winner against Slovenia — atop Group C with one win and two ties. The first tiebreaker is goal differential, and both teams were at plus-one. The second tiebreaker is total goals scored, and the Americans had four to England’s two.
That gave them their first group title in World Cup history.
Another first: A win in the third and final game of the group stage. Entering Wednesday they were 0-for-7, including five losses in third games of five straight World Cups dating since 1990.
One thing that wasn’t a first: how they did it.
Drama has become the hallmark of this team, the ability to hew magic from desperation. Down 1-0 to England after four minutes? Down 2-0 to tiny Slovenia at halftime and facing probable elimination? Still tied 0-0 with Algeria as the game entered injury time and facing certain elimination?
No problem, no problem, no problem. In qualifying for this World Cup, they scored a staggering nine times after the 85th minute.
On Wednesday, the Americans had another goal negated by a dodgy referee’s call, had a shot smack off the post, had sitters sail over the crossbar, had headers go just wide, had sure goals spectacularly swatted away by Algerian goalkeeper Rais M’Bolhi.
“Sometimes you have games like this, where you have a lot of chances and you can’t score,” Mt. Carmel High alum Steve Cherundolo said. “Usually those games end up 0-0. But today we found a way, somehow we found a way.
“This team never says die, and we proved that one more time.”
It came in the final, riveting moments of a wild game both teams knew they needed to win to reach the second round. Algeria would launch an attack. The United States would survive the assault, then come racing back in the other direction.
Algeria had just created maybe its best scoring chance since Rafik Djebbour hit the crossbar with a thunderous shot in the sixth minute — a point-blank header by unmarked Rafik Saifi that went right at U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard.
At this point, the U.S. midfielders and forwards had essentially abandoned their defensive compatriots, no longer tracking back to help and leaving them on an island to ward off Algerian offensive forays so they could stay forward on the attack. So when Howard collected Saifi’s header and unleashed a long throw to Donovan at midfield, the Yanks were suddenly roaring the other way with a 4-on-3 advantage.
Donovan touched the ball wide to Jozy Altidore, who curled a low cross into the penalty area to Clint Dempsey, who hit a shot toward the left corner of the net.
Which the sprawling M’Bolhi blocked. The ball bounced in front the goal, spinning in the grass for a tantalizing split-second, the game hanging in the balance, as players from both teams frantically converged on it.
“The moment,” Donovan said, “kind of slowed down for me.”
He got there first and slotted it into the net.
Pandemonium.
Donovan sprinted toward the corner flag and slid on his stomach as one teammate after another piled on top. Players and coaches skipped 15 yards onto the field from the bench. Howard pointed to the heavens and screamed. In a VIP box, Former President Bill Clinton was losing his voice cheering. In another VIP box, tears were running down the face of Gulati.
“First thing I did was look for the referee to make sure nothing was called,” Gulati said wryly. “Then I turned around and hugged everyone in sight.”
Back home, the water continued to rise
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