Now that I have had sufficient time to reflect on the United States bottom of the table finish in World Cup first round group play:  I must say that I am very pleased with the progression of US soccer; I am not surprised by the result in what ended up to be the true group of Death; I am highly disappointed in the seemingly listless and heartless way we achieved these results.

For those of you who don't really follow soccer someone needs to apologize for the tremendous amount of misinformation provided by the media, and I must admit that I even started to buy into some of it.  When ESPN listed the US as a contender and not a pretender to win it all, I should have been laughing like a little Leprechaun, not believing in pots of gold at the end of the rainbow.  The idea that the US had a solid chance to win the Cup is truly laughable.

Much ado about how many players we had playing in European leagues was made.  It is true that we have more players in the top divisions of the World than we ever have, and that is a sign of the great progress we have made, not a sign of our arrival, because we have zero players on top teams.  Consider this:  Of the 16 teams that advanced, every single one of them has at least one player who STARTS for one of the big clubs of Europe (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter-Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Villareal, Bayern Munich).  The US has none.  There is not a single player on the US squad that one of these teams would offer a starting position to; except maybe Onweyu who will probably sign with Middlesborough.   

What I'm trying to say is that we just weren't good enough.  That there was not a single game in which the five best players on the pitch didn't all play for the other team.  That we shouldn't be upset about not advancing.  That we should be upset about the lack of effort and heart in the Czech game, and the complete lack of class from Bruce Arena at the end of the Ghana game (he didn't shake the other coach's hand).  That the fact that Americans are experiencing some type of angst over soccer is bigger and better than anything that has ever happened to the sport in this country