We can all admit it. For all the niceties that are exhibited between the United States and Great Britain, we still kind of resent the English -- at least a little bit. Maybe it is the way they lord Oasis over us or how they claim that their version of "The Office" is better than ours (which, given the latest episodes, might be true), but those pesky former oppressors across the pond always seem to be flaunting their greatness.
Nowadays, there are very few ways to settle the differences between the United States and England. War? That's already been done, in both the revolutionary sense and in 1812. And even I have to admit the English do have some definite advantages -- namely a better national anthem. How can America compete with "God Save the Queen?" So, there is only one final frontier left for America to claim bragging rights -- sports.
And since no American can understand cricket (believe me, I tried when I was in Australia; it's basically impossible), and England had to try to get Luol Deng and Ben Gordon on its basketball team to be competitive, there is only one solution -- soccer.
What makes last Friday's draw for the 2010 World Cup so compelling was that the United States' national team was placed alongside England, Algeria and Slovenia in Group C. That sets up a showdown between the Yanks and the Three Lions on June 12 in Rustenburg, South Africa, which might be the biggest game in U.S. soccer history.
Now, I haven't forgotten about last summer's Confederations Cup, in which the United States ended European Champion Spain's 35-game unbeaten streak and reached its first-ever FIFA final before blowing a 2-0 lead in the championship versus Brazil. That was a crowning achievement for the U.S. team and certainly helped prove its status as a force to be reckoned with on a global level.
But the World Cup is a different story. This is the biggest stage in all of sports and the one time when even non-soccer fans will follow America's progress. Additionally, England is the one team that everyone in the United States knows for a fact is good at soccer. If you ask the average American to name a player on Ivory Coast, a dark horse to win the World Cup in July, they probably can't do it. But England? If they don't know Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard, well, they will probably mention David Beckham.
And that is why there will be more riding on this game than just the points, since both teams should probably advance to the Round of 16 anyway. What will be at stake is the way soccer is recognized in this country. U.S. Coach Bob Bradley's team has a unique chance to put its stamp on how the sport is regarded in the United States. Not that this hasn't been said about 500 other times, but trust me on this one -- a win against England on the world's biggest stage would finally, once and for all, prove how far soccer has come in this country.
And in order to do that, the best players from the U.S. national team will need to prove that they belong on the same field as the best in the world. While some like Clint Dempsey and goalie Tim Howard already ply their trade in the English Premier League, the pressure will mostly be on one guy: Landon Donovan.
Though he never found his footing in Europe, Donovan is one of the best players on the U.S. squad and the best player in Major League Soccer. But MLS is still far from being the English Premier League and Donovan needs a strong showing to prove that he is worthy of being included in the conversation of the world's best footballers. And while I'm not expecting it, if he leads the United States to victory, Donovan and the United States will be recognized among the globe's best.
But don't worry England fans. Regardless of the outcome, you'll always have David Bowie.
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Ethan Landy is a senior majoring in English. He can be reached at Ethan.Landy@tufts.edu.
