Tomorrow morning, South Africa kicks off against Mexico, and our four-year wait for the World Cup is over. For USA fans like me, in some ways it’s really an eight-year wait that’s over.

In 1990 and 1998, the Americans may have been the worst team in the tournament; in 1994, a shocking win over Colombia helped the home team to the knockout round. But in 2002, it seemed like maybe the USA was finally turning a corner on the world stage. A strong opening half lifted the USA over powerhouse Portugal, a Brad Friedel penalty save helped rescue a draw against South Korea, and even a bad loss to Poland in the final game of the group stage couldn’t prevent America from reaching the knockout round.

And the knockout round – well, I wasn’t alone in thinking that the script would be rewritten. The red, white, and blue waxed Mexico 2-0 in the first game. In the quarterfinals, America was cheated by a Torsten Frings handball that kept a sure goal out of the German net. Disappointing, for sure, but we American fans could only assume the team would be back to improve upon that showing in 2006.

As you know, that didn’t happen. The USA got slaughtered 3-0 by the Czech Republic in their first game, and never recovered; a wild, card-filled draw with eventual champions Italy ended up being the only point the Americans got. It was incredibly disappointing, especially since we fans had waited four long years for another crack at the tournament, and knew it’d be at least four more before we got another chance.

Four years have elapsed, finally, and now the USA is back with another chance. We’re in a group with Algeria and Slovenia, two of the weaker teams in the tournament – and we also have a chance to play England, and nothing’s more fun than a chance to cause our friends across the pond some serious consternation. Most pundits expect our team to qualify for the knockout round again, and while nobody’s picking us to beat England, the mere chance of causing the rending of English garments is, frankly, quite delicious.

Tomorrow morning, South Africa kicks off against Mexico. Tomorrow begins our chance to end eight years of waiting.


As in 2006, TNABACG will be more or less entirely a World Cup blog for the next month. I’ve got my list of games printed out, with 30 of the 48 first-round matches highlighted for viewing purposes. There are certain matches I won’t watch – anything with North Korea (communist jerks) or anything with Greece (the most boring, frustrating team to watch on the planet) – but other than that, I’m more or less willing to watch every match. Happily, thanks to the time difference, most of the matches are taking place in the morning or early afternoon, so I’ll be able to flip them on at work. It’s like March Madness, except the entire world is watching and it’s a month long. What could be sweeter?</p>

I’ll be doing a few random running match diaries, like 2006, and, otherwise be updating daily with World Cup thoughts. In ’06 I had random German blog fans popping out of the woodwork; if you’re back this year, folks, let me know.

Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the show. I couldn’t be any more excited for the World Cup to be here.