Today the US became a soccer nation.

What are the key attributes?

First your team underachieves in the opener. The press reaction to the underachievement is hysteria. This is proof, the press says, that your country is incapable of ever playing at a serious level. That the team is overhyped, the players underachievers, and the coach a buffoon who should not be allowed to run an elementary school checkers team never mind a World Cup Soccer Team. A soccer nation is never happy about playing in the world cup. The whole point is to WIN the world cup.

Second, against all odds your team then defeats or ties a world powerhouse in an improbable way. Down two players with almost 45 minutes to play you still manage to create the best offensive oppurtunities. And instead of celebrating the result everyone is talking about how you were robbed. How the referrees altered the result. How they stole the game from you. A soccer nation is not surprised about a stunning result. Of course the Americans tied Italy. And if the ref hadn’t robbed the American team they would have won.

So today when the US team played Italy to a 1-1 tie after being excoriated by the press for losing 3-0 to the Czechs, the fans and the players and the announcers and the press were not talking about triumph achieved but triumphed denied by poor refereeing….

Maybe Soccer is Universal.