[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn3rOPmR9w"]YouTube- The World's Reaction to Landon Donovan's Game Winning Goal[/ame] Brilliant!!
I really wish they could've gotten our reaction at a 200-strong crowd at a hipster bar in Williamsburg (and the New Yorkers in here will know exactly what neighborhood I'm talking about and groan appropriately). You know how hard it is to get hipsters genuinely excited about anything? (I have a hipster profession... I know.) Particularly anything involving sport? The full-on echoing screaming cheer for about 3-4 minutes had my ears ringing, literally. Like I and many others have said, a bridge has been crossed. That's pretty certain. Just how high and how fast and with how much intelligent planning and support this sport advances in this country is still a mystery, and will probably not be truly known for some time. But the bridge has been crossed and things will not go back to exactly the way they were anymore. The media sees money. Advertisers see money. A good chunk of Americans (not nearly everybody, but a lot more Americans than just us soccer people) see that there's real, genuine excitement in this sport and event, and they're not going to pass on it completely anymore. And they've met our team and players, and have somehow decided that they're likeable and worth rooting for and biting their nails over. On a certain, very basic sense, I think they've finally "got" it. I don't know just how much or how fast it will all change, but it won't be quite the same as it was before anymore.
Everyone save this video in your minds, so that any time someone from another country says that we have no passion for soccer, show them this...
Anymore videos like this? I seriously watched that clip 20x. It never got old and it gave me chills every single time.
Love this vid. Watching that is like picking up Thor's hammer, lightning shoots through my body. Bradley should play this for the team right before the they walk onto the pitch. Nothing can get you more pumped up than that.
Stuart Holden already knows about it, he posted it on his twitter. I'm sure he will show it to all the boys
Major props to the fan that put this together… wow does it show our true passion. So glad the team is watching this video as well!
The reaction at the British Bulldog in Denver: http://www.9news.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=101489797001
Landon also posted this on his Facebook. First place I saw it. It really is amazing video and embodies everything I was feeling at home alone rolling around on my floor.
Pluckers Wing Bar, Baton Rouge: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlYsQwCe4o"]YouTube- Pluckers Wing Bar Baton Rouge (USA v Algeria Donovan Goal) #1[/ame] Bentonville, Arkansas: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPWQjRwJrMU"]YouTube- Epic World Cup Reaction- United States vs. Algeria[/ame] Not sure where: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJiLZWjagQg"]YouTube- England vs. USA Celebration[/ame] New York: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0e6XhUBYaw"]YouTube- United States fans reaction on Last Second Goal[Donovan] World Cup vs Algeria[/ame] At Blackfinn in DC: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2G3JlldCx0"]YouTube- Reaction to US goal vs Algeria[/ame]
Somewhere in England, I think. Note that the goal is being scored against the USA in this video. Note the lack of "USA! USA! USA!" cheers...
Great video I love the shot of the kid watching by himself in his parent's basement. Although I'm not sure why you'd youtube yourself watching a match, that was me here in the UK. Except instead of sliding down the stairs I jumped up and down on the bed. And I'm 42.
The thing is, if what people are caring about is international soccer, guess what...after the World Cup, the next event is the Gold Cup (yawn!) next summer, and then qualifying starts the next spring. The ONE thing that might come from this is for restaurants and bars to say, hey, we can make money selling beer on Saturday morning, which we haven't done before. Let's work to get people into our bar watching soccer on Saturdays. But on a practical level, I'm skeptical. I fervently believe that this Cup has cemented the World Cup as a major, major event, like the Olympics. But that's once every 4 years. And maybe we will be able to hold qualifiers in bigger venues and not rely on the opposing fans to fill up the places. I can see that. But converting some of those fans into MLS fans so that average attendance and average viewing goes up 15%? That'll be hard. It would be great if Buddle or Findley scored some damn goals. Or maybe if MLS can bring Bocanegra back home (doubtful till next summer.) Or if MLS can retain Landon (who the hell knows what's gonna happen with THAT.) But really, the key is to significantly increase MLS' revenue, and I don't see a straight line from Point A to Point B.
lol I did the same thing. I had to work in the AM so i taped the game. Everyone at work found out I was taping the game and started joking around with me, telling my "fake" scores. I got so pissed I walked out of work lol I turned my phone off, went home. On the way home I got stuck behind a cement truck and almost bursted a blood vessel. Got home, ran inside and turned my tv on, sadly my DVR f'd up and didnt tape the game! Fortunately I had the game taped at my dads house just in case something happened. Got back in the car, drove 100 mph to my dads place to watch it. Took me twice as long as it should have to get there bc of construsction, finally got in and turned on the tv. It was on headline news and of course it was the 30 seconds per hour they discuss the world cup! Somehow I got the channel turned before i saw a score. Watched the game in complete agony by myself until Dnovan's goal, ran around the house for at least 45 seconds, fell on the floor started kicking and screaming before i started crying. the dog was definitely confused! lol
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFyWwP3GqF0"]YouTube- Reaction to USA goal vs England[/ame] This one is the craziest I've seen yet. Filmed in Athens, GA when the US equalized against England. I've been to Athens many, many times. Actually came pretty close to attending University of Georgia for grad school. Athens is totally and completely a college football town, and every other sport is a distant second. I don't think many residents care all that much about pro sports. Some are lukewarm about the Braves, etc...but the majority only care about UGA football. That's why I was so shocked to see this video...had I seen this without knowing what was happening, I would have guessed this was filmed right after Georgia kicked a field goal in overtime to win a national championship in college football. I have no idea if the school even has a soccer team, but look at how freaking crazy the people at this bar go for Dempsey's goal. I have never seen the whole country this into the USMNT before...
This exposure can only be good. Unless the Yanks come out there tomorrow wearing ballerina outfits, dive all over the pitch, go down a goal, give up all hope and start hacking, diving and throwing a fit, this has been amazing exposure. Some of these fans will only watch every four years. Most, probably. But some of these fans will have seen the games and seen the plays, then recognized the beauty in those plays. Those fans will watch MLS, especially those in any MLS city, and they will become fans. Just like you and I became fans after our first World Cup. Hell, I didn't know professional soccer even existed until the 1994 WC and S.I. for Kids was putting out articles on Cobi Jones and Alexi Lalas. I'm still here 16 years and four WCs later. I don't watch MLS like a rabid wolverine because I'm so far away I can't pick a team, but I like to follow it and watch it when it's on. Take heart, my friends, this has been the best World Cup EVER for America. EVER. Even in 2002 we didn't get this kind of backing from the American people. It can only be good things. And I say this the day before a knockout match as a person who very much believes in jinxes. Don't worry, I'll cancel it out by bringing my signed, game worn Clint Dempsey jersey to the bar to watch the game tomorrow!
One of the amusing things about all of this is that a lot of Americans finally "got" the sport through a 1-0 win. Wasn't a 4-0 beat down, or anything, was a full 90+ minute game of pure drama.