Donovan on the June 27th Studio 90: "We always know that our responsibility is not only on the field but off the field, and, it's not like any other sport in our country and it's not like soccer anywhere else in the world. We have an obligation to help build the sport and we hope that some of our performances have done that. It would have been nice to have one more game to build even more momentum and get people even more excited about it. The reality is, is it is what it is right now, but I think we're all very proud and I think America can be proud of their team." First of all, of course I am proud of our team, Landon! Second, if they really have an "obligation to help build the sport", I think they have succeeded. I have never seen the country as excited about the MNT in my life: so many US jerseys at bars, so many fans in the stadium. I have been pretty surprised. Overall, I think the future of USMNT fandom is especially good, because although I do not have stats, the majority of fans seem to be in the 40s 30s 20s and younger. So I think the support for the USMNT is just going to get better and better in coming World Cups. As long as they win games. I hope new fans do not have a bitter after-taste after the loss to Ghana. I became a fan staying up late to watch games in 2002, which in my opinion, was a much more successful tournament than 2010 turned out to be. However, I appreciate the guts and determination of the 2010 squad and I think the newcomer fans will forgive this loss because the US really did seem to give it their all the whole tournament. So thanks guys and Bob Bradley for that. This is a step forward. Not a giant step like 2002 but a medium step. In the past I have felt uncomfortable about people from US Soccer talking about "growing the game," because it sounded like some authoritarian regime or something, it sounded forced. But I think this World Cup has taught me that soccer fans are here ALREADY and they only need a team to rally around. Since we do not have a big league with big money club teams, just an up-and-coming league, the biggest rallying point for soccer fans in the United States is the USMNT. So I think Donovan is right that as far as maintaining and increasing the popularity of soccer in the US, the success of the USMNT is important. Finally, I think to call it "building the game" or "growing the game" is to mis-conceive the phenomenon. US Soccer is not FORCING the US public to watch. It is channeling the naturally growing soccer fandom and soccer national pride that already exists in the United States. So anyway, I think Landon had a good point there, and I would call this tournament a medium success for US soccer on that front.