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First things first: yes, the referee probably blew that PK call. But it didn’t really affect anything. The U.S. needed two goals, they only scored one.

And not like the U.S. really deserved to go on to the next round. They only scored one goal in three games—plus one gimme from Italy—and they looked pretty mediocre most of the time. Ghana deserves to go to the next round.

I didn’t see the game, but I did roll into one of those new, pimped-out McDonald’s to grab some lunch and briefly caught some post-game commentary and highlights. I don’t know what to add. Long term, I don’t see how a loss will affect the development of US soccer in a major way. Football, basketball, baseball…even tennis and golf get more love than soccer in this country. Had we gone as far as we did last cup, sure Landon Donovan or whoever might have gotten a few big contracts with adidas or wheaties or what have you, but I doubt that would suddenly propel the country into soccer mania. If anything, an 0-1-2 record this year should challenge US MLS to produce better players (and coaches) in the future.

Anyway, US or no US, this is still a great World Cup. I’m happy for countries like Ghana, Australia and Ecuador that are doing well. They certainly deserve it more than we do.

I have to agree with your last statement.  The ‘over-achieving’ teams such as Ghana, Australia, and South Korea have shown incredible determination and heart, something that is absent for the American side.  Those countries certainly deserve to advance much more than we do.

I’ll spare this site the rest of my analysis…