In case the World Cup isn't the sun around which your life revolves, a little background in 400 words or less:
Group C:
USA vs. England, June 12 (Rustenburg)
USA vs. Slovenia, June 18 (Ellis Park, Johannesburg)
USA vs. Algeria, June 23 (Tshwane/Pretoria)
Completely impotent in a 2-0 loss to Germany to open France '98... pretty much stayed that way, losing 2-1 to Iran and 1-0 to Yugoslavia. (I feel old for having watched and remembered a sporting event involving Yugoslavia).
In Korea/Japan '02 they found themselves up 3-0 after 36 minutes against Portugal before capitulating. Though they held on for the win that day (3-2), they were outscored 6-2 in the rest of the group phase and were only spared elimination when South Korea shocked Portugal (great goal by Park Jisung, check it out here or watch the extended Korean version, which is unintentionally hilarious in so many ways. Why do cartoonish lightning bolts pop up whenever Luis Figo's on screen? Why aren't the commentators in a booth? And check out how fired up the guy on the right gets at 1:33. Makes me thankful for American sports coverage, despite my regular complaints). I digress... after advancing past Mexico in the round of 16, they were eliminated by this blatant handball (2:18) and Ollie Kahn, the guy from the Geico caveman commercials. Here he is after spotting one of those damned "So easy a caveman can do it" billboards.
(One day, I'll post a photo that isn't an ugly soccer player... one day).
Germany 2006 can be summed up this way: when asked by a British guy how many match tickets we had we answered "We have team specific tickets for the US." His response: "So... three games." Caught cold against the Czech Republic to open the tournament, they showed real grit against Italy and Ghana. Despite all the battling in an unforgiving group, we only got to go to three games that World Cup... (smug British prick).
That leads nicely into 2010....
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