Cup Crash

Utterly disappointing. Three games. No wins. One tie.

Two mistakes is all it takes. Knowing it had to win -- a feat never before accomplished by the U.S. in a World Cup on European soil -- the Americans made two big mistakes. The first was a turnover by Claudio Reyna, one in which he injuried his knee on the play, that quickly turned into a Ghana goal and a 1-0 lead for the African side. The second was on a quick whistle by the head ref. Oguchi Onweyu, who proved in this Cup that is a world-class defender, was called for a foul in the box late during stoppage time in the first half. The PK turned into the decisive goal in the 2-1 loss.

First let me talk about the foul. Onweyu's big. That's not his fault. He's 6-foot-4, 215 pounds. Raw muscle and power. Just because a tiny forward is leaning into Onweyu does not mean there is a foul. Eventually, as the 24-year-old develops into a star overseas, Onweyu will start getting more calls. For now, refs love to blow the whistle whenever he touches someone. Again, like Shaq, not his fault he's big (in soccer terms). Now that PK never should have happened, if only Carlos Bocanegra would have cleared the ball instead of kicking it to the middle of the field. It was a bad call. You don't make that touch foul call in the box in stoppage time in the World Cup. In the words of Binni Keleta, "Sir! Let them play!"

Reyna's injury hurt. He's the captain, the leader. But Ben Olsen played tremendous in his only action of the tournament. He defended well and pushed up well. The difference in the game, in the Americans' inability to make the next step on the international level, simply is a lack of firepower around the net. They lack pure goal scorers. For the tournament, they scored 2 goals, 1 of which was an own goal by Italy.

The goal against Ghana was a thing of beauty. DaMarcus Beasley made a great cross from the left side, a beautiful ball that was emphatically put into the back of the net by Clint Dempsey -- a U.S. star of the future and one whose name will begin surfacing for a transfer overseas. In the second half, the U.S. played some tremendous football. They had plenty of chances -- chances that went wide, or over the post, or in the case of Brian McBride's header, off the post. They just couldn't get the ball into the back of the net. Therefore, they will go home after three of the most disappointing games I've personally seen.

It's obvious to me the U.S. can play with anyone on the international level. Anyone. They just don't always come to play. And they can't always finish. So now we start all over in preparation for the 2010 Cup, which will be held in South Africa. It will help the U.S. that the games will not be in Europe. Playing in South Africa will level the playing field, although look for several of the African nations, including Ghana, to make a strong run.

I hope this poor result doesn't hurt the growth of soccer in America. It's frustrating. We are on the brink of something special. We just need to continue developing. Many of our best players will be back and stronger than ever in 2010 -- Landon Donovan, Beasley, Bobby Convey, Dempsey, Eddie Johnson, Onweyu -- as well as a mixture of some of the up and coming superstars of American soccer like Freddy Adu, Eddie Gaven, Danny Szetela, etc. The best is yet to come, if we are willing to be patient.

I still firmly believe we can make a run at the World Cup title in 2010 -- I'm just not sure if Bruce Arena is the man to get us to that point. He was the right coach at the right time for U.S. soccer. But is he the right man to get us over the hump? I'm not convinced. It might take a foreigner -- like Germany's Jurgen Klinnsman -- to come in and help us achieve that goal.