The U.S. just lost to Ghana (EDIT)

...and is now officially eliminated from the World Cup.  Yuck. 

Soccer is one of the few sports in which I root hardcore for the United States.  Why?  Because generally, I hate rooting for the favorite and I love rooting for the underdog (unless the favorite is my favorite team).  And in soccer, the U.S. is a perennial underdog.  The U.S. is never even one of the top teams.  They're never expected to accomplish much of anything. 

This World Cup was supposed to be a bit different.  The U.S. was highly regarded, and had a strong showing at the last Cup.  Unfortunately, they ended up in a very hard group and they did not play up to their standards (which seems to happen every time they play on European soil). The U.S. had the limest offense in the tournament: one goal scored, near the bottom of shots on goal, and almost no consisten pressure on their opponents.  It's a recipe for going 0-2-1, and that's exactly what happened.  Better luck four years from now, I guess.

Eric Wynalda said that Bruce Arena should be canned -- and I agree with him.  Why get rid of the most successful coach in U.S. soccer history?  Simple: it's time.  Soccer teams are a lot like Fortune 500 companies, and the coach is a lot like a CEO.  You need different CEOs for different periods of an organization's life.  If your company is failing, you need a turnaround CEO.  Once that CEO does his thing, he usually leaves when the company gets back on top of things. 

Same with a soccer coach: there are different coaches for differnt time periods, and different stages of a program's evolution.  Arena's 8-year tenure as a national team coach is almost completely unheard of in soccer circles; teams tend to change coaches at least once every 4 years or so.  Arena has probably accomplished as much as he is going to accomplish; he gave the national team a good base to work from.  But now, the team tcoudl use some new blood and new ideas to get to the next level.  He shoudl hang out with Gilbert Arenas and Tina Arena so they can chat about names together. 

Though this cup was disappointing, I think the U.S. can continue to improve its soccer performances as long as they bring in an appropriate coach to steer things.  The talent is here, and the popularity of the sport is growing.  It's just a matter of time before the United States pisses off the rest of the world in soccer as much as they do with everything else lately.  When it comes to the sports aspect, I'm looking forward to it. 

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