The U.S. in the World Cup Final?

During the 2002 World Cup, while sitting in a pub in Dublin, I made the prediction that the United States would play in a men's FIFA World Cup final by 2018. Most of my friends who heard the prediction scoffed. But there are several reasons why it could come true:

- even though soccer is not one of the "big" sports in the U.S., the sheer number of kids playing soccer is large, relative to most countries.

- the number of youth playing soccer in the U.S. is growing -- the talent pool is improving.

- there is a growing will to invest in club, university and professional leagues.

- the sport is growing in popularity, and the national team is gaining more publicity and support from the public.

All of these trends are positive. The national team's performance in the last two or three years is also a positive sign. They were the only team to play world champions Italy to a draw in the 2008 World Cup. They are winning big qualifying matches, they are becoming more competitive against the world's best teams. They are prone to the ocassional lapse -- that is something the best teams don't often have, and something they'll need to avoid in order to do well in future international tournaments.

Wednesday's performance was not a fluke -- it is a sign of things to come. In my opinion, the win against the European champions is more impressive than the U.S. women's team World Cup victory. Yes, women's soccer is competitive, but there is not the decades-long legacy of world-class teams among the ladies. Spain did not play badly; they didn't play their best game. But the match result did show that with a few good breaks, a few good saves, the U.S. is capable of beating any team.