Heart of a lion

I just watched USA's second round game against Slovenia.

The USA boys came out a little lackluster, a little overconfident and found themselves down 2-0 at half. A near insurmountable deficit by World Cup standards. But in the locker room coach Bradley lit a fire in these men. For it's not about the Brandon Donovan's, or Tim Howard's or the Clint Dempsey's, it's about the Red, White & Blue, it's about the USA.

The US came out with such fire in the second half you could sense a miracle was in the making.

Donovan scored right in the face of the Slovenia keeper and the crowd, all decked out with flags and face paint, went absolutely nuts! Yellow cards were flowing like butter as minutes later Jozy Altidore deflected a header to wide open charging Michael Bradley for the tying score!! Fans all over the world screamed as the comeback kids of the USA tied it up with just minutes left in regulation. There was still time, but could they pull it off? Could they pull a miracle like the 1980 US Hockey team? At about the second minute of extended play Steve Churundolo lined up a free kick and let it rip. The 6-yard box looked more like WWF cage match than a free kick with players draped over Donovan and Dempsey like spider monkeys but breaking out of the fray came Altidore who ripped the ball past the Slovenia keeper! Coffee flew wildly all over the Coon living room as I jumped up screaming in celebration! But alas, the center ref, as he had done all match, blew the call and the USA wasn't awarded the goal. Time ran out, the ref ran away and the match ended tied 1-1.

What I want you, Sodium, to take away from this epic game is that the boys never gave up. They were down 2-0 at the half and it inspired them, fired them up, motivated them that for the next 45 minutes they would hold nothing back. For their team, for their coach, for their country they would leave every ounce of themselves on the field. They never backed down. A weaker team would have rolled over, but they were in the face of the Slovenia players. Physical. Aggressive. Relentless. And they never lost faith. You ask any one of the USA players coming out of the locker room after half who was going to win this match and I guarantee you every single one said they would.

Never Give UP. Never Back Down. Never Lose Faith.

Keep this in your mind Sodium as we make our way to the fields in New Mexico.

With vuvuzela horn in hand (just kidding) the faithful Sodium fans will yell: GO SODIUM!!