This is a sport that has developed without the influence of the US. Unlike most other sports, the competition to be the best is on the world stage and not on a piece of the global stage.

Seriously, I am sick of half-converted Eurosnobs who treat Jurgen Klinsmann like a savior (his record numerically so far remains little better than his predecessor, except we hear a lot fewer excuses, and we are still hanging by a thread for WCQ, let’s not kid ourselves).

Our team is underperforming, yet all I see are headlines saying the darndest things about our game, MLS taking credit for it, because we beat an island with a population smaller than the number of extras in some movies. An island with a population only 80% the size of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

There are just way to many things soccer’s “1%” (the leadership of USSF, USMNT, MLS or who I call “the powers that be”) just don’t have a right to take credit for these days. One thing they should take responsibility for, however, is failure. When that happens, maybe the American game won’t look and sound like it does at the higher levels.

Till then, I’ll basically exclusively be watching D2 and D3 games. While everyone else can aspire to MLS expansion, sleepy and overpriced soccer (I live in Yonkers, NY) is not and will never be my cup of tea. I grew up a son of an Argentine (we miss you, dad) and Argentine soccer is exciting for two reasons: (1) when the stakes are higher, people play harder (2) the sports establishment looks for the best players in every corner and back yard in the country, as opposed to a privilege system. Other sports here do this. Why not soccer?

I admire the Jay DeMerits of the world, but most talented kids are just going to follow mom and dad and either (a) find another sport or (b) find a “real job”. If Diego Maradona was born here, he’d probably be a checkout guy or stock person or something (he doesn’t strike me as a genius or anything). And while we can point to Clint Dempsey’s life, he spent three years in MLS and he was gone. (Maybe he realized the current system promotes mediocrity.) We shouldn’t be “getting lucky”. We should be using our resources. We are failing.

Nobody should be proud of such a result against this tiny nation, or pair of nations, or whatever it is. Anyway, I am glad we won, and are closer to qualification. I just wonder if we do make it in, how many people will remember how little we deserved it. Squeezing by Gilligan’s Island shouldn’t qualify you.

I’m going to go hide now, as I look forward to everyone’s agreement with me.