I married a futbol fanatic.  I knew this was part of the deal 4 years ago when I took my vows.  My husband, a loyal Manchester United fan for over a decade, has another love and always will.  As long as I never root for Arsenal or Chelsea (other clubs in England) we will live a long happy life.  It is completely normal in our house for Nate to wake up at 5:00a.m. to watch a game live, so ordering our vacation in the Sierra Nevadas this week around the Confederations Cup in South Africa seemed perfectly logical.  We sat in our room watching the US shut out Egypt and then the miracle that my husband compared to the 1980 US hockey team win over the former Soviet Union (which I quickly shot down) – USA defeating Spain.  And it wasn’t just a win – it was a beautiful, masterful performance that left the #1 team in the world flustered and shocked, as it did most everyone else who knows anything about futbol. No one thought this was possible. Not even the announcers who days earlier after the Egypt game said it would be a good match but hinted that Spain’s reign of the game would continue.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t know who to root for. I’m conflicted when it comes to soccer; I mean futbol. The United States dominates in the world arena of athletics. Since WWII, the USA has been the overall medal winner at the summer Olympics except 7 times and only then communist countries placed ahead of us...that’s saying something.  We breed little people to become big stars.  We have big dreams for them even before they know what a Wheaties box is.  (I also have secret dream of NBA players trading salaries with inner city teachers for a week.) As every year goes by I find myself watching people turn into their version of Mr. Hyde as 35 year old men jump on top of each other and manhandle one another on their quest to be #1.  I grew up playing sports – I do love healthy competition, but in a week where a beloved high school coach was shot to death in the corn state, I have begun to wonder is being #1 worth it?

In the 2006 World Cup the US futbol team came out to play Ghana. Many people thought we would breeze through the game, but Ghana was playing for so much more. The entire country of Ghana shut down to watch the game. The people were asked to conserve electricity to have enough energy to watch on screens all over the sun drenched nation. People stayed home from work and the country rallied behind the 11 men on the field. With equal shock and awe Ghana beat the US and a country was given hope for another day.

The legacy and hope of futbol around the world is nothing like anything I have ever seen.  Yes I screamed when the US scored on Wednesday, but the win isn’t the same for our country – it’s expected. We’re the US, so we “should” be the best – that’s the attitude, but I disagree. If you’ve been to a European futbol match you understand this.  Every single person is Jack Nicholson at a Laker’s game. There is no fareweather fan. It might border on unhealthy, especially when rioting hooligans make a mess, but Ghana changed my whole perspective. It’s like those countries at the Olympics that show up with 3 people.  I love it; I start bawling because it means so much more that they are even there to compete.  They’re not there to bring home medals necessarily, they are there to bring pride to their nation.  Our athletes do this as well, but the pressure to perform and win is so much more immense.

This pressure to be #1 destroys people, as we watched Alicia Sacramone “lose it all” for the US gymnastics team last year against China. The weight of a country on her to bring home the gold instead of enjoying her even getting that far. People yell at TVs and parents run out on fields for the “love” of the sport. I get the passion, but really? Yes, our team can foul or get a penalty – they are not perfect. Neither are referees, but they don’t need to have their eyes checked. We expect perfection and this pressure made the US fire their soccer coach and redo the program after the last World Cup. We have to compete on the world’s stage, so let’s not embarrass ourselves. We defeat countries like Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Honduras, whose livelihoods revolve around this game, so when the US goes out on the field I get a weird feeling in my stomach.  Yes I hope they play well and yes they earned their victory on Wednesday, but what is the cost of being #1 to a country who historically, except for a small handful, has not rallied behind this sport?