Fresh off his awesome 91st minute goal in the World Cup after another disallowed goal, Landon Donovan said to the ESPN reporter, “This team embodies what the American spirit is about. We had a goal disallowed the other night, We had another good goal disallowed tonight. But we just keep going. And I think that’s what people admire so much about Americans. And I’m damn proud.” Indeed, that is The American Spirit.
When I was young, I played a lot of soccer. I was decent (admittedly, the older I get, the better I was) and had the opportunity to play all across the country and the world. When I was 11 or 12 years old, I went on my first overseas soccer trip. A team of Americans — coached by a Dutch living in the US — spent two weeks in Holland playing mid-level youth teams (not the Ajax’s, but not bad teams either). Looking back on it, this trip taught me a lot about the US and The American Spirit.
One story in particular taught me a lot about America and what it really means to be American. It goes like this:
It was our first game, and we’re all very excited to be playing. So are the Dutch, our opponents. Unfortunately, the Dutch seemed to be more well-prepared for the game, as they took an early lead about 10 minutes into the game.
As they scored, my dad audibly groaned. Our coach heard him, turned, and replied “what are you upset about? Now we’re going to win 5-1.” He continued, “Watch. Our boys will get each other up for the game now, and it’ll be 1-1 within a few minutes. It’s just the way American kids work.”
Sure enough, we started rallying each other to get back in the game and just like that, it was 1-1.
Then our coach turned to my dad and said, “Now watch, the Dutch will be deflated, the Americans will smell blood, and it’s all over.” Within a few minutes, it was 2-1 and the final score ended up exceeding our coach’s prediction at 6-1.
This type of story continued the entire trip. Games that were close — even scoreless — until the last 10 minutes or so would end up being won 4-0 by our team because we never gave up and once we saw an opening, we pounced.
The American Spirit is something really special. Never giving up and competing at 110% until the absolute final moment is what we’re all about, in sport and in life. Our team taught me this first-hand when I was young. Landon Donovan and the rest of Team USA re-taught me this today.
