This summer they have the good fortune to be home warriors. The host nation automatically qualifies as one of the teams that will play in the quadrennial tournament, and no host has ever been eliminated in the Cup's first round. Then again, no host country's fans have ever been less fanatic about the sport than Americans. In 1988, when the international federation that governs soccer chose the U.S. as the site for Cup play, it insisted that a professional league be in place by '94. That hasn't happened.
Soccer is still a schoolyard pastime and an impresario's fantasy.
Against Colombia, the U.S. team realized its own fantasy through luck and pluck. Just before the game, defensive back Jaime Gabriel Gomez was removed from the lineup because his family in Medellin had been threatened with death if he played. I don't know why. Actually, the Colombians scored twice, the U.S. team only once - but the Colombians made one goal by accidentally deflecting an American pass into their own net. For them it was like shooting a ball through a forest - you're always going to hit something.