In a few short weeks, 11 of our boys will step out onto a field in South Africa to take on the England national team. The country that invented the sport, and never lets anyone forget it. The country we won our independence from. The country against who our greatest soccer triumph was won. The country that looks down their noses at our national team, and laughs at us.
All I have to say is this:
Let’s beat ’em.
Let’s beat England.
For every fan who’d rather sit on his couch and watch Chelsea than stand in a stadium to watch MLS, let’s beat England.
For every internet tough guy who makes fun of the word “sawk-ker,” let’s beat England.
For every media hack who dismisses our league as a joke but regularly watches a dozen of its alumni hold their own in the top leagues of Europe, let’s beat England.
For every treasonous snake who turns his back on his country to play for someone else, let’s beat England.
For every soccer-hating mouthbreather in shoulder pads who thinks our sport is a punchline, let’s beat England.
For every fan who travels hundreds or thousands of miles to watch their beloved Yanks, let’s beat England.
For every mom who ever gave up a Saturday to drive their kid to a game, let’s beat England.
For every dad who kicked a ball around a garden with his kids, let’s beat England.
For every immigrant playing soccer on fields of dusty scrub as he tries to live the American dream, let’s beat England.
For every forgotten legend of American soccer, every Open Cup hero, every factory team star, let’s beat England.
For every kid who ever stuck a soccer poster on his wall, let’s beat England.
For every journeyman pro who ever tried to live the dream, let’s beat England.
For every legendary goal, for Joe Gatjens in 1950, for Paul Caligiuri in 1989, for Jozy Altidore in 2009, let’s beat England.
For every corner kick taken from the dirt of a baseball diamond, let’s beat England.
For every soccer game ever played on gridiron lines, let’s beat England.
For every idiosyncrasy that adds an American flavor to the world’s game, let’s beat England.
For every time we pledge allegiance to our flag, and not a crown, let’s beat England.
For every pioneer, for Bert Patenaude, for Walter Bahr, for Mia Hamm, let’s beat England.
For everything pure and joyful and transcendent in the act of kicking a ball, let’s beat England.
For every future American kid who will ever know the joy of playing this great and beautiful sport, let’s do it.
Let’s beat those smug Limeys.
Keith Hickey is a contributing writer for The Yanks Are Coming. He can be reached at USArsnl@gmail.com.