Donovan’s goal vs. Algeria: Oral history of the most famous moment in USMNT history

Landon Donovan, USMNT midfielder 2000-2014: I’m thinking in my head like, “I just gotta cheat up the field as much as I can.”

It’s almost like [Tim Howard] had been surveying the field before he got the ball. In case he did get the ball, get his hands on the ball, he was ready. And so when he grabbed it, I knew there was a lot of space in front of me. So I took off in that moment, and he threw it perfectly.

At that moment, my thought was just make the right decision, because I’ve been in situations like that thousands of times in practice or in games. So I wanted to get the ball out in front of me, so we’re putting pressure on them quickly. And then when Jozy [Altidore] peeled out to the right, Edson [Buddle] peeled out to the left and Clint [Dempsey] was running centrally, and instinct kind of takes over at that point. Get it out to Jozy and I knew he was gonna put it in a good spot from there, and then it was crash the goal and put them under pressure.

There are not many forwards in the history of our country who would have run that hard to get across the goalie and put himself in position like Clint did. In the moment, I don’t think there’s any chance that the ball is going to end up anywhere other than in the back of the net, because once [Altidore] rolls it in front, I’m thinking through Clint or Edson or an own goal, somehow that ball’s gonna end up in the goal or at least close to the goal.

I was directly behind Clint, but I actually can’t even see the ball. And so their interaction happened and then [the ball] rolled out. I didn’t even know. I wasn’t thinking about timing my run, my momentum was carrying me into the box and then that’s where the ball ended up.

In the 91st minute of the United States’ World Cup group-stage finale against Algeria on June 23, 2010, in Pretoria, South Africa, Donovan pounced on that ball, scoring the goal that would send the Americans into the round of 16 after their 1-0 win and set off a cultural phenomenon, putting the U.S. men’s national team into the collective consciousness of the country like never before.

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Ten years later, ESPN spoke to Donovan, his teammates, members of the media, fans, and those whose soccer careers were in part shaped by that moment. This is the story of that night in Pretoria, South Africa, the most historic moment in USMNT history.

Editor’s note: The text has been edited for length and clarity. ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle, Noah Davis, Jason Davis, Arch Bell and Austin Lindberg contributed to this report.

Jump to: The ghost foul | The buildup | The game | The worry | The goal | The reaction | The celebration | The aftermath

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The ghost foul

The U.S., arguably, should not have been in the position it found itself in against Algeria.

A welcome 1-1 draw against England in its opener positioned the Americans well to advance from the group. The Three Lions were widely expected to top Group C, and a point on the board, with encounters against Slovenia and Algeria to come, put Bob Bradley & Co. on course to reach the knockout rounds.

But a controversial 2-2 draw against Slovenia dampened that enthusiasm. A phantom foul called on Maurice Edu while he volleyed home a Donovan free kick cost the U.S. two points, and instead of heading into the group finale on top of the table and needing only a draw vs. Algeria to reach the round of 16, it now had to win.

Maurice Edu, USMNT midfielder 2007-2014: I’m still at a loss of words about how to describe what the hell went wrong during that play. I know I’m not fouling him because I’m ahead of him and now he’s trying to catch me. So I literally go through the box uncontested and Landon couldn’t have played a better ball, it hits me in stride, left foot, boom, goal. I’m not top 10 on SportsCenter, I’m No. 1! In the moment, I went back to being a kid, kicking a ball around the house, the commentary, “Mo gets the ball, it’s the last minute of the World Cup, he shoots, he scores!” So this was my moment, this was that moment.

I hear the whistle blow and I’m like, “What the hell?” Everyone is up in arms, protesting, going crazy, Clint, Landon. They were arguing with the referee, who had no answer for us then, had no answer for us after the game and to this day he probably has no answer. If that goal counts, that’s probably the greatest comeback in U.S. soccer history.

I look at it and think, “F—, that sucked, that was my moment, that was my goal, that was my place in history.” But you know what, it led to an incredible moment in the Algeria game and now you’ve seen what it’s made for.

Donovan: I saw it go in, but I didn’t know what happened. So at that moment, you just have to assume that something happened because I didn’t know any different. The only thing is the reaction of our players, looking around like, “Who are you calling that on?” Nobody can figure out who they are calling. And so I think it’s myself and Michael [Bradley], we go to the ref and I don’t think he only spoke French, but we were just trying to figure out like, “Can you just tell us what the call was and who you’re calling it on?” and he didn’t want anything to do with it. Maybe it was a language thing. It seemed like he made up his mind before the play that he was going to call a foul. I have known referees to do that if they feel that they got a previous call wrong. It just seemed like he had made up his mind. And you know, it wasn’t until later watching the replay that I realized that there was no foul, and actually if you’re going to call a foul, it should have been against a Slovenian player on a few of our guys.

Tim Howard, USMNT goalkeeper 2002-2017: The infamous shirt tug where everyone is like they’re in a WWE wrestling match. I don’t know what the referee saw. To be in with a shout of winning that game, and to show the perseverance and battle back said a lot about our team.

Bob Ley, ESPN 1979-2019: I was at that match, and I go back and I still look for that foul that took away [Edu’s] goal in much the same way that I look for how much Michael Ballack was offside in 2002. I still give him s—. “Ah Bob, you’re such an a–hole.”

Jonathan Bornstein, USMNT defender 2007-2011: We thought we got robbed. But, you know, very quickly, you’ve got to move on. It’s out of our hands now. Let’s focus on what we can control, and that was the next game. And so I think that’s kind of something Bob always instilled in us, that kind of, control what you can control and let go and don’t ponder on what happened in the past.

Alexi Lalas, ESPN 2009-2014: What people sometimes fail to realize is, we only had two points going into that third game. There was a real good chance we could have lost that game to Slovenia. But obviously, Michael scored, and we actually could have won it. But you had already seen a comeback-kid type of mentality that they had. But now you’re right back where we started in that you lose the game and we bomb out in the group stage. So from a drama and entertainment perspective, we were psyched to get this type of game and now we just needed them to perform.

Julie Foudy, ESPN 2006-present: I was at our ESPN studios in Johannesburg. You have hundreds of people in this room thinking, “Geez, we could be going home here.” And you obviously want the team to be successful, but you’re also thinking how much work has gone into a production like this and all the people that are over there, and you definitely want Team USA still in it, right? So, I think that’s always the interesting juxtaposition of, you are clearly so invested because it’s Team USA, but you’re also invested because you want the sport to grow and you realize, without USA in it, it’s a much different sell.

The buildup

So the U.S. headed to Pretoria for its game against Algeria, needing a win to ensure its progression to the knockout rounds. The result of Slovenia vs. England, kicking off simultaneously in Port Elizabeth, would have a huge bearing on how the group would shake out, but the Americans controlled their destiny: win and they’re in.

Donovan: All you can ask for, for a team like ours, is going into the third game with a chance to advance, right? Like, when you go into the tournament, that’s your thought process. If you’re one of the top five or six teams in the world, you want to be qualified by the third game. But for us, we wanted to go into the third game with a chance to get through and we felt like we were playing the weakest opponent in our group, and they needed like some crazy results to happen. I think they didn’t really have a chance to advance so there was excitement, optimism, but we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. So I think we felt good heading into that game.

Howard: We had played in big games. We beat Spain at the Confederations Cup, best team in the world. We were up on Brazil in the final 2-0. OK, it didn’t go our way, but we had played in big games as a team. And so I think when it comes to World Cup, particularly if you’re with a U.S. team, all bets are off. So if you can put yourself in a position to go into that third game where your destiny is in your hands, that’s all the U.S. team could have asked for. Even if we had gotten a better result in the Slovenia game, we couldn’t just lose. It was all to play for and we felt confident we could do it.

Steve Cherundolo, USMNT defender 1999-2012: We still felt confident that we could make it out of the group, but I think we also felt the pressure was added on because people were expecting us to make it out of the group, and we felt the same. So we felt good, we felt confident, but we also knew that Algeria had some weapons as well and they were a good team. All the pressure was on us. We were no longer the underdogs, which is what normally we were.

DaMarcus Beasley, USMNT midfielder/defender 2001-2017: I know that everyone was more relaxed than what I thought the team would be. I wasn’t starting, so you kind of look around the locker room, see people’s mannerisms and their faces, and that’s one thing I do remember, is that the team didn’t seem rattled. Knowing that we needed to win, I think the team was confident in how we were playing throughout the tournament.

Bornstein: I remember the overall attitude of the team being very positive. We had previously played against teams like England, who we took a point from, we thought going into the Algeria game was a definite opportunity for us to prove something to the world.

The game

The game began with Algeria coming out motivated, striking the crossbar in the early exchanges. But the U.S. recovered.

Dempsey had a goal controversially ruled out for offside, then hit the woodwork. Altidore missed a chance with the net gaping.

Herculez Gomez, USMNT forward 2007-2013: It was crazy because at first it was Algeria. One in hits the crossbar, we get saved. But then I was out supplying a lot of pressure. I had a shot at like 30 yards out that caught the keeper by surprise. I had another shot that I hit straight into the keeper that I should have done way better with. I had a cross shot that ended up on Clint’s foot that he scores and it’s a legitimate goal, that’s called offside. So I thought we were knocking.

Lalas: I was more impressed with Algeria than I was the other two teams in the group, to be quite honest with you. They were sons of b—-es. And I say that in a good way, they were badasses. I wasn’t prepared for how badass they were.

The worry

The missed chances begin to add up. As the count of wasted opportunities rises, the clock continues ticking away. Time is running out to get three points from the game, and with it, a place in the round of 16.

Jozy Altidore, USMNT forward 2007-present: I’ll never forget, there was a play where I think I’m in, and I go down the side and I cross the ball, and they sail it clear. Clint comes and opens his hips up to go far post, rings the post and it comes back, and I thought for sure he scores the rebound, and he put it over. It was a tough bounce, to be fair. It’s not an easy finish. At that point, I was thinking to myself, “Wow, is it going to happen? We may not get through.”

Beasley: It was, “Are we going to sneak one in like we usually do? Are we not? Is this going to be a game where we almost had it and we didn’t? And we lost it?” And we started thinking about, “Oh man, the game before, we should’ve won that game.” So you start thinking about what could’ve happened to not be in the situation that you’re in. If we would’ve scored that one goal [vs. Slovenia], we wouldn’t even be in this situation right now.

Gomez: I thought it was there for the taking. But as the game progressed, then this feeling of, “Oh man, this could be our last game” started settling in. And it’s a World Cup game, so everything’s magnified. Everybody’s on edge. It almost feels like these moments are bigger than they really are, because at the end, it’s just a game, right? Maybe nine out of 10 times you play that at a neutral site and we blow Algeria out, maybe. But in this game, it was close. They were in it. It could have been anybody’s game, any moment could’ve changed it. And it came down to the very end of the show.

Ian Darke, ESPN 2010-present: Did you honestly have a feeling that [the U.S.] were going to get that goal? Not really, not deep in your heart. And you’re thinking, “Well, this is quite a damp ending for the World Cup campaign,” because as the group stood going into the 91st minute, they were going out of the World Cup having played reasonably well and they could have gone out without losing a match.

Ley: [ESPN analyst Steve McManaman] and I were both mesmerized, and so I got up from behind the desk, and I am just walking around like my wife is in labor — in the old days, you’re not in the birthing room. I have never been so nervous in my life.

Donovan: There was this real professional understanding that in the last 10 or 15 minutes, the attacking players had to cheat and we had to roll the dice. Like, if we gave up a goal and lost 1-0 vs. tying 0-0, it didn’t matter, we’re out either way. So we had to take chances. And I think people don’t realize how stressful that is for a backline and Michael and Tim to deal with basically 5-on-5 at the back and 5-on-5 at the other end for 10 minutes or so. And they just held down the fort and allowed us to kind of get wave after wave and keep trying to break them down and find the goal to win it.

Altidore: When you’re down, you just have this sense of going until you reach the goal. Especially when you need a goal. That’s kind of where we were at. We were still just trying to get after it. We wouldn’t stop. We had time. We just kept going, we just tried to be relentless in our approach of trying to create that one more chance to win the game. Because I think up until that last seize of the ball, we believed. And I think that played a huge part.

The goal

And then it happened.

In the first minute of stoppage time, the U.S. conceded a golden opportunity, as Adlene Guedioura delivered a cross to the back post where two Algerian attackers were unmarked. Rafik Saifi got his head on the ball, but he could only direct it straight into Tim Howard’s hands.

The goalkeeper immediately pushed forward and threw the ball into the path of a sprinting Donovan, who was already at midfield. Donovan continued his run, playing the ball to Altidore wide right, who squared a cross for Dempsey, whose shot was courageously saved by Rais M’Bolhi. But, thankfully for the U.S., Donovan followed the play and buried the rebound.

Bornstein: I think you can take it back to their chance right before Tim catches the ball. It could have been a very dangerous opportunity. I mean, they get a cross in and the guy’s alone in the box and he gets a free header off. Luckily, it goes straight to Tim’s hands. I think all of us on the bench, you know, when you’re looking at them inside of our box and you’re thinking “No, no, no, just get it out, get it out.” Tim catches it and everyone kind of stands up because he immediately throws it just like a bomb, like a quarterback to a wide receiver. And leads him perfectly running full speed, [Donovan] takes a great touch forward. And we’re already inside their half within 30 milliseconds. I think everyone at that point, at least for me, we’re all like, “This is it.”

Howard: There had been a series of getting the ball, rolling it out, throw it out, getting us on the front foot and attacking. So that was kind of the mode I was in for much of that second half. And then Landon, as he does, it just seemed like that was a connection that I made 1,000 times. He opens up wide, he wants the ball, he gets on his horse and then me being able to find him in an open lane, it just kind of seemed second nature. So he was just flying and I felt in that perpetual motion stage. [Dempsey] was getting ready to get moving, everybody seemed to be flowing toward the goal.

Darke: I remember, and I’ve obviously seen it a few times since then, Howard having the ball and I remember I sort of injected an extra urgency into my voice at that point, thinking, “This is now or never, it’s got to all come from this.” And I remember Howard throwing a great throw almost at the halfway mark on the right to Donovan and suddenly the move was on. Suddenly that Algeria defense seemed to just maybe look a little bit disheveled and disorganized, maybe for the first time. And you just have a feeling something could happen here. And then it looked like the frustration was going to continue because Dempsey’s shot got blocked, and you thought, “Ah, that’s it.” But there was that moment, you saw it was dropping to Landon Donovan, and that he had a magnificent chance. The rest is history, as they say. Banged it in the net, and then the mass celebration by the corner flag and my somewhat hysterical commentary. I had no idea what I’d said at the time, but eventually I did get the impression that people quite liked it, which is always good for a commentator.

Altidore: Landon would always tell me, “When I get it, just take off running.” So I just took off when I saw him taking off, we all took off when we saw the opportunity. It was a good throw by Timmy. They caught us. We’re cheating a little bit to try to stay in a good spot, to stay forward, you don’t want to break down. And it just worked out to be the perfect counter, the perfect play where we caught them. And then, actually, when I look back at it, Landon’s on for me to give it back to him. If I disguise it well enough, I can cross it back to him and he can also tap it in. And it’s crazy, but I was not paying attention to that. I just saw Clint arriving, and I saw he was open, and there was a window. And when Clint missed that, I was thinking, “No, another big chance!” And then Landon was there at the doorstep, following the play, staying with it, and then the rest is history, as they say.

Foudy: And the thing about Landon’s goal too, which is so iconic to Landon, is one, he starts it with that counter. And then you see he shows himself to Jozy, so he kind of holds, but he doesn’t stay there. A player without that ability to see what’s being done, I’d have been like, “OK, he didn’t use me, I’m good.” He gets in a position where he knows he’s going to get some type of deflection. And, in the 91st minute, to sprint — which he did, pretty much three quarters of the length of that field — and then to carry that run through so he’s in a position to make it look easy, that was everything of what Landon was about. And people miss that, they just see him at that end position. There’s so many people who wouldn’t have gotten to that position. I’d have still been at the mid-strut, “Yeah, I’m good.”

Howard: Credit to both Landon and Clint. They’re always smelling it, they’re always on the front foot. Landon doesn’t just play the ball and stop, and think, “This is going to be in the back of the net.” He continues his run.

Altidore: Landon was doing his Landon thing, man. Popping up in the right place at the right time.

Edu: When I look back at that play, it’s commitment from a group of players who said, “This isn’t it for us.” When it happens, it’s like, “Cool, last-minute goal,” but when you watch it back, there were so many plays along the way, so many steps on the way when it could have gone wrong. Maybe Landon takes the play off, maybe Tim doesn’t see Landon, maybe Clint doesn’t make the run in the box, maybe Jozy doesn’t go wide to get the cross. There are so many steps along the way when it could have gone wrong, but it didn’t because it was a group of committed players.

The reaction

After 91 minutes of nerves, of pressure building with each passing moment, Donovan’s goal triggered a release of emotion throughout the team. He found himself at the bottom of a dog pile in the corner flag consisting of most every player on the field and a good number of substitutes as well.

A handful of the team were so exhausted from the match that they couldn’t muster the energy to sprint to the attacking third and join in on celebrations, instead embracing one another at the center of midfield.

Donovan: I’ve been under a dog pile and it gives me serious anxiety, like real anxiety. I went to the corner, I saw Stu running down to meet me from the bench, and I’m like, with my momentum, there’s no way I wasn’t gonna slide because I was running so fast. But if you watch closely, right at the end, there is a minute where I’m like, “Oh f—,” because I realize what’s coming. I get like serious anxiety being there. Within about three seconds, and I don’t know if anyone heard it because everyone was yelling, I’m like, “Guys, get up! Get up! Get up! Please get up!” I’m just trying to get them off me because I didn’t want to hyperventilate.

Cherundolo: As soon as I saw the back of the net move, I looked over to the assistant referee. The flags did not go up, the goal is definitely counted. I looked for Tim and Jay and [Carlos Bocanegra] because it was too far to get up to Landon and at that point we were dead tired. I looked to anybody close to me who I could grab and hug. Because then we knew, “All right, this is it. This is our day. We did it.”

Darke: I don’t think that you can plan for that, and maybe you shouldn’t, either. Maybe I had a few words that I was going to say if the USA had gone out, you might prep that. But really something as dramatic, like a 10 on the Richter scale, an explosive moment like that, where one minute you’re out of the World Cup and the next millisecond, you’re top of the group, nobody can plan for that. So whatever came out, came out. It was instinctive and I’m a great believer that the best lines of commentary are exactly like that and happened in that way. I don’t know what made me say, “Go, go, USA!” I’m not American, as you well know. It’s just something that came out I thought that captured the mood.

Ley: I vividly remember it was like an out-of-body experience, like almost vibrating with excitement when the goal went in. It was like, “Oh, my God.” It’s like, “This is big. Don’t overstate it, don’t step on it.” I guess we didn’t screw it up. It was well received. As Ian has said so many times, he didn’t know where the “Go, go, USA!” came from. That’s a ringtone for some people still 10 years later. Ian doesn’t quite beat out my favorite John Lennon guitar licks.

John Harkes, ESPN 2006-2011: When it went in, I think I lost my headset and I couldn’t even communicate, so I couldn’t call anything. When I put it back on to speak, I just remember it cutting it out again so people couldn’t hear me making the commentary, and Ian had to speak again because my thing had gone out. We jumped on each other and it was all the camera guys around us. It was an amazing moment.

Andres Cantor, Futbol De Primera Radio: When I do the goal call before Bora [Milutinovic] and Marcelo [Balboa] speak, I was losing air. I never felt like I was going to faint, but I felt lightheaded because of all the euphoria and yelling and energy. And when I say, “Donovan the best player in U.S. history,” it doesn’t come off clean, it’s not what I wanted to say and I couldn’t find the words. At that moment I was on the verge of being breathless so I had to be quiet and recover.

Chris Kyak, fan at a watch party: At least half of us in there in that bar that day dropped to our knees [after Dempsey’s shot was saved] and weren’t even looking at the TV — I don’t even think I remember seeing the goal live. I remember seeing it in replay nonstop, minutes later. The people in [the bar] were probably on a pile-on. Beers were flying everywhere. I believe that was one of the first times the bar utilized plastic cups, knowing that something may have happened that day, whether it was good or bad.

Benny Feilhaber, USMNT 2007-2017: I think my favorite thing about that is how I had zero involvement in the entire build-up of that play and how much it meant to me. I think that’s a great representation of our team because there was no selfishness with that team, we wanted one thing and everyone wanted the same thing and it didn’t matter who was able to get the glory and you saw it in that moment.

Altidore: It’s like the things you say in your backyard when you’re playing around. Last minute of the game, for all the marbles! And to have that play come off and be able to have it and look back on it for the rest of our lives, it’s amazing. It’s a beautiful moment.

The celebration

The celebrations following that game became legend unto their own. Former President Bill Clinton was at the match, making his way to the dressing room to join in the festivities. Former NFL star Reggie Bush was there, too.

Upon their return to the hotel, U.S. Soccer had arranged for players’ families to be there waiting, and organized a reception complete with singing and dancing, including the hotel staff.

Howard: President Clinton was in there with the Secret Service and at one point we were drinking beers and everybody’s excited and guys are taking their boots off. Carlos [Bocanegra] asked for everyone’s attention and asked President Clinton to come to the center, and he waxed poetically about what Bill Clinton meant to us and to be a part of our group and to Carlos personally, and he asked him if he’d have a beer with us. And [Clinton] looked over his shoulder, took off his jacket, rolled his sleeves up, popped open a beer. It was a pretty cool moment because not many people can say that they have that opportunity.

Beasley: It was chaos as soon as we got in [the dressing room]. We were jumping and yelling and cheering. Everybody was happy. We celebrated. And, obviously, when Clinton came in the locker room, it was great for him to meet everybody and congratulate everybody, so that was really cool. But yeah, we celebrated a little bit, because it wasn’t so much us celebrating because we went through, it was how we did it. The 90th minute, basically the last play of the game, we had a do-or-die situation for us to go through to the next round, and we did that. So, I’m sure if we would’ve won the game say 4-0, it would’ve been different.

Gomez: I know that we’re a very patriotic country any time it’s the U.S. vs. the rest of the world. The country gets behind it. But it’s one thing to be there, it’s another thing to get together at a conference room in a hotel and have the president of the United States call you on speaker phone. He’s talking to you, he’s naming Timmy by name, he’s naming Landon, he’s congratulating us. That’s a surreal thing. It’s surreal when Bill Clinton, an ex-president of the United States, comes into the locker room and he’s sharing a Budweiser with you. When Reggie Bush, probably at one of the heights of his career, is in the locker room and he shakes your hand and he tells you how much a fan he is, it’s just surreal moments.

David Ridenhour, fan at the game: It was just minutes of pandemonium after [the goal], and then as soon as they blew the final whistle, we stayed in the stadium for probably 20 or 25 minutes and watched the players go around the field. As we were leaving, there was a group of probably 1,000 U.S. fans that were still inside the stadium gates, and for 15 or 20 minutes we just sang and danced and partied.

Donovan: Maybe we did [overcelebrate] a little bit. It’s not like we were getting hammered that night. But it’s so difficult to advance out of your group at a World Cup, and when you put in so much time and effort, it’s hard not to celebrate. It really is. Life is short. You can’t blame people for wanting to celebrate in that moment and appreciate it because once that moment is over, it’s gone forever. I don’t blame guys, especially you’ve got people like the former president in there, you have to appreciate and enjoy the moment.

The aftermath

The celebrations crossed the Atlantic at a rapid pace. The stoppage-time win over Algeria became a “Where were you when …” moment in this country’s sporting history.

That was compounded by the rise of social media, and the emergence of videos from watch parties across the U.S. They were featured in ad campaigns, they were picked up by morning shows and on the tongues of late-night hosts.

Walker Zimmerman, USMNT defender 2017-present: I think I was at a soccer tournament and at a restaurant or bar in between games with my mom just watching the game. It was an out-of-body experience while watching that final sequence go down. Everyone is holding their breath, ball goes in and you erupt and you say, “I don’t know any of these people around me, but I’m enjoying it.”

Donovan: We went back to the hotel, we went to bed. In the morning when I went to breakfast, [press officer Michael] Kammarman actually said, “Hey, dude, you got to see this” and he showed me that same video, and it was like, “Holy s—.” It was really powerful for those of us who have been in this game for a long time and never seen people care about soccer like that. And I think quickly after that, it started to sink in because it was like interview here, interview there, this person’s calling me, that person’s calling me. People had jumped on the bandwagon really fast.

Michael Kammarman, USMNT press officer 2001-present: At a World Cup, it’s always hard when you’re inside the team bubble to have a real sense of what the response is like back in the United States. We already had a large contingent of U.S. media in South Africa, and certainly there were a ton of media requests for Landon after the game, but what really hit home were the videos showing the reactions of fans around the country. Those took on a life of their own, and it was one of the first times that had really happened in sports. Landon came into the Studio 90 office and watched that awesome compilation video, and that was a real eye-opener for us on how big this was back home; you could see in that game and the week that followed that the focus of people in the United States was on the U.S. men’s national team in a way it probably had never been before.

Bornstein: I was roommates with Benny Feilhaber and we had learned about [the videos] just because people were telling us, “Oh my God, did you guys see the reaction?” So we watched them, like, immediately afterward. I remember watching them almost right after, then again and again and again. It was so motivating, to be honest, to see how the American people, all the fans reacted inside bars, inside homes, wherever they were. It was like everyone was in the same moment at the same time. It’s something that I’ll be able to share with my kids and hopefully grandkids for years to come.

Foudy: We’re in Johannesburg, so we have no idea what’s happening back in America, but it gave you a sense of the magnitude of that moment, and what it meant to soccer in our culture, which is something we’ve always had to convince people is a part of our culture. As a soccer player, they always say, “No, it’s not us. People aren’t passionate about it, it’s not in our blood like it is in other countries.” And that moment, I was like maybe it is! Look at us!

Lalas: It’s a wonderful piece of Americana and a piece of our soccer history.

Zimmerman: Gregg [Berhalter]’s first camp in January two years ago, we were doing a roommate questionnaire where at the end of a meal you had to stand up and share the answers to questions about your roommate, and one of the questions was, “What was your most memorable U.S. soccer moment?” It seemed like half of the team alluded to this goal as the most exciting and pivotal moment that they had witnessed in U.S. soccer history.

Lalas: That’s the defining moment for a player who’s had plenty of them. That’s the one that people will remember. And when I say people, I mean people that aren’t even involved in soccer.