"The most fortunate goal in World Cup play."

Yeah, we'll take it though.

So I was sitting on the edge of my couch, grumbling at the Yank's wasted attempts getting into the box, save for a few decent header attempts to equalize the match with the Three Lions, who scored in the fourth freaking minute.

This was the first World Cup soccer match between England (um, the Three Lions, called so after their "badge", the crest with three lions on it, based on England's own coat of arms, a thing with three lions dating back to Richard the Lionheart) and the US (their nickname is "Yankees", which is more of a feeling about 'mer-kins than a reference to a Bronx baseball team; we also have the worst "badge" in futbol) since the 1950 match that saw a collection of deli workers and bus drivers from the States beat one of the tournament's favorites. The Yanks won the match in 1950 1-0, and back in England the papers thought the wire information was wrong, and printed the score as 10-1, which made more sense to the English.

That 1950 match, historians and experts agree, seems to symbolize the how the two nations, as nations, view the beautiful game. England, the inventor of the sport, tends to underestimate opponents and underachieve, since, as a country (this year is no exception) they can field one of the best teams on paper. America can have success but no one back home will even notice. Those deli workers and bus drivers returned to those jobs, a free trip to Brazil and some good soccer was all they had to show for it. (Brazil in 1950 lost the final to Uruguay, on home soil, in a tragedy of national significance equal to losing a great war. Guess how 2014 will be, when the tournament is back in Brazil...)

On the couch, yelling at the television (ABC is the one channel we get with the least interference) I watched Landon and Dempsey having a damn tea party in the box, and Dempsey kicks it over to the English goalie, Green. "Dammit!" I was yelling, "What a f-in!---" And then it happened.

Green muffed the easiest shot you can get as a goalie. It bounced off his hands and by him. "Ahhhh!" I yelled, then, "Buckner! Buckner!" in reference, of course, to Bill Buckner of the '86 Red Sox, muffing an easy out at 1st base and becoming the national symbol for the "d'oh!" moment.

So, the Yanks held off and got a draw. They left the match with a point, which is what they need in their match play.

I'm not always the first guy with the "USA! USA!" chants, and you won't find me doing that here. But, when it comes to international soccer, we're the Underdogs who have skill and a chance, and I like the idea of being perpetually counted out, then delivering and pissing people off. We'll see how we do against Slovenia and Algeria, when we're the favorites.

All we need is a better "badge."