U.S. wins, 1-1

I hope TV coverage back home did tonight's match justice, both in terms of the atmosphere in the stadium and the magnitude of what the U.S. accomplished. With their World Cup life on the line, the Americans were playing 9 vs. 10 after two red cards, and they were facing an Italian team of such quality, patience and opportunism that a game-winning goal seemed a foregone conclusion.

But remarkably, the U.S. hung on. Steve Cherundolo was an unsung hero, covering virtually the entire right side of the field after the ejections. Landon Donovan ran at more defenders than I've ever seen him do before, especially in an international game, and he displayed some extraordinary skill. Oguchi Onyewu was an absolute monster on defense. The Revs' Clint Dempsey played 61 excellent minutes, forcing Totti to pick up a yellow card early and giving the Italian defense more to worry about in 15 minutes than the Czechs had to worry about in all of Monday's game. And DaMarcus Beasley, out of the doghouse, was a key to taking the pressure off the U.S. defense in the late going.

The U.S. crowd was also great, but it was the kind of match that evokes passions people might not know they have. All of the officiating controversy, the complaints about Italian play-acting, the circumstances of the match itself -- it wasn't a game where you could sit on your hands and wait for someone to start the wave. It sucked you in and didn't let go until the final whistle.

So Thursday's game means something after all. But even if the Americans don't advance (they need to beat Ghana, and have Italy beat the Czechs), they can hang their hat on this performance in Kaiserslautern. It might not be the best result in U.S. soccer history, but it must be the best effort.