As he lay on the grass field after watching long-time teammate Josh Wolff, strike the winning goal, Evan Whitfield had not quite grasped what had just happened.
After playing all of regulation and overtime tied at 2-2, they had just beaten Japan in a shootout 5-4 in Adelaide, Australia-the site for the preliminary and second rounds of the games.
Halfway through the Olympics, he and his teammates were going to Sydney.
The United States men's soccer team-the embarrassment of the U.S. international sports juggernaut, the team that ranks somewhere between archery and women's weightlifting-had won after winning only five games in over 70 years of Olympic play. And it had won big.
It climbed from the deserted outback of Adelaide to the hype of Sydney.
They had just exceeded expectations three-fold.
"No one thought we would get to the second round," Whitfield said. "Once we made it to Sydney, we wanted to win, but I think we did a good job to go as far as we did."
The defender from Glendale, Ariz., had come a long way from his playing days under Duke coach John Rennie. He co-captained the men's soccer team his senior season along with Jay Heaps and finished his collegiate career in 1998 after starting in 75 games with 15 assists. He was also a member of the 1995 team that made an amazing run to the national title game before falling to Wisconsin.
"Duke has always had a lot of talented players," he said. "Players like Jason [Kreis] and Jay [Heaps]. Kids at Duke have always expected later success both in soccer and personal life."
After graduating in only three-and-a-half years, success has come easily to Whitfield. Following the days when Whitfield called Duke home, he played in Belgium for the club team KAA Gent and then was drafted 11th overall by the Chicago Fire of the MLS.
However, for Whitfield, it had been one of his ultimate goals to play soccer in the Olympics. He had played for the Under-23 national team-the team that all countries send to the Olympics in the hopes of showing off their soccer future-on many occasions and was just waiting to get the roster call for Sydney. Finally, after the U.S. qualified for the Olympics, it came.
"My plan at school was always to go to Sydney," Whitfield said. "I was hoping that I would make the final roster and I played very well in the last few games and did."
The team came to Adelaide with rather low public expectations and even less international respect. However, the Americans quickly attracted attention when they tied the Czech Republic, a European superpower, and later gold-medal team Cameroon. They then beat Kuwait to win their group and advance to the second round.
After taking down Japan in the second round, Whitfield and his teammates were headed off to Sydney.
"Sydney was a lot more intense," Whitfield said. "Now we were playing in front of over 40,000 people. It was really cool and the idea of a medal was making everyone on the team a bit giddy."
Alas, it was not to be, as the high-flying United States came back to earth and fell 3-1 to Spain and then 2-0 to Chile in the bronze-medal game.
Although they didn't return with a medal, a trip to the White House or the cover of a Wheaties Box, the performance by members of the Under-23 team turned more than a few heads both at home and abroad. Both the Spanish and Chilean coaches commented during the games how much United States soccer has improved.
"It was an excellent showing for men's soccer," Whitfield said. "It shows that the MLS experience is paying off. It also shows the United States is improving in soccer."
Although he didn't start in Sydney, Whitfield got a decent amount of playing time. He also enjoyed Australia immensely, except for some of the local wildlife.
"It was great, they had great venues and the country was really cool," he said. "They only thing I didn't like was koalas. All they do is sleep all day."
Aside from first-hand marsupial knowledge, Whitfield gained a lot of experience from the Olympics. He now returns to Chicago to finish off the MLS season with the Fire as they compete in the finals of the MLS Cup.
"Playing with the best in international play makes you much better," he said. "It helped me a lot personally. I hope to go play more oversees eventually, but now I'm going to concentrate on finishing out the [MLS] season."
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