Those damn Yankees strike again

Those damn Yankees!

Normally that's what I find myself yelling in the middle of baseball games or Sportscenter highlights, but in recent weeks the phrase has taken on an entirely new meaning, one that doesn't involve an MLB star wearing pinstripes.

Instead, the phrase seems to be the new mating call of the world, radiating from its epicenter in South Korea where the United States soccer team has taken down a couple soccer juggernauts en route to its first appearance in the World Cup quarterfinals in 72 years.

Now, instead of gladly joining in, I find myself chuckling at the chorus every time. Every Landon Donovan goal, Brian McBride header, Claudio Reyna cross, Eddie Pope tackle and Frankie Hejduk yellow card.

It's absolutely great because we weren't expected to make a single wave--we finished dead last in France in 1998--but Portugal and Mexico have drowned in the U.S. tsunami.

The Americans have done the unthinkable. They've taken the one sport that every country thought they could dominate us in--the sport that kept us humble after all those Dream Team gold medals--and turned it on its head.

Portugal ain't got nothin' on us. We dominate Mexico and now own North America. Poland can't... well, anyway... hey, at least we made it further than them.

Oh yeah, and France, Argentina, Italy, Croatia, etc.

South Korea's coach said that he didn't think America deserved to beat Portugal--the second goal was clearly offsides--and most anyone will tell you how flat Mexico looked, or how they just had an off game.

Funny how that seems to happen around us a lot in this World Cup.

Anyway, even though we're in the third round we're still the joke. According to most media, Germany's got the easiest ticket into semis: Beat up on Cinderella.

Hell, only about one out of every six stories on the game that are posted to FIFA's website even acknowledge the fact that the United States may field a squad.

And all this is coming after the Juergen Klinsmann and pals exodus that had critics predicting that the Reich's sub-par squad would not even make it out of the knockout phase.

As one British paper pointed out: If you had told England that, after beating perrenial power Germany 5-1 in qualifying, they would get to face Brazil in the quarterfinals, but the Germans would play the United States, then England would have thrown the game.

Those damn Yankees!

All in all, the whole thing's fairily funny, especially when you consider that when push comes to shove, the United States cares more about the Miss Wyoming pageant than the World Cup.

If we were to shock everybody and win the thing, the team would get a nice bonus and a trip to the White House. They may even get a big parade, and for the first few months, the building that would house the cup might even be slightly packed. After all there are a few soccer fans in this country.

But mostly, Americans would want to see it only because every other country would turn cartwheels over the golden trophy. It's also made of gold, so maybe, when it's collecting dust in a few months, someone could even try to steal it. That's the American way.

Those damn Yankees!

If all goes well we'll be reading the German translation come Friday morning.