You are always a fan of US Soccer when you are outside the country

...and it was the same in Manama, Bahrain at Club Dublin. There was no home turf for the expat nation here. Even with the number of Americans that live in Bahrain, there are as many English. So Club Dublin and its television screens were divided between the two. After the hope and disappointment of an offside goal from Dempsey, the other half of the room erupted. That, well that, was a bad sign.

I sat next to Glen. I only remember his name because he was a 50 something civilian contractor, and old American men in Arab countries seem to insist that young American girls remember their names.

With around 87 minutes played he says to me, " This is why soccer will never be big in the United States. After 90 minutes two teams draw zero to zero. Americans like high scoring sports. They like to know someone won!"

Forty five seconds into injury time, he jumped higher than I did. Donovan pulled off the unlikely goal. He danced around with as much furor as Devin, the soccer player from Cornell. Because in that moment, he was as great a fan of American soccer as the people in the South African stadium.

I leaned over, begging to have the last word with Glen, "And that, that is why soccer should be big in the US"