Time to support your country's soccer team

If you haven't already found out or haven't read the story to the right of this, the USA Men's National team won one of the most important soccer matches in it's history.

I'm saying that because most people around here do not understand how important this win was. The win against Algeria not only put the U.S. in the knockout round of the FIFA World Cup, it gave them enough points to actually win Group C over favored England national team.

This is very, very big for soccer in this country. Not only did they win, they won in dramatic fashion. Landon Donovan, the face of USA soccer, scored the winning goal in the 91st minute of the game. With the officials adding 4 minutes in stoppage time, the USA needed the win to advance. Throughout the entire game, this team had so many chances of taking the lead but just couldn't find the back of the net.

It's fitting that Donovan scored the winning goal because when you think of American soccer players, he's probably one of the first guys you think of.

In saying all this, I want to challenge all of you, the readers, to support you country's team by watching their round of 16 match against Ghana on Saturday, June 26, at 1:30 on ABC. The last time the USA was in this position, they advanced to the quarterfinals in 2002's World Cup in Japan/Korea. This year's team is poised and ready to make a run that could put them even farther than the quarterfinals if they play with the same passion they did in yesterday's game.

I know that soccer isn't a hot topic in this area, but I really do hope that you will watch this team as they progress throughout the rest of the World Cup. If you haven't been watching any of the action, you've really been missing out. It's been a great World Cup and it's only going to get better as the tournament progresses.

So, my goal is that you all will support the USA and hope that they will give it all they got for their country!

If you want any more information on the World Cup, you can visit http://espn.go.com and look for the World Cup link.

Dustin Sullivan is the Sports Editor for the Daily Dunklin Democrat. You can contact him at dsullivan@dddnews.com.