I'm excited about the US national soccer team. I've just watched them come back from a goal down at half-time and play 45 minutes of the most determined and attacking football I have seen them play in years.

It wasn't so long ago I claimed that Bob Bradley was the wrong man for the head coaching job. I was wrong. Bradley knows these players well. He knows them better than his predecessor, Bruce Arena, knew his squad and he knows them better than any high profile foreign signing would have at this point. They didn't overwhelm the competition en route to hoisting the Gold Cup trophy on Sunday. But the team was consistent and they did not lose a match.

Despite playing on home soil at Solider Field in Chicago, the US was still the "away team." The capacity crowd was very much behind Mexico. This much was evident from the eruption when Andres Guardado scored the opening goal and from the dead silence that fell upon the stadium when Benny Feilhaber hit the winner into the top corner. After the final whistle, Mexico walked off relieved that they didn't lose by three goals, such was the US dominance.

'Does the rest of the world really expect the US to be a doormat forever in this sport?'


Landon Donovon and DaMarcus Beasley were phenomenal in midfield and the entire defence was inspirational. Captain Carlos Bocanegra put in a Cannevaro-like performance and Oguchi Onyewu had his best match of the competition. Jonathan Spector was equally brilliant until a scary head injury, but replacement Frank Simek was up to the task of holding off the attack. Tim Howard was world class in goal especially in the closing minutes when he pushed Adolfo Bautista's shot over the bar for a championship-winning save.

CONCACAF will never get the respect of the European Championship or Copa America. I'm sure many people will rate the African Nations' Cup a more prestigious trophy as well. But tell me how it is that Mexico is still deemed a 'world power' playing in the same region as the US, but have clearly been the lesser side during the past decade? Tell me why the US gets routinely mocked by the rest of the soccer-playing world, when we're clearly the class act of the region and Mexico are now scrambling to pull the national programme up by the scruff of the neck? No one looks past the US any longer.

As far as I'm concerned Mexico are nowhere near the US. You can throw the fact that the US was bounced from the World Cup before the knockout round in 2006 in my face and I will say they were the only team to take a point off world champions Italy. In fact, I would say they had the Italians crying on the pitch because they could not handle the physical aspect of the game. The Italians were flopping, diving, and pleading to the referee for mercy.

Bob Bradley will take a very inexperienced side to Venezuela this week for the Copa America. They will open against Argentina. Look at the Argentine squad and it is evident they have come to win this competition. The US may very well get blown out in the group stage matches and return home to prepare for World Cup 2010 qualifying and for the 2009 Conferations Cup. But that doesn't change the fact that this is a young team, with its core playing club football in Europe and with an extremely bright future.

MLS has only been around for 12 years. They've been playing the sport for over a hundred years around the world and yet the US is not that far off the pace. Sure, watch a top flight match in the English Premiership, La Liga or Serie A and it makes MLS look like a bunch of toddlers. However, the heart of the US National Team is just a shade below the quality the rest of the world is fielding. American players will still be plucked by European clubs on a regular basis. They will get first-team action and this will only help strengthen the national programme.

Does the rest of the world really expect the US to be a doormat forever in this sport? Our fans might not be as passionate, our league might not draw the same crowds and our club names might be embarrassingly bad. But the US is closing in on the rest of the world. And they're doing it fast.

The likes of Honduras, Guatemala and Canada have pulled Mexico back to the rest of the CONCACAF pack. The US is the only power in the the region. They have better players, a better professional league and a brighter future. The Gold Cup is just a formality now. The World Cup won't be far behind.