8 Heartbroken U.S. Fans After The World Cup Draw

It was our big shot. Americans finally had the chance to feel good about their World Cup chances, leading Portugal 2-1 into the final minutes of Sunday's match. You could pretty much smell the American spirit... and then, Cristiano Ronaldo happened, and Portugal tied the game 2-2, leaving their second World Cup match at a draw.

It was a critical game for the U.S. team. With U.S. Captain Clint Dempsey's goal with only nine minutes to go on the game clock, bringing the score to 2-1, it looked like we were going to make history. A win would have bumped us up to the top of Group G (U.S., Ghana, Portugal, and Germany) and secured passage to the second round of the Cup — the first time that the U.S. would have qualified for the knock-out round after only two games. If that doesn't want to make you eat a hot dog and wave an American flag, I don't know what could.

Then there's Ronaldo, the LeBron James of the soccer world. Yes, we've given him grief for his beautiful crying face, but the guy is regarded as one of the top players in the world. And after Portugal's 4-0 loss to Germany last week Ronaldo was ready to prove he's still the best. And prove it he did. He executed a flawless cross-box pass over to Silvestre Varela, who basically needed to do nothing more than stand and let the ball ricochet off of his head, past U.S. keeper Tim Howard (Ronaldo's former teammate), and into our goal. Quick as a flash, the game was over. Then, the collective face of America fell.

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Across the nation, charcoal meant to fire celebratory burgers burned down into ashes and crumbled apart. Red, white, and blue, once neatly assembled into an American flag, smeared across faces into a blur of light purple and salty tears. Beers were drank. Bottles were smashed. Most importantly, we saw some pretty heartbreaking (but undeniably entertaining) shocked faces.

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The U.S. will play soccer powerhouse Germany this Thursday. In order to advance, we will at least need a tie to guarantee a spot in the second round. As we mentioned, Germany completely steamrolled Portugal in their first game of the Cup. Jurgen Klinsmann, current U.S. coach and former coach of Germany's national team, has insisted that there is no fixed arrangement to propel both teams to the knock-out round. But what if Klinsmann is in for the long game on this? As a German himself, could this be a giant game of sabotage?

We're kidding, U.S. I'm sure we have nothing to worry about. We just don't want to see any more disappointed patriots.

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