Future of U.S. soccer very bright after Denmark win

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Remember a few months ago when everyone was wringing their hands and scratching their heads in the wake of the debacle in Deutschland? We were like a flock of Chicken Littles, running amok and scared that the sky was going to fall and the entire soccer movement was going to be trampled by the brutal realities of the international game, as if we had forgotten those brutal realities after the successes of 2002.

Well, everyone can settle down now. Because the sky's not going to fall (though the unpredictable weather this winter has me a little nervous) and the soccer movement is fine. First there was the PR surge with the Beckham circus. And then, more poignantly, there was the United States' stylish 3-1 win over Denmark on Saturday. In fact, that win was so impressive and got me so jazzed about the U.S. national team again, that I truly believe that the likes of Justin Mapp, Jonathan Bornstein and Ricardo Clark can take this team to unprecedented levels. They're going to seriously challenge for the World Cup in 2014.

Go ahead. Send me your e-mails calling me a buffoon. Send me your rants about how this was only Denmark, not Italy or Germany or Brazil, and how it was Denmark's B-team. Send me your vaguely threatening notes about how Americans always over reach with their predictions and how we don't know anything about soccer.

I don't care. Because these kids -- the average age of  18-man roster was about 25 -- have confidence in their abilities, their first touch, their gumption, that has never existed in so many American players at the same time. Mark my words, the United States is going to cause all kinds of havoc at the 2010 World Cup and is going to challenge for the World Cup trophy in 2014.

I never thought I'd say that. But then again, I never thought I'd see a player with the swagger of Mapp or the awareness of Bornstein or the Makalele-like work of Clark or the sheer linebackerish power of Kenny Cooper. All of these guys are all under 23, still on the upside.

That's the most impressive aspect of the game. Mapp's the best example. It's not simply that he's talented. That's been a given since he entered MLS some five years ago. What thrills most about him -- and the other neophytes that U.S. coach Bob Bradley gamely threw into the mix against Denmark -- is the obvious development that's taken place.

When Mapp got the ball on the right side and decided -- perhaps instinctively -- to take on two defenders, he showed an awareness of the situation and a belief in his own skills, and he used both of those things to conjure up a goal. He split the defenders, drove to the byline, whipped a good ball across the mouth of the goal, and watched Bornstein put the finishing touches on the move.