As the 2010 World Cup kicked off in the opening match between South Africa and Mexico, all eyes were on Johannesburg’s Soccer City Stadium, the sporting jewel of Africa’s cosmopolitan capital of commerce. Once an unimpressive outpost, the stadium is now a glowing masterpiece and the dream destination of the 32 national teams vying to be called World Cup Champions.  More than that, it might just be the perfect metaphor for the US Men’s National team, a group that intends to use this African World Cup to make its case for heavyweight status in the world of soccer.

Originally opened in 1989, Soccer City Stadium existed in a sort of limbo within the South African city of Johannesburg.  Formerly known as FNB Stadium (named after a local bank), the stadium sat straddling a line between Johannesburg proper and the famous black township of Soweto.  It belonged to no one, sitting on the backside of a gold dump (a mountain of discarded cyanide-laced yellow earth leftover from decades of gold mining) and had the appearance of a concrete skeleton, hulking and unapproachable.

Through the 1990s, the area surrounding Soccer City was dark and sparsely inhabited.  The nearest residents to the stadium came from the impoverished and violent area of Soweto and from the Johannesburg Correctional Centre.  A promising site sat as unfulfilled potential, an uninspired but still juvenile stage just waiting to be properly set.

Around the same time, the US Men’s National Team was similarly an unimpressive junior on the American sports landscape.  The Yanks limped into the 1990 World Cup in Italy injured and inexperienced.  They were thoroughly embarrassed in the Group Stage, losing all three matches to Czechoslovakia, Italy, and Austria by a combined score of 8-2.

The US side managed a respectable run to the quarterfinals as the host nation in 1994 (losing 1-0 to eventual champion Brazil) before another dismal three-and-out performance in the 1998 World Cup in France.  The 2002 squad showed promise before losing to Germany in the Knockout Stage, setting up another disappointing regression in Germany in 2006, as the US was eliminated in Group Stage for the 3rd time in 5 years.

It was in the midst of this run that South Africa was named the host site for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, with Soccer City being named as the main stadium, host to the opening match and championship final.  Thus the overhaul began, with the assiduous infrastructure improvements occurring fastidiously and immediately.  The roads were improved, sidewalks constructed, and train and taxiway systems better connected.

There was suddenly a buzz in the area as the towering construction cranes assembled around the once looming morass of concrete.  The seating bowls were reconstructed and the shell began to resemble the true creativity and beauty of the people it represented.

Simultaneously, despite the disquieting nature of the US’s performance over the previous decade, optimism seemed to be building that the soccer program was advancing and that the US would soon be poised for a deeper run into the tournament.  The inner workings of the team were reconfigured and the players began to better resemble the strength and ingenuity of the American people they represented.  All of this hope was buoyed by the 2009 Confederations Cup, where the US men ousted Egypt and top-ranked Spain before losing a heartbreaking match to Brazil in the final after leading 2-0 at halftime.

Finally, it seemed, the US team seemed to have an arsenal of playmakers that could compete on the international stage.  Jozy Altidore had emerged as a top-quality striker and veterans Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey anchored a creative midfield that was beginning to demand respect from opponents.  With a defense loaded with its own share of top-level talent, most prominently in Everton’s Tim Howard and AC Milan’s Oguchi Onyewu, hope was beginning to surface in the American fanbase that maybe this US squad was the one to carry the Stars and Stripes to glory. 

This reconstruction of the American soccer hopes seems perfectly in line with the reconstruction of Soccer City, two entities that always had as much unfulfilled potential as promise.  Only now, both the US National Team and Soccer City have risen above the surrounding mediocrity to shine as forces on the world stage.  They can move from ignominy to invincibility, from remnants of forgotten history to resplendent memories for the ages. 

And maybe, just maybe, they have the chance to shine together on July 11th, the date of the World Cup Final.