How the World Cup works

Silly Americans. Your country is participating in one of the world's biggest sporting events, and the vast majority of you could care less. \nWell, wake up.\nFor those of you who aren't year-round soccer fans but have been staying up (or getting up) to watch the U.S. duke it out for a spot in the Round of 16 -- I applaud you. Our team is no longer in the disappointing position it was four years ago in France where it didn't win a single game. But now that we've advanced to the second round of World Cup 2002, people need to start caring.\nThere's always those who understand the game of soccer, but don't quite follow the outline of the World Cup tournament. They follow the television schedule, watch the games, listen to the commentators and then can't understand how the U.S. could lose to Poland 3-1 but advance to the second round while the Polish footballers packed up their gear and headed home.\nSo how does a team that loses miserably to Poland advance to the next round?\nThe tournament starts off with 32 qualifying teams, which are then split into eight groups of four. These groups are given letters, and each team plays the other three teams in its group. For the winning team, three tournament points are awarded while the loser walks away with none. In the event a game winds up in a tie, both teams are awarded one tournament point. The two teams with the most points in each group advance to the next round.\nIf teams are tied in tournament points, it comes down to goal differential. In the U.S.'s group, Poland had only three points because their only victory came against the American squad. The U.S. had four because of beating Portugal and then tying South Korea. If Portugal had tied South Korea in the group's last game, instead of losing, they also would have had four points. Had this happened, goal differential would have come into play and Portugal would have advanced instead of the U.S. Why? Because goal differential is the amount of goals a team scores minus the number they've allowed in the three games they played. If it had come down to this, the Americans would have been ousted. Breathe. It's a lot to take in, but it gets easier.\nThe next round is called the Round of 16, which is where all the top two teams from the first round groups battle it out in single elimination play -- meaning if you lose, you're done. From then on, winning teams advance to quarterfinals, semifinals and then of course, finals. There's always a third place match -- which is a good thing to have, because with a tournament like this, you deserve that much more recognition for the level of play you achieved.\nAnd that's it. Not too hard to understand. \nSo no matter how far the U.S. gets in the tournament from here on out -- whether they win or lose against Mexico this morning -- they should be welcomed with a standing ovation on their return back home. Not only have they re-instilled men's World Cup soccer pride back into America since their disappointing show in '98, they helped knock off Portugal who was ranked fifth in the world. \nAnd so many thought it couldn't be done.