Clinton left speechless after last-gasp win
Reuters - Thursday 24 June 2010, 12:06
JOHANNESBURG - Bill Clinton, the former
U.S. President known for his eloquence and diplomacy, found
himself rejoicing like any other fan after the United States
scored their dramatic winner against Algeria in the World Cup.
Clinton was sitting in the stands with dignitaries at Loftus
Versfeld in Pretoria on Wednesday when forward Landon Donovan
got a winner in added time to send the U.S. into the last 16.
"I lost my voice yesterday. I was very diplomatic until we
scored," Clinton said in an interview with a roundtable of
journalists on Thursday.
"When that sucker went in there, I said, 'Thank God for
overtime'," he added, having joined in the celebrations after a
pulsating 1-0 win over Algeria on Wednesday that left the U.S.
top of Group C above favourites England.
"Both the United States and Algeria played that game with
both their minds and their hearts in the right place."
Clinton went to the U.S. changing room after the match,
where he said some players asked him to stay for a beer, or two.
"In the locker room, all they talked about was how they
played as a team. They were a happy crowd yesterday."
GRUDGING RESPECT
Clinton, who was introduced to football when he went to
England as a Rhodes Scholar in the late 1960s, has been
impressed with the way the U.S. squad has overcome adversity,
including having two goals disallowed.
He plans to attend the next U.S. match against Ghana in the
second round in Rustenburg on Saturday.
The former U.S. leader said while the world's football powers
do not see the United States as reaching their level, there is a
grudging respect for the battling Americans.
"Argentina and Brazil think that we are better at this then
we are," he said. "Others have been doing it longer. That is OK.
I think they believe that we are serious about it now."
Clinton, president when the U.S. hosted the World Cup in
1994, has been in South Africa campaigning to bring the event
back to the States, where he said every team can find a home
base of support among the various ethnic groups in the country.
"It would be really good for America if we could do it. I
think it would be good for soccer worldwide if we could do it."
Clinton has also pondered how the sport can be used as a
proxy for peacefully battling over the ethnic and political
issues that have persistently divided countries and peoples.
"The real trick is not to ask people to give up the
particularities of their identities but to give them a place to
put it that is not destructive," he said.
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