Quick, where can I buy a red-white-and-blue USA cape?

Was that crazy or what?

You stave off tournament-elimination by winning a 90-minute game in the 91st minute. You do it after having a perfectly good goal taken off the board by curious officiating for the second-straight game. And now you're in the Sweet 16, or whatever they call it in the World Cup.

I sat at home and watched the United States' 1-0 win over Algeria Wednesday. For the first 90 minutes of the match (which last 90 minutes and can be won in the 91st minute), I wondered if soccer was about to endure a damaging blow in this country.

For one thing, not advancing to the Sweet 16 (or whatever they call it in the World Cup) would have left a "We're still not any good" taste in many mouths.

For another, and perhaps more importantly, a lot of rabid and lukewarm fans alike would have questioned the validity of the World Cup after goals were stricken from the U.S.' record two straight times, seemingly rigging the tourney against the Americans.

That's not good.

But now, it's on to Saturday and a match against Ghana or Germany (this was written before they squared off Wednesday), and all is well after a game in which frustration and fretting mounted higher and higher and higher.

What I found is, while I rooted for Canada in Olympic hockey (Canadians are good folks, hockey is their sport, and they have so little sports-wise compared to the U.S.), and root for the Algerias and Slovenias when there's anything in the Summer Olympics that I care about, this was different.

I find myself really wanting the U.S. to win. It's fun to be an underdog for once, even though the Americans weren't really underdogs against Algeria or Slovenia. But while they aren't mutts, they really are underdogs.

In soccer, We aren't Brazil or Italy or Germany or England or Argentina or Spain or the Netherlands or even those petulant  quitters from France, normally.  We own them in almost all other sports that matter, but in this we're (yes, "we're" upstarts. Flawed, but interesting. Talented, but not anything close to overwhelmingly so.

There is a heart beating there on that team, though. It showed itself in each of the three World Cup matches so far, though let's not forget the giant gift England's goalkeeper gave the U.S. in the opening game.

This thing is like the NCAA basketball tournament. Many a plucky squad has reached the Sweet 16 (or whatever they call it in the World Cup), but crossing that bridge to someplace better is tough duty.

But Butler did it this year, and are you going to tell me a nation of 300 million people can't do what a private university of 4,500 students can?

OK, the analogy doesn't really make a bit of sense. No more than scoring in the 91st minute of a game that lasts 90 minutes, anyhow.

So, where are we watching Saturday's match?