In One Mo Thing with Maurice Edu, the former United States national team midfielder brings you inside the mind of a player at the World Cup.
The nerviest day of my sporting life was May 26, 2010. Thats the day I found out I was going to be on the United States roster for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
It was the culmination of a lifelong journey, as well as a massive comeback. I had moved to Rangers Football Club in the Scottish Premier League, suffered a huge knee injury and came back to claim my spot on Bob Bradleys 23-man roster.
The process this year for the United States team was a little different than what it was for the 2010 World Cup. My final game with Rangers that year was on May 9. Then, 30 players were called into a training camp in Tampa ahead of a friendly against Czechia (then known as the Czech Republic). The day after that match, seven players were cut to get down to the roster of 23 players.Â
This year, rosters were set before the final day of the club season.
Heres the story of how I made the World Cup roster and how I found out.
I broke into the national team setup in late 2007, making three appearances in World Cup qualifiers. The following August, I moved to Rangers.
Then, at the end of my first season in Glasgow in May 2009, I suffered a knee injury that saw me miss about seven months. That meant I wasn’t involved in that summer’s Confederations Cup, which featured winners from all six continental championships, the reigning World Cup champion and the host nation. The tournament was in South Africa since it was scheduled to host the 2010 World Cup.
Famously, the United States beat the reigning European champions Spain in the semifinals in Bloemfontein. The team also had a 2-0 lead over Brazil in the final before three straight goals won the Brazilians the tournament.
Watching from home, I had so many mixed emotions. One part of me was jumping out of my seat with every moment, every goal, excited for my teammates and friends. I was on the phone with these guys from South Africa, living every moment vicariously through them.
The other part of me has some serious “FOMO.” That brotherhood, camaraderie and pride â I was missing out on all of that.
Prior to the Confederations Cup, I felt really good about where I was with the team. I felt like I would have played a significant part in that tournament if it wasnt for the injury. So, it felt like I had to start over.
I used that summer as motivation, though. Once I got healthy, the next chance I was going to have with the national team was the set of friendlies in late February and March 2010. I knew I had to do everything in my power to make sure I was going to be in that March camp.
I knew those games and training camp were going to be significant. That was the final chance for Bob Bradley and his coaching staff to get an extended look at us before the end of the club season.
The match I featured in was on March 3 in Amsterdam, when we lost 2-1 to the Netherlands. I came on at halftime for Jose Torres and got 45 minutes in midfield next to Michael Bradley, which is the job we were all competing for.
In that friendly against the Czechs, I played all 90 minutes of a 4-2 loss and scored my only goal for the national team. At that point, theres nothing else I could do, and I felt good about my standing.
Still, I had missed a significant amount of time and some important games between the Confederations Cup and the games in the fall of 2009. The value of playing in a tournament like that is that you get a run of games. Its a chance to establish yourself and reinforce your value to the team over multiple games. While friendlies and qualifiers in the middle of the club season are important, I always felt a tournament was valuable because you get a run of games and knockout-round matches that are even more important and tense.
When I finally made it back
