U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

When the clock hit 90 minutes in the U.S. match against Algeria this morning (our time), it was still zero-zero (or nil-nil, as they say across the pond). England was leading Slovenia 1-0, appearing to erase any possibility that we might sneak through to the next round on a tie-breaker. And then Landon Donovan, considered by many the greatest American-born soccer player in history, kicked in a rebound after Algerian goaltender Rais Bolihi stopped Jozy Altidore on a breakaway.

The unbelievably dramatic 91st-minute goal sent the Americans into the round of 16, eliminating the Slovenians after their loss to the Brits. And it also took the focus off what was apparently a bad call by a referee in the first half. I didn't see the game (I have a job), but according to the AP's initial report:

Clint Dempsey put the ball in the net in the 21st minute off the rebound of Herculez Gomez's shot. But the goal was called offside, just as Maurice Edu's late goal was disallowed against Slovenia last week, a score that would have given the Americans a victory. Replays appeared to show Dempsey was onside.

So not only did we get hosed out of a victory over Slovenia, we came this close to getting hosed out of a victory over Algeria. The U.S. would have gone 0-0-3 and been drummed out of the World Cup, when we should have been 2-0-1 and a strong favorite going into the next round. Is this a referee conspiracy? I doubt it, but I have to admit it's possible. There are a lot of America-haters out there, and surely some of them are soccer referees.

But it doesn't matter now, if we get clean officiating the rest of the way. As the Group C champions, the U.S. will next play the second-place team from Group D, which includes Germany, Ghana, Serbia and Australia, at 2:30 eastern time on Saturday. Any one of those nations could finish second, and that will be decided this afternoon. I don't know if we have a realistic shot at beating the Germans, but the rest of those teams shouldn't be a big problem for us.