I think I’ll call it one of the biggest ties in American history.

While a win would have been more fruitful and meant more to American soccer, a 1-1 tie against England in Saturday’s World Cup opener goes a long way towards showing the United States means business in South Africa.

In the past, the United States has struggled in World Cup openers, and earning a point against favored England not only put the Americans in a good position to move onto the round of 16, but also gave the country something to cheer about.

Now, before any naysayer has the chance to point out the fact that soccer is a minor sport in America, hear me out.

Soccer will never be truly big in the United States, and unfortunately the game’s non-stop 90-minute format doesn’t allow for the sponsorship and commercials that drive football or basketball.

Unlike football and basketball (and to an extent, baseball) soccer has the ability to unite a country. In basketball, their really isn’t any competition on the international stage. Other than the United States controversial loss to Russia in the basketball finals of 1972 Olympics, there isn’t a key moment that people can rally around.

But you can rally around the United States soccer team. It doesn’t matter whether you like the game or not. It unites us.

When the United States stepped on the field to play England, our national anthem played — not a soccer national anthem — our national anthem. Something we should all be proud of.

That was just the beginning of the emotional roller coaster.

When the United States went down 1-0 in just the fourth minute, those watching the game worried it would be a blowout after England easily dissected the defense.

There was hope, there was worry and then there was the joy.

Yes, it was a bad goal that even I could have stopped (I stand by that, if anyone wants to test me on that theory feel free), but it was a unifying moment. I hugged a total stranger in celebration and throughout the day I could proudly talk with my fellow American’s about what had happened.

So it was a tie, but it was still one of the biggest ties in American sports. Can you think of any other ties that have brought together a nation? Most ties spark debate about who should have won or how somebody screwed up, but not after this tie. No, after this tie it was all about being an American and being proud of what we accomplished.

Yes, you may only care about soccer once every four years when it’s on ESPN, but you’re always an American. How can you not root for that?