I remember sitting in the stands in Barbados, imagining the worst possible scenario for the United States national team. With the U.S. needing a win over the Bajan Warriors to advance to the Hexagonal stage of CONCACAF qualifying, I kept thinking, "In this sport, bad things can happen." If you don't defend well on one corner. If a Barbados player gets the ball near the box and gets a lucky deflection. If the U.S. has to come from behind and push players forward, and leaves itself vulnerable on a counter attack.

This is how upsets occur in soccer. This is what we saw (those of us who got up before 5 a.m., anyway) this morning. Only this time, I'm putting it a little bit differently. This time, I'm saying, "In this sport, good things can happen."

	Why not U.S.?

First, give credit to coach Bruce Arena. He put a team on the field that left him open for second-guessing, starting a pair of 20-year-olds, DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan; keeping his best goal scorer, Clint Mathis, on the bench, and trusting a player, Pablo Mastroeni, who had never played a meaningful game for the U.S. The lineup Arena selected was a team built to pressure Portugal's passing game with a dogged work-rate and fast enough to pose dangerous threats on the counter.

The coach had been critical of Mathis' fitness and, in the aftermath of this match, it's fair to say this was not a game for any player who was going to need to take even a two-minute breather. The players who needed rest -- Earnie Stewart and Eddie Pope, who got banged up and Donovan, who ran his legs off -- were all subbed out in the second half.

So the side Arena selected were able to execute a sound tactical plan. Pressure the ball, pick opportune moments to get forward, make the game tough for the Portuguese. And, lest we forget, if you get a chance, take advantage of it.

Four minutes in, the U.S. did just that. Brian McBride -- a selection I questioned because I wasn't sure his aerial strength could be utilized in a game against a team like Portugal -- did what he's paid to do. On the first corner of the game for the Americans, McBride got free in the box, nailed a header on net, then watched John O'Brien pounce on the rebound to give the Americans the lead. And while no one (no one I know anyway) thought the U.S. would make that goal stand up for 86 minutes, I did allow myself to think, "Maybe this is what the U.S. needs to get a draw." To me, Portgual still looked cocky.

And then came the own goal. With the U.S. still trying to get a feel for playing with the lead, Donovan's innocent-looking cross took as strange a deflection as a ball can take, glancing off the back of a defender's head, wrong-footing the Portuguese goalkeeper and sneaking into the short side of the net. Cocky no more, Portugal now panicked.

And the U.S. stomped on their necks. A textbook counter-attack goal, capped by the sweetest cross of Tony Sanneh's career and, yes, a McBride header. The U.S. men were now looking at a 3-0 lead in a game where they'd had very little of the ball.

As it turned out, the U.S. would need all three goals to win the game. But the final 20 minutes -- after Jeff Agoos gave back the own goal to the Portuguese -- was not as nerve-wracking as you might have expected. For about eight minutes, Portugal looked dangerous and the U.S. looked scared. But at about 81 minutes, the U.S. -- with good, hard work from veteran subs Cobi Jones and Joe-Max Moore -- killed off the game.

So, indeed, good things can happen. But for the U.S. to make this colossal upset stand up, they need to remain composed in their approach to this tournament. On June 10th, they play South Korea -- a game that, coming into the Cup, looked like a must-win.

Now, although, it's a "go-through to the second round" game for both teams -- and the pressure is clearly on the hosts to get three points before they have to take on what will be a desperate, humbled Portuguese team in their Group Play finale.

So, while today's upset is an American victory for the ages, it hardly secures the U.S. a spot in the second round. There's 180 more minutes to play.

Plenty of time for more things, good and bad, to happen.

Jeff Bradley is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at jeff.bradley@espnmag.com.