USA 1, Algeria 0. Big events like this one, ideas pop into your head hours, days later. You look around, you make more connections and wonder “why didn’t I think of this sooner and write about it?”

Each of these items is worthy of its own blog entry. Still, I’m going to mention all of them in brief … or what passes for “brief” in my world.

1. Most dramatic victory in the history of U.S. soccer?

2. Remember Project 2010? Remember how we laughed?

3. Have you checked out the Round of 16 foursome the Americans have landed in?

4. Is it stupid to at least consider the concept of “United States in the semifinals?”

A bit more on each of these topics:

1. The short answer is … “yes.”

Let’s recap the important victories in the history of U.S. soccer.  It’s not a long list.

U.S. 1, England 0 at the 1950 World Cup. Great victory, not well-documented, almost ignored in the United States. Is it a great match if no one cared? If England couldn’t be bothered to send its best player (he stayed in the hotel because it would be a blowout, right?), is it a dramatic victory? (What is the sound of one hand clapping?) And what did it do for the sport in the U.S., long-term? Nothing. Yanks didn’t even make it to the next stage of the 1950 World Cup … nor get back to the World Cup till 1990. Great upset, massive upset, biggest upset in U.S. history. But great drama? Nope.

U.S. 1, Trinidad & Tobago 0, 1989, World Cup qualifying. An unexpected result, at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, with Paul Caligiuri’s first-half goal the difference. The victory that put the Americans into the 1990 World Cup, ended speculation that FIFA would take the 1994 World Cup away from the States and kick-started the U.S. soccer boom. But, again, we have the relevance issue at work. It was a Sunday in November. How many Americans tore themselves away from the NFL to take note? How many Americans noticed when the Yanks went to Italy 1990 and lost three straight? How big an victory can you claim when it’s Trinidad and Tobago? And how dramatic was it when the goal came with more than an hour still to play?

U.S. 2, Colombia 1, 1994 World Cup. The victory that put the U.S. in the second round. Not bad. But the Yanks needed an own goal by Colombia to make it happen. Up 2-0, too. The drama was … could Colombia come back to snatch a point? Which was more about tension than drama. Different concepts.

U.S. 3, Portugal 2, 2002 World Cup. A massive shock over a team some thought could win the tournament.  But it was the first match in the group phase, and the U.S. led 3-0 (including an own goal) before almost giving it all away. The only drama was … could they blow a three-goal lead? That’s a negative drama, isn’t it?

U.S. 2, Mexico 0, 2002 World Cup. Sweet, absolutely, to eliminate your continental arch-rival and reach the quarterfinals at the same time. But it was more about Mexico attacking recklessly and the Yanks putting in two counter-attack goals. Not exactly last-minute stuff, either.

U.S. 1,  Algeria 0. Yes, this is your winner for Most Dramatic U.S. Soccer Victory. For these reasons: It directly led to making the second round, the realistic goal of all U.S. teams; it allowed the U.S. to win its group, which it hasn’t done … ever; any other result (a defeat, a draw) meant going home; it came in extra time, the first match in this tournament (38 matches into it) in which a winner was determined in extra time; and more Americans saw it than any of those others milestone matches. (A big audience makes all performances more important.)

2.  Remember Project 2010? I just did this morning. It was launched, to much scoffing and guffawing in 1998. The idea was a plan that would enable the U.S. to be a serious contender for a championship in 12 years. (It sometimes is reported that the plan was to win the World Cup in 2010, but the reality was about having a legitimate shot to win it, not actually do it at the 2010 World Cup.) Still, it seemed far-fetched … ridiculous … when the plan — in large part scripted by Carlos Queiroz (now Portugal’s coach) — came out. Which was just before the 1998 World Cup, in which the U.S. lost all three matches.

The United States was going to scare people in 2010, only 12 years away in 1998? Ha. Ha-ha.

But wait. Here we are in 2010,  and the U.S. just won a World Cup group that included England. Maybe Project 2010 wasn’t the joke we thought it was, back then.

3. Which brings us to the “regional semifinals.” In the giddiness of Wednesday’s victory, many of us did not immediately notice that the U.S. had won Group C with that late goal … and we also didn’t notice the 25 percent of the Round of 16 that the Americans jumped into by topping the group.

And here it is: Uruguay, South Korea, Ghana, United States.

Guess which team has the highest FIFA world ranking of that quartet? That would be the U.S. (14) … followed by Uruguay (16), Ghana (32) and South Korea (47).

Meanwhile, had the U.S. finished second, it would have ended up in the quartet England is among: Argentina, Mexico, Germany, England. You want to be in that group? Uh, no. Uh, heck no.

Which leads us to …

4. It absolutely is not stupid to mull the concept of the Yanks in the semifinals of the 2010 World Cup. Might be bad karma, bad luck, all that to do so … looking ahead, etc. Don’t want Landon Donovan and the lads to feel the pressure of expectations; they aren’t good enough for that sort of burden.

But look at that quartet again: U.S. … Uruguay, Ghana, South Korea. Which team there is the U.S. just flat incapable of defeating on a world stage? Is any of those teams a Brazil or an Argentina? A Germany or a Holland? Not even.

Uruguay is playing well, yes. Ghana had a nice match against Serbia but backed into the knockout phase, while losing to Germany, when Serbia choked against Australia. South Korea had a clutch victory over Nigeria and a nice victory over Greece but was torn up (4-1) by Argentina.

None of those four is a bad team. None is great. Actually, any of them could come out of that group of four — which means the semifinals will include at least one completely unexpected team.

It is not stupid to think … “may as well be the U.S.”

For sure, all four nations in this group are looking at the other three and thinking “Semifinals! Why not us?!?”

Granted, waiting for … whomever comes out of there … in the semifinals probably will be Brazil. (Talk about a buzz kill.) But just lasting that long? The semifinals of a World Cup? Uruguay has done it twice, but not since 1950. South Korea has done it once. The U.S. and Ghana have never been past the quarterfinals.

Lots of stuff to consider. And I may think about new topics as the day goes on.