This Euro-centricity (some would call it arrogance, or worse) has a kernal of merit. All the best players, even those from South America—the only other continent whose nations (namely Brazil, Argentina, until recently Uruguay, and more recently, Chile) qualify for automatic respect—play for European club teams. That is, after all, where the money is. Many players join European clubs’ academies at a young age, like Lionel Messi, who famously moved from his native Argentina to the legendary Barcelona academy at 13 because his local club could not afford medical treatments for a hormone deficiency.

Currently, European club teams and leagues comprise a polyglot of nationalities. This cartel-like cornering of the world’s football talent market has allowed the sport’s European infrastructure to flourish, while the periphery of Africa, Asia, North America, and to a great degree South America, continually play the role of vassal.

So, for the better part of two decades—that is, since the 1994 World Cup, which the U.S. hosted—American soccer, its fans, and the national team have been patronized by the football world as one would a naïve younger cousin. You see them once every year at the family reunion—in football’s case, every four at the World Cup—and you tolerate their persistent yet humorous efforts to join in with the older cousins, and then you forget about them as soon as they leave the party.

As with any little cousin though, American soccer has gradually matured, both in international tournament play and nationally at the grassroots level. This development, the idea that football is finally catching on in America, has been discussed, primarily by Americans, during every World Cup, with very few in the foreign media or public ever taking it too seriously. However, there has been a marked change in tone over the past two weeks in Brazil. As one writer from the UK’s Telegraph put it, after praising “the never-say-die-spirit of (USA Coach) Jürgen Klinsmann’s” team, “make no mistake. The Americans are going home, but they have certainly arrived.”

This type of praise was not just left to pundits, but to those on the pitch and in the pubs. Vincent Kompany, Belgium’s star defender and arguably the best center-back in the world, stated to French sports paper L’Equipe after the match, “It must be said that it was a special match against a US team that merits all the applause. A true World Cup match.” From the bars, a Scottish friend with whom I played soccer (read: drank) in college and whose nation is reveling in the fact that the U.S. has equaled and bettered England in the previous two World Cups respectively, recently went out of his way to praise America: saying how the U.S. is playing “real football” that is energetic and dynamic and, most importantly, fun to watch. Adding to this praise, a World Cup discussion group that the same friend founded on Facebook is filled with comments from other British fans who have appreciated and admired what the U.S. team brought to this tournament.