Even if you're not into soccer, I hope you saw this one.
This was a finish for the ages, as good as it gets in any sport you can name.
This was the U.S. vs. Algeria in the World Cup on Wednesday, loser goes home, a tense match made even more nail-biting by the fact the Americans kept finding new and creative ways to blow easy goal-scoring opportunities.
When Landon Donovan scored his thrilling rebound shot in the 91st minute -- three more minutes and the U.S. would have been packing its bags to go home instead of advancing with a 1-0 win -- the crowd around me at Slainte Irish Pub in Fells Point erupted.
They were four deep at the downstairs bar, shouting and hugging and high-fiving and waving American flags.
One guy was even blowing one of those annoying vuvuzelas, and no one took it away and stomped on it or set it on fire because we were all too caught up in the celebration.
Thousands of miles away in a crowded stadium in Pretoria, South Africa, Donovan was doing an exuberant headfirst slide near the corner flag, his teammates racing over to mob him.
And at Slainte, I watched a fat guy turn away from the TV, put down his pint of Guinness and weep tears of joy at the spectacle of it all.
This is what sports does to us as a society. It unites us. It stirs something in our souls. It's why even if you don't care a whit about soccer, you should do yourself a favor and check out the World Cup, at least when this gritty American team plays.
Now the U.S. team advances to the round of 16 and plays its next match Saturday against Ghana, and I have been invited back to Slainte to watch it.
Except I don't know whether I can handle another match with all those crazy, passionate soccer fans, maybe 600 jammed onto all three floors, according to Bill Irvin, the pub's director of operations.
"Don't tell the fire marshal," Irvin said.
I think he was kidding.
Irvin said Slainte opened at 5:30 a.m. and the first fan walked in the door at 6 and promptly grabbed a perch at the bar and ordered a beer. By kickoff at 10, the place was packed. I tried to talk to the guy who had been there since 6. He was still going strong with a pint of Harp, I think it was, in front of him.
Except he didn't want to be identified in a newspaper column because he was playing hooky from his job.
Maybe he's the fire marshal, I thought. Wouldn't that be something?
What made the U.S.-Algeria match so exciting was that the Americans pressed the attack from the very beginning -- and kept coming up short.
Finally there was a U.S. goal by Clint Dempsey in the 20th minute.
Except ÃÂÃÂ a linesman ruled Dempsey offside and called off the score.
Subsequent replays of the goal clearly showed two things: that Dempsey wasn't offside and that the linesman was blind, which didn't do much for the mood of the crowd in Slainte.
"Don't they know we have nukes?" said the man next to me, Brian Rea, a 28-year-old Baltimore schoolteacher.
Things got even more frustrating for the Americans 10 minutes later when Dempsey missed on a nice pass from Donovan and Donovan followed by blowing a chip shot attempt over the goalie's head.
But the biggest blunder came a couple of minutes later, courtesy of U.S. striker Jozy Altidore, who fired a point-blank shot that rocketed over the goal and is probably still being tracked by South African air controllers.
The look on Altidore's face, as he gazed up at the heavens in frustration, said it all for the Americans.
It was enough to make you drink, not that anyone at Slainte needed prompting.
And so it went in the second half, too, the U.S. staying aggressive on offense, the Algerians seemingly content to play defense and waiting for the right time to counterattack.
And then Donovan showed why he's still the best player on the U.S. team, pouncing on the rebound after the Algerian goalkeeper had stopped Dempsey's shot from close range with just three minutes left to play.
As jubilation reigned around us at Slainte, Rea showed me a text message he had just received from a buddy of his, another soccer fanatic in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The message said the guy in Brooklyn was at a hospital with his sick kid. He had just watched Donovan's game-winner on a TV in one of the rooms.
"Elation!" said the message. "I want to scream, but I can't."
That's OK, pal.
The rest of the country screamed loud enough for everyone.
Listen to Kevin Cowherd Tuesdays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. with Jerry Coleman on Fox 1370 AM Sports.
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