For the USA it was an opportunity missed.
This wasn't China versus the USA, it was China imitating the American way.
If the BBC were like Fox TV in the USA, it too would be used to present biased views.
"As we help grow the sport in the USA, it is essential to support a match of this quality which has clearly captured the interest of American supporters".
Yet Michael Nyman's opera Facing Goya, which has just been revived at the Spoleto Festival USA (it was composed in 2000), ignores all that.
The word of the day is "urgency", a word carefully chosen because if the Whitecaps come up short against Chivas USA it might become "desperation".
With the former Wales flanker Kingsley Jones in the Russian camp as team director and Eddie O'Sullivan guiding the USA, it promises to be a colourful, evocative occasion.
Wrapped in an explicit warning ("Not to be imported into Great Britain or USA"), it set a new gold standard for graphic language and explicit sexuality.
In the USA it is estimated that more than 40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children.
9.30pm BST 90 mins coming up… …and it's 4-2 thethe USA, it having been 2-0 to Bosnia at half-time.
In Europe and USA, it is available in homeopathic medicines.
