IT IS the Sunday before the United States' Independence Day. But this day marked American interdependence with the global community in a way never seen before.
Americans love sports, but that love has often been confined to their own unique trinity of baseball, basketball and "football". Last Sunday, however, America connected with the world through the game that is almost universal - football.
The United States played in the final of the Confederation Cup against Brazil, the country that has most often been world champions and the master proponent of "the beautiful game".
The match was played in South Africa, but I watched it live just off Penn Station in midtown Manhattan. The cavernous Irish pub-cum-sports bar was packed with maybe 400 people.
A Singaporean friend, Eddie, invited me along. A long-time New York denizen, Eddie plays football every weekend from spring into early winter.
There were three of his team-mates - a Mexican, a Honduran and an Italian-Irish guy - and Eddie's girlfriend, all Americans whether by birth or immigration.
We drink beer - Guinness or Brooklyn lager are the favourites - and I scoff some spicy chicken wings. Otherwise, we just watch.
The Americans go 2-0 up and the unexpected lead makes the crowd heady. They greet each pass and foray with "oohs" and "aahs", and yells of "Yeah!" and "Go USA!".
At half-time, the beers flow and there is a buzz. Moans greet the first Brazilian goal, immediately after the restart. When Brazil equalise, there is stunned silence and a sense of foreboding. When Brazil score again, the Americans have all but given up.
A small band of Brazilian supporters, wearing the yellow and green jersey of the country, stand up and start to samba. Then the Americans chant "USA, USA", even as they get up and stream out. They should not be too disappointed.
In 1994, when the US hosted the World Cup, football in the country started with a whimper, without enthusiasm or even understanding. To go from that to this final against Brazil is an incredible story. In the last 15 years, football has become one of the most popular sports among children across the country, especially in cities.
There are, of course, gaps. Their so-called Major League Soccer struggles. The New York team - the Red Bulls (sponsored and named for the energy drink) draw some 3,000 spectators for an average game.
Compare that to baseball, where the New York Yankees plays to crowds of more than 50,000. Coverage of the Confederations Cup final in USA Today and most American newspapers is limited.
But this is more than a story about football. It is a story about Americans dealing with the world outside; a world that is not only different but also more equal.
Football takes Americans outside the familiar. Many Americans still don't bother with the sport, especially in the interior and rural areas. Who drives much of America's interest in football are people who have come with a previous football-loving tradition, like Eddie and his immigrant New York team mates. It is not so much that America now likes football, but that football fans are coming in and changing America.
In time, given the interest of younger Americans, football's following may rise to levels comparable with other countries. But America's entry into this club may not be easy.
Americans are used to being No 1. When basketball at the Olympics first allowed professionals to play, the US assembled a dream team and took pride in trouncing everyone else. In baseball, the pinnacle is called the World Series, although Canadians are the only non-American teams that play.
Football is different. Before this tournament, the US was rated 14th in the world. Not bad, but behind countries such as Croatia, Turkey and Paraguay. Even during the tournament, the US lost three games and only qualified because others stumbled.
Newsweek editor and CNN interview show host Fareed Zakaria has written about a post-American world, where the US must get used to others being more equal to it, and in which it cannot unilaterally impose itself and get its own way. Written before the current crisis, the book is even more relevant today, as America struggles to deal with the current problems and may well emerge diminished.
Zakaria's book is about economics and politics, not football, and his view is that America will still be No 1, not an also-ran. But football can be a good everyday lesson for Americans.
It will not be an easy transition for Americans to live in a world where Brazil or others can best them, especially when they were ahead at half-time.
Let's hope that, like the fans in the pub, Americans can still cheer and accept the change of circumstances. Then, all of us may raise a glass not only to America's Independence Day but also to their interdependence.
WEEKENDVTRA
The writer is chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs and is in New York for 2009 as Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society.