"2001 Between the Lines" is a series of columns by Magazine writers looking back at small, but significant, moments in sports.

The game was horrible. I froze my ass off. I stayed in a lousy Holiday Inn. None of my editors -- except the internet guy, of course -- had a clue where I was, or didn't care.

And it was my favorite night of the year, because on Feb. 28, within the city limits of Columbus, Ohio, the United States felt like a real soccer country.

It was a Wednesday night and the U.S. was opening the final phase of World Cup qualifying against Mexico. The U.S. Soccer Federation chose Columbus and prayed for frigid temperatures because the Fed wanted the Mexicans to feel uncomfortable. They got what they prayed for, temperatures in the 30s with a frosty wind. And it was immediately obvious that the plan was working because a half-hour before the game, as the Americans warmed up on the field, the Mexicans stayed in the locker room.

When the game started, though, it appeared all the blustery conditions would do was make it impossible for either team to score -- which would have been just fine with Mexico. And when Americans Brian McBride and Claudio Reyna had to leave the field with injuries, it seemed even less likely the U.S. would find the net.

Funny though, the guys who came on for McBride and Reyna -- a couple of Georgia boys named Josh Wolff and Clint Mathis -- are now the guys who American fans hope will lead the U.S. into the second round of the World Cup next spring.

All because of what happened in the second half.

Mathis sprung Wolff with a long ball. Wolff barely beat Mexico's goalkeeper, Jorge Campos, to the ball, got a lucky bounce off Campos and tucked the ball into an empty net for a 1-0 U.S. lead. Then, in the game's final moments, Wolff dribbled to the corner flag, looking very much like a man content to step on the ball and suck time off the clock. Instead, Wolff spun the ball back between two Mexican defenders, dribbled along the end line and dropped a soft pass back to Earnie Stewart, who made it 2-0 for the U.S.

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At that point, I just looked around sold-out Columbus Crew Stadium and watched 24,000 American soccer fans (okay, there might have been 1,000 Mexican fans too) go crazy. For a second, I wondered if Joe Sixpack and his buds were watching at home on TV. I mean, it was Feb. 28 -- pitchers and catchers had just gotten to camp, March Madness was a week away, and the NBA and NHL were in their dog days.

Then I thought, "Who cares?"

When I was in elementary school -- sixth grade, Miss Sharp -- I wrote an essay about how I wanted to move to Germany and become a professional soccer player. This was at a time when Pele was playing right in New York -- at Yankee Stadium -- and people were saying emphatically that soccer was going to take the U.S. by storm in the '80s.

Still, I was more taken by Soccer Made in Germany on PBS, mainly because I loved listening to the fans singing and loved watching the game on beautiful fields marked only with soccer lines.

I never made it to Germany as a player. In fact, I never played a game after my senior year of high school. But I did make it to Germany as a student. Lived there in 1985 and got to stand with the supporters of VfL Bochum and sing, in English, "Let's go Bochum!" After matches, we'd go to the pubs and talk about VfL over beers. The 12-year old boy in my host family served as my translator when my German failed me. Good times.

When I came home, the NASL had "completely" folded, meaning even the Cosmos had closed up shop. I figured soccer in the U.S. was gone forever. I never thought I'd see the U.S. play in a World Cup, much less four in a row.

Most of all, I never imagined a night like Feb. 28, 2001, would ever happen in this country. The U.S. supporters -- Sam's Army -- did a good bit of singing. Afterward, many of us met in a Columbus pub to talk about the match. When SportsCenter showed the U.S. goals -- I'm sure after a report that David Cone had a pain-free throwing session in Fort Myers -- there was more singing.

No, the U.S. victory over Mexico didn't build a groundswell for soccer in the States. We all know better than to ever suggest the sport's going to ever take on baseball, basketball or football. But, hopefully, we can see on nights like this, that there's been progress.

And there will be more nights like Feb. 28 in the future. Sure, we may see a couple of MLS teams fold this year, but in the next two years we could also see stadiums similar to the one in Columbus being built in places like Harrison, N.J., Carson, Calif., and McKinney, Texas. Once these stadiums are built, even if MLS goes the way of the NASL, soccer will continue to forge ahead.

No, I can't promise the U.S. is ever going to be a real soccer country.

But I can promise there will be more days and nights when it feels like one.

Jeff Bradley is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at jeff.bradley@espnmag.com.