[TV WATCH] In the span of 80 seconds, I saw the future of American soccer on ESPN2 last night. Of course, since the College World Series pre-empted most of the live coverage of the Seattle Sounders FC vs. D.C. United match, I saw those 80 seconds about two and a half hours after they actually occurred, during the 10:00 p.m. PT rebroadcast of the game. But it still happened, and I was watching.

Which 80 seconds, you ask?

It started at the 57:53 mark, as D.C. was holding possession in the Seattle half. After a D.C. attack fizzled out, and a Seattle through ball was collected by the United defense, D.C. goalkeeper Josh Wicks played a long ball down the middle of the field, which bounced around a bit before settling at the feet of Chris Pontius.

And with that, at the 59:13 mark, my 80 seconds was over.

So what of that seemingly insignificant 80 seconds in an otherwise thrilling match?

It wasn't important for anything that showed up on the screen. Rather, it was the sound that I found compelling - the sound of silence.

ESPN2's match commentators, Glenn Davis and Kyle Martino, were completely quiet for those 80 seconds.

Since I started watching MLS soccer in 1996, it was longest period of game time I've ever gone without hearing an announcer's voice, except for those times when a "Technical difficulties" graphic flashed on the screen, or coverage cut back to the studio to apologize for the problems with the satellite feed.

I hope it wasn't technical difficulties. Instead, I'll choose to believe that Davis just motioned to Martino that they were going to take it easy for a while. "Just relax," I bet Glenn said. "We're going to try something here."

The result were those 80 seconds where I glimpsed the future of American soccer.

Why? Because the match itself was interesting enough to carry my attention. I had turned on the game with four friends in the room, only one of whom was a soccer fan - and all of us immediately stopped what we were doing to watch. The atmosphere at the stadium and the product on the field had combined to make the match something that we could all tell immediately that we wanted to see.

So when Davis and Martino took their little break, the match wasn't suddenly boring, like I sure most American soccer announcers would worry. Instead, it was just evidence that the commentators didn't need to try to make the match any more compelling - the game was doing that job on its own.

When the broadcast talent went silent, all you heard was the ball being kicked, players calling for a pass, and fans singing songs and yelling encouragement, or insults, or whatever. It was beautiful, and it gave us an uncluttered sight of the American soccer dream: a stadium full of passionate, knowledgeable fans, and a field full of skilled, exciting players.

So rather than focusing on ESPN2's delay in sending us that image, let's instead focus on what we saw and heard in that game.

Thank you, Glenn and Kyle. 80 seconds might not seem like a lot of time, but it certainly gave us some time to think, and to reflect. When every MLS game looks and feels like the one from last night, we'll have made it. Let's hope there's more of this to come.