Daily World Cup Dose
So yesterday was the big Saturday in US Soccer. I woke up early to catch the Czech v. Ghana game, and that was a totally amazing game. Ghana did an excellent job of capitalizing on their speed, as well as textbook fancy-footwork. The Czech team showed it's elderly colors and was completely tired by the end of the first half. It was amazing to see such a young and relatively naive team like Ghana beat an old-world team.
The victory, sparked a huge outburst of hope for the US to qualify. I was supposed to go do some errands before 2 and decided to watch the game instead because the US was no longer just a lame duck. I am glad I did this because that game was jam packed with excitement. Even though the damn ref had to go and ruin the game, it was still full of the energy typical of such an important game. Italy, is the master of world cup play. They aren't exactly a strong powerhouse outside of the World Cup (though they are still considered to be one of the best traditionally), but once they get into the cup they are always strong contenders. The game against Ghana the Monday before was just easy enough for them to cost through with a 2-0 victory. This time around, the US came out with a will to fight. THe game before (which resulted in a 3-0 loss) showed a apathetic bunch of players on our part. I think it's ridiculous that Bruce Arena (the coach) blamed the players for the loss and their play. I think Eric Wynalda said it best when he stated: "Players win the game, coaches lose the game, and refs ruin it." Bruce Arena knows nothing about soccer, the man has never played a soccer match in his life and derives all his "soccer knowledge" from having "studied it" and coached it at the collegiate level. My father hit it dead on when he said that no matter how much you study a sport, you can never know the instinct of the game unless you have played it. Great players have an instinct, a vision for the play and the eventual goal. Whenever someone I know who played soccer sits down to watch a game, we (I included) can call a shot as a goal or a break away, way before it winds up at the back of the net. It's just the nature of the sport, or any sport. I can't be expected to coach even a little league game if I google the rules and "coaching tips." Imagine me coaching a professional team with that experience. I am torn because on the one hand, I want the US to lose badly so that they will replace Arena and get a coach that really knows something about soccer. At this point in time, it would have to be a foreigner because they have more experience coaching on an international level. Just look at all those African teamas and Asian teams who have come to prominence on the international level in the last eight years thanks to European coaches that have been hired to run the program. I think a little bit of good old, "American pride," prevents us from getting a non-American coach, because we believe inherently that American means better. We are wrong when it comes to this sport.
We are also wrong when it comes to being fair-weather fans. A soccer team requires you to be passionate about it even in the worst of times. A NATIONAL soccer team, requires you to merely love your country and support it in even the worst of times. Why can't we do that? Why do we abandon our boys when they lose 3-0 against a team that nearly won the EuroCup, which is a highly contested European championship? I ask myself this question because I have seen die-hard Cubs and Red Soxs fans who year after unfruitful year follow their teams. Yet, becuase soccer is not seen as the "all american sport," or as Jeff reminded me, it is not a US-created sport like basketball or baseball, people choose to make fun of it. Isn't it an American thing to think that if we are bad at something, or we don't understand something we should make fun of it? I am sick to death of hearing all those radio djs make fun of soccer fans. We are unruly, we are passionate, and yes... very foolish, but it's an exciting sport. I heard someone say, "tell me what's the big deal about a sport where the score is only a few points if any." I ask the same question about baseball or hockey, but I digress. I think we are just used to having big numbers mean more excitement, or corporate sponsorship mean more excitement... or perhaps self-agrandized demigogues who earn millions of dollars meaning more excitement. What is so great about baseball I ask? It's just a bunch of overpaid fat men, scratching at their crotches and chewing gum while waiting to go up to the plate. Oh sure, I can appreciate the sport for all it's nostalgic and sentimental reasons, as well as it's "grace of play," but if you are going to trivialize soccer to just a game where guys can't touch the ball with their hands... then baseball is nothing more than people spitting and grabbing their jock-strap. The same thing goes for football, with it's ridiculously complicated "fourth and down" type rules. Is it not more barbaric and stupid to use your hands while smashing the shit out of another opponent? I believe there is a beauty and great skill required in playing with your feet. I dare the critics of soccer to try playing with only their feet. I think that's the true hatred for the sport, because not everyone can play. I've seen just about everyone pretend they were great baseball players or football players. I refrain from saying much about basketball because I happen to find the sport to be actually exciting and skillfull. Hockey I don't care for, but I respect as much as basketball. Besides it's Canadian dominated.
Anyway, the game was spectacular. It wasn't on the level of a true European/latinamerican powerhouse match, but perhaps that's what made it great. A team everyone had given up on, came out and insisted they be heard. Italy was taken by surprise, and when the game wound up being 9 on 10 thanks to some heinous red cards, there was never a dull moment. I wish people could appreciate the subtleties of the sport. I think there's a reason why it was even responsible for stopping a war. I think there's a reason why everyone in the world knows Pele, even before the time of the internet and cable tv and the mass, marketing globalization of the "sports star."
Yesterday was a good day for US soccer, even if Arena gets to keep his job. I know in ten years, the US will be a soccer powerhouse and genuine cup contender. Patience, soccer is not an immediate self-gratifying sport... it's more like one long session of foreplay.
The victory, sparked a huge outburst of hope for the US to qualify. I was supposed to go do some errands before 2 and decided to watch the game instead because the US was no longer just a lame duck. I am glad I did this because that game was jam packed with excitement. Even though the damn ref had to go and ruin the game, it was still full of the energy typical of such an important game. Italy, is the master of world cup play. They aren't exactly a strong powerhouse outside of the World Cup (though they are still considered to be one of the best traditionally), but once they get into the cup they are always strong contenders. The game against Ghana the Monday before was just easy enough for them to cost through with a 2-0 victory. This time around, the US came out with a will to fight. THe game before (which resulted in a 3-0 loss) showed a apathetic bunch of players on our part. I think it's ridiculous that Bruce Arena (the coach) blamed the players for the loss and their play. I think Eric Wynalda said it best when he stated: "Players win the game, coaches lose the game, and refs ruin it." Bruce Arena knows nothing about soccer, the man has never played a soccer match in his life and derives all his "soccer knowledge" from having "studied it" and coached it at the collegiate level. My father hit it dead on when he said that no matter how much you study a sport, you can never know the instinct of the game unless you have played it. Great players have an instinct, a vision for the play and the eventual goal. Whenever someone I know who played soccer sits down to watch a game, we (I included) can call a shot as a goal or a break away, way before it winds up at the back of the net. It's just the nature of the sport, or any sport. I can't be expected to coach even a little league game if I google the rules and "coaching tips." Imagine me coaching a professional team with that experience. I am torn because on the one hand, I want the US to lose badly so that they will replace Arena and get a coach that really knows something about soccer. At this point in time, it would have to be a foreigner because they have more experience coaching on an international level. Just look at all those African teamas and Asian teams who have come to prominence on the international level in the last eight years thanks to European coaches that have been hired to run the program. I think a little bit of good old, "American pride," prevents us from getting a non-American coach, because we believe inherently that American means better. We are wrong when it comes to this sport.
We are also wrong when it comes to being fair-weather fans. A soccer team requires you to be passionate about it even in the worst of times. A NATIONAL soccer team, requires you to merely love your country and support it in even the worst of times. Why can't we do that? Why do we abandon our boys when they lose 3-0 against a team that nearly won the EuroCup, which is a highly contested European championship? I ask myself this question because I have seen die-hard Cubs and Red Soxs fans who year after unfruitful year follow their teams. Yet, becuase soccer is not seen as the "all american sport," or as Jeff reminded me, it is not a US-created sport like basketball or baseball, people choose to make fun of it. Isn't it an American thing to think that if we are bad at something, or we don't understand something we should make fun of it? I am sick to death of hearing all those radio djs make fun of soccer fans. We are unruly, we are passionate, and yes... very foolish, but it's an exciting sport. I heard someone say, "tell me what's the big deal about a sport where the score is only a few points if any." I ask the same question about baseball or hockey, but I digress. I think we are just used to having big numbers mean more excitement, or corporate sponsorship mean more excitement... or perhaps self-agrandized demigogues who earn millions of dollars meaning more excitement. What is so great about baseball I ask? It's just a bunch of overpaid fat men, scratching at their crotches and chewing gum while waiting to go up to the plate. Oh sure, I can appreciate the sport for all it's nostalgic and sentimental reasons, as well as it's "grace of play," but if you are going to trivialize soccer to just a game where guys can't touch the ball with their hands... then baseball is nothing more than people spitting and grabbing their jock-strap. The same thing goes for football, with it's ridiculously complicated "fourth and down" type rules. Is it not more barbaric and stupid to use your hands while smashing the shit out of another opponent? I believe there is a beauty and great skill required in playing with your feet. I dare the critics of soccer to try playing with only their feet. I think that's the true hatred for the sport, because not everyone can play. I've seen just about everyone pretend they were great baseball players or football players. I refrain from saying much about basketball because I happen to find the sport to be actually exciting and skillfull. Hockey I don't care for, but I respect as much as basketball. Besides it's Canadian dominated.
Anyway, the game was spectacular. It wasn't on the level of a true European/latinamerican powerhouse match, but perhaps that's what made it great. A team everyone had given up on, came out and insisted they be heard. Italy was taken by surprise, and when the game wound up being 9 on 10 thanks to some heinous red cards, there was never a dull moment. I wish people could appreciate the subtleties of the sport. I think there's a reason why it was even responsible for stopping a war. I think there's a reason why everyone in the world knows Pele, even before the time of the internet and cable tv and the mass, marketing globalization of the "sports star."
Yesterday was a good day for US soccer, even if Arena gets to keep his job. I know in ten years, the US will be a soccer powerhouse and genuine cup contender. Patience, soccer is not an immediate self-gratifying sport... it's more like one long session of foreplay.