Posted on 06/17/2014 5:36:33 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
After an extraordinary start, the World Cup saw its first day of truly mediocre soccer on Monday. It is no coincidence that Monday also saw the debut of the U.S. men's team.
Don't get me wrong. The U.S.'s 2-1 victory over Ghana was about as dramatic as they come, a fitting chapter in what has turned out to be an improbable rivalry stretching over three World Cups. Clint Dempsey scored a fine goal in the first minute, before powering through a broken nose to complete the game. John Brooks came off the bench to score the winning header just moments before the final whistle, lifting the spirit of a team that had been battered like a punching bag for a solid 80 minutes.
But good soccer this was not. The U.S. played about as badly as you could play while still winning. And yet it is impossible to escape the overwhelming sense in the American media today that Team USA's victory over Ghana was somehow a triumph.
Every World Cup we are treated to a slew of stories about how this time the U.S. team will be different, which is to say a step above its usual uninspired play. Driving the hype this time around is the U.S.'s coach, the German Jurgen Klinsmann, a gifted former player famous for his blistering speed, his ultra-competitiveness, and his penchant for soaring when he could merely dive.
Klinsmann promised a more attacking kind of football. As Matthew Futterman wrote in one of the many profiles of Klinsmann in the run-up to the tournament: "Mr. Klinsmann taught the U.S. players to see the field differently — to impose themselves on opposing defenses, and for defenders to push high into the middle of the field and even to join the attack." As Klinsmann himself said, "You want to play an open game. You want to put your stamp on the game."
Sounds good, right? And so it was with some curiosity that I tuned in last night for my quadrennial viewing of the United States team — only to find the same dull, flabby soccer that has defined America's playing style for decades.
For most of the game, the U.S. was seemingly incapable of stringing together more than three passes at a time. Michael Bradley, supposedly the linchpin of the midfield, gave the ball away every other touch. It's bad enough that the U.S.'s sole striker is Jozy Altidore, who scored all of one goal last season for his club Sunderland, but he pulled up with a hamstring injury early in the game, leaving the U.S. with literally zero offensive options.
Then there's the defense, which was as adept at keeping its shape as a Jenga tower, falling apart at the slightest offensive push by the Ghanians. John Brooks may have turned out to be a hero, but the Ghanians appeared to be running at him as if he were the weakest link in an already fragile defensive chain. More shockingly, the Black Stars won the vast majority of 50-50 balls, easily out-muscling and out-hustling an American team that should at least be as fit as its opponents.
But all these glaring flaws were largely glossed over in the glow of victory. The U.S. defense was an "impenetrable force field," according to The New York Times. USA Today praised the team's "depth" and "workmanlike defense." CBS hailed Team USA for "bossing a match when it mattered most," and for "finding a way to be economical and resourceful and cunning and alert when all is on the line against an elite opponent."
Oh, please. This is shameless propaganda. It all fits the same pattern: ridiculous overpraise that is in no way connected to the reality on the pitch, fueling outsized expectations that cannot possibly be met. Klinsmann may want to institute a regime of lively, attacking soccer, but that seems like a pure fantasy when you take into account the players on his squad.
Now, of course, the national press is bound to overstate the national team's achievements. This happens everywhere. It is World Cup mania, after all. But in case there was any doubt about the truth of the matter, it is this: the American team is not very good.
Obama as President. Same sex marriage. World Cup cared about by Americans.
All part of the same disease.
The American announcers do get tiresome with the over-hyping of all things American, especially Tim Howard. I remember two or three decent saves, but I also question him somewhat on the goal (ex-keeper, so I may be overly critical).
Soccer bashers being little pusses that never played any sport in their life, also seemingly all part of the same disease.
Is that you, or your husband, sweetie-pie?
I liked playing soccer.
Fullback.
World Cup, though? Organized adult leagues like Eurotrash?
You can have it and your Gay Weddings and your Progressive outlook.
I prefer not to follow this trend.
Did you say something, puss? Didn’t think so.
It’s actually a pollution of this forum to post about this European nastiness.
It’s bothersome to us Americans who hold to at least a modicum of decency.
The UCONN men’s basketball team wasn’t supposed to make the playoffs let alone get by the first round. They had been suspended the year before and had a new coach with a so-so NBA record as a player. They and the UCONN women’s team are the current champions.
We play the games because anything can happen.
Quite defensive are we?
There is help for you.
“... I have lost all desire to watch Copa Mudial after hearing about the Brazilian slaughter of their children in their streets to prepare for this event!”
What are you talking about?
First pre-games start in August ...yea ....
We have a Soccer Team? Hmmm.
Go away, little pansy, the adults who actually have the stones to get on the field and compete are talking about grown up stuff. I hear one of your two mommies calling you.
If you don’t like it, leave.
You take this quite seriously and have a pretty large inferiority complex.
You jump on threads about issues you don’t care about and make an ass out of yourself. That is not holding a modicum of decency.
A....littleb!tchsayswhat?
Poor baby.
How come US Soccer fans are so touchy?
Cause they know they are wrong.
Sensitive.
If there were anything to this other than being Europeanization of the US, the Liberal goal, you guys wouldn’t need to be so defensive.
You’d laugh it off.
When you, here, everyone of you, were kids, you all admired the champion marble player, the fastest runner, the toughest boxer, the big league ball players, and the All-American football players. Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards.
--Gen. George S. Patton
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