The United States’ Confederations Cup adventure generated a wide variety of reactions in America: pride in a strong effort, disappointment at letting a trophy slip away and, understandably, puzzlement. After all, not many squads can look awful against Brazil one week then nearly beat them the next. “Which team will show up during the rest of World Cup qualifying, as well as in South Africa next summer?” wrote ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle. “Will it be the side that struggled early during the tournament or the one that finished with a flourish, even in losing a heartbreaking final to Brazil?”
A likely answer is: both. Instead of fretting over the US’s baffling form, however, we should revel in it. The traditional soccer narrative of the United States, dating to the 1970s, highlights the country’s supposedly enormous potential. But rather than waiting another few decades for the US to become a power, why not embrace its unpredictable, quirky side?
True, the current edition of this team is infuriatingly inconsistent. But at least it’s a marvel of inconsistency. Whereas Mexico always lose in the second round of the World Cup – yawn – the United States’ sheer unpredictability makes the team worth following. In June alone, Team USA was routed by Costa Rica in World Cup qualifying, then confidently snapped Spain’s three-year unbeaten run.
While all teams have peaks and valleys over time, the US frequently packs them into 90 minutes. Consider the World Cup campaign. In El Salvador in March, the US played a horrible 75 minutes to fall behind 2-0, before a frantic rally produced two late goals and further untaken chances. At home to Honduras in June, the US fell behind within five minutes before scratching out a victory – an uneven performance personified by Carlos Bocanegra, who headed in the winner, then immediately got taken off with an injury after the restart. With these guys, good and bad are intertwined.
Impressively, the United States can produce these trademark half-good, half-dismal efforts against anyone. And they don’t always involve late rallies. Against Brazil and Italy in the Confederations Cup, fast starts and half-time leads were followed by three-goal second-half meltdowns. The excitement of sport comes from its uncertainty, does it not?
As a bonus, Team USA routinely makes blowhard pundits look silly. “We have raised a generation of boys as opposed to men in US soccer,” said Alexi Lalas after the slow start in the Confederations Cup. The national team then promptly rolled into the final. And while Lalas and fellow TV commentator John Harkes spew out ever-shifting prescriptions for coach Bob Bradley – better attitude, more domestic players, more steel in midfield – the reality is that no one knows how the team will perform at any time. As Tim Howard said after the 3-0 win over Egypt: “We are scratching our heads just like you guys.” Who needs experts? This team calls into question the whole premise of expertise.
Ultimately, it’s futile to extract lessons about the national team’s long-term future from every match. The future is already here, and the US has firmly established itself. Not as a world power, but as one of those rare national teams – think Portugal or Nigeria – whose mystifying form is itself an attraction. Granted, this is not what many American fans desire most, given their expectations of sporting dominance. But for some of us, it’s a welcome state of affairs.
In two weeks time the ageing David Beckham has to return to the United States and play for the Los Angeles Galaxy in the MLS (against the New York Red Bulls at Giant Stadium outside New York City). In January this year, Beckham left the MLS mid-season to go play for AC Milan in Italy’s Serie A. Blasphemous to the MLS. Not surprisingly, Beckham has not been very enthusiastic about returning to the US. In 2007 Beckham had arrived, with much fanfare, at the Galaxy. His salary about 10 times that of the average MLS player. Sports Illustrated’s football writer, Grant Wahl, has been following Beckham for the last two years and his book on Beckham’s time at the Galaxy is coming out this month in the US (on July 14). As part of the hype, SL today published a lengthy excerpt from the book on its website. (It’s also in the latest issue of the magazine.) Among other things, Wahl writes about the cold war between Beckham and the Galaxy’s Landon Donovan (over who was the bigger star, as there is any comparison here), describes Beckham’s time at the Galaxy as “an epic disaster” and a “soccer fiasco,” that Beckham was a “cheapskate” (he did not pick up the tab after a night out with his much poorer teammates), reveals the process behind who appointed disastrous coach Ruud Gullit, and Beckham’s deficient captaincy skills. This should be fun.
Like a number of other US commentators, comedian Stephen Colbert, who plays a faux-Bill O’Reilly on his show, had to discuss the future of football in the United States. As he describes soccer in the video, above: “.. The sport that [Americans] are the world champions at ignoring.” The US’s success in the Confederations Cup (against all expectations they made it to the final where they lost, after leading 2-0, to Brazil on Sunday), leads Colbert to mock-ask: “Is it time to care about soccer?” What follows is a send-up of American caricatures of football: rioting, David Beckham and warm beer. It’s satire after all. But then Colbert asks his producer to show some “thrilling soccer highlights” and we see video of players of a team in blue passing the ball around sort of aimlessly. The camera then cuts back to Colbert snoozing.
The thing is, unless Colbert or his producers (and his audience?) were in on the joke, they made fools of themselves with that clip as they missed one of the greatest goals of all time: a 25-pass move that resulted in a goal for Argentina against Serbia in the 2006 World Cup in Germany:
After shocking Brazil with their aggressive, physical style in the first half of the Confederations Cup final, the United States first gave up a two-goal halftime lead and then eventually lost 3-2 to Brazil. Brazilian defender Lucio scored the winning goal with 6 minutes of regular time remaining.
The way the US lost, left The New York Times’ correspondent (who up until the day of the final was announcing a new dawn for US soccer after the shock wins over Egypt and Spain), in a state of depression: “The United States is still a developing nation in men’s soccer,” he opined.
Chicken Dinner–the British blog that’s all about sports betting–suggests you should take your lead from previous match statistics:
1. Brazil have won 14 of their 15 matches against USA (one after extra-time). The USA’s one win over the holders came in the 1998 Gold Cup Final, with former Everton winger Predrag “Preki” Radosavljevic scoring the winner.
2. USA haven’t scored against Brazil in three previous Confederations Cup meetings, with Dunga’s side beating them 1-0 in 1999 and 2003 and winning 3-0 against them last Thursday.
3. Bob Bradley’s side haven’t won any of their last six games against South American opposition, losing five and failing to score in three of the last four.
4. Confederations Cup finals involving Brazil are never short of goals. Their three finals to date have produced 18 goals – an average of six a game.
5. Holders Brazil last attempted to retain the cup in 1999 and on that occasion they reached the final only to lose to the CONCACAF Gold Cup winner – Mexico – in the final. USA are the reigning Gold Cup champions.
Mexico’s Giovanni dos Santos looks good in the video, above, scoring twice in a 4-0 win over lowly Venezuela. But can Dos Santos and this teammates play like this in early August when they meet the United States again in regional World Cup qualifiers? Three teams qualify automatically and the US is currently second behind Costa Rica. Mexico is fourth behind Honduras. Though Mexico has won all their home games (they’ve been less successful on the road), their neighbors, the United States–now also gloating from beating world number one, Spain–currently has Mexico’s number. Which just makes football fan and actor Diego Luna (quoted in lad magazine, COMPLEX) depressed:
F C Barcelona striker, Thierry Henry, in New York City to play in basketball player Steve Nash’s annual charity soccer game in New York City’s Chinatown, told reporters in New York he might join the MLS’ Red Bulls in about three years:
“Could I play for New York Red Bulls at some point? It could be possible in 2011 … One never knows, but the truth is that it is an option that could be likely. I want to stay with Barcelona for two more seasons and then I will leave.”
The video, above, is a report by the tabloid New York Post on the charity game (the PR for the game is quite good). where some of Europe’s best footballers kicked the ball around with top NBA players on a small municipal field.
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