Bounced. Expelled. Retired. Discharged. Dismissed.
No matter how you want to say it, the US team was done after one round in the world’s biggest sporting event. They got the three games any qualifier gets, finishing a dismal and distant 4th out of 4 in their grouping.
It wasn’t just that they lost. We’ve lost before, and, well, that happens. It was how they lost. The 0-3 beating in the opener against the Czechs, the 1-1 tie against Italy in which an Italian “own goal” saved us from a loss, and a 1-2 loss to Ghana, the one game we were “supposed to win.” We ended with a miserable 6 goals against, 2 for, which in all fairness, might as well be one goal for, since it’s hard to take credit for an Italian own goal.
Where to assign blame, assuming you’re even among the tiny percentage of Americans that care? I’d start with coaching. The US isn’t a skill and finesse team. We play futbol like we play football; lots of aggression, forceful attacking, rough defense. Trying to play a possession game doesn’t work for us. We don’t play the “beautiful game” that Brazil plays, or even the brilliant set-piece game (think Beckham bending a shot around a wall of defenders). We are at our best when we attack, and I never saw us commit to attacking except in the desperate final 15 minutes of games. I understand the reluctance to send men forward, the desire to play a conservative game, but why save key substitutions until the last minutes of a losing effort? Go big or go home. I’d rather watch our team go out in a blaze of glory than a sad fizzle.
And that’s what burns my red, white and blue Umbros the most: we never looked like we wanted to win. Compare the US team to Ghana (who will move on to the next round), or Trinidad and Tobago (smallest country to ever make the World Cup, shocked Sweden with a tie in their opener). Neither of those teams is a traditional soccer power, they just played desperate. There are probably at least as many soccer fans in the US as there are total people in Trinidad and Tobago, and yet our team looked like no one was watching, no one cared.
I don’t expect the US to win at everything it does, but I do expect to be proud of the effort.
And then there were 16
Well, actually, by tomorrow, there will be 8. None of them are really surprises, except maybe Ukraine and Portugal. Italy, Germany, Argentina, and England have all been here before, and were expected to be this time. Tuesday, Spain versus France could be interesting (to people in Spain and France), and Brazil will take on Ghana in what may be the most lop-sided match since… the last time Brazil took on anybody.
I’m never right with predictions, but what the heck: Germany will beat Argentina in the next round, and Italy will beat Ukraine. England will beat Portugal. Brazil will sleep through its match against Ghana, and probably half the match against Spain/France (it won’t matter who). The Germans will beat Italy in their semi, and the Brazilians will beat England in theirs, while mocking whichever haircut Beckham has that day. In the final, Brazil will dance around the Germans, then have to run for their lives when the disappointed German fans try to beat the Brazilians like samba drums. I say 3-1, Brazil over Germany in the final.
See you on the pitch!
matt