I'm pissed about the soccer loss, and this is a rant.

trounced, Why do you hate America?

 

For me, spnited, it's that US soccer is one of my few outlets for being a fan. Being objective (or at least trying to be) about the teams and sports I write about has deadened the fan in me.

I only allow myself to be a true fan of US soccer (and, obviously, the Steelers). So when they perform poorly, it bothers me. And it's not so much the loss, it's the heartless, gutless way the team played.

 

I'm not angry or jaded. Rather, I'm embarassed. Not necessarily in soccer, because we're obviously not as good as many other nations in that sport. In hockey, we're at least competitive with the other elite nations, but when it comes to basketball and baseball, we should dominate because we have the top talent in those sports.

Perhaps it's more of a perception thing, for me anyway. If we bill ourselves as such as great country and we boast about our athletes (and we do that), then we better show as much when it comes to playing the world. Of course, I think most of our top athletes care more about getting paid than playing for national pride.

 

I'm a little pissed, as well, for a variety of reasons.

Landon Donovan and Claudio Reyna are two of the most overrated players I've ever seen. To be a midfield maestro, Reyna rarely can create opportunities for other players, and Donovan is just too frail to take a ball from the midfield to the penalty box. He's going to get hit and he's going to take a dive...every time. The US passes the ball around, but really has no idea what to do with it when it's time to attack. The through ball is non-existant, the only player who can cross is Convey, but Reyna and Donovan seem to have blinders one when it comes to making a diagonal pass to allow Convey or Beasley to run on the ball.
Tactically, the US is very, very weak. No imagination. They just seem to mimic what they see other teams do, and have no idea why they are doing it.

And it pisses me off because other than Brazil and England, every team in the field has a weakness or two.

American players need to go to Europe and play against the best in the world. After they've had that experience, then come play in the MLS. Guys aren't going to get better playing against average players, despite what Donovan thinks. And then the US can truly be considered the fifth-best team in the world.

 

I have made several honest attempts to pay attention to soccer, especially around WC time.  But the tone of the coverage is always tinged with this contempt for the American public because it has wholly rejected soccer as a major sport.  I don't like being told that I'm unsophisticated because I don't find the sport compelling -- never mind that the hard-core, "sophisticated" crowd includes thousands of sociopaths who use the sport as an excuse to commit violent acts.

Just compare the soccer coverage with hockey, for instance.  Whenever national commentators talk about hockey, isn't the discussion always about how cheerleading and the spelling bee get better ratings than hockey?  I hear that a lot. But I never hear, "Well hockey gets poor TV ratings in Mississippi because the people there are too stupid to understand it."

 

I don't like that attitude from soccer fans either. But, honestly, quite a bit of it is in defense after the usual "nobody in America cares about soccer because it's boring" stuff from the soccer bashers.

 

You must have been doubly pissed after the Czech goal and the ESPN2 ticker with the note on Big Ben's motorcycle accident.
A bit of cosmic timing designed to pierce Inky's ink-stained heart.
And I had World Cup fever, but it broke about 1 this afternoon.

 

I'm walking on eggshells right now. If my wife walks in tonight and says "Honey, we need to talk" with a serious tone, I might snap.

 

That never gets old. ;D

Also, Doug, good post, wasn't aware you were a soccer fan. Someone here or on the other thread said it seemed as though these guys were little leaguers, sheer size. That helps in friendlies, when you can outrun Venezuela. ... but when the Czechs are fast and powerful, you're fucked.

I hope this was the Czechs being that good. I hope.

 

Calm down, everybody. It's the first game of three. If Reyna scores instead of hitting the post, maybe things would have been different. It wasn't like the US was going to walk through this group. Let's wait until Saturday and see what happens.

Even if the US loses, there's still a lot of entertaining soccer. It's like the NCAA basketball tournament - there's always a good story going on somewhere.

 

They just reported on the Italy-Ghana broadcast that President Bush called the USA team before its match today...

Does that explain anything?

 

I had ankle surgery today, and I was doing what I could to get the medical people understanding that I wanted to see USA-CZE.

I got home at kickoff. God bless those doctors and nurses.

My reward? MORE FUCKING PAIN. 3-0? Come on. Pathetic. I've seen parts of every WC game so far. USA's performance is the worst. I can't believe this is what we spent the last few years building.

p.s. ITA-GHA is a fun match to watch. Thank you!