US Misses Out on World Cup and Americans Experience Weeping, Wailing, and Gnashing of Teeth
I have a different view.
Yes, it was an upset, but it wasn’t the only upset that night since both Mexico and Costa Rica lost --- 3 major losses that weren’t supposed to happen but did. If any of those 3 didn’t happen, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
Yes, there is loss of money. Other nations won’t go to the World Cup either and their program won’t share in the money, either.
Yes, first time since 1986 the USMNT won’t be there.
All true.
But hang with me a bit: soccer in the US is not like football or basketball or even baseball, all 3 where we dominate. It’s not even like hockey were we, well, contend. No, in soccer we are on even ground with most of the world and trail the nations who put money in developmental programs and the best athletes play. In the US, the best athletes play other sports. Now that is changing, especially in football where mamas are saying, “My kid is not going to end up a veggie-brain for others’ entertainment.” So our best athletes still play other sports.
And the competition is different. In the Big Three of football, baseball and basketball, the US dominates the world because the rest of the world just doesn’t play those sports. Granted there is baseball in Japan, the Caribbean, and Latin America, but the best players come to the US to compete and are part of the US training system. We have a monopoly.
Not in soccer. The whole world plays. There are only 11 men on the pitch and only 3 subs. It is as even a contest as there is. The US can’t out-gun or overwhelm with superior numbers. We have to compete with 11 men for 90s minutes, just like everyone else, and our best athletes are not out there. Our best players are on the pitch, but we don’t know what the athletes in other sports would be able to do, now do we?
Fact is, the US is not the best in everything. We’re not the greatest. Oh, we like to say we are the greatest nation on earth but other nations are just as good in many areas and we are as sorry as other nations are in some areas, too. In soccer, we just happen to be mediocre. Time to face that fact.
Then there is the problem is Major League Soccer actually being successful. That’s right. Successful. The quality players in Latin America and the Caribbean now come to the US to play in Major League Soccer because there is better money and the chance to showcase themselves. So as MLS gets bigger and has more money for training, good players from the Americas come here getting better. We have created better competition against ourselves.
So in 2018 I will enjoy the matches without my team in the fray. I’ll scream and yell. I’ll marvel and I’ll do a lot of cussing, I’m sure. I’ll swear the ref was blind one game and the best ref ever the next time he’s on the pitch. And?
And I’ll have fun. I’ll enjoy watching national pride on the line from other nations who are just as proud of their guys on the pitch as I am disappointed my guys aren’t. It’s the world’s most beautiful game and I can’t wait for the next 5 years when we compete for the honor in 2022.
Did I mention powerhouse Argentina is not going to the World Cup, either? It’s just our time to feel what it is like to be average. It hurts some Americans to admit it but look around --- we are, just like everyone else.
No comments:
Post a Comment