The Price is Right? Ted's Take on Soccer and the World Cup. Ole!

My brother-in-law is back. First hockey. Then the IRL. Now he tackles soccer-mania. Enjoy...
__________________________________________________________

When I read Brian "Man on the Street" Dilsheimer's statement that he wanted the World Cup to be over so he didn't have to pretend to be interested in it, I knew I had to respond. If I don't champion the fringe sports (NHL, IRL, soccer), then who will? And with the US out of it, this task becomes even more daunting.

Simply put, the World Cup is fun. It's fun to watch nation against nation. It's fun to listen to the ceaseless chanting and singing from the fans. And sometimes it's even fun to watch the players flop around on the filed like they just got shot by a sniper in the stands (more on that in a moment).

The Wold Cup is one of the only tournaments where the winner can legitimately call themselves "world champions." I get a kick when the Super Bowl winner is referred to as champions of the world. Now, I'm not saying the Pittsburgh Steelers couldn't beat the Frankfurt Galaxy, but c'mon. On their way to winning the Super Bowl this year, the Steelers beat Indianapolis, Denver and Seattle. They beat different time zones, not the world.

It's the only time where fans can say "we" when referring to their team and mean it. You may be a huge fan of the Philadelphia Eagles or Denver Nuggets, but there is no "we" when the team wins. Your birth is your association - your team is your country.

And that is where the real fanaticism comes from. For many countries, the rivalry and resentment goes beyond the pitch. The Germans love to mock Poland. The English mock the Germans, and everyone mocks the French. In fact, this year FIFA - the governing body - told the fans that World War-related chants were not acceptable. One of England's favorite cheers against Germany is to yell, "if you won the war, stand up." And that's how they start the wave!

And the singing! Tens of thousands of people singing their national anthems or some other songs - for the entire match! If you've watched any game at all this tournament, you can hear just how loud the stadium can get for both teams. And it never stops, no one sits down, and all of this comes without the aid of a jumbotron, an obnoxious PA announcer or blaring rock music. If you were one of those athletes, wouldn't that keep you geeked up for the entire 90 minutes?

I know I am going to catch some flack for this next statement, but I think these players are the most fit athletes in the world for any sport. The clock never stops, there are no time-outs, it's just running, almost non-stop for two, 45-minute halves. Many of the matches so far in this year's World Cup have come down to the last minutes. I think as many as 6 matches have had the game-deciding goal scored in the last 10 minutes of play. This is all about conditioning - can you run the other team down until they get tired and you take advantage of it?

Then there is the argument that there is not enough scoring. I am not sure I have ever understood that one. Most baseball fans can appreciate a 1-0 game knowing what it took to get that one run and keep the other team from crossing the plate. To put it another way,
a 3-2 soccer score is the same as 21-14 in football. One of the most exciting matches in the first round was Trinidad-Tobago vs. Switzerland. The game ended in a 0-0 tie, but watching the T&T goalie stand on his head stopping shot after shot was amazing - even more amazing knowing he was the back-up goalie pressed into service right before the match started!
Just like any other sport, when you watch the elite teams play, you gain a better appreciation for the game. Watch the finesse of the Brazilians, the relentless attacking of the Germans and the swarming defense of the Italians, and you begin to understand why they call it "the beautiful game."

Now for the flopping. I think this is the biggest reason why the sport hasn't caught on as much in the US. When you are used to seeing football and hockey players smash each other (albeit with padding), or baseball players colliding at the plate or hard fouls in basketball, it's tough to take a sport seriously when you breathe on a player and he goes flying 45 feet clutching his leg like someone pulled a Theisman on him. And the Italians - for all their world class play - are the masters of the flop (as evidenced in the US game). But the games are officiated as arbitrarily as an NBA game. FIFA claims they are clamping down, and there have been some fouls for diving, but it's nowhere near where it needs to be. A friend of mine was saying they need to adopt the same criteria as the NHL (imagine the NHL being a model for anything!). In hockey, you are not going to draw the penalty for hooking or interference if you stop skating. It should be the same in soccer - keep your feet moving. The player needs to do everything they can to play through the trip, the hold, etc. If he still goes down, it's a foul. If they stop and drop, a dive is called. It's still the ref's discretion, but it should keep the game moving. I still don't understand the mentality. Sure you are trying to draw the foul, but while you are rolling around on the grass, your team is a man down.

OK, so the US is now out of it thanks to a less-than-inspired performance in two of the three games. It's pretty disappointing - there was a lot of hype going into this World Cup thanks to our (see, I said "our") performance in 2002. Now there is just bitter disappointment. Which I think is a good thing. It means people care and they are expecting better. Say what you want about the officiating (bad calls against Italy, a bad penalty kick against Ghana), but the fact is, the US played below itself. They made the Czech Republic look much better than they actually were, they played a spirited game against Italy, but they played with no purpose or desperation against Ghana. Players were out of position, getting pushed around by the other teams and generally getting out-worked and out-hussled.

So what do we do? First move: replace head coach Bruce Arena. He has done more for US soccer than anyone before him, but I think this performance shows, the team is not responding to him anymore. His calling-out players by name during the press conference after the Czech game did not do much to inspire Sam's Army to rally behind him. Too many questions about the starting lineups and too much second-guessing about player positioning and strategy. There was no fire and worst of all, there was no leadership on the field. No player said, "get on my back and I will take you to the next round."

The US needs an impact player. Someone who can score almost at will and changes the way the other team plays when he has the ball. We also need to play more European teams on their soil in the lead up to the tournament. You can only do so much against teams from the
Caribbean and Central America. And we need to act like we belong.
The mentality must change. We may not be part of the elite teams, but we've come a long way since our showings in '90, '94 and '98.

We may never get to the point in this country where the World Cup takes precedence over all else, causes a cease-fire in the middle of a civil war (Ivory Coast), or is the reason for national holidays on game days. But people are starting to care - mostly because the US is starting to become a force on the world stage (we love our winners - right Dream Team?). Do yourself a favor, find an ethnic pub in your town where the ex-pats go to watch the games (English pub, Italian cafes, etc), and get caught-up in the excitement, sing the songs and appreciate the beautiful game.