Jun 19 2009, 11:23AM
Boys among men as the U.S. plays soccer versus Brazil
Only the most heavily-medicated American partisans would not have felt humiliated Thursday when the U.S. national team was embarrassed, 3-0, by Brazil. This followed a similar, 3-1 spanking the other day at the hands of Italy.
We displayed technical inferiority, tactical confusion and gross immaturity. For the second consecutive game, an American was thrown out of the game for a dumb foul, forcing his team to compete with one less player. So, given the state of soccer in our land, should one bring in a band of shrinks to divine why a Chicago-based company has decided to spent a reported $130 million to have its logo on one team's shirt?
Not really. Check out my dispatch on a new romance between an insurance brokerage and the most famous of all soccer teams at http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200906u/manchester-united-sponsorship
Agreed. The U.S. was simply out matched in every aspect of the game. They need to find an identity (tactical ball possession? outstanding fitness and hustle? Italian-like defensiveness?) seems they don't know who they are and therefore how to play. As far as the state of American soccer, my thoughts are that most fans of "futbol" began their relationship with soccer following established foreign teams and considered U.S. Soccer secondary to their passions. I recall being a teenager with most of my American born teammates following the countries of their ancestors like Germany and Italy. That being said, I believe that a large percentage of fans of the game don't really care to much or attach to closely to the American squad. Most of which probably see more Man U games that MLS and U.S. Soccer games combined.
It's not hard to see why they might spend that much on Man U. Not only do they have massive international appeal, they have a large US following as well, regardless of the state of our own US based league.
As far as the games, come on guys. Brazil has arguably one of the best national teams in the world, and Italy's league ranks with Spain and England as the top professional clubs in the world. You're kidding me right? I'm surprised we only lost by 3. Maybe we shouldn't be making sophomoric mistakes, but we shouldn't be winning.
U.S. 3 - Egypt 0 and moving on to the next round ... well I'm pretty speechless.
Agreed...it was the perfect storm.