Now we’ll all sit back, get ready for the next four years of qualifying, act like this World Cup was a building block for good things to come, and slowly begin to strut our stuff, confidently like a rooster among the other CONCACAF roosters, feeling very sure of ourselves, putting the beat-down on El Salvador, Guatemala and the Bermuda Islands, mocking them for trying to play at our level, patting them on the back and shaking their hand, yet, when the next World Cup rolls around we’ll all hover just a little bit in the presence of greatness, and be too willing to reach out our hand to touch it for just a moment.
Does God hate CONCACAF? It seems that a CONCACAF team will never reach the semi-finals. No matter how hard they try, no matter how well they play, God will smite them down in the quarterfinals. Can I please get to the semis? “No, No…No.” Apparently God’s never taken an improv class, or seen Yes Man starring Jim Carey. Wouldn’t it be more interesting, God, if you, say, put Costa Rica into the semi-finals? Talk about saying “yes” to something totally, completely insane. Talk about ruffling some feathers in the stratified oligarchy of traditional soccer powers. They tried real hard. Mexico went out in the round of 16 again; the U.S. reached their full potential in the round of 16, again (running into one another, running into the referee, complaining about the travel schedule, complaining about bi-lingual referees), and Costa Rica took Holland to penalty kicks, where anyone can win, and even there Holland had an edge. They put in a different goalie at the very end of extra time – apparently a specialist at penalty kicks. He immediately began taunting the kickers by pacing around, pointing at them, talking to them and even reaching out to shake hands. The naïve Costa Rican shook his hand. He should've told him to get out of my face. Don’t pull that crap around here. How about you push his hand out of your face and tell the ref to get him out of your personal space, asking for a card. (Stop falling for their antics; we need to do that to them.) He was flaunting his dominance over Costa Rica. He was strutting over how superior the Dutch are – how much more confident they are. Look at me, a former European Cup champion; a multi-runner up to the World Cup, you cute little wannabe upstart, trying to score a PK on me – here, be so lucky to shake my hand. The Costa Rican politely shook his hand, thinking it was the sporting thing to do, acknowledging the Dutch as the best team never to win the World Cup. I am so honored to be in your presence, Mr. Dutch goalie, called upon solely for penalty kicks. How about “Get that hand out of my freakin’ face?” Make a statement out of it. Don’t shake his hand. He’s playing with you. He’s getting inside your head. He’s saying we’re better than you, and I’m so confident we are that I’m going to psyche you out. The referee allowed the nonsense to take place. He should’ve told the goalie to back off right away, yellow carding him the second time around. The goalie blocked two kicks and out were the Costa Ricans, back home to join the U.S., Mexico and Honduras in shameful CONCACAF-land, where the losers reside; where the unconfident - hand shaking, I’m so glad to be here in your presence you great talented Dutch people - players reside. I’ll just get back to the MLS now, and play mediocre soccer with fancy uniforms.
Now we’ll all sit back, get ready for the next four years of qualifying, act like this World Cup was a building block for good things to come, and slowly begin to strut our stuff, confidently like a rooster among the other CONCACAF roosters, feeling very sure of ourselves, putting the beat-down on El Salvador, Guatemala and the Bermuda Islands, mocking them for trying to play at our level, patting them on the back and shaking their hand, yet, when the next World Cup rolls around we’ll all hover just a little bit in the presence of greatness, and be too willing to reach out our hand to touch it for just a moment.
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The worst thing that could have happened to Brazil, did. In their own World Cup, in their own yard, their best player - the player many of the fans wanted to see play in the 2010 World Cup - gets injured and is out of the tournament. He doesn't only get injured - he breaks his back. A fracture in his back is the result of a Columbian player lunging into him with his knee. No one wanted to see this, as Neymar was playing well, alongside other tournament standouts Messi and Robben. Brazil has been criticized for not playing to their full potential. They were depending too much on Neymar. Hulk wasn't playing to his potential; Fred wasn't playing to his potential; Oscar wasn't playing to his potential and on and on. They were pushing one player, hoping everything would come together with just him. However, in a strange twist a fate, the driven, fanatical base of Brazilian fans might not be as crushed if they are not crowned champions. They can say, "Our best player was hurt. He was victim of a cheap shot." This is true. This also takes some of the immense pressure off the players. With Neymar, they were expected to win the whole thing. Without Neymar, they have less expectations and less pressure. Winning can take a backseat as one of their own suffered a serious, potentially career ending, injury. Now they can play for Neymar, but if they fall short the fan base and their egos will not be destroyed as they would have been with Neymar at full strength.
On top of this their captain and leader of the defense, Thiago Silva will not play in the semi-final against Germany, after acquiring his second yellow card in the tournament. Things look bleak for Brazil against the Germans. Other players can step, as Brazil always has a plethora of talent, however, this current group has been criticized for only having one star (Neymar). Usually, in past years, there were a handful of standout players, such as the 2002 World Cup in Japan-Korea, as Brazil fielded a team with Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Rivaldo. To get past Germany, the unlikely hero might end up being Fred. If Roberto Carlos, the longtime Brazilian outside defender, was playing in the center midfield position and the coaching staff was insistent on this, even if the results were mediocre, or an outright failure, it seems to me that common sense would take over and the "Brazilian people" at large, collectively, would see that Roberto Carlos is much better suited as an outside fullback. Over the years, the United States men's team has suffered from playing the wrong players in the wrong positions. During the last ten years the ill-fated lineup of the national team continues with coaches, and even the experienced Jurgen Klinsmann – though some question his coaching abilities, including former player and German captain Philipp Lahm – has continued the unfortunate trend of playing big, gawky, unskillful players in the central defender's position. If British fans make fun of Jozy Altidore's "second touch" – which they do – and he is America's star forward what do you think they're saying about our central defending catastrophe? Clarence Goodson and Omar Gonzalez (among others) who have replaced Carlos Bocanegra, should be replaced by Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones. The latter are ill-equipped as creative central midfielders. Sadly, the United States has suffered difficulties finding a creative midfielder with the passing panache of Platini, Valderrama, Ronaldinho, or Zidane. Team USA has come close but has always misused talent such as Chad Deering or Jose Torres. With the skill they possess, Bradley and Jones should – without a doubt – start as the two central defenders. (They're replacements in midfield would be Torres and for the life of me I can't think of another crafty central midfielder, which is a problem, to say the least for American soccer.) Bradley and Jones are tall enough, which is the first concern for defending against the cross and clearing head balls successfully. They also tackle well. (We Americans tend to find the tallest guys for this position, including Oguchi Onyewu, Omar Gonzalez, John Doyle, but if we only sacrificed three to four inches – it's not asking a lot – we'd find it is much easier to win, as Beckenbauer, merely 5'11" won a World Cup as the leader in central defense.) Though Bradley and Jones lack the creative flair needed in the central midfield they are good enough with possession and worlds ahead of past central defenders in confident, skillful possession with a purpose, or possession for possession's sake. They would be attacking central defenders much like Beckenbauer, Franco Baresi or even to a lessor extent, Cannavaro. Everything starts with the central and outside defenders. They must defend, first, obviously, but maybe even more importantly, they must possess the ball and set the tone for the game with confident skill. A good offense is a good defense.
Think of the farthest place away in the universe. Cut that in half and that's where the United States is in terms of finding the right fit for a new direction in the world's most popular sport. American soccer has the bad habit of finding the wrong guys for the job and continuing the trend in a vacuum without a domestic collective awareness keeping the decision makers in check. If the men's soccer team is putting forth the old college try, I think we're putting forth the wrong college. Viewing American soccer through the eyes of American college football, Alabama or Ohio State would be a good team to put forward to face the world. However, we keep sending out South Dakota State. Future teams and players will change with time and it is important for the next generations to look back on history, and the players during this current era, and those before, and learn to mend the mistakes of the past. America's gotten much better, playing with poise in possession. But, the frame of mind is still to rush things, going forward and attacking quickly. The "boring" part of soccer for most fans is one of the most intriguing parts of the game for the majority of seasoned die-hard fans, which is well done possession. It's a skill in and of itself. If the all-important potential American fans get bored with this imperative part of the game, then, unfortunately, we'll never win them over as fans. Practices prior to the tournament intensified, as players tried their hardest. As a result, the coach said, "We will not win this World Cup. There is no chance in hell we're gonna win this thing."
Our thug player, the guy who's job it is to intimidate other teams, ran into the referee. Then he ran into his own teammate, breaking his own nose. Our best known player was kept off the team, in part, for traveling to Cambodia in an attempt to "find himself" by adorning a bandana while whacking his leg against random stalks of bamboo alah Jean Claude Vandamme. The team and media held meetings in a smoky room with drawn curtains, insisting the group be called the illustrious "Group of Death" which included Germany ("Group of Death" CEO), Portugal ("Group of Death" wannabe), Ghana ("Group of Death's" friend of a friend that knows a guy) and the United States ("Group of Death's" pesky Secretary of the Treasury that insists on working pro bono in exchange for positive re-encouragement). Meanwhile, the real "Group of Death" consisted of Italy ("Group of Death" Fraternity President), England ("Group of Death" elder statesmen away on holiday with a drinking problem), Uruguay ("Group of Death" record's keeper, who initiates players with biting exercises and a Richard Ramirez look-alike contest ((Cavanni; it's uncanny and unsettling))) and Costa Rica (the guy claiming to know the door man at the Group of Death's hotel on a referral from someone in the U.S. - they go way back, something to do with "banana trading"). Before the match with Belgium we got mad at the referee for being bi-lingual. "How dare you speak the other team's language!" Excessive complaining about the extensive traveling, insisting FIFA has it in for the U.S., the team least likely to win. Because, after all, the extensive traveling was by way of Greyhound Buses, sitting coach next to Brazilian guys selling homemade bars of soap out of a backpack. We made sure that our opponents' had ninety percent of the possession. It's a tactical thing. Following the exit of the United States from Brazil 14' the coach says, "Yeah, I guess we could'a won the whole thing." What is it about this isn't working do we not understand? We (the American men's national team) still cross the ball too much, dribble too little, and panic when it comes to creativity.
In The Moment Being in the moment is said a lot. To many people this makes no sense whatsoever. In our society everybody’s thinking about the future and the past. Everybody lives off of past memories and they yearn for the future to buy something materialistic, most likely. Americans constantly need things. This comes in the form of good memories. This comes in the form of future needs. Unfortunately we need fashion, and tech things more than anything else. So peoples’ memories are of clothing and phones and nights out on the town, Tweeting and texting and taking pics left and right. Yearning for the future is: wanting more clothes and the newest tech items and plans to socialize and take pictures all over again. Athletically this attitude transcends into the sport being played. Athletes sometimes have a difficult time finding the now moment, or being in the moment. Their head is wandering – much like society at large – and they cannot focus. Coaches try to drive this concept home all the time. Phil Jackson wanted athletes to be American, with minds like Tibetan monks – athletically, pure thinking beings that were wiser than their opponent. Coaches want their players in the moment, and concentrating on winning at the task at hand, i.e., winning right here, right now – enjoying whatever part of the field you find yourself, in whatever situation you’re involved in. I’m worried about one thing, right now: getting this pass around this player in front of me, so I can win this moment. It doesn’t have to be a shot on goal; it has to be defeating this player right here with a pass (or in another situation it might be a dribble). What happened to the U.S. team? How did Brazil look for the development of U.S. soccer? Who's to blame? So many people want to "blame something." Many people chalked it up to "technique" which the Americans still lack. All the effort is there. There's passion. There's will power. But these things fall short when technique is absent. Mind you, the technique is being compared to players from Belgium, who defeated the U.S., Germany, Argentina and others in the tournament. The technical players exist in the U.S. but the system at large tends to avoid picking them for the higher ranking teams, including the MLS and national team. Americans want bigger and stronger, so consequentially the players that look like Xavi and Iniesta - who played a large role in dominating the game for over seven years - get overlooked. It would be nice to clone Clint Dempsey and Chad Deering but that's not legal. When I speak with novices of the game they tend to give more insight than the experts. They have an innate understanding of what they're seeing, and not seeing. One guy I spoke to recently, an artist, pointed out that despite his own personal skill level playing the game he could see that the Americans lack a "creative passer." He was short on names, but he'd be referring to players of yore like Ronaldinho, Zidane, Platini. Pirlo is a name you can throw in there too, but I tend to think of Pirlo as a great shoe craftsmen, that takes a lot of breaks. His through ball capability hits an accuracy of about 5-7 out of 10, while Platini and others hit 8-9 out of 10. The through pass is an important feature of the game, a pass that usually has to "die" in pace some where so that the attacking player can run onto it in an advanced attacking position. That sounds like manager talk. It's hard to do (using manager talk and explaining a through ball pass). Yet, somehow, many "top class" players have such a difficult time making the pass. I have no idea why. It's inexcusable. Are the Italians blaming Pirlo for their early exit? Probably not. He'll never retire, and they never want him to leave. He looks like a 55-year-old Italian lumberjack - in a good way. Anybody like that, you wanna hold on to. Just keep him around. How do we, the Americans, blame our team for yet another loss and early exit at the World Cup? I suggest we look into the Soccer Moms. They're to blame. Why not? Let's blame somebody. Somehow, in 1974, during a friendly match in which the United States Men's team lost to Italy, in Rome, by the score of 10-0, the Italian fans swarmed the locker room, throwing things at the doors for over two and half hours. They wanted to blame somebody for something. I have no idea how they turn a 10-0 victory into a blame game but it was something they felt passionate about. Back to our Soccer Moms: They're an out of control group of yelling, badgering, and forceful ladies that tend to transition their experiences from baseball, football and basketball to the world of soccer, which they fall short of understanding. Screaming at players, referees, coaches, other parents and by-passers doesn't help the growth of soccer. Screaming things like "shoot it!" "kick it!" and "win!" don't help much either. It's usually not wise to yell "shoot it!" or "score it!" when the ball is at the half line. These uninformed members of the soccer community are holding back the future participants of the World Cup from succeeding. Are all Soccer Moms to blame for "soccer failures?" Well, of course not, and the first person to point that out would be: a Soccer Mom. "You know," Pam might say, "Not all of us are negative."
I would say, "I wasn't suggesting 'all' of you literally were" - "You can't say 'all' of us are like that when there are 'some' out there that aren't." "Right," I'd add, "I didn't mean like every single one is negative." For some reason I'd start to use "like" as a crutch in forming verbal sentences. "Like, it's not like 'all' of you are crazy-negative, out of control, sreaming-yelling lunatics that get their influence from Tammy or Identity Thief," I'd say, fearful for my life. "You guys are totally cool. I have no idea what I was saying." All in all, not a good tournament for the United States. Brazil did not pan out. The team was outplayed in practically every game, notwithstanding much of the Portugal match, and the coach predicted his own troops wouldn't win the championship. Is it too much to ask for the trophy? I don't think so. I think it's time the mindset goes from "let's try not to run into each other" to "we're gonna try to win the damn trophy." And if we don't, we can blame the Soccer Dads. What a sorry bunch they are. |
Shane stay +
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