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Another 'miracle'? Won't we need witnesses?
By GARY SHELTON
Published June 4, 2006
We are gathered today to discuss the related topics of soccer games and miracles. If you have sufficient interest in the first, that alone qualifies as the second.
It is here, on the brink of a divine tournament, that we once again happen upon the passion of the Bruce.
The World Cup, that every-four-years gathering of loaves and fishes, is about to begin. So too is the workload of United States coach Bruce Arena, the miracle worker.
Busy man, Bruce. He has to coach his team, build his sport and survive his group. He has to overcome the talent of the Czechs, the flair of the Italians and, most of all, the disinterest of the Americans. Following that, in a particularly taxing chore, he has to interpret just how well his team fared.
How will these Americans do? First, let us consider how the last American World Cup team did.
If you believe in Arena's hyperbole, it was miraculous. Arena suggested as much in an interview with Sports Illustrated, when he said that reaching the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup was "close to, if not equal to or better than" the Miracle on Ice, when the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team won the gold medal.
Of course, that's just silly. Of all gold medals won in Olympic team competition, the '80 hockey team is considered the most impressive. Comparing a top-eight finish with that is ridiculous. Remember, that American team beat the Russians in the semis, perhaps the most talented team in history.
The American soccer team, on the other hand, went 2-2-1 four years ago, beating Portugal and Mexico. It was an impressive run, and it was fun, but no, it wasn't a miracle. When one of the largest, wealthiest nations on earth finishes in the top eight, it doesn't exactly wake them up at the Vatican.
Given the underappreciation of Arena's sport, however, a little overstatement is forgiveable. It can't be easy to take on the world on behalf of a nation that doesn't seem to know there is a world out there. It's like making blind fans see.
Interesting, isn't it, that after all the flogging, it comes down to the U.S. soccer team to defend the sporting pride of a nation? Once, the theory as to the indifference of soccer is that we didn't care because we couldn't compete, and we couldn't compete because we didn't care. Why worry about beating a nation so small that George Bush wouldn't even invade it?
Have you paid attention, though? It isn't just soccer. Lately, we are Nerd Nation when it comes to international team sports. Olympic hockey? We're awful. Olympic basketball? We're terrible. The World Baseball Classic? We're the nation that gets picked last and told to play rightfield.
These days, it doesn't matter the shape of the ball or the size of the field. Face to face with another nation, we get drubbed like the dollar.
How can this be? For one thing, no one else plays our preferred sport, football. (In Paris, they probably believe their Notre Dame could beat our Notre Dame. Before Charlie Weis, who could say they were wrong.) For another thing, I suspect we dabble in so many sports that our talented players get diluted. For a third thing, scientific breakthroughs have shown that the athletes of other nations also have two arms and two legs.
Here's something else. When it comes to international sports, the fans in the United States don't really care. Everyone has an opinion on last year's Florida-FSU game, or the upcoming Red Sox-Yankees series, but if the U.S. is playing Latvia, you pull a muscle reaching for the remote control.
When it comes to soccer, there seems to be only one time you feel any heat at all. That's when a soccer lover runs into a soccer basher and the sparks begin to fly.
An admission: I wrote a column four years ago tweaking the soccer loyalists, and I learned one thing: If you suggest that a person is a soccer zealot, he will spare no effort in proving you correct. Even though I pointed out in the column that I liked soccer, I was informed that, no, I did not. Gee, I wondered, do I still like broccoli?
Sometimes, however, the supporting e-mail you get is more frightening than the criticism. There are people, it seems, who live to make fun of soccer fans. That's strange. I know a man who is a huge pole vault fan, simply huge. And no one says a word to him about it. We live in a nation where people like weightlifting or Arena football or, for goodness' sake, poker tournaments on ESPN, and it's fine.
Soccer is different. Soccer is a rolling debate.
Give Arena credit for this. Upon arrival in Germany on Friday, he admitted the U.S. had to get to the second round before this World Cup team could be considered a success. That's true. We're an arrogant nation, and we like to believe in our advantages. Later, we'll believe in miracles.
Getting out of the first round? That's the burning bush.
Winning the whole tournament? That's parting the sea.
Making America pay attention? That's raising the dead.
[Last modified June 4, 2006, 13:28:02]
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