A Small Victory

Today, the United States Soccer Team advanced to the next round of the World Cup with their 1-0 defeat of Algeria. Thanks to a goal by Landon Donovan in the 91st minute, the U.S. can breathe a sigh of relief. Not just because they had to work extra hard to overcome early deficits in the first two games, which ended in a 1-1 draw with England and a 2-2 draw with Slovenia. They should also be relieved that the FIFA referees that were so clearly working against them didn’t actually sabotage their efforts to get to the Round of 16. In the last two matches, the US scored goals that were disallowed because the US was supposedly offsides. However, replays in both of those instances showed, in fact, that that was not the case, and the goals should have stood. In the Slovenia match, Maurice Edu’s goal was overturned, which cost the U.S. two points in the standings, since you get three points for a win, one for a draw. Since the Slovenia match ended in a draw, we only got one point, which meant we absolutely had to beat Algeria today.

Today’s match versus Algeria was wide open. Each side had multiple scoring chances. In the 21st minute, Clint Dempsey scored a great goal, which was subsequently wiped out, again because the referee claimed the U.S. was offsides. Again, replays clearly showed that was not the case. So if not for Donovan’s late goal, the U.S. would be on the next flight back to the States.

Even though the United States advanced to the next round of the World Cup, it is quite clear that FIFA, the governing body of international soccer (futbol, football, whatever you want to call it), does not want the U.S. to win the Cup; hence the blatant bad calls. And their reasons may be, at least in part, justified. It is a well-known fact that in the grand scheme of things, Americans do not really care about soccer. According to ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd, the 5 most popular sports in the USA are:

1)NFL Football
2)Major League Baseball
3)College Football (only very slightly behind baseball)
4)NBA Basketball
5)Men’s College Basketball

If I took it to the top ten, I am sure soccer still wouldn’t make the list, getting beaten out by PGA Golf and college baseball, among other things. My point is, soccer doesn’t mean nearly as much to Americans as it does to Europeans or Latin Americans. It’s so not important to our country that we actually have to call it “soccer” as opposed to “football” so we don’t get strikers confused with quarterbacks. The only time soccer really seems to matter in this country is now, during the World Cup. Every four years, the world gets together, and the 32 countries with the best national soccer teams duke it out for 30 days until one is the champion. The U.S. has never one the World Cup because we don’t eat, drink and sleep soccer like European or Central and South American countries. In those countries, soccer is king. It is the national sport/pastime of most of those countries. I think most kids in Brazil come out of the womb holding a soccer ball. In Europe and Latin America, soccer is religion. Therefore, if one of those countries, such as Brazil, were to win the World Cup, the sense of national pride felt by all Brazilians would be overwhelming. The whole country would shut down for a day or two so they could celebrate their victory. If the United States were to win, however, we would probably be happy that we did so, but in the big picture, it would most likely take a distant back seat to seeing our favorite NFL team win the Super Bowl, or our college Alma Mater winning the National Championship in football.

Overall, Americans are bandwagon soccer fans who know enough about the sport to be dangerous. FIFA knows this, and I think they believe that the U.S. winning the World Cup would be a waste since they are convinced our country would never fully appreciate it. It would kind of be like if there were an American Football World Cup. We would most certainly win it every time, but if Argentina were to win it, I don’t think they would see it as that big of a deal, because American Football is our thing, not theirs. That being said, FIFA wants a European or Latin American team to win the World Cup. They want the championship to belong to a country that has immense soccer tradition, and that will fully understand what it means to be World Cup Champions (I am talking about people in general, not the players). Therefore, you can expect more calls going against the U.S. squad in the next round. The FIFA referees have clearly demonstrated their bias against the U.S. We are the only squad that has two goals that were disallowed by the refs, and both wrongfully so. Just like discovering life on another planet, it is clear to me that the U.S. will not win a World Cup in our lifetime.

So enjoy today’s victory America, for it will be short-lived! I hate to sound so negative, but I am just faced with the reality of international soccer politics. But I would be interested to see what would happen if the U.S. did win the World Cup. Perhaps that would get FIFA off our backs. Maybe it would spark a long-lasting American interest in soccer. Maybe. Until then, I am left with my cynicism.