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RIO DE JANEIRO (June 24, 2014) — Even as another brilliant World Cup serves up so many tasty morsels of soccer drama — some of them inspired by our own boys. the ones in golf shirts — let’s NOT get carried away. American soccer has never been healthier, but the penultimate group game vs. Portugal should serve as fair warning. It looked done and dusted, a place in the Round of 16 secured — only for the opponent to equalize with the last kick of the game. It’s a pretty good metaphor: The game owes no country a damned thing, no matter how far we may have come.

We should, of course, support this US squad with complete abandon, regardless of our purported soccer sophistication. Because it is ours… Neither is it very good, and yet the squad is producing remarkable, dramatic results.

Oft-maligned anager Jurgen Klinsmann has pushed every button correctly. Kyle freakin’ Beckerman is starting at defensive midfielder and looking not the slightest bit too slow for the international game. Jermaine Jones has summoned all his unpredictable energy, skill and menace to pull off a damned convincing impression of Edgar Davids. Clint Dempsey’s swashbuckling game has clearly not been dumbed-down by his move to MLS. Twenty-year-old Seattle Sounder teammate Andre Yedlin, a man few though Klinsi had the balls to actually play during this tournament, delivered excellent service to Deuce and others throughout the Portugal match.

All this is great for MLS and the U.S. Men’s National Team, whose World Cup games are drawing crowds to parks and plazas all over the nation. They are evidence no one could have dreamed of — even during the game’s “puppy love” moment here in the US, World Cup 1994. (The game’s “nighttime emissions” moment was Italia ’90. That provged a huge step forward but ultimately a slightly embarrassing event that, for the U.S., mercifully played out in relative privacy.)
Ed. I love the “puppy love” coinage. Can’t believe I never used in it in GZ.

Tipping point achieved, but…

But again, let’s maintain a sense of proportion: World Cup 2014 has prompted a creditable response from U.S. Soccer Nation. The scene in RiRa, the bar where I watched the win over Ghana, would have done any country proud. There is a real feeling, supported by MLS, the women’s national team, and the never-lying demographics, that futbol has truly cleared a tipping point in the culture. Yet American Soccer Love will likely remain a mere quadrennial happening in this country, for decades to come. The sheer mass of our sports landscape provide so little room for another “major” sport. MLS just isn’t a compelling product, not yet.

Most important, the DNA of US soccer is such that the national team has always been the focal point of the sport’s popularity here. Once the NASL died, back in 1984, the men’s national team was all there was — it was the only American soccer focal point, full stop. Once we started qualifying for World Cups, it was the national team alone that fixed the public’s attention on the game’s qualities. In a way peculiar to international football, the U.S. national team plays an outsized role in domestic soccer consumption here.

Which is fine. One of the game’s most attractive qualities is exactly that international outlook, the pitting of one nation against another. As American sports fans, we really don’t have that opportunity anywhere else, with any other team sport. We don’t care about world championships in basketball. Indeed, American football and baseball — our national sporting obsession and pastime, respectively — are entirely domestic to the point of insularity. The World Series? A peculiar name when you think about it, and one that really bothers international sports fans.

Precisely because soccer is unabashedly internationalist in its outlook, supporting the national team is that rare opportunity to root for America vs. Some Other Country — in something other than the latest trumped up military action. It’s sort of surprising that a nation so stuck on itself, and so militaristic in most every other way, has taken so long to appreciate the allure of this joyously partisan activity. But there were are.
Ed. Quite sure these internationalist themes debuted in this post. They’re all matured into prominent in “Generation Zero.“

Ahead of the Group-State Finales

And here we are, staring down the barrel of Germany in our final group game with all to play for: a spot in the last 16 and at least one more glorious June weekend of packed bars, communal viewing venues, flag-draping and face-painting. I’m just glad we all lived to see it. Not because it’s the fulfillment of some prophecy, but because it’s damned good fun. A few thoughts and observations on the first 10 days of World Cup 2014:

• There’s a 50-50 chance that Ghana could effectively put us out of a third straight tournament. Yeah, we stole that game off them in the opening match. If Germany beats the US on Thursday, and there’s every reason to think they will — they are one of the world’s top 3 sides, and they must get a result to qualify for the last 16 themselves — all Ghana needs to do is beat Portugal and the Black Stars are tied with the Americans on 4 points. Goal difference is the decider. After two games, we’re +1 and they’re -1. But we lose buy a goal, they win by a goal, and it’s a dead heat. Germany beats us by two and we’re toast.
Ed. Portugal beat Ghana and the U.S. advanced to the Round of 16 vs. Belgium.

• The Black Stars of Ghana. Good team name. The US needs one. We don’t do this sort of thing in America, mainly because, as stated above, we don’t field international teams very often — in sports about which anyone gives a rat’s ass. The men’s national team has progressed to this level of interest, and so should have one bestowed. There are good names out there: Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions. There are bad names: Australia’s Socceroos (the Rugby Union team is the Wallabees; much better). Names do not reuire animal inspiration. Germany’s national team is known as the Mannschaft (simply “The Team”). Italy has its Azzurri (“The Blues”), Brazil its Selecao (“the Select”). What would embody the American psyche and inform a proper American soccer nickname? There was a guy in the Manaus crowd, against Portugal, dressed as Teddy Roosevelt, in full Rough Rider gear (if you have trouble placing that, think of the Colonel in the classic ‘60s cartoon “Go-Go Gophers”). Rough Riders deserves consideration, especially for this World Cup, where Theodore so famously visited after his presidency, big guns in tow.
Ed. A theme that showed up in my second soccer book, “Sibling Rivalry.” (2026) I still like Rough Riders, and we still don’t have a nickname better than USMNT.

• The most encouraging thing about America’s inspired performance thus far (gutty vs. Ghana, truly sophisticated and creative vs. Portugal) has been the fact that all has been achieved without a decent showing from Michael Bradley. The conventional wisdom strongly held that he was the team’s indispensable man. We couldn’t play with the big boys if he didn’t show up. Well, he didn’t really show up, twice, and others stepped up in his place. I love Bradley’s game. He will come good vs. Germany, which gives one hope.

• This has been the World Cup of Nipples. Thanks to the new skin-tight fashion and sweltering heat.

• Still reeling from the Portugal game. Realized that the US played a truly great 90 minutes of soccer in that match. Portugal scored after a total brain fart from Geoff Cameron after 5 minutes; we dominated the next 90, and then Cameron watched the equalizing cross sail over his head. It must be said that but for those two moments, the Stoke Man (a Maryland Terrapin, my Terp brother-in-law reminded me today) played an excellent match. Sometimes 90 good minutes are not enough.

• Coaches will often sub guys during injury time to help run out the clock, to use up more time. But referees will often add 30 seconds to injury time for every sub that comes on during any game. They’ll do the same thing with goals: 2 goals = 2 minutes of injury time at a minimum. Klinsi sent on Omar Gonzalez, our tallest defender, during injury time. Not only did he not make a difference (indeed, he has come on late three times in the last 2 weeks and the opponent has scored in all three games), that extra 30 seconds of injury time may have extended the game just long enough for the equalizer.

• I can’t help myself, but it’s exhilarating to watch the Mexicans win World Cup matches. They are so into it — the team, the coaches, the fans. It bothers me that they almost certainly do not reciprocate in this regard. Even after our completely unnecessary late-game goals vs. Panama in the final Hexagonal qualifier, Mexico wishes us ill. That result got them into the final pre-World Cup playoff and saved their entire country from mass sporting psychosis. They were all full of love and kisses that night. But methinks they’d love to see us crash out on Thursday. Doesn’t seem right.
Ed. Little did I realize in 2014 that issues of identity, envy and scorn make it impossible for Mexicans to root for the U.S. in any soccer context. Or so I learned in researching SR.

• Me? I’m a CONCACAF guy, because I have to be. I live here and support a team in the federation. Accordingly, it warms the cockles of my heart to see Mexico do well, and Costa Rica has been a revelation — already qualified after two games and fending off FIFA drug testers, because no one can believe this superlative run of form. If the US can qualify, that’d be three North/Central American teams in the final 16. Maybe those guys at The Guardian will stop make fun of us now (!). I have mused with my soccer podcast buddies Tom Wadlington and Dave Batista about how difficult playing in Central America truly is — compared to European qualifying. Just how would a team like England fare at an away qualifier in San Jose, or Tegucigalpa, or Mexico City? The final game in Group D might have provided some insight into this, on a neutral field, had the Ticos (pretty good name) not already qualified for the knockout stage, and had England not soiled itself so very quickly and publicly.

• I would have pegged Andre Yedlin, pre-tournament, as pretty much the 22^nd guy on the 23-man World Cup roster. No one expected him to set foot on the field, unless we were getting blown out or playing some meaningless, third group game after being eliminated. Yet Klinsmann threw him on vs. Portugal, with the game and tournament in the balance, and he delivered. Still, I will eat my hat if he exposes young Julian Green to the rigors of World Cup play. The 18-year-old German-American phenom is the property of Bayern Munich, but he has never played a minute for the senior club. He looked beyond skittish in the three pre-tournament warm-up matches. He’s simply not ready. So, why is he on the roster? No one is admitting that Klinsi cut a deal with Julian Green, i.e. “Julian, join the USA long term [he could have declared for Germany] and we’ll  bring you to Brazil.” Canny long-term politics but you can’t waste a roster spot at the World Cup. Lo and behold, Jozy Altidore pops a hammy and now we’re short a back-up striker. Aron Johannson — another young phenom, Icelandic-American; vetted in the top Dutch league but basically unproven on the international level — was useless vs. Ghana. Chris Wondolowski is an MLS journeyman. Terrance Boyd was left at home, and so was a fellow named Donovan.
Ed. Green was a non-factor at this World Cup, though he did get thrown on in the dyiing moments of the 2-1 overtime loss to Belgium. He managed to score an absolutely worldy, but otherwise looked lost. Wondolowski, for his part, missed a sitter in regulation that would have won the Yanks a spot in the quarterfinals.

• Landycakes and Klinsmann have never seen eye to eye on how American footballers should behave. Donovan took a sabbatical from the game two years ago; Klinsi was reared, played and coached in Germany, where footballers don’t do sabbaticals. I understand the Green negotiation, but there will come a time in this World Cup when the US could have used 30 minutes of Donovan at the end of a game — to hold the ball and more effectively counter-attack with a lead, to change the angle/mode of attack when behind. This is not some sentimental point. That’s why/how older strikers are deployed in tournaments like this: Didier Drogba for Ivory Coast, Kershikov for Russia, Cassano for Italy, etc. I hope this bit of personality conflict, and the way Klinsmann handled it, doesn’t come back to bite us in the ass.
Ed. Klinsi pushed every button right but this one. Altidore’s injury and Green’s roster inclusion left the Yanks bereft of strike options. Donovan would have played and, it says here, made a difference. For a start, he would have potted Wondolowski’s sitter…

Maybe it’s my peculiarly American viewpoint (read: spotty historical perspective on all things European Championships pre-1984) but it’s striking to consider that Spain, until it drained the soul of France today, 2-0, had never beaten the French in a competitive match before today. Ever. Even in a qualifier or something? Yes, never. The French have won trophies and, like Spain, was a top-class side for a long time before it finally did win something, but surely the Spanish, defending Euro and World Cup champions, had managed to beat France at some point, somewhere. Apparently not.

I read, too, that Spain has never beaten Italy over 90 minutes, ever, only on penalties (in the quarters at Euro 2010). There’s a mind-blower.

Somewhere I read similarly that Germany had never beaten Italy in a major tournament, i.e. the Euros or World Cup. Germany. Actually, to be fair, I think it was some German football dignitary who had opined that in “big matches”, knock-out games, Germany had never beaten Italy — and so they looked forward to the opportunity in the approaching semi should The Azzurri take down England Sunday. But still, I had just assumed that the holes in my own historical knowledge of past Euro and World Cup encounters would account for the one time Germany had surely ousted Italy from a major tournament. The Mannschaft’s nearly alien efficiency in grinding out tournament results alone should account for one win, even against the Italians. Apparently not.

Makes you wonder what sort of chance the English really have on Sunday, in the last of four quarters. After all, I learned recently of another fascinating historical tidbit — that England had never beaten any past World Cup or Euro champion nation outside Wembley Stadium in a major competition, other than Denmark. The lengths to which some stat freak went to gather that obscure, apparently true factoid dampens one’s awestruck wonder just a bit. But in another way, it remains incredibly telling. Basically, as the English have never won any tournament other than the World Cup (at Wembley), they’ve also never beaten any truly elite time, at any time, in any major tournament, anywhere but North London. Except Denmark of course.

It seems clear to me that these footballing heavyweights could not have played that many times over the years — that’s one reason these “records” have, counterintuitively, lasted as long as they have. England and Italy, the nation that claims to have invented the game and the four-time world champions, have met only twice before in major tournaments, never on neutral soil, and only four times in qualifying games for major competitions. The Germans have played Italy 27 times in 89 years, the vast majority being friendlies and qualifiers, as opposed to Euro semifinals or whatnot. Telling to note that Germany’s overall record vs. Italy is a paltry 7 wins, 14 losses and 6 ties.

Clearly there are some major historical forces being put to the test on Europe’s eastern frontier this summer. Spain has slain one demon in France. England and/or Germany will have the chance to slay another later this week.

Here’s the result we’re after: Jozy Altidore (left) running up front with another striker, Clint Dempsey.

European soccer fans and pundits have a luxury we Americans do not. When followers of these more established futbol nations piss and moan that a particular player doesn’t merit a place in the starting national XI, there are nearly always viable alternatives. Such is the size and quality of the player pool. You don’t like Lukas Podolski? Plug in Mario Gomez. Think John Terry’s over the hill? Opt for Phil Jones.

I enjoy the soccer guys at SI, especially the work of Grant Wahl, but I was listening to their Soccer Roundtable podcast for Oct. 19, and I must protest their incomplete, irrational critique of both U.S. striker Jozy Altidore and, by extension, new coach Jurgen Klinsmann. Steve Davis, Wahl and John Godfrey were trotting out the now-familiar complaint that Altidore does not merit starts for the USMNT. This naturally led to the idea of who exactly should take his place. Their ideas, offered as mere afterthoughts: Chris Wondolowski, Hercules Gomez and Justin Braun.

Are you kidding me? I mean, at some point, any criticism of starting Altidore must be accompanied by a reasonable alternative. These three are simply too fanciful to be taken seriously. I’m all for giving young guys a chance to impress, but you honestly want to plug in Justin Braun v. France? Honduras, perhaps. At home. But not against a top-flight opponent, on the road.

I’ll go further: If you want to judge Jozy Altidore, first play him in the upcoming friendlies against France and Slovenia alongside Clint Dempsey, or Juan Agudelo, or anyone. Then make the call. You simply cannot fairly judge a striker by how he plays running alone in a 4-5-1, on the road, against an opponent of quality. And in the case you should judge him harshly, there must be someone worth plugging into his place, which, considering the American player pool, is an extremely dicey exercise.

Ever since the 2010 World Cup, when Altidore played quite well (as a 19-year-old!), thereby eliciting interest from clubs all over Europe, followers of U.S. soccer have been waiting for this guy to blossom. It hasn’t happened on the club level and much hew & cry has accompanied his admittedly spotty performances for the USA.

But people just seem way too eager to give up on this guy.

First Jozy was not a good choice because he wasn’t getting first-team run at Hull, or Villareal. Now that he’s getting that run at AZ Alkmaar, in Holland, and scoring (7 goals in 11 appearances), he’s derided for not scoring or looking “dangerous enough” for the U.S. — the SI Roundtable specifically cited his lackluster performance when running alone up front against Belgium and its accomplished central defender, Vincent Kompany of Manchester City.

Lookit, Jozy is the best striker the Americans have. Full stop. He is 21 years old for chrissakes and, somehow, has convinced three quality European clubs that he has the goods. I’ll take my chances with him, in any game that matters, until we find someone better.

Why Klinsi’s even playing one striker in any friendly is a bit nutty, if you asked me. What sort of result is he seeking? What’s he looking to protect? This is not exactly the free-wheeling, attacking approach he promised. He deserves some questioning on that, not for starting Altidore.

Will Jozy ever turn himself into a world-class striker? Well, I don’t know. But here are two things I do know: the U.S. has never produced a world-class striker (Brian McBride was the closest we’ve come), so waiting around for Jozy to become one seems a bit unrealistic and unfair. I also know that Wondolowski, Gomez and Braun have not earned a place ahead of him — in Braun’s case, the guy has never even been capped. You can’t simply pluck guys who’ve  been scoring on the club-level and expect them to score in top-flight international play, and that goes double (triple?) when they’re plucked from MLS. Brek Shea is the exception to the rule, one of the few who’ve come straight from MLS and immediately proved ready to do anything at this level, much less worry the likes of Vincent Kompany.

If the World Cup started tomorrow, I’d play Altidore and Dempsey together up front. Shea’s emergence at left midfield allows Deuce to play there. If Altidore were sacrificed, I’d play Agudelo there, next to Clint. Actually, if it were World Cup group play, where you might reasonably play for a “result”, the 4-5-1 could be justified, and even then, Jozy’d be the best choice, because there are no better choices. Not yet.