You're used to my occasional forays into (usually political) non-tech irrelevancy here at Mooreslore.
Well, I'm about to do it again, but this time, at least, I'm speaking of sport.
Specifically football, the game other Americans call soccer.
UPDATE: In the World Cup draw after this was written, the U.S. wound up in a group of Italy, the Czech Republic and Ghana. Italy is a favorite, the Czechs came within a game of winning the European cup, and Ghana is a hungry African side. Mexico, on the other hand, gets Iran, Angola, and Portugal. None are soccer powers (although Portugal used to be).
My kids have played it since they were very little. At the recreational level, it's a very safe game. At the highest level, it has become a very compelling game, thanks to replacing leather with lightweight plastics in ball manufacturing. The resulting spheroids are lighter, less dangerous for kids, less deadly for grownups, and faster, causing top teams to send balls whizzing all about the pitch. Not to mention creating a generation of soccer moms (and dads) in American suburbs.
Where you think J.K. Rowling got her ideas about Quidditch from -- cricket?
Anyway, turns out the U.S. has built itself a nice little mens' national soccer team. Credit goes mostly to Bruce Arena (pictured), one of the world's best coaches, but an American (and a former goalie).
Unfortunately he made one big mistake, fairly recently, one that will keep the world from having to watch a bunch of Yanks hoist their most precious trophy (to yawns from here) next summer in Germany.
Want to know what it was?
He rested his starters. (Memo to Mr. Madden. That there to the left is called a football.)
After the U.S. clinched its place in the final 32, the World Cup tournament in Germany next year, with a thumping win over arch-rivals Mexico, Coach Arena basically pulled his starters. This is what American coaches do. It's what American Football fans figure Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy will do after next week, rather than shoot for a 19-0 history-making season. It's what winning basketball coaches always do at the end of games, to the cheers of the crowd.
In this case, Arena told his Europe-based players to go back to their teams and fight for their places, to make money, to show loyalty to themselves rather than the good old U S of A.
Result? Predictable. The U.S. limped home in qualifying, drawing against inferior opposition, letting the Mexicans tie them at the top of the CONCACAF group. (Never mind the acronym, which is French for North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.) He even let the scrubbeenees play in a "friendly" at Scotland, a team which failed to qualify at all, and which not only tied the U.S. 1-1, but looked dominant doing it.
Thus, yesterday, the reward. The U.S. just-missed out on a top seed in the final draw. Mexico got what should have been ours. Now we're less likely to win our group, less likely to be a top seed when the big games start, and less likely to get as far (or further) than we got last time, which was the quarter-finals.
With our best players on the field -- McBride, Reyna, Beasley, Donovan, Keller, Bocanegra -- we're actually a match for anyone. (If Eddie Johnson can get his game together in the next six months we're better.) As players, our guys are hungry, ambitious, team-oriented, and they give opponents 90 minutes of hell. If Brazil or Germany falls asleep for just a few seconds, we can sneak one by them, and hold on. Really.
But it ain't gonna happen. Shame, I think. But good news for the rest of the world. You won't have America to kick around in Germany. Not for long, anyway.
And then, you watch -- some big European outfit is going to come in for Coach Arena and we'll back losing to Jamaica.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for over 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985. He founded the "Interactive Age Daily" for CMP Media, and has written for the Chicago Tribune, Advertising Age, and dozens of other publications over the years.
1. Adam on December 7, 2005 04:03 PM writes...
The matches at the end of qualification and the friendlies really didn't have much to do with USA not getting a seed.
The biggest factor is the last-place finish in France 98. I'm not directly saying it's Steve Sampson's fault, though it is always fun to blame him. (And for all his faults, he did qualify us for 1998, so he deserves some credit for setting a foundation for Arena.)
Check this PDF to see how the seeds were put together:
Permalink to Commenthttp://eur.i1.yimg.com/eu.download.yahoo.com/fifa/fu/finaldrawpot1.pdf
2. Joe on December 7, 2005 04:09 PM writes...
Hmmm. I don't think the last couple of qualifiers had much to do with missing a top seed. Our very poor performance at the 1998 World Cup in France had a lot to do with it. The formula used by FIFA weighted success in the past two World Cups.
We only missed Argentina and Italy by one point. If we had won a single game in France instead of going '03, we might have been a top seed this time around. The only reason that's true is how well Arena has had this team playing -- ever since '98.
On the other hand, losing that match to Costa Rica didn't help either.
Permalink to Comment3. Adam R. on December 7, 2005 04:18 PM writes...
We can still sneak one by a Germany or a Brazil even if we're not seeded. We'll just have to do it in the first round now.
As far as I'm concerned, it was better for the US team in the long run to get guys like Bobby Convey and Carlos Bocanegra entrentched in their club lineups, so that come next May they'll be in good form with plenty of first-team games under their belts.
Permalink to Comment4. TomCS on December 7, 2005 06:14 PM writes...
re Quiddich.
Remember JK Rowling is a Scot. Quiddich is probably - I haven't asked her - a three-dimensional implementation of shinty, which is the Scottish version of hurling, which is probably why the Irish end up as world champions.
Permalink to Comment5. Andrew Burt on December 9, 2005 05:11 AM writes...
Bruce Arena I hope we in Australia get to see you eat your words.
Permalink to Comment6. Reuben C. on December 10, 2005 06:32 PM writes...
Bruce Arena, one of the world's best coaches? Oh my God, what a blasphemy. What has Arena done to earn this title? He is the main reason why US Soccer still doesn't get the coverage it deserves. His defensively-minded style of play is boring and does not appeal to the American fan.
Permalink to CommentMr. Blankenhorn, stick to your political forays. The reason why the US is not a top seed is because in the history of World Cups, we have only managed to win 6 games.
7. Thomas on December 10, 2005 10:47 PM writes...
Dana Blankenhorn's article is an embarrassment to US Soccer. It's no wonder the Europeans laugh at us for being ignorant about soccer. Friendlies are like practice games and have nothing to do with seeding at the World Cup. Beating weaker opponents with your best playes also has no bearing on seeding or qualifying. OMG I'm still in shock as to how someone could publish something like this.
Please Mr Blankenhorn, apologize for this mistake and try to regain some credibility as a journalist.
Permalink to Comment8. Justin on December 26, 2005 01:14 AM writes...
Your statements that Bruce Arena should NOT have rested his players are a far cry from understanding anything about coaching soccer or the situation the U.S. was in.
First of all, had he kept his best players in those last less important qualifiers and friendlies, he would run the risk of serious injury against teams who were desperate for a win to qualify or who did not have to worry about the World Cup because they did not qualify.
Arena at the time did NOT have a complete roster. Why not experiment? Let younger players get some CAPS in international play.
You would have us risk hurting our stars for the sake of pride and dominance. Dominance is great...if you're Brazil or Argentina. IF you're the U.S. you better protect the stars you have. Other countries roll stars off an assembly line. Not quite yet with the U.S., we have to preserve our talent, not waste it in games that are no longer necessary to qualify.
By the way, do some research on the WC seeding formula before you go spouting off about how Bruce Arena ruined our chances for Germany. The draw was random, you "business journalist". Except for seeded teams, there was no way to prevent getting the Group of Death. Mexico has a stronger tradition that we do and winning CONCACAF was the best thing we could do...BTW..we still won it despite experimenting with inferior teams.
Why don't you stick to your "business journalist" title and quit trying to cover sports when you so clearly no so little about it!
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